Community economies in eco-communities: Spaces of collaboration, opportunities and dilemmas

Abstract

While there is evidence of concrete environmental outcomes from eco-communities and anthropological research has informed on the cultural or governance aspects of living together, relatively little research has focused on eco-communities from an economic perspective, including their economic and financial sustainability, impact on local economies and the conceptualization of different economic, organizational and co-production models and their replicable potential. In this chapter, I argue that in order to understand their potential in terms of transformation/resilience, there needs to be also a more robust elaboration of how their social and environmental goals and outcomes relate to their economies. This requires both a theoretical framework and more empirical evidence.While there is evidence of concrete environmental outcomes from eco-communities and anthropological research has informed on the cultural or governance aspects of living together, relatively little research has focused on eco-communities from an economic perspective, including their economic and financial sustainability, impact on local economies and the conceptualization of different economic, organizational and co-production models and their replicable potential. In this chapter, I argue that in order to understand their potential in terms of transformation/resilience, there needs to be also a more robust elaboration of how their social and environmental goals and outcomes relate to their economies. This requires both a theoretical framework and more empirical evidence.