This page contains information links rather than commercial links. For courses, products & services, see the icons to the right. If you'd like to suggest a commercial link, see our network page.
Directories / listings / networks
Camphill England & Wales – network of communities for people with learning disabilities and special needs
The Camphill Movement – international directory
Diggers & Dreamers – UK listing – this site is all you need for the UK
Eurotopia – catalogue of communities in Europe
Federation of Egalitarian Communities – network of intentional communities in North America
Global Eco-village Network – global federation of ecological communities
Global Ecovillage Network Europe – list of sustainable settlements / initiatives in Europe
Foundation for Intentional Community – listing of US and international communities, plus ‘Communities’ magazine
International Communes Desk – networking / communication group started in 1976 in Tel Aviv – publish the CALL newsletter
General
Asset Transfer Unit – supports the transfer of land and buildings from public bodies to community and voluntary organisations
Daily Mail – inside America’s oldest hippie commune
Ecological Land Co-op – ground-breaking group helping change the planning system to allow new-build communities in England
The Ecovillage Movement – paper on the potential for ecovillages
The Independent – good article about Lammas and new communites’ potential for offering a viable alternative to the rat race
International Communal Studies Association – research, documentation and international conferences on communal living – past & present, academic & practial
Living Village Trust – environmentally-friendly developers
New York Times – article about a new wave of young professionals flocking to communes in San Francisco
Personal development links – for links on conflict resolution and consensus
Redfield Community – where Lowimpact.org was born
What is an Ecovillage? – paper outlining the historical attempts to define the concept
Wikipedia – ecovillage
Wikipedia – intentional community
WWOOF – go and visit and work on communities via WWOOF
History
The Diggers – agrarian collective led by Gerard Winstanley in the 17th century
Ejido – communal agricultural based on an Aztec system, and re-introduced as a constitutional right (but scrapped by NAFTA) in Mexico in the 20th century
The Essenes – the first (intentional) communards? 2nd century BC next to the Dead Sea
Fourier, Charles – 19th century French philosopher with quite intricate ideas about communal living; started communities in the US, including Utopia, Ohio
Owen, Robert – started utopian communities in Scotland and the US in the 19th century
The Shakers – religious group who lived communally in North America in the 18th and early 19th centuries
Ujamaa – communal agricultural system introduced by Julius Nyerere in Tanzania in the 1960s; the World Bank refused loans until it was disestablished from the state
Wikipedia – list of American utopian communities from the 19th century
Religious communes
Amish – simple-living Christian communities in North America
Ashrams – Hindu spiritual communities
Bruderhof – international network of Christian communities
Hutterites – over 40,000 people in around 500 ‘colonies’, mainly in North America
Mennonites – 1.7 million strong Christian sect that can be found in tight-knit communities in 82 countries
Monasteries – Buddhist or Christian spiritual communities
