Another kind of space
creating ecological dwellings and environments
Sample from this book:
Introduction
This book has been published at the end of February 2003. It
has been compiled by Graham Meltzer and Alan Dearling. Graham
is an architect and long term member of the world’s intentional
communities’ movement. His doctorate at Queensland University
of Technology in Brisbane, Australia was on co-housing. Alan is
currently senior research consultant with the Chartered Institute
of Housing in the UK. He also has a long history of involvement
in environmental action, particularly with regards modern nomads,
travellers, young people and eco-protest.
 At
different levels, and for different audiences, this book offers
a window into a better world. It contains a fascinating and inspirational
selection of dwellings, living spaces and environments from around
the world, all of which are deliberately fashioned by people and
communities seeking to live in greater harmony and awareness with
each other and the natural world. Some of the dwellings provide
shelter for nomadic travellers; some are situated on communes
and intentional communities; others are settlements on permaculture
and organic farms; still more provide homes to rural and urban
individuals, households and groups who are keen to find ‘another
way’ of living.
The book provides an insight into some of the ‘whys’
and ‘wherefores’ of ecological dwellings - particularly
focusing on the personal motivations and lifestyles of the people
who have chosen to build and live in them. These initiatives have
not taken place in isolation from the rest of urban, rural and
global development. ‘Big’ issues such as population
expansion, environmental pollution and employment trends are also
parts of the wider canvas on which housing and lifestyle choices
(or lack of them) are a part. Indeed, every new day supplies us
with media coverage of local, national and international initiatives
in environmental, economic and social arenas that have impact,
both positive and negative, on all aspects of planetary life.
It is difficult to make sense, on the basis of these commentaries
and reportage, of the complex and contradictory developments taking
place. Unfortunately, and not a little confusingly, even the terms
used: ‘environment’, ‘sustainability’,
‘low-impact’, ‘green’, ‘alternative
and intermediate technology’ and many more, are subject
to widely varying interpretations. For conservationists and environmental
activists ‘low-impact’ can mean protecting a piece
of land from any development; whereas for nomadic people, it may
mean living on the land in temporary dwellings which
leave no lasting imprint. For ‘green’ architects a
low-impact dwelling may mean building in a way that is sensitively
integrated into the natural landscape, but for planners, it may
mean building upwards to provide higher density accommodation.
You start to see the contradictions.
...personal views and alternative dwelling...
This is a very personal book. It offers personal responses to
divergent worldviews. It is also personal in the sense that we,
the authors, believe passionately that its content is important,
and personal in the sense that elements of our own lives have
provided much of the rationale for the choices we’ve made
about the contents. Without going into detail, the contents reflects
the fact that Graham has been a longstanding member of intentional
communities, an innovator in the cohousing movement and is now,
a ‘green’ architect who teaches (socially and environmentally
responsive) community design in Australia. Alan, as a youth and
community worker, full time writer and researcher of over 20 books,
and contributor to the UK and European counter cultural and housing
scene, brings to the book, a different set of experiences. Both
have travelled extensively and actively use the Internet as an
additional and powerful medium to communicate with people across
the world.
Particularly since the early 1990s, questions about sustainability
and the need for development with low environmental impact, have
provided key challenges for planners, policy makers and housing
professionals. Living holistically, in environmentally sensitive
dwellings has become a focus for those striving to establish a
lifestyle that reflects their social and environmental concerns.
It is no longer just a part of an abstract, theoretical, semantic,
academic or even utopian debate. In response, Part Two of this
book offers divergent views and varied experiences of a range
of ‘alternatives’. These are personal accounts of
the lives and lifestyles with which ‘dwellings’ are
inextricably bound. They are also ‘warts and all’
in the sense that they include accounts of what goes wrong and
well as recounting the ‘good times’. One of the messages
at the heart of the book is that the relationship between people
and their dwellings can be far more proactive and positive than
previously imagined. How we build, use, and develop our dwelling
spaces is a matter of lifestyle choice.
...there is ‘another way’...
This book provides a wide range of contributions and examples
that show that there is ‘another way’ - a number of
ways, in fact. Across the globe, hundreds of thousands of people
have put extraordinary levels of thought and ingenuity into a
diverse range of alternative types of homes and shelter. Some
are based on the indigenous dwellings and lifestyles of tribal
people. At the other end of the spectrum are complex dwellings
designed by a new wave of ‘green’ architects. Their
commonality is frequently some kind of environmental ethos and
aspiration. These dwellings are lifestyle statements - highly
personal, frequently celebratory - shelters integral to other
aspects of the occupants’ lives. In a very real sense they
are ecological, hence our choice of the term ‘eco-dwellings’,
as a way of describing them in one, catch-all phase! Some are
conceived and made a reality within a tribal or communal social
setting, the creative process contributing to the ‘social
sustainability’ of that community. Others are much more
individualistic, even hedonistic, ranging from slightly eccentric
living structures built in inaccessible spots in forests, mountains
or underground, through to expensive, high-tech solutions to energy
efficiency and sustainable living.
...inspiration, options and ideas...
In Part One, we set the scene by offering our own contribution
to the debate on issues such as environmentalism, design, energy
efficiency, appropriate technology, sustainability, community
and other development issues such as those identified in Agenda
21 of the 1992 Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit document. The examples
presented in Part Two of Another kind of space, collectively offer
a glimpse into the social realities and the personal stories lying
behind the physical nature of ecological dwellings. At a time
of increasing social alienation and dysfunction, we sincerely
hope that the examples in the book can offer inspiration, options
and ideas for people wishing to make an important and personally
meaningful contribution to sustainable development.
Alan and Graham
Other samples from Another kind of space:
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