Village Design Institute

Village Design Institute logo Mission Statement: The Village Design Institute is an educational nonprofit incorporated for the purpose of researching, organizing, and disseminating a multi-disciplinary knowledge base promoting sustainability at village scale. The Village Design Institute will obtain a land base for the purpose of establishing an Academy of Sustainable Community Design.

Programs and Activities

As an educational nonprofit, the Village Design Institute offers a variety of educational programs and services in the overall field of sustainable community design. Our specialty is our own version of an Ecovillage Design course for properties desiring to grow into an ecovillage, where we emphasize whole body awareness as a prerequisite for good ecological design, and set up a Design Studio right there on site.

We also are actively involved with the creation of the Ecovillage Design Education (EDE), through Gaia Education, the educational arm of the Global Ecovillage Network. These 4-week courses now are being offered at locations around the world. Village Design Institute co-sponsored the first EDE in North America, through the University of New Mexico, and in the process set up a branch office in Albuquerque. Current work revolves around conceptualizing the perennial Urban Village as a comprehensive retrofit solution for the prevailing urban and suburban patterns during the coming period of energy descent. Urban Village design courses will be offered soon in the Seattle area.

Future work will include accommodating the regeneration of traditional villages, so that eventually the full repertoire of the Village Design Institute will be design, education, and consultation in these three contexts: Ecovillage, Urban Village, and Traditional Village.

Links to Additional Info

Project Leader Biographies
Village Design Institute web site
Gaia Education
Ecovillage Design Southwest

Contact Info

E. Christopher Mare, MA, President
E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Web site: www.villagedesign.org

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