EcoVillage at Othacas: What If Your Campus Housing Looked Like This?

Scott Carlson describes (nice photos) Ithaca's version of an "intentional community," one of the best known of its type. The village was a tour available to those attending the Sustainability for Community Colleges: Curriculum, Culture, Conservation conference:

The EcoVillage stands on 175 acres that were originally slated for bland, suburban housing. Ninety percent of the land would have been taken up by houses, and 10 percent would have been left green. When the EcoVillagers got their hands on the land, they turned those figures around. Ten percent would be taken up by development, and the rest left alone. Car parking is on the perimeter of the development, leaving the areas between and around the houses open for pedestrians and playing kids. Much of the open land could be used for agriculture; there are two organic farms on the site, and the villagers would like to have more.