Good practice:

Ecovillage “ Land van Aine”: transforming industrial heritage into a sustainable community

Land van Aine looks to find solutions for the increasingly urgent challenges that lie on the heart of human mankind right now concerning climate change and the disturbed relation between economic growth and the well-being of our planet.
The community is heading for a simple live style: low budget, low impact and low-tech with a local, closed circle economy. This way we create a healthy, supportive environment where a social and mind-full way of living, close to nature and self-supporting, creates happiness instead of goods and possessions.
Transferring experience and knowledge is also part of the mission.
An old ruined but beautiful factory and its surrounding fields that was abandoned for 38 years proved to be a win-win opportunity. It gave the owner and the government great difficulties. But a group of committed people is handling the challenges of contamination and creating a new meaningful purpose for this plot. Precious cultural heritage, our inheritance, is been taken care of and made save and accessible for larger amounts of people in future.
60 Experimental energy neutral houses are going to be build (8 in the next year) for around 100 people. The planting of food-forest and a kitchen-garden has started as well as facilities for the people already living on the land in temporarily units. A camping site for volunteers is on its way. Besides the residents also province and municipality are involved, as well as volunteers, neighbours and tourists.

All residents pay 15.000 euro entrance fee plus their own house, There has been a generous provincial grant for feasibility studies and landscape design and a Leader grant. and support from the municipality.
More has to be found through loans, grants, crowd-funding, private investments and gifts.

Result a the steady core-group that is still together in this shared dream, and is still growing. Teambuilding activities are well visited. There is great interest for the project (numbers website and new arrivals), basis facilities for the 10 people living here are realised, groundwork and other preparation for housebuilding is in full swing as well as kitchen garden and starting food-forest. Safety measures at dangerous buildings. And a good relationship with neighbours and governement.

The project is so comprehensive that a lot of knowledge is needed on many subjects. We can still use more knowledge on finances and budget matters. Also for the decontamination, innovative electricity supply- and storage solutions. Finally we could use more residents that can carry management tasks.

This project is one of many possible answers to the challenges of today's world issues. We hope to inspire people to a more aware lifestyle which can happen in many ways, taking big or small steps and to provide and share knowledge in self-supporting simple lifestyles and building methods as well as in personal transformation through classes and workshops of all kinds. Core issue is to raise awareness and to grow in love for each other, the direct surroundings, to Earth itself.
There is already a lot of knowledge build on how to create a village like this. How to obtain a zoning plan, how to establish good connections etc.