“Once the call of the True Self is heard not only with the heart but also with the mind and conscience there will be no way back to the way things have been. Sooner or later we will recognize that we no longer have any choice but to allow ourselves the extraordinary freedom to go all the way in this life. Because, after all, if we have begun to see through the illusory world that the ego creates and have heard the call of the True Self to live our lives for a greater purpose-what else is there to do?”

~ Andrew Cohen from Living Enlightenment

How to Build a Village by Claude Lewenz is not simply a contemporary masterpiece. It is a very practical one that we can only hope guides the decision making process of all future architects, developers, city planners and residents considering building visionary and viable communities of the future. Lewenz invites us to consider the possibility of living a more soul satisfying and richly diverse life in an inclusive, integral, eco-arts-based community that reflects our deepest values and longings. And he does this by turning real estate development upside down by inviting future residents to become a potent block of buying power, empowering them to use tools he provides to design their homes and communities to be what they love and need and only then, involving architects, developers and city planning.

His vision is part of a seismic social shift that is moving us closer to what truly matters in life and leaving behind the superficial media driven outer directed lives many of us have led for so long. We are turning away from the material drive for more and moving towards a simple high quality of life among neighbors we know, sharing lives in a place that reflects our deepest values and make sense because economics finds its rightful place in the service of people and the planet. I have been saying for years that when launching any project, the first question one must ask is, “Will this project have a positive impact on people?” Then, “Will this project have a positive impact on the planet?” And finally, “Does this project make economic sense for all concerned?” If one cannot answer the first two questions affirmatively, the project is shelved. That’s new paradigm decision making at its best.

It is clear that The Village described in Claude Lewenz new book fits those criteria and will serve as a useful model of how we can live in harmony with each other and the earth while having a wonderful time doing it. While writing the book, Claude struggled with what to call these communities and settled on the Village. More recently, on the VillageForum.com web site, he and his colleagues call it a VillageTown – a Town made up of Villages. A face-to-face community of 500 people (200 homes), he calls a village.

Claude envisions the people who will live there “clustering by something they hold in common… an Italian village next to a Chinatown… a village of people connected to film-making, next to a village of trendy, creative singles… a youth zone and a blokes village near the industrial park. The VillageTown is 10,000 people, 20 such villages, where an evening stroll becomes a journey from one culture to another… all within a 10-minute walk”.

Like a glass of fine wine, I enjoyed every sip of Claude’s soulful, meticulously researched and beautifully written and illustrated book that offers what I, and many of my friends and associates have been searching for most of our lives. How to Build a Village is filled with 400 wonderful photographs that help illuminate Claude’s brilliant ideas.

It is clear Lewenz has spent a lifetime thinking about community development issues and he delivers them like a wise professor, mentor, philosopher, social healer, husband and father.

This completely practical community design document represents Claude’s legacy to his family, his adopted country, and the larger world beyond as well as to ours, and future generations.

In the book’s first forty or so pages, Claude speaks directly to potential members of the community from Baby Boomers to single mothers to artists and “The Creative Class” speaking in their language and inviting them to join him in imagining and building the first model of what communities must look like if they are to deliver on their promise of nurturing every member in their daily work, play, and interactions with others while insuring that future residents are able to afford to own a home there.

In his invitation to join him in creating the first community, Claude is creating a market force that will initiate and inform developers and local elected officials that they want to live, work and play in their town and have it be a model for the world of what really works. In this way, Claude is doing the world a great service to say nothing of the community’s first residents. He estimates that the average Village Town home will cost 60% of the local market rate with 20-33% in line with local pricing. Are there 10,000 people in the world ready to move to such a community? I’d say easily and, many more – I being one of them.

Claude suggests that readers of his book add the following addition to their job description: “enabling people and communities to provide for their social, economic, cultural and environmental well being”.         His communities are designed to “uplift the human spirit, the quality of life, and provide a higher level of personal and community security.”

A few quotes from the book speak more eloquently about Claude’s passion and vision than I possibly could.

“The underlying idea is that while the world may have many problems right now, solving them are huge challenges. However, most of us live locally – and the more we can create a healthy, thriving wonderful local place that addresses those challenges for the people of that common locality and its surrounding local region, the more we can be part of the solution,
not the problem.”

“If we look at history, we find that major changes came about not because of some monolithic system, but often because of a few inspired individuals with a will to bring about change. As mentioned elsewhere in this book, I grew up in Baltimore and witnessed a handful of men and women change the face of their city, and then inspired other cities to do the same. When they began, they were not famous, had no training in what they were about to do, and they were not raving radicals. They felt improvements could be made and set about pursuing them. They painted a vision and enrolled others. They put a stake in the ground. They spoke out. They put their heart in it and most importantly – they got started.

What you need to succeed are:

People who want to live in the community and are prepared to call it into being.
A strong economic plan to assure it can be paid for and thrive for many decades.
Available and appropriate land.

Alternatively, if you prefer sound-bites: People, Prosperity and Place.”

“It’s about Land
To motivate people, have them stand on the land that will become the Village. Carry poles and stake them where the Village gate is to be, plant flags to set out the main plazas. Land makes the vision feel real. It gives meaning. If it is possible, secure the land early in the process.”

It’s about Action
Yes, you can build a Village. No, you don’t need to be a developer, an investor or a professional in the industry – those people will show up when they are needed. If you are one, great, but if not, don’t let that stop you. If you need it, this book empowers you to build a Village. Everything required to build a Village has already been done before. It’s not like going to the moon. The steps set out in this book should make it easier. Every journey begins with a first step and looking far enough ahead to chart a direction. Each of us is on an evolutionary path. Each of us is given a multitude of directions we can take – a choice of probable futures. When we walk our life, we must choose one of those futures, and if we listen to our heart, we know which suits us best.

If you decide to build your Village, then you will find others join you on the path. It is important then that you remember who you are, not yielding responsibility to the others that join you – they have their part to play, not yours. Building a Village for many generations to come is a tremendous thing to do with ones life. If this inspires you, then get on with it… the time is now.

Imagine a place where all experience freedom from want, freedom from fear, safety for all, pursuit of good health, an enriched social and cultural life, a place of creativity, a place balancing privacy and public life, a place where one walks with a light environmental footprint to leave a better world for future generations, a place with a wonderful spirit.

Finally, imagine what happens when a dozen or so such Villages are built in a country. Imagine how they may contribute to the character of the nation.”

The remainder of the book fills in the details of how to elegantly and deeply conceive and develop an economically sound, ecologically wise and ethically based integral community that is located in a beautiful natural setting like mountains, the sea, or countryside with local farms supplying its food as well as community member’s home gardens, socially enriched by the diversity of its population by profession, culture and age, enjoying a variety of culturally diverse plazas featuring charming slow food cafes and shops, car free allows smaller more human scaled streets and everything located within a safe ten minute walk. By having guild-halls with nearby artists, musicians and crafts people’s homes sold only to guild members, the artists become permanent stakeholders, never to be gentrified out because of rising home market prices. Other chapters cover the Slow Food Movement, Local Transport Areas, and much more. These are only a few of the hundreds of exciting and doable features of the communities Lewenz envisions.

“Sound good to me. When can I move in?” I can hear you thinking. You can move in after you have enrolled in helping to create your community. It all begins with a simple action, letting Claude and the emerging team of Village Stewards know you are interested on the VillageForum website page devoted to expressions of interest. However, that can only properly happen after you have read the book and fully understand the well thought through details of Claude’s vision. This is one time when reading a book may offer far more than a distraction from our normal Matrix like work a day world. It can, in fact, change our lives. For many, that’s exactly what they are desperately seeking. A way out of a world in chaos into a values based community they can call their own and contribute to its planning and manifestation.

How to Build a Village touches on the most soulful elements of what makes life worth living which is felt community. It is clear that Claude’s vision echoes what is in many peoples minds and hearts – the desire to live in a compassionate, inclusive and sustainable community based in love, caring for each other and the earth not in some far off future but as a daily living reality as soon as possible.

Each page contributed to my sense of well being and sparked my imagination to see, feel, smell and taste what it would be like to live in a community dedicated to the wellbeing of every person. I saw the wonderful kinds of people who will be attracted to be part of the first vibrant and happy community they will bring to life. And in the end, this book is an invitation, a clarion call to those very people to read the book, contribute in their own unique ways to co-creating the first and subsequent communities and to one day in the near future, spending the rest of their lives living, working and playing there.

The community development process, normally left to an architectural firm and a developer will, in this case, be co-created by the very people who will be living there as part of the planning process and each home will reflect the values and aesthetics of the owners rather than soulless cookie cutter developments built for profit at the expense of people and the environment. Claude has adapted an approach developed in A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander that enables people who know nothing about planning or design, and don’t believe they are capable to discover that they can do a brilliant job in shaping their future home and community.

How refreshing… as is every page of this remarkable and thought provoking book. Whether you or anyone you know might like to live in a future Village Town or just dream about doing so, this soul satisfying treasure belongs on your library bookshelf and makes an ideal gift for anyone searching for values based communities.

As John Lennon said, “You may think I’m a dreamer but I’m not the only one. I hope someday you’ll join us and the world will be as one.”

To learn more about Claude’s vision, to order his book or become an active supporter of your own community, visit www.villageforum.com.

Jeff Hutner, Editor
New Paradigm Digest

From Ode

In the midst of this global economic crisis, there is a movement happening in some of the hardest hit places in America – local communities. This movement is showing that Main Street truly is the way to building a better, more sustainable future. And that’s just what Joe Grafton, founding director of the Somerville Local First has set out to prove. Dedicated to promoting and sustaining local business, Local First organizations across the country are campaigning for a shift in the way we act, in the way we think and most importantly, in the way we spend. That’s what prompted Joe and other local organizers in New England to start the 10% shift campaign and evangelize the true power of local spending.

The theory behind the “shift” is simple – if all consumers made an effort to shift 10% of their spending to independent and locally owned retailers instead of at stores that rhyme with Shmalmart (as an example, not meant to single out Shmalmart per se) – the community could see thousands of new jobs created and millions of dollars of taxpayer free revenue.

So Joe Grafton has set out on a mission. New England isn’t the only area in the United States pushing this movement forward – there are Local First organizations countrywide, working on convincing people that their local independent community is way cooler than they may have thought.

It’s called Shift Across America and for the next 3 weeks, Joe will be visiting cities and towns from Boston to San Francisco, meeting with politicians and leaders of the local business, publishing, art and music scenes, find out what’s happening in their communities and talk about how 10% Shift is redefining economic paradigms. These interviews and stories will be documented on the Shift Across America blog, Facebook, and Twitter, where they hope to be joined vicariously by those who hear-and become part of the story.

Shift happens – and it’s happening in the very places that could define this revolution.

Eastlake is an Atlanta, Ga. community that underwent an extraordinary transformation thanks to the heart and vision of Tyler Mathison, click here. When you do, go down to the forth video to watch this one. There are several other wonderful stories at this site as well. Enjoy!

Reality Sandwich is one of my favorite sites for its consistent array of interesting articles by visionary writers, hosted by visionary author, Daniel Pinchbeck. Charles Eisenstein’s vision of a better tomorrow below mirrors what NPD sees coming as we move through the rapids of change. Read his excellent and compelling essay by clicking on the link below.

Reality Sandwich’s Featured Contributor: Charles Eisenstein Charles is a writer, speaker, and the author of “The Ascent of Humanity” and two other books, with more on the way. In a former life, he was a math and philosophy major at Yale, a Chinese translator in Taiwan, and a part-time faculty at Penn State. He has three children, and dedicates all he does to the more beautiful world our hearts tell us is possible. You can find his most recent article “Money and the Crisis of Civilization” here: RS: What brought you to Reality Sandwich? A: Through a rather extraordinary coincidence I became acquainted with Daniel Pinchbeck, and recognized some deep similarities in our thinking. I knew his audience would be receptive to my work, and vice versa. Plus, as they say in improvisational theater, I like to “accept all offers”. RS: What transformations do you hope to see in your lifetime? A: I foresee a world of such joy, abundance, and beauty that I hardly dare to describe it. This world is not a hope, it is an inevitability. I believe I will see it unfolding in earnest in my lifetime. It is my pleasure and my calling to do whatever is in my power to bring this world into being. It is already closer than close, a mere shift of perception away. This is true on both the personal and collective level. We catch glimpses of it, now and then, by the grace of something beyond our ken. It is a world where work and art are reunited, where no one asks, “How can I make a living?” but rather, “What is my gift to the world?”; where humanity is united in allowing the planet to heal; where money is an aid to generosity not competition or accumulation; where a multitude of long-suppressed and barely-imagined technologies, both material and psychological, blossom. I am not a dreamer. I know these transformations are inevitable, because they naturally accompany the new sense-of-self, the new human identity, that the present convergence of crises is propelling us toward.