Dreaming a village into reality
Essential elements to co-create a place
that embodies coherence and emergence
This is a work in progress designed for community revision.
In this slide deck, we consider threads, phases, values, and cultural mindset shifts that transform the idea of “living near friends” or “building a thing” into villaging as a verb.
The details of any specific project will weave into these concepts.
Start where we are
Consider the culture from which our dreams are emerging
Take what works - Leave the rest
The following slides invite us into a conversation about culture, values, beliefs - some that left unexamined will muddy the dream.
Village is a mindset
Place is just one of the village members.
In most modern business and housing ventures, how it feels to be part of what is built is an afterthought. Building a solar punk intentional ecovillage places human design & culture first, works within the existing systems for as little friction as possible, and is by design experimental and emergent.
Aloha House
Yasville House
Farmhouse
New Lot
New Lot
Governance, leadership, what we call ourselves, etc. will be evolving; we must make a plan, but we also must engage ourselves and the plan with an expectation of emergence, change, failed experiments, and redirections.
New Lot
Future Yashapi Center
Olamina Commons
What supports Villaging?
Shift Culture - start with you, move to us
First, become aware of the beliefs you’ve internalized without consent - the gray bars name the ethos of capitalism’s culture of abandonment and extraction.
Shift that ethos to one that centers and practices a culture of humanity.
This is not a one time conversation or an inspirational poster. Work on this individually and together.
This visual is an invitation developed by Zahava Griss.
“white supremacy culture trains us all to internalize attitudes and behaviors that do not serve any of us.”
The "white supremacy culture" framework is based on a 1999/2001 essay and workbook co-authored by Tema Okun and Kenneth Jones (Dismantling Racism: A Workbook for Social Change Groups). It outlines 15 dominant organizational and cultural traits that operate as unstated norms in Western institutions.
Read and reread all of this: https://www.whitesupremacyculture.info/characteristics.html
Scroll down and explore each of the remedies
Make it OK for you and the team to name and shift when these attitudes and behaviors enter the room.
Dream it into reality
You are here because you are a person who is moving from “somebody ought to” to “let’s go do this.”
The following slides provide a framework orienting your project.
Write your Values & Mission Statement in Pencil
Your values and your mission statement serve an important purpose to call in (& repel) people and resources that are aligned.
By all means, write them, and plan to see them shift as people arrive to join your micro-movement.
Values work when we put them into action.
Reflect on them regularly to orient actions and decisions.
Village Values
Here is a template you can use to write your own.
Village Threads
Building a village has multiple threads that need simultaneous consideration.
W can use the following labels to express with consistent language and locate tasks to the right thread/domain expertise.
We intentionally call in team mates
who have a diversity of skills and special interests
so that each thread we weave with is strong.
OPERATIONS & GOVERNANCE
LAND STEWARDSHIP
FINANCIAL & LEGAL
CULTURE & CARE
BUILT ENVIRONMENT
Village Treads
BUILT ENVIRONMENT
Where and how we live/work in the village
Village housing is not just a place to live, but a holistic “peopling” of the land in a way that materializes our values
The relational structures we set up to manage the village are the ground we stand on, and help us put our values into action individually and collectively
Care is the canopy, the air we breath, it surrounds the village, gives us shade, belonging and protection
Financial & Legal span between the housing, land and people - all which must connect appropriately to the world beyond the village
Land stewardship is a commitment of each community member to be in service to and respectful of the land’s needs and capacity
LAND STEWARDSHIP
How we live in service to the land
OPERATION & GOVERNANCE
Operating as an intentional community is what makes this housing & land project a village
CULTURE & CARE
How we belong ourselves and create village
FINANCIAL & LEGAL
Our capacity to live in compliance with capitalism
We apply our values to each of these essential threads - weaving across all project phases
Village Timeline
A phased approach to creating village that is intentional without urgency
We recognize that co-creating a village will take time,
and that key elements are time-constrained
or need to happen in sequence.
Defining the stages of the project will help us locate priorities across time.
DREAM
SEED
ROOT
BUILD
LIVE
The Village as a Process
We can envision building the village over time.
We will use these labels and visuals so that we can use consistent language and locate tasks to the right time.
DREAM | Visioning, Sensing & Listening | The village exists as an idea, a call, and a set of shared values. Someone has instigated the call in. People find their way to informal circles and online spaces to listen, imagine, and practice village skills. This feels promising, but nothing is promised - there are minimal roles, responsibilities, or commitments. There is no shared physical space yet, and care is relational rather than structural. This is a phase for connection, curiosity, and finding alignment. |
SEED | Grounding & Emerging | A physical location, a few founder(s), and initial structures begin to come into existence. Early relationships form and exploratory visits happen. Designs are drawn, and conversations with the city, banks, and builders provide critical legal, financial, and logistical direction for the project. Authority presently belongs mainly to those who have taken on risk. These folks begin creating a structure that is formally joinable, financially viable, and logistically doable. Newcomers are invited to participate, observe, and contribute ideas, helping to shape the container that will hold the future village. |
ROOT | Building foundations for community and place | In the Root phase, the pronouns “us” and “we” begin to emerge as shared identity. A small, consistent group shows up regularly. Cultural norms and processes take shape so that not all things feel like a dream. Individuals are empowered to self-select into roles and tasks. This requires formation of agreements to govern decision-making, conflict navigation, and daily rhythms. Physical plans solidify, financial pathways clarify, and legal entities take shape. The village is rooting and emerging as a thing with enough concrete aspects that some folks begin to arrange their lives towards the project and each other. As the root phase completes, a founder group has officially formed and made commitments. Plans are finalized. Permits are sought. Builders are interviewed. Corporate entities are formed. |
BUILD | Growing, Constructing & Scaling | Buckle up, here we go!! This is the (sweaty) focused, operational phase. During the build phase, the village leverages the deep relational, legal and planning work we've done in earlier stages to create tangible, visible reality. Physical infrastructure expands alongside legal and financial systems. Governance becomes more distributed, requiring stronger community operations and clearer care practices. Agreements developed in the root phase have created a decision making process that is more distributed, which also requires more community care and process. Care systems are actively tested, stretched, and refined. The village proves its capacity to support people, projects, and increasing complexity. |
LIVE | Stewarding & evolving | The village operates as an ongoing community. Governance, operations, and care systems are shared and collectively maintained. Physical spaces are lived in, financial systems are sustained, and legal structures support continuity. New members integrate through established processes, and attention shifts from creation to stewardship and evolution. A thriving village becomes both a stable home and a source of inspiration — sharing lessons learned and offering support, knowledge, and surplus back into the wider world. |
DREAM: Visioning, Sensing & Listening
DREAM: Visioning, Sensing & Listening
The village exists as an idea, a call, and a set of shared values. Someone has instigated the call/lit the fire. People find their way to informal circles and online spaces to listen, imagine, and practice village skills. This feels promising, but nothing is promised — there are minimal roles, responsibilities, or commitments. There is no shared physical space yet, and care is relational rather than structural. This is a phase for connection, curiosity, and finding alignment.
DREAM
ROOT
BUILD
LIVE
SEED
CULTURE & CARE | | |
BUILT ENVIRONMENT | | |
FINANCIAL & LEGAL | | |
OPERATIONS & GOVERNANCE | | |
LAND STEWARDSHIP | | |
SEED: Grounding & Emerging
A physical location, a few founder(s), and initial structures begin to come into existence. Early relationships form and exploratory visits happen. Designs are drawn, and conversations with the city, banks, and builders provide critical legal, financial, and logistical direction for the project. Authority presently belongs mainly to those who have taken on risk. These folks begin creating a structure that is formally joinable, financially viable, and logistically doable. Newcomers are invited to participate, observe, and contribute ideas, helping to shape the container that will hold the future village.
DREAM
ROOT
BUILD
LIVE
SEED
CULTURE & CARE | | |
BUILT ENVIRONMENT | | |
FINANCIAL & LEGAL | | |
OPERATIONS & GOVERNANCE | | |
LAND STEWARDSHIP | | |
Common Futures - Grounding Village Tool fit in the SEED Phase
ROOT: Growing, Constructing & Scaling
In the Root phase, the pronouns “us” and “we” begin to emerge as shared identity. A small, consistent group shows up regularly. Individuals are free self-select into roles and tasks. This requires formation of agreements to govern decision-making, conflict navigation, and daily rhythms. Physical plans solidify, financial pathways clarify, and legal entities take shape. The village is rooting and emerging as a thing with enough concrete aspects that some folks begin to arrange their lives to become founders/members. As the root phase completes, a founder group has officially formed and made commitments. Plans are finalized. Permits are sought. Builders are interviewed. Corporate entities are formed.
DREAM
ROOT
BUILD
LIVE
SEED
CULTURE & CARE | | |
BUILT ENVIRONMENT | | |
FINANCIAL & LEGAL | | |
OPERATIONS & GOVERNANCE | | |
LAND STEWARDSHIP | | |
BUILD: Creating foundations for community and place
Buckle up, here we go!! This is the (sweaty) focused, operational phase. During the build phase, the village leverages the deep relational, legal and planning work we've done in earlier stages to create tangible, visible reality. Physical infrastructure expands alongside legal and financial systems. Governance becomes more distributed, requiring stronger community operations and clearer care practices. Agreements developed in the root phase have created a decision making process that is more distributed, which also requires more community care and process. Care systems are actively tested, stretched, and refined. The village proves its capacity to support people, projects, and increasing complexity.
DREAM
ROOT
BUILD
LIVE
SEED
CULTURE & CARE | | |
BUILT ENVIRONMENT | | |
FINANCIAL & LEGAL | | |
OPERATIONS & GOVERNANCE | | |
LAND STEWARDSHIP | | |
LIVE: Stewarding & Evolving
The village operates as an ongoing community. Governance, operations, and care systems are shared and collectively maintained. Physical spaces are lived in, financial systems are sustained, and legal structures support continuity. New members integrate through established processes, and attention shifts from creation to stewardship and evolution. A thriving village becomes both a stable home and a source of inspiration — sharing lessons learned and offering support, knowledge, and surplus back into the wider world.
DREAM
ROOT
BUILD
LIVE
SEED
CULTURE & CARE | | |
BUILT ENVIRONMENT | | |
FINANCIAL & LEGAL | | |
OPERATIONS & GOVERNANCE | | |
LAND STEWARDSHIP | | |
Village is a mindset, but it is also a place.
We’ve jump-started village by renting and buying 2 more houses in the neighborhood near the seed site. We have subdivided the big property to make lots for new houses. We are doing real farming activities to establish permissions to do cool things on the land that are typically not allowed for single family residentials. We are meeting regularly and starting formal events in Autumn 2026.
Anita & Alana
Yashapi
Quanta & Cutty
Farmhouse
Rayellen & Charlie
New Lot
New Lot
Governance, leadership, what we call ourselves, etc. is rapidly emerging, and IT IS REALLY HAPPENING.
New Lot
Future Yashapi Center
Olamina Commons
Across these spaces, we already share community resources including: a care and culture framework oriented around Circle practices, a gathering space, a garden, a fire circle, a hot tub,guest rooms, and aspace for an art/grow room.