What is an Intentional Community?

[Guest guest]

What is an intentional community? For many people, the idea of an

intentional community doesn't ring a bell even though it has been in

practice for thousands of years. In essence, an intentional community

is a group of people coming together in a place they create to live in

some particular way. The variety of intentional communities is nearly

infinite: some are religious, some are not; politics run the gamut;

they are large and small, rural and urban, ecologically minded and

materialistic. They include monasteries, communes, anarchic squatter

houses, cooperative housing, co-housing, kibbutzim, Christian activist

communities, Shaker communities, and many other kinds of groups.

Making generalizations about intentional communities is about as

accurate as making generalizations about people.

One of the few things that can be said about most intentional

communities across the board is that they are built on a stronger

sense of community than is common in a conventional setting. People

know each other better, work and/or play together, and in most cases

share some values, goals, or beliefs. There are real advantages to

living in a place of this kind for people who are open to being an

integral part of their communities.

For most purposes, groups that don't live together aren't intentional

communities in the sense meant here; the term also cannot apply to

'planned developments' and similar places for two reasons: first, the

groups of people who come to them do not necessarily come together in

any meaningful sense. Second, the environment is created by some

external planning group that then sells homes or lots or living units,

rather than being created by the residents

The real power of this idea is the thought that the ways people live

in the Western world today are not the only ways to live. For

Meadowdance, this is attractive because we can build a place where

people are supportive rather than dismissive of children; where

ecology is a primary focus rather than a weakly implemented

afterthought; and where value is placed on people, relationships, and

the natural world rather than on money and possessions. Other groups

are attracted by being able to share religious or artistic or other

values.

The term " community " is often used as shorthand for " intentional

community " ; however, this is not meant to imply that intentional

communities are the only kind of real community there are, only to

help get around the fact that " intentional community " is such a mouthful.

Are intentional communities communes? The term " commune " can mean many

different things; while some people use it as equivalent to

" intentional community " , this usage might be confusing in certain

circumstances. One fairly precise definition of a commune is a

community where all resources are shared equally or based on need. In

this sense, communes are intentional communities, but most intentional

communities are not communes. Some people associate communes also with

anarchy, drug use, irresponsibility, lack of financial stability, a

temporary lifespan, and/or a " hippy " lifestyle. These associations

don't apply to most intentional communities, so the term commune is

often not a helpful one when talking about intentional communities.

-- Luc Reid, 23 April 1999