research paper on village development

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Published: 08 July 2022

A critical examination of a community-led ecovillage initiative: a case of Auroville, India

Abhishek Koduvayur Venkitaraman ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-8515-257X 1 &
Neelakshi Joshi ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-8947-1893 2

Climate Action volume 1 , Article number: 15 ( 2022 ) Cite this article

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Sustainability

Human settlements across the world are attempting to address climate change, leading to changing paradigms, parameters, and indicators for defining the path to future sustainability. In this regard, the term ecovillage has been increasingly used as models for sustainable human settlements. While the term is new, the concept is an old one: human development in harmony with nature. However, materially realizing the concept of an ecovillage is not without challenges. These include challenges in scaling up and transferability, negative regional impacts and struggles of functioning within larger capitalistic and growth-oriented systems. This paper presents the case of Auroville, an early attempt to establish an ecovillage in Southern India. We draw primarily from the ethnographic living and working experience of the authors in Auroville as well as published academic literature and newspaper articles. We find that Auroville has proven to be a successful laboratory for providing bottom-up, low cost and context-specific ecological solutions to the challenges of sustainability. However, challenges of economic and social sustainability compound as the town attempts to scale up and grow.

Graphical abstract

Sustainability and social transformation: the role of ecovillages in confluence with the pluriverse of community-led alternatives

Reviving natural history, building ecological civilisation: the philosophy and social significance of the Natural History Revival Movement in contemporary China

The paradox of collective climate action in rural U.S. ecovillages: ethnographic reflections and perspectives

Introduction.

Scientists have repeatedly argued and emphasized for an equilibrium between human development and the basic ecological support systems of the planet (IPCC 2014 ; United Nations 1987 ). Human settlements have been important in this regard as places of concentrated human activity (Edward & Matthew E, 2010 ; Scott and Storper 2015 ). Settlement planning has responded to this call through visions of the eco-city as a proposal for building the city like a living system with a land use pattern supporting the healthy anatomy of the whole city and enhance its biodiversity, while resonating its functions with sustainability (Barton 2013 ; Register 1987 ; Roseland 1997 ). In planning practice, this means balancing between economic growth, social justice, and environmental well-being (Campbell 1996 ). However, the concept of eco-cities remains top-down in its approach with city authorities taking a lead in involving the civil society and citizens to implement the city’s environment plan (Joss 2010a , b ).

Contrary to the idea of eco-cities, ecovillages are small-scale, bottom-up sites for experimentation around sustainable living. Ecovillages resonate the same core principles of an eco-city but combine the social, ecological, and spiritual aspects of human existence (Gilman 1991 ). Findhorn Ecovillage in Scotland is one of the oldest and most prominent ecovillages in the world and has collaborations with the United Nations and was named as a best practice community (Lockyer and Veteto 2013 ).

Another notable example is the Transitions Town movement that started in Totnes, United Kingdom but has now spread all over the world (Hopkins 2008 ; Smith 2011 ). The movement focuses upon supporting community-led responses to peak oil and climate change, building resilience and happiness. Additionally, it emphasizes rebuilding local agriculture and food production, localizing energy production along with rediscovering local building materials in the context of zero energy building (Hopkins 2008 ). Ecological districts within the urban fabric are also termed as ecovillages (Wolfram 2017 ).

Ecovillages are intentional communities characterized by alternative lifestyles, values, economics and governance systems (Joss 2010a , b ; Ergas 2010 ). At the same time ecovillages are located within and interact with growth-oriented capitalistic systems (Price et al. 2020 ). This dichotomy presents a challenge for ecovillages as they put ideas of sustainability transformation into practice. We explore some of these contradictions through the case study of Auroville, an ecovillage located in southern India. A discussion on the gaps between the ideas of an ecovillage against their lived reality throws light upon the challenges that ecovillages face when they attempt to grow. We begin by elaborating the key characteristics of ecovillages in the “Characteristics of ecovillages” section. We then present our material and methods in the “Methodology” section. Furthermore, we use the key characteristics of an ecovillage as a framework for analysing and discussing Auroville in the “Auroville, an ecovillage in South India” and “Discussion” sections. We conclude with a reflection on the concept of ecovillages.

Characteristics of ecovillages

The concept of an ecovillage is broad and has multiple interpretations. Based on a reading of the existing literature on ecovillages, we summarize some of their key characteristics here:

Alternative lifestyles and values : Ecovillage can be seen as intentional communities (Ergas 2010 ) and social movements which have a common stance against unsustainable modes of living and working (Kirby 2003 ; Snow et al. 2004 ). Ecovillages advocate for achieving an alternate lifestyle involving a considerable shift in power from globalized values to those internalized in local community autonomy. Therefore many ecovillages aspire to restructure power distribution and foster a spirit of collective and transparent decision-making (Boyer 2015 ; Cunningham and Wearing 2013 ). However, it is difficult to convince many people to believe in a common value system since the vision is to establish a world that is not only ecologically sustainable but also personally rewarding in terms of self-sacrifice for a good cause (Anderson 2015 ).

Governance : ecovillages tend to rely on a community-based governance and there is an assumption that the local and regional communities respond more effectively to local environmental problems since these problems pertain to the local context and priorities (Van Bussel et al. 2020 ). In a community-based governance system, activities are organized and carried out through participatory democracy committed to consensual decision-making. However, participatory democracy has its own set of problems. Consensual decision-making is time-consuming, and the degree of participation tends to vary from time to time (Fischer 2017 ). Participatory processes have also been criticized on the grounds for slowing down the decision-making process and resulting in a weak final agreement which doesn’t balance competing interests (Alterman et al. 1984 ).

Economic models in an ecovillages : ecovillages have attempted to combine economic objectives along with the overall well-being of people and have experimented with budgetary solutions appealing to a wider society (Hall 2015 ). As grassroots initiatives, ecovillages have advocated and practised living in community economies (Roelvink and Gibson-Graham 2009 ) and have influenced twentieth century economic practices beyond their geographical boundaries (Boyer 2015 ). Due to the emphasis on sharing in ecovillages, they can be considered to accommodate diverse economies (Gibson-Graham 2008 ) where human needs are met through relational exchanges and non-monetary practices, highlighting strong social ties (Waerther 2014 ). In some ecovillages, living expenses are reduced by sharing costly assets and saving cost on building materials by bulk buying and growing food for community consumption and sale (Pickerill 2017 ). These economic models have their own merit but are perhaps insufficient for the long-term economic sustainability of ecovillages (Price et al. 2020 ). Eventually, ecovillages might have to rely on external sources to import goods and services which cannot be produced on-site. This contradicts the ecovillage principles of being a self-reliant economy, reduction of its carbon footprint and minimizing resource consumption, thus implying a dependence on the market economy of the region (Bauhardt 2014 ).

Self-sufficiency : fulfilling the community’s needs within the available resources is a cornerstone principle for many ecovillages (Gilman 1991 ). This is often achieved through organic farming, permaculture, renewable energy and co-housing. Such measures are an attempt to offset and mitigate unsustainable development and limit the ecovillage’s ecological footprint (Litfin 2009 ). The initial small scale of the community often allows for this. However, as ecovillages grow in size and complexity, the interconnectedness and inter-dependence to the surrounding space become more apparent (Joss 2010a , b ). Examples include drawing resources from central energy and water systems (Xue 2014 ). Furthermore, ecovillages might turn out to be desirable places to live, with better quality of life, driving up land and property prices in the region as well as carbon emissions with additional visitors (Mössner and Miller 2015 ). Furthermore, in their role as catalysts of change in transforming society, ecovillages need to interact with their external surroundings and neighbouring communities, the municipalities, and the state and national level policies (Dawson and Lucas 2006 ; Kim 2016 ). This is particularly relevant in the Global South, where the ecovillage development has the potential to drive regional-scale sustainable development.

The characteristics of an ecovillage, however, do not exist in a geographical vacuum. Scholarly understanding of ecovillages as bottom-up efforts to drive sustainability transitions largely draw from the experiences of the Global North (Wagner 2012 ). Such ecovillage models often challenge the dominant capitalistic paradigm of post-industrial development, overconsumption and growth. Locating ecovillages in the Global South requires an expansion or re-evaluation of their larger socio-economic context as well as their socio-ecological impacts (Dias et al. 2017 ; Litfin 2009 ) .

To build upon the opportunities and challenges of ecovillages, locating them within the context of the Global South, we present the case of Auroville, an ecovillage located in southern India.

Methodology

We use the initial theoretical framework of ecovillage characteristics as a starting point for developing the case study of Auroville. Here, we draw from academic literature published about Auroville during 1968–2021. We also draw inferences from self-published reports and documents by the Auroville Foundation. Although we cover multiple interconnected aspects of Auroville, the characteristics pertaining to an ecovillage remain the focus of our work. We review the literature sources deductively, drawing on aspects of values, governance, economics and self-reliance, established in the previous section.

We triangulate the secondary data sources against our ethnographic experience of having lived and worked in Auroville for extended periods of time (2010–2012 and 2013–2014, respectively). We have worked in Auroville as architects and urban planners. During this time, we participated in multiple meetings on Auroville’s development as part of our work. We have discussed aspects of Auroville’s sustainability with Aurovillians working on diverse aspects, from urban planning to regional integration. Furthermore, living and working in Auroville brought us in conversation with several individuals from villages surrounding Auroville, employed in Auroville. For writing this case study, we have revisited our lived experience of Auroville through memory, research and work diaries maintained during this period, photographs as well our previously published research articles (Venkitaraman 2017 ; Walsky and Joshi 2013 ). Given our expertise in architecture and planning, we have also presented the translation of the key characteristics of an ecovillage, namely, alternative values, governance and economic systems and self-reliance, in these domains.

We acknowledge certain limitations to our methodology. We rely largely on secondary data to expand upon the challenges and contradictions in an ecovillage. We have attempted to overcome this by drawing from our first-hand experience of having lived in Auroville. Although our lived experiences are almost a decade old, we have attempted to compliment it with recently published articles as well as newspaper reports.

The next section presents Auroville as an ecovillage followed by a critical examination of its regional impact, governance, and economic structure.

Auroville, an ecovillage in South India

Foundational values.

Sri Aurobindo was an Indian philosopher and spiritual leader who believed that “man is a transitional being” and developed the practice of integral yoga with the aim of evolving humans into divine beings (Sen 2018 ). His spiritual consort, Mirra Alfassa realized his ideas in material form through a “universal township” which would hopefully contribute to “progress of humanity towards its splendid future”. Auroville was founded in 1968 by Mirra Alfassa, as a township near Pondicherry, India. Alfassa envisioned Auroville to be a “site of material and spiritual research for a living embodiment of an actual human unity” (Alfassa 1968 ). On 28 February 1968, the city was inaugurated with the support of UNESCO and the participation of people from 125 countries who each brought a handful of earth from their homelands to an urn that stands at its centre as a symbolic representation of human unity, the aim of the project. This spiritual foundation has guided the development of the socio-economic structure of Auroville for individual and collective growth (Shinn 1984 ). To translate these spiritual ideas into a material form, Mirra Alfassa provided simple sketches, a Charter, and guiding principles towards human unity (Sarkar 2015 ).

Roger Anger, a French architect translated Alfassa’s dream into the Auroville City Plan that continues to inform the physical development of Auroville (Kundoo 2009 ). The Auroville Masterplan 2025 envisions Auroville to be a circular township (Fig. 1 ) spread over a 20 sq. km (Auroville Foundation 2001 ). Initially planned for a population of 50,000 people, today Auroville today has 3305 residents hailing from 60 countries (Auroville Foundation 2021 ). Since its early days, there has been a divide between the “organicists” and the “constructionists” of Auroville (Kapur 2021 ). The organicists have a bottom-up vision of low impact and environmentally friendly development whereas the constructionists have a top-down vision of sticking with the original masterplan and realize an urban, dense version of Auroville.

A map of Auroville and its surrounding regions, with the main villages in the area

Auroville has served as a laboratory of low-cost and low-impact building construction, transportation, and city planning. Although the term sustainability has not been explicitly used in the Charter, it has been central to the city planning and building development process in Auroville (Walsky and Joshi 2013 ). Unlike many human settlements that negatively impact their ecology, the foundational project of Auroville was land restoration. The initial residents of Auroville were able to grow back parts of the Tropical Dry Evergreen Forest in and around Auroville using top-soil conservation and rainwater harvesting techniques (Blanchflower 2005 ). While the ecological restoration has been lauded both locally and globally, Namakkal ( 2012 ) argues that it is seldom acknowledged that the land was bought from local villagers at low prices and local labour was used to plant the forest as well as build the initial city. At the time of writing this paper, the Auroville Foundation still needs to secure 17% of the land in the city area and nearly 50% of the land for the green belt to realize the original masterplan. However, land prices have gone up substantially as have conflicts in acquiring this land for Auroville (Namakkal 2012 ).

Governance structure

While the Charter of Auroville says that “Auroville belongs to humanity as a whole” (Alfassa 1968 ), in reality, it is governed by a well-defined set of individuals. Auroville’s first few years, between 1968 and 1973, were guided directly by Mirra Alfassa. After her passing, there was a power struggle between the Sri Aurobindo Society, claiming control over the project, and the community members striving for autonomy (Kapur 2021 ).

The Government of India founded the Auroville Foundation Act in 1988 providing in the public interest, the acquisition of all assets and undertakings relatable to Auroville. These assets were ultimately vested in the Auroville Foundation which was formed in January 1991 (Auroville. 2015 ). The Auroville Foundation envisioned a notion of a planned future, resulting in a new masterplan in 1994. This masterplan encouraged participatory planning and recognized that the architectural vision needs to proceed in a democratic manner. This prompted the Auroville community to adopt a more structured form of governance. The Auroville Foundation has other governing institutions under it, namely: The Governing Board which has overall responsibility for Auroville’s development, The International Advisory Council, which advises the Governing Board on the management of the township and the Residents’ Assembly who organize activities relating to Auroville and formulate the master plan. Furthermore, there are committees and working groups for different aspects of development from waste management to building development.

Auroville is an example of the ‘bottom-up’ approach, in the sense that developments are decided and implemented by the community and the state level and national level governments get involved later (Sarkar 2015 ). An example of this is seen in the regular meetings held by the Town Development Council of Auroville which also conducted a weeklong workshop in 2019 for the community which covered themes such as place-making, dimensions of water and strategies for liveable cities and community planning (Ministry of Human Reource Development Government of India 2021 ).

Conflicts often arise between the interpretation of the initial masterplan and the present day realities and aspiration of the residents (Walsky and Joshi 2013 ). This is often rooted in the initial vision of Auroville as a city of 50,000 versus its current reality of being an ecovillage of around 3000 people. Spatially, this unusual growth pattern has been problematic in Auroville’s building and mobility planning (Venkitaraman 2017 ). At the time of writing this paper, there is a clash between the Residents’ Assembly and the Auroville Foundation over the felling of trees for the construction of the Crown Road project inside Auroville (The Hindu 2021 ). While the Residents’ Assembly wants a re-working of the original masterplan considering the ecological damage through tree cutting, the Auroville Foundation wants to move ahead with the original city vision.

Beyond its boundaries, Auroville is surrounded by numerous rural settlements, namely, Kuyilapalyam, Edayanchavadi, Alankuppam, Kottakarai, and Attankarai. The Auroville Village Action Group (AVAG) aims to help the village communities to strive towards sustainability and find plausible solutions to the problems of contemporary rural life. In September 1970, a charter was circulated among the sub-regional villages of Auroville, promising better employment opportunities and higher living standards with improved health and sanitation facilities (Social Research Centre Auroville 2005 ). Currently, there are about 13 groups for the development of the Auroville sub-region. However, Jukka ( 2006 ) points out that the regional development vision of Auroville is top-down and does not sufficiently engage with the villagers and their aspirations.

Auroville’s economic model

Auroville has also strived to move away from money as a foundation of society to a distinctive economic model exchange and sharing (Kapoor 2007 ). However, Auroville needs money to realize its multiple land and building projects. Auroville also receives various donations and grants. During 2018–2019, Auroville received around Rs. 2396 lakhs (around 4 million USD) under Foreign Contributions Regulation Act (FCRA) and other donations. The Central Government of India supports the Auroville Foundation with annual grants for Auroville’s management and for the running costs of the Secretariat of the Foundation, collectively known as Grant-in-Aid. Auroville received a total of Rs. 1463 lakhs (around 2 million USD) as Grant-in-Aid during 2018–2019. The income generated by Auroville during this time was Rs. 687 lakhs (around 91,000 USD) (Ministry of Human Reource Development Government of India 2021 ).

Presently, the economy of Auroville is based on manufacturing units and services with agriculture being an important sector, and currently, there are about 100 small and medium manufacturing units. The service sector of Auroville comprises of construction and architectural services and research and training in various sectors (Auroville Foundation 2001 ). In addition to this, tourism is another important source of income generation for Auroville. As per the Annual Report of Auroville Foundation, the donations and income have not been consistent over the years. In this regard, Auroville’s growth pattern in terms of the economy has not been linear and it does not mimic the usual growth patterns associated with the development of counterparts, in terms of capitalization, finance, governance, and on key issues such as distribution policies and ownership rights (Thomas and Thomas 2013 ).

Auroville also benefits from labour from the surrounding villages. The nature of employment provided in Auroville to villages remains largely in low-paying jobs (Namakkal 2012 ). It can be argued that the fruits of Auroville’s development have not been equally shared with the surrounding villages and a feeling of ‘us and them’ still pervades. Striving for human unity is the central tenet of Auroville (Shinn 1984 ), however, it has struggled to do so with its immediate neighbours.

Striving for self-sufficiency

Auroville has strived for self-sufficiency in terms of food production from local farms, energy production from renewable sources like solar and wind sources and waste management.

Many prominent buildings of Auroville have been designed keeping in mind the self-sufficiency principle in Auroville. For example, the Solar Kitchen was designed by architect Suhasini Ayer as a demonstration project to tap the solar energy potential of the region. At present, this building is used for cooking meals thrice a day for over 1000 people. The Solar Kitchen also supports the organic farming sector in Auroville by being the primary purchaser of the locally grown products (Ayer 1997 ). Another example is the Auroville Earth Institute, renowned for its Compressed and Stabilized Earth Block (CSEB) technique, which constitute natural and locally found soil as one of its main ingredients (Figs. 2 and 3 ).

Compressed earth blocks manufactured by Auroville Earth Institute

A residence in Auroville constructed using compressed earth blocks

However, it is important to acknowledge that Auroville does not exist as a 100% self-sufficient bubble. For example, food produced in Auroville provides for only 15% of the consumption (Auroville Foundation 2004 ). An initial attempt to calculate the ecological footprint of Auroville estimates it to be 2.5 Ha, against the average footprint of an Indian of 0.8 Ha (Greenberg 1998 ). Furthermore, though Auroville has strived for material innovation in architecture, it has not been successful in achieving 25 sq. metres as the limit to individual living space (Walsky and Joshi 2013 ). This challenges the notion of Auroville continuing to be an ecovillage if it aspires to be a city of 50,000 people and might end up having substantial ecological impact on its surroundings.

Urban sustainability transformation in a rapidly urbanizing world runs into the risk of focusing on technological fixes while overlooking the social and ecological impacts of growth. In this light, bottom-up initiatives like ecovillages serve as a laboratory for testing alternative and holistic models of development. Auroville, a 53-year-old ecovillage in southern India, has achieved this to a certain extent. Auroville is a showcase of land regeneration, biodiversity restoration, alternative building technologies as well as experimentations in alternative governance and economic models. In this paper, we have critically examined some achievements and challenges that Auroville has faced in realizing its initial vision of being a “city that the world needs” (Alfassa 1968 ). Lessons learnt from Auroville help deepen our understanding of ecovillages as sites of fostering alternative development practices. Here we discuss three aspects of this research:

Alternate lifestyles and values in the context of an ecovillage : Ecovillages are niches providing space for realizing alternative values and lifestyles. However, ecovillages seldom exist in a vacuum. They are physically situated in existing societies and economies. Although residents in an ecovillage seek to achieve collective identity by creating an alternative society, an ecovillage is embedded within a larger culture and thus, the prevailing ideologies of the dominant society affect the ecovillage (Ergas 2010 ) as seen in Auroville. This can be noticed between the material and knowledge flows in and out of Auroville. Furthermore, the India of the 1970s when Auroville was born with socialist values is very different from present-day India where material and capitalistic aspirations are on the rise. These are reflected in higher land prices and living costs in and around Auroville. Amidst the transforming political landscape of India in the 1970s, there were implications which were seen in the character of architectural production. Auroville welcomed and immersed itself into this era of experimentation. These developments form an integral part of the ethos of Auroville. To achieve its initial visions, Auroville depends on multiple external economic sources. In analysing ecovillages, it is important to critically examine the broader context within which they are located and how they influence and, in turn, are influenced by their contexts.

Even though Auroville’s architects and urban planners remain committed to their belief that architecture is a primary tool of community - building, decades later, the developments seem to have progressed at a slow pace. The number of permanently settled residents in Auroville has barely reached 2000 currently and the overall urban design remains fragmentary. Despite witnessing a slower rate of progress, it has been able to sustain a culture of innovation and Auroville remains utopian in its aim to create an alternative lifestyle (Scriver and Srivastava 2016 ).

Governance, economy, and self-sufficiency in an ecovillage that wants to be an eco-city : In growth-based societies, ecovillages present the possibility of providing an alternative vision of degrowth (Xue 2014 ). However, Auroville currently functions as an ecovillage that aspires to be an eco-city as per its initial masterplan. This growth-based model sometimes conflicts with Auroville’s vision of being a self-reliant, non-monetary society. Given the urgent need to remain within our planetary limits, ecovillages like Auroville could re-evaluate their initial growth-based visions and explore alternatives for achieving sustainability and well-being. The visions of ecovillages should thus not be set in stone, but rather remain flexible to evolving ideas and practices (Ergas 2010 ).

Similarly, governance structures might need a re-evaluation with changing priorities within the ecovillage as well as a need to be inclusive of regional visions and voices. It would be intriguing to explore on what kind of governance model/leadership is best suited to fulfil the aims of an ecovillage. Auroville seems to follow the elements of sustainability-oriented governance: empowerment, engagement, communication, openness and transparency (Bubna-Litic 2008 ), yet it is seen that conflicts arise. One solution to this could be greater external engagement with government and continuing to engage the external community about Auroville. Generally, intentional communities are organized by embracing the ideology of consensus, but it remains to be seen whether the consensus decision-making model works to its full potential in the context of alternative lifestyles. When individuals seek alternative lifestyles in the current world, there is a shift from globalized values towards local community autonomy, this shift demands a need for processes that allow for a different and more equitable approach to governance (Cunningham and Wearing 2013 ).

Ecovillages in the Global South : Situating ecovillages in the Global South requires a nuanced examination of the social, economic, and environmental aspects of sustainability that the ecovillage aims to achieve (Dias et al. 2017 ; Litfin 2009 ). In the case of Auroville, Auroville has helped bring back ecologically restorative practices in forestry, agriculture, and architecture in the region. However, the average Aurovillian has a higher standard of living than the neighbouring villagers. This in-turn influences the material consumption practices within the community. The lessons in sustainable living, in ecovillages located in the Global South, need not be unidirectional (from the ecovillage to the surrounding society). Rather, the ecovillage also stands to lean from the existing models of low-impact living.

Ecovillages in the Global South such as Auroville face similar problems related to Governance as seen in some other ecovillages in the developed world such as The Aldinga Arts Village in South Australia (Bubna-Litic 2008 ) and in Sweden (Bardici 2014 ). However, despite the issues related to consensus in Governance, the ecovillages are noted for their sustainable innovations.

Auroville’s sustainable measures have been endorsed by the Government of India as well. The Auroville Master Plan for 2000–2025 has been dedicated to creating an environmentally sustainable urban settlement which integrates the neighbourhood rural areas. The surrounding Green Belt, intended to be a fertile zone is presently being used for applied research in various sectors such as water management, food production, and soil conservation. The results promise a replicable model which could be used in urban and rural areas alike (Kapoor 2007 ).

To address the expansion and re-evaluation of the larger socio-economic context of Auroville and its socio-ecological impacts, as enunciated by Dias et al. ( 2017 ) and Kutting and Lipschutz (2009), a proposal for a sustainable regional plan was prepared in 2012 jointly by Government of India, ADEME (French Environment and Energy Management Agency), INTACH (Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage) and PondyCAN (An NGO which works to preserve and enhance the natural, social, cultural and spiritual environment of Pondicherry). The report was prepared and aimed to be a way forward for unique and diverse communities to grow together as a single entity and to develop a holistic model for future development in this region. This report takes into consideration the surrounding villages and districts around Auroville: Puducherry, Viluppuram and Cuddalore (ADEME, INTACH, PondyCAN,, and Government of India 2012 ).

The concept of eco-cities in urban planning is defined as utopias, hard to achieve standards of human settlements. Ecovillages emerge as small-scale realization of the ideas of an eco-city. Over the years, the alternative practices of Auroville have served as an educational platform for researchers, students, and the civil society alike. However, realizing alternative ecological lifestyles, governance and economic system and self-sufficiency struggle with challenges and contradictions as the ecovillage interact with a larger growth-oriented capitalistic system. Although ecovillages are sites of experimentation, they are seldom insular space. Regional impacts of and on ecovillage are important in analysing their developmental trajectories. Finally, the vision of ecovillages needs to evolve as the ecovillage as well is surroundings grow and change. Experiments in ecovillages like Auroville remind us that alternative visions of human settlements come with opportunities and challenges and are a work-in-progress in achieving a more sustainable future. There is further potential to understand the consensus-based approach and the governance models in an ecovillage in a better manner.

It can be deduced from the findings that ecovillages as catalysts of urban sustainability have a lot of potentials and challenges. The potential is in terms of devising an alternate lifestyle based on an alternative style of governance while the challenges include the local ecological impact and the difficulty in consensus about certain things. There is a future possibility to explore other conditions which facilitate the mainstream translation of ecovillage practices and how future ecovillages can progress to the next level (Kim 2016 ; Norbeck 1999 ).

Availability of data and materials

Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.

ADEME, INTACH, PondyCAN, & Government of India (2012) Sustainable Regional Planning Framework for Puducherry. Viluppuram, Auroville and Cuddalore

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Koduvayur Venkitaraman, A., Joshi, N. A critical examination of a community-led ecovillage initiative: a case of Auroville, India. Clim Action 1 , 15 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s44168-022-00016-3

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IRJET- Research Paper on Development of Ahirwadi Village as Smart Village

2021, IRJET

This Research paper deals with the study and development of village as a smart village. The community, individuals and collectively, will be empowered to take smart decisions using smart technologies, communication and innovation. Basic concept of smart village is to collect community efforts and strength of people from various streams and integrate it with information technology to provide benefits to the rural community. At the same time, a "Smart Village" will ensure good education, better infrastructure, proper sanitation facility, health facilities, waste management, renewable energy, environment protection, clean drinking water, resource use efficiency ,etc.

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Human society is progressing with fast urge and accumulated various successes for making its sustenance. The civilization gone through for various changes affiliated to its development through different accelerators like green revaluation, science and technology, industrial development etc. The present era is intensified on Information and Communication Technology. The increasing population of the world makes it necessary to alleviate the cities and villages to serve in a smart way. Hence, the idea of Smart cities came into being. Smart Villages are the need of the hour as development is needed for both rural and urban areas for improved livelihood. The impulsive motive behind the concept on “Smart Village " is that the technology .Now it's need of the hour is - integrated planning ,strategy, and above all monitoring and execution of the activities using proper governance models to work properly for the real future of emerging India. This paper has made an attempt to discuss the initiatives factors of the smart village and its implications. It focuses on the key areas as vision and need for smart villages, approaches, government programmes, technology used for smart villages ,areas of interest in smart village and it outcomes expected.

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When structural factors that cause interethnic violence work in favour of peace: The story of Baljvine, a warless Bosnian-Herzegovinian peace mosaic

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Published: 13 May 2024

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Faris Kočan 1 ,
Janja Vuga Beršnak 1 &
Rok Zupančič 1

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In this paper, we analyse the dynamics of interethnic relations in Baljvine, a village in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), where local Bosniaks and Serbs did not resort to interethnic violence that otherwise marked most of BiH during the last war. Drawing on structural factors that shed light on the dynamics of relations in post-conflict societies where interethnic violence occurred, the aim is to explain why and how bloodshed was prevented in Baljvine during the last war. To achieve this, we employ a multi-method research approach, combining qualitative observation with participation and interviews with the villagers. The results show that intersubjective motivations and a set of smaller coincidences in Baljvine affected structural factors and resulted in avoidance of interethnic violence. This enabled us to coin the concept of “peace mosaic” to demonstrate how several smaller pieces have to align in a community to allow it to remain peaceful. The key contribution is in advancing the argument that the structural factors that explain interethnic violence can also work in favour of peace.

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The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author.

A contemporary instance of such a trajectory can be illustrated by the case of the Russian Federation’s full-scale aggression against Ukraine. This event not only captured the attention of IR scholars, as highlighted by Burlyuk and Musliu ( 2023 ), but also spurred an extraordinary surge in military budgets worldwide. The latter was further underscored by the 2023 report issued by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), which showed that world military expenditure rose by 3.7% in real terms in 2022, to reach a record high of 2240 billion USD.

Republika Srpska is one of the two (semi-) autonomous entities in BiH, populated mostly by Bosnian Serbs.

Armakolas (2012), focusing on wartime city of Tuzla, showed how new political structures, legacies of the past, pre-existing institutions, networds and creative policymaking were used for both fostering and defusing the conflict.

Moore ( 2013 ), focusing on post-war Mostar and Brčko, highlighted how the design of political institutions, the sequencing of political and economic reforms, local and regional legacies from the war, and the practice and organization of international peacebuilding efforts, overcome divisions that continue to stymie the postwar peace process in BiH.

While Saulich and Werthes ( 2018 ) define such places as non-war communities, Kaldor ( 1999 ) calls them ”islands of civility”. Autesserre ( 2014 ), for example, coined such places as ”peace islands” or ”islands of peace”. Stemming from this, we define Baljvine as ”village of peace”.

In 2003, the archaeological site of 'stećci' (monumental tombstones) in Baljvine – dating back to medieval times – was designated as a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Commission to Preserve National Monument, 2003).

In September 2022, we talked to Prof. Dr. Husnija Kamberović and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Max Bergholz in order to obtain relevant literature on happenings in Bosanska Krajina region during WWII. Based on their recommendations, we contacted Mr. Dino Dupanović, a local archivist at the Museum of Una-Sana Canton in Bihać, and Mr. Vladan Vukliš, assistant director of the Arhiv Republike Srpske in Banja Luka. Wealso talked to David Humar, brigadier of the Slovenian Armed Forces, with whom we discussed the doctrine and operational level of the Yugoslav People’s Army, based on which the Army of RS functioned during the Bosnian war.

In April 2022, we conducted interviews with three (older) inhabitants of Baljvine who lived in the village during the Bosnian war. One of them was also a member of the 'interethnic commission', which outlined everyday life in Baljvine amidst the presence of the Republika Srpska army in the village.

In December 2022 and January 2023, we exchanged several e-mails, held three telephone conversations and conducted two interviews with local officers of the Army of Republika Srpska and the commanding police officer for the Mrkonjić Grad and its surroundings. These individuals were all engaged with everyday dynamics in Baljvine in 1992 in the crucial period when the threat of bloodshed loomed large.

Today known as Kneževo.

Ustasha, a nationalistic and racist movement responsible also for the assassination of the Yugoslav king Alexander in 1934, were founded by Ante Pavelić. At the outbreak of WWII and the collapse of the Yugoslav regime in 1941, he became the leader of a fascist puppet state known as the Independent State of Croatia. The ideology of the movement was a blend of fascism, Roman Catholicism and Croatian ultranationalism and based on hatred against Serbs, Jews and Roma.

In 1992, the ethnically-mixed area around Jajce was occupied by the military offensive undertaken by the Army of RS in the period between June–October 1992; Jajce was of strategic importance for broader security of the Banja Luka region.

As stated by an officer of the Army of RS, they first came to the village in June 1992 (after the start of Operation Vrbas '92) when they heard gunfire around the village and saw that the situation in the village was worsening – particularly because of the individuals from surrounding villages that sporadically came to Baljvine and tried to instill fear among the villagers with an aim to sell arms. After the intervention of the Army of RS officer and police commander of Mrkonjić Grad in June 1992, the village was considered 'safe'.

Operation Southern Move was the final Croatian Army (HV) and HVO offensive of the Bosnian war. It began in Croatia and continued into Bosnia-Herzegovina. The offensive displaced 10.000 Bosnian Serb refugees from Mrkonjić Grad.

He mentioned the so-called ”Arkan's Tigers”, which were responsible for numerous war crimes and massacres. They operated, among other, also in Mrkonjić Grad.

Most of them returned a year or two after the Dayton Peace Agreement was signed, meaning that the looting may also have happened at the hands of neighbouring villagers after the end of the war.

The author used the following cases: the Semai (Malaya), Siriono (Bolivia), Kung Bushment (Kalahari desert), Mbuti Pygmies (equatorial Africa), Copper Eskimo (Canada), Hutterities (North America) and the Islanders of Tristan da Cunha (South Pacific).

It was comprised of four individuals (two Bosniaks from Lower Baljvine and two Serbs from Upper Baljvine).

And vice versa, as the now employed villagers buy goods from the local shop, providing the owner with means to survive even if they could get the goods in other (bigger) shop for cheaper.

Dost – translated as a friend – is one of many Turkish words in contemporary language in BiH that describes a strong friendship extending beyond casual everyday interactions greetings.

Abazović, Dino (2014) ‘Reconciliation, Ethnopolitics and Religion in Bosnia-Herzegovina’ in Dino Abazović and Mitja Velikonja, eds., Post-Yugoslavia: New Cultural and Political Perspectives, 35–56, London: Palgrave Macmillan.

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List of interviews

A1, Bosniak local, Baljvine, 11/4/2022

A2, Bosniak local, Baljvine, 12/4/2022

A3, Bosniak local, Baljvine, 12/4/2022

A4, Bosniak local, Baljvine, 14/4/2022

A5, Bosniak local, Baljvine, 13/4/2022

B1, Bosnian Serb local, Baljvine, 15/4/2022

B2, Bosnian Serb local, Baljvine, 12/4/2022

B3, Bosnian Serb local, Baljvine, 13/4/2022

C1, Bosniak local living outside of Baljvine, interviewed via email, 3/1/2023

E1, Local commander of Army of Republika Srpska during the war 1992-95, interviewed via email 18/1/2023

E2, Officer of Army of Republika Srpska during the war 1992-95, Banjaluka, 13/2/2023

E3, Chief of Police of Mrkonjić Grad during the war 1992-95, Banjaluka, 14/2/2023

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank our colleagues and friends from Bosnia and Herzegovina and beyond, who contributed and helped us during our field work in Baljvine: Mirsad Mešić - Žuti, Haris Mekić, Sandra Biletić, Šemsudin Habibović, Dino Dupanović, Husnija Kamberović, Andjela Djordjević and Tjaša Vučko. We would also like to thank Max Bergholz, the Editorial Board of JIRD and three anonymous reviewers, who helped us improve the paper with their valuable comments.

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Faris Kočan, Janja Vuga Beršnak & Rok Zupančič

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This study has been implemented as part of the project Anxious Peace: Anxieties in cities of southeast European post-conflict societies: introducing an integrative approach to peacebuilding. The project led by Dr Rok Zupančič has been funded by the Slovenian Research Agency (Grant N5-0178). The work was also supported by the Agency’s research programmes P5-0206 and P5-0177.

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Kočan, F., Vuga Beršnak, J. & Zupančič, R. When structural factors that cause interethnic violence work in favour of peace: The story of Baljvine, a warless Bosnian-Herzegovinian peace mosaic. J Int Relat Dev (2024). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41268-024-00331-8

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The Woodlands

The RO will be a new green village in the heart of the River Oaks area. (Rendering courtesy of The Boundary)

The Birdsall will be the first Auberge Resorts Collection hotel in Houston. This is a different type of luxury. (Courtesy of Transwestern)

The central lawn at the new mixed-use development dubbed The RO will be a green gathering space with a towering heritage oak. (Courtesy Michael Hsu Office of Architecture)

The RO — a new mixed-use development in the River Oaks area — will keep all the parking on the perimeter and underground, keeping cars out of the center of the project to create a walker's paradise. (Courtesy Michael Hsu Office of Architecture)

Houston’s New River Oaks Village — Meet The RO, a Pedestrian Paradise With a Major Hotel First, a 28-Story High-Rise, Local Restaurants and Leafy Corridors

How a dream team of architects will pull it off for transwestern, and all the auberge hotel buzz.

The RO will be a new green village in the heart of the River Oaks area. (Rendering courtesy of The Boundary)

A ttempting to create a unique new village in the heart of Houston requires a sense of boldness, an audacity of belief. But to pull it off, Transwestern ultimately decided it needed a dream team of architects on its side. These varied architectural visions working in harmony is what will define The RO, a new 17 acre mixed-use development coming to the intersection of West Alabama and Buffalo Speedway with the first Auberge Resorts Collection hotel in the Bayou City.

“We could have done this with one or two (architects),” Transwestern president Carleton Riser tells PaperCity . “We wanted different architects because we wanted the buildings to have their own personality. And the only way to do that is to get different people to do it.

“Cities weren’t designed by one architect.”

Pickard Chilton, most known for designing some of most striking skyscrapers in the world (including Uber Sky Tower in Los Angeles and River Point in Chicago), serves as the master planner on The RO, which will boast a 28-story residential high-rise (317 units) and a seven-story boutique office building with a single tenant. Kohn Pedersen Fox is designing The Birdsall, the Auberge hotel and private residences. Dillon Kyle Architects, a favorite of River Oaks home owners, is tackling the interiors of The Birdsall’s 44 private residences while Roman and Williams (which did San Antonio’s already beloved Hotel Emma ) handles the interiors of the hotel itself. Michael Hsu Office of Architecture has been charged with designing the retail spaces with House & Robertson the architect of record for retail. Kendall/Heaton Associates serves as the architect of record for the office component. OJB — behind both Houston’s Levy Park and Klyde Warren Park in Dallas, and the forthcoming Freedom Plaza in New York City — gets the nod as The RO’s landscape architect.

That roster represents a tremendous amount of architectural clout and knowhow. This new village will be built by a village in many ways.

For project executive Sean Suffel, what he calls “one of the most coveted sites in the city for many decades” demands nothing less. The RO site sits right across from the St. John’s School on the former home of Exxon Mobil’s upstream research campus, which the oil giant owned since the 1940s before selling it in 2017. Having such a large site in the heart of the River Oaks area, one that has Suffel marveling at its perfect geometry, is a developer’s version of finding the holy grail.

To determine the best way to make use of this rare site, the Transwestern team studied mixed-use projects around the country and particularly in Texas, eventually landing on The Pearl in San Antonio as an inspiration for its sense of placemaking.

“The conclusion that we came to is Houston doesn’t really have anything that feels like Houston,” Suffel says. “More specifically, it really doesn’t have anything that feels like the River Oaks area.”

To make sure that The RO does, the master plan calls for all of the parking to be on the periphery and underground, creating a pedestrian-only walker’s paradise at the center of the development. The RO will be marked by leafy avenues of green, where those strolling among the shops and restaurants do not compete with cars. Instead, people will walk on cobblestone pathways with five or six signature oak trees already on site that are being moved to prime locations.

“We want to do something really special with the landscaping that felt like some of these River Oaks estates,” Suffel says.

“I don’t think there is a place like this. We’re creating a little village that I think’s unique to Houston.” — Transwestern president Carleton Riser

Central Lawn at The RO; Rendering courtesy of Michael Hsu Office of Architecture

The RO, Where Pedestrians Rule In Houston

Having a automobile-free environment at the center of it all makes everything else possible at The RO. It may go against nearly every instinct in such a car-centric city as Houston. But that’s the point.

“From our perspective that creates a really, really special place,” Suffel says of keeping the cars out. “I’d argue that there’s nothing like that in the city. And I haven’t seen anything like that in the state.”

As Suffel talks, sitting around a large conference table in Transwestern’s headquarters on the south loop, a rendering of the courtyard outside of The Birdsall hotel is displayed on a big screen on the ball. It’s the image at the top of this story. A scene fit for a postcard. Leafy, almost pastoral and seemingly a world away from the traffic and noise of the fourth largest city in America. This is what this development team wants The RO to feel like when it opens in 2027 (the construction groundbreaking will take place this June).

The Transwestern team behind this feel something of a personal responsibility to make it happen. This special site, this location so close to their offices and their own homes in many cases, adds to this sense of urgency. Even the most experienced developers really only get one shot at a project like this.

“We live in the area. If we get it wrong, we have to move,” Suffel jokes. “We like our houses.”

As Transwestern officials give PaperCity an exclusive preview look at The RO, a giant model sits in the middle of the conference table. All the buildings coming to this mixed-use development are there in miniature, right down to some surprisingly exact detail. You can even see basketball/pickleball/volleyball sports court that will highlight the open air rooftop of the office building, which already has its lone tenant signed on (Suffel declines to reveal the company’s name). That court requires some landscaping that will keep balls from bouncing off the roof onto West Alabama below.

Every details matter. Every little thing adds up to a greater, grander larger whole.

“The conclusion that we came to is Houston doesn’t really have anything that feels like Houston. More specifically, it really doesn’t have anything that feels like the River Oaks area.” — Transwestern project manager Sean Suffel

The Birdsall, a Houston Story and No Ordinary Hotel

To further differentiate The RO, the retail spaces are being pushed out rather than embedded in the buildings’ podium (which is typical). This allows the stores and restaurants to have their own “architectural identity,” Suffel notes.

The 75,000 square feet of retail space will include six to eight restaurants. “The idea is to bring things that are unique to Houston — to partner with the local chef community. This is going to be unique and very interesting stuff,” Suffel says. “We don’t want to translate this to national brands.”

The Birdsall hotel and residences pays homage to a very Houston figure — Birdsall Parmenas Briscoe (1876-1971), whose 50-year architectural career helped shape Houston. Auberge is known for hotels such as the Hotel Jerome in Aspen, but it’s owned by the Houston-based Friedkin Group whose owner and CEO, billionaire and storied AS Roma soccer club owner Dan Friedkin, is friends with Transwestern founder and chairman Robert Duncan, who knew the Friedkins’ long-held desire to open a hotel in Houston.

One that feels anything like some soulless hotel, even an ultra luxurious one, that could be found in any major city. The Birdsall only will have 105 rooms and its 44 private residences will be even more exclusive. While Birdsall residents will have access to all the hotel amenities, they also get resident-only perks of their own. This includes a residents’ library and a private residents’ pool that will be both open air and covered overhead.

Turning to Dillon Kyle Architects which has done so many River Oaks homes to design the interiors of these residences is no coincidence.

“The directive that we gave him is ‘Let’s take something that would be a River Oaks home and just put it in a hotel,’ ” Suffel says.

Auberge only opens hotels in special places. Its billionaire owner is betting that Transwestern and all those world class architects are creating one with The RO.

“I don’t think there is a place like this,” Riser tells PaperCity . “We’re creating a little village that I think’s unique to Houston.”

The Birdsall, Auberge Resorts Collection; Rendering courtesy of

This special site turned out to be the perfect place, the ideal match for such a grand vision. One where influential architects work together, creating a greater whole.

“They’re bouncing ideas off each other,” Transwestern partner Gary Tesch says. “It’s cool to watch all of them play together.”

The RO is just getting started and it’s already defying the odds, creating harmony out of all its different parts. Sometimes going bold is the only thing that could possibly work.

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Welsh leads equity-centered research practice partnership to reduce racial disparities in school discipline

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May 13, 2024, 11:51 AM

By Jenna Somers

Last year, Richard Welsh reported findings on the persistence of racial disparities in exclusionary school discipline practices. Despite suspensions declining over the past decade as schools reformed their policies, exclusionary disciplinary rates remained higher for African American students. Across the South, in-school suspensions (ISS) are particularly prevalent and disruptive to the education of racially minoritized students. Given these facts, Welsh has embarked on a new co-design process of ISS that leverages an existing research-practice partnership with a school district in Georgia to crack the code on truly resolving racial inequities in school discipline policies and practices.

Supported by a $474,178 grant from the William T. Grant Foundation and a $125,000 grant from the American Institutes of Research Equity Initiative, Welsh is leading a three-year project with the school district to understand the role of race and power in equity-centered research-practice partnerships, how the dynamics of the partnership affect partnership activities, and how these activities influence research use by school administrators, district leaders, and school board members.

“These are the three key decisionmakers who can advance racial equity in school districts through policies, programs, and personnel. They make decisions about codes of conduct, which disciplinary programs to implement, and who to hire, including behavioral specialists to support students’ social-emotional development,” said Welsh, associate professor of education and public policy at Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development.

“Improving the use of research evidence among education leaders via equity-centered research-practice partnerships can possibly lead to disruptive decisions necessary to addressing persistent racial inequities in school discipline. Also, turning the analytical lens on ourselves to examine how inequities might manifest in the partnership has implications for partnership and student outcomes,” Welsh added.

The research team will analyze their interviews with key decision makers, research-practice partnership primary investigators, and co-design team members. They will also observe school board meetings, school discipline committee meetings, and partnership meetings, as well as co-design workshops, district- and school-level documents, and materials to record the partnering process as well as the use of research evidence and disruptive decision-making. By engaging in cycles of disciplined inquiry to improve ISS processes, the partnership aims to reach its goal of improving youth outcomes.

The co-design process includes working with a team of school leaders and school personnel at three middle schools to analyze and reimagine their ISS process and infrastructure.

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Innovating Urban Mosquito Control: Introducing Human-Controlled Breeding Sites as a Component of Integrated Mosquito Management (IMM)

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This study introduces a novel method for mosquito control tailored specifically for urban and suburban areas, addressing their unique challenges. The concept of Human-Controlled Breeding Sites (HCBS) is presented as an innovative approach to reducing mosquito populations by providing controlled oviposition sites within households. The paper is structured into three main components. The first details the meticulous development of the HCBS method, the second explores the intricate development of the HCBS device, crucial for effective implementation of the HCBS approach. Finally, the experiment validating the HCBS methodology is described, offering insights into its practical application and efficacy in mosquito population control. Our proposal emphasizes the importance of considering mosquito needs, behavior and preferences in designing effective mosquito control strategies. Gravid mosquitoes must find a suitable place for oviposition, and HCBS provides an easy-access controlled environment for them to do so within households. Contrary to the commonly current recommendation to destroy all possible locations where mosquitoes can lay their eggs, the HCBS methodology provides an opportunity for gravid mosquitoes to oviposit their eggs without being deterred by chemical odors or dead larvae or pupae. It involves waiting for a timespan before effectively collecting and destroying the individuals in one concerted effort with zero impact on the environment and at minimal cost. Successful deposition of eggs by gravid mosquitoes into HCBS devices, followed by their destruction within the designated timeframe, validates the system's efficacy in disrupting the mosquito life cycle. Moreover, our findings demonstrate the significant influence of color selection on HCBS effectiveness, with green HCBS devices attracting the highest number of gravid female mosquitoes for oviposition. These integrated components offer a comprehensive understanding of the HCBS approach, effectively bridging the gap between methodological development, device design, and practical application. The findings underscore HCBS as a valuable addition to mosquito control strategies, with potential applications in diverse environments. Further research is essential to delve into and model the long-term effectiveness of HCBS, aiming to optimize its design for maximum efficacy and scalability. This includes studying its performance over extended periods and refining the design parameters to enhance its functionality and widespread applicability including the use of disaster risk management systems.

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The authors have declared no competing interest.

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This study did not receive any funding

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Implementing SDGs to a Sustainable Rural Village Development from
Rural depopulation is a worldwide fact and has a domino effect on medium and small cities, which act as a nucleus of reference for small towns. Moreover, the United Nations (UN) stressed that disparities between rural and urban areas are pronounced and still growing over time. Globally, people in rural areas lack access to modern energy services, which affects productivity, educational and ...
(PDF) SMART VILLAGES AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT
strengths, threats, opportunities, and weaknesses of a certain rural area. Apart from the theoretical definition. of smart villages, this paper aims to analyse European regulations of smart ...
(PDF) Smart Village: A new dynamic to end rural urban gap and move
Somwanshi R, Shindepatil U, Tule D, Mankar A, Ingle N. Study and development of village as a smart Village, International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, 2016, 7(6). Jan 2021 8
How has rural tourism influenced the sustainable development of
Regarding the research methods employed, more than half of the 92 papers (53.8%) utilized exclusively qualitative research methods. Qualitative methodologies allow researchers to obtain comprehensive understanding of the experiences, attitudes, and opinions of persons participating in the development of traditional village tourism.
(PDF) Model Villages Led Rural Development: A Review of Conceptual
The paper highlights some of the notable Model Village efforts of India and what have been their development indicators in the backdrop of global inventory of Rural Development Indicators.
Smart Villages: Comprehensive Review of Initiatives and Practices
Over recent decades, people's (rural and urban) communities are facing numerous social and economic changes and challenges. Some of those challenges have been increasingly addressed through the lenses of technological developments and digitalization. In this paper, we have made a review of already existing practices while focusing on the existing implementations of the Smart Village concept ...
PDF Ecovillages as a Solution to Global Challenges
This paper argues that the rise in ecovillage interest and development is a response to pressing global social, ecological, and economic problems with most benefit for housing/food/socially insecure persons, refugees, and those committed to a carbon neutral lifestyle. The research implies that ecovillage numbers will likely keep increasing
A critical examination of a community-led ecovillage ...
Human settlements across the world are attempting to address climate change, leading to changing paradigms, parameters, and indicators for defining the path to future sustainability. In this ...
Full article: Traditional Village research based on culture-landscape
1.2.1. Early research on traditional villages. Traditional villages, garnering scientific interest since the 18th century (Dawkins Citation 2006), have developed a relatively robust theoretical framework by the 20th century.In the 18th century, European and American scholars initiated research on traditional villages primarily from the perspectives of anthropology and geography, exploring ...
PDF Study and development of village as a smart village
such presented in this paper. According to the research on the economic as education, employment and affinity o f people towards the locality or city. Village is main criteria for development of So, nation. develop the village in such a way that which is self dependant in providing the services, employment and well connected to the rest of
PDF Making of a model village through Community Based Development: a case
all dimensions under the sun. In this paper, the author describes evolution of a village through community mobilisation and overcoming challenges that proved to be hurdles on the road to development. In the words of Chambers (1987), "Rural development is a strategy to enable a specific group of people, poor rural
[PDF] Research on village classification and development based on
The findings of the study indicate that the area characterized by the densest distribution of optimized particle clusters, with good land conditions and high economic income, are classified as "cluster-enhanced villages" and corresponding strategies to promote the development of different types of villages are proposed. China's village development confronts substantial challenges ...
PDF Smart Villages and Smart Cities: a Sustainable Need of Emerging ...
development of rural areas, but as time passed by. SDG's guidelines came into existence. This concept Sustainable Development Goals (SDG's) agenda 2030 was eventually launched in 2015. There is total 17 SDG's goals, one of them mainly focuses on Sustainable Cities and Communities that is SDG 11. So, with this concept under the leadership ...
Research on the village layout optimization in China's ...
As an important carrier of the interaction between human activities and the natural environment in the rural territorial system, the formation and development of villages are often influenced by multiple mechanisms such as society, economy, culture, and policies (Kong et al. 2021).Under the influence of various factors such as historical origins, customs, and resource endowments, while taking ...
PDF A Review Paper on- Development of Village As a Smart Village
This research paper study explores the first-hand lessons learned in the RVWRMP in Nepal since 2006. This project is embedded within the local government. The key project ... development of village as a smart village," in International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research,(ISSN 2229-5518), Aurangabad, 6 June ...
Village Development Planning-A Case Study in Thane District
Village Development Planning-A Case Study in Thane District. ... Do you have negative results from your research you'd like to share? Submit Negative Results. Paper statistics. Downloads. 391. Abstract Views. 1,066. ... Research Paper Series; Conference Papers; Partners in Publishing; Jobs & Announcements; Special Topic Hubs;
IRJET- Research Paper on Development of Ahirwadi Village as Smart Village
This Research paper deals with the study and development of village as a smart village. ... (IRJET) e-ISSN: 2395-0056 Volume: 08 Issue: 06 | June 2021 p-ISSN: 2395-0072 www.irjet.net Research Paper on Development of Ahirwadi Village as Smart Village Bansode A A1, Chavan P S2, Urunkar D D3, Satpute P L4, Salunkhe S S5, Toraskar A B6, Pawar N S7 ...
PDF Research Paper on Development of Ahirwadi Village as Smart Village
Abstract -This Research paper deals with the study and development of village as a smart village. The community, individuals and collectively, will be empowered to take smart decisions using smart technologies, communication and innovation. Basic concept of smart village is to collect
"Heritage Village" Designation Impact on the Village: A ...
This study examines the perception of the community after declaring the village as "Heritage Village" designation in 2008. Despite the initiative taken by the government, the residents are reluctant to abide by the guidelines. It investigates the residents' outlook towards the restriction imposed by the state government over the development and alterations of the Agraharams having ...
Sustainable Village Development Plan with People's Participation: A
PDF | On Jul 10, 2015, Koustab Majumdar published Sustainable Village Development Plan with People's Participation: A Case Study of a Multi-ethnic Village of Jharkhand | Find, read and cite all ...
PDF A sociological study of changing village structure of India
IJCRT2010071 International Journal of Creative Research Thoughts (IJCRT) www.ijcrt.org 536 A sociological study of changing village structure of India Dr.Rajesh Ranjan L.N.M.U Darbhanga, Bihar Abstract India is a developing country where more than 60% of its population is earning their livelihood from the primary sector.
Study and development of village as a smart village
How to publish research paper Research Paper Topics DOI Journal Indexing Open Access Journal: About IJSER IJSER is an online international open access peer review scholarly journal published monthly. Indexing is an important part of journal, indexed content at the article level, also provide DOI for the articles.
The role of Sharia banking in strengthening the assets of village-owned
Meanwhile, through the social function of Sharia Banking, strengthening the assets of village-owned enterprises can be sourced from grant funds and other social funds or can come from cash waqf funds and utilized through managing the potential business activities of village-owned enterprises. This research is expected to be useful for village ...
When structural factors that cause interethnic violence work ...
In this paper, we analyse the dynamics of interethnic relations in Baljvine, a village in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), where local Bosniaks and Serbs did not resort to interethnic violence that otherwise marked most of BiH during the last war. Drawing on structural factors that shed light on the dynamics of relations in post-conflict societies where interethnic violence occurred, the aim is ...
Trends and Future Directions in Research on the Protection of ...
The process of urbanization has accelerated economic growth while also presenting social challenges. Urban renewal is crucial for achieving sustainable urban development, especially by preserving traditional villages as cultural heritage sites within cities. This study employs Python algorithm programming and visual analysis functions to conduct a bibliometric analysis of 408 research papers ...
Houston's New River Oaks Village
The RO site sits right across from the St. John's School on the former home of Exxon Mobil's upstream research campus, which the oil giant owned since the 1940s before selling it in 2017.
Welsh leads equity-centered research practice partnership to reduce
Supported by a $474,178 grant from the William T. Grant Foundation and a $125,000 grant from the American Institutes of Research Equity Initiative, Welsh is leading a three-year project with the ...
Innovating Urban Mosquito Control: Introducing Human-Controlled
This study introduces a novel method for mosquito control tailored specifically for urban and suburban areas, addressing their unique challenges. The concept of Human-Controlled Breeding Sites (HCBS) is presented as an innovative approach to reducing mosquito populations by providing controlled oviposition sites within households. The paper is structured into three main components.
Land
Energy distribution justice is of primary concern within the energy justice framework and it is crucial to increase public acceptance of offshore wind energy and further advance its development. The rapid development of offshore wind energy in China has inevitably impacted the livelihoods of coastal vulnerable groups (CVGs) engaged in fisheries and tourism in the coastal zone. While current ...

A critical examination of a community-led ecovillage initiative: a case of Auroville, India

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When structural factors that cause interethnic violence work in favour of peace: The story of Baljvine, a warless Bosnian-Herzegovinian peace mosaic

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Houston’s New River Oaks Village — Meet The RO, a Pedestrian Paradise With a Major Hotel First, a 28-Story High-Rise, Local Restaurants and Leafy Corridors

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