oneVillage Foundation

Integrated Systems Design
There seems to be a real movement towards the development of the integrated systems approach in relation to ecological design. Of course, it might seem that, an integrated approach to sustainable development an oxymoron. However, what Paolo Soleri (www.arcosanti.org) and others like Dr George Chan of the Zero Emissions Research Initiative are working towards is a whole systems approach to ecological design that is seamless. Leading innovators in the ecological design field now have developed the idea of designing human systems to function like natural ones.

Biomimicry and Industrial Ecology
Janine Beynus (http://www.biomimicry.org/) says that the study of natural patterns occurring in nature is key to design built environments and manufacturing systems that are in harmony with nature. She coined the word biomimicry to describe a process by human systems can be designed to mimic natural functions both at the organism and ecosystem levels. Industrial ecology is one example of how biomimicry processes can be used to design industrial parks so that the different plants in the parks can symbiotically and synergistically interact so that they minimize waste and thus functioning more like ecosystems. The next step is take biomimicry and apply it to compact, built environments so that the water, heat, and waste and agricultural subsystems within the built environment of the sustainable village or sustainable city are seamlessly interlaced and also dynamically interact with each other.

There have been several notable attempts at this including:
-Mont Cenis Academy in Germany:
http://www.oja-services.nl/iea-pvps/cases/deu_01.htm

-The Songhai Farm in Benin:
http://www.deltastate.gov.ng/songhai181102pix.htm
More on Songhai from the ZERI site
http://www.zeri.org/projects/maggotssecurehygiene.htm

-The proposal for a South China Arcology by Francis Frick
http://www.cityfarmer.org/frick.html

-The Longju Farm proposal for South China:
http://www.cmpbs.org/publications/MP1.2-Longju.pdf

Creating a Social Architecture
We see oneVillage Foundation as facilitating a whole systems approach to community development that goes beyond simply looking at the built environment though.

In my three years at Arcosanti - an experimental habitat/architectural project located in Arizona - i came to realize that a key mistake its founder Paolo Soleri still continues to stubbornly emphasize the construction of the built environment over the development of a human culture. From my experience of living at Arcosanti as well as the experiences of many others in the intentional community and ecovillage movement, I have become more convinced that whatever you create must be about people not technologies, financial models or approaches. The problem with current society is that we do not drive and mold technology but technology drives and molds us. The most important aspect of sustainable community development is a process of human development.

Here are the four main ingredients to the OVF integrated approach:
1. We need to develop the mental tools to more fully realize our potential and in this process become more aware of how to help others realize their potential as well.
2. Helpful to this process is information and communications technologies (ICT) that link up the grassroots into a global web so that we can empower each other, creating a cooperative and collective movement towards a society that reflects our needs.
3. Also important is innovative financial strategies that channel socially conscious investment capital into the development of sustainable communities all over the world with a focus on investing in communities and small businesses.
4. Finally there are the sustainable designs, approaches and technologies mentioned in the first paragraph that will enable us to develop a global economy that that does not take from the earth more than it can give us.

Holistic ICT for Development
The oneVillage Holistic ICT for Development Model incorporates these four main components into a sustainable development methodology that starts with looking at the assets of each community and then looks at how we can build on the existing value that each community has:
http://www.onevillagefoundation.org/ovf/holistic_ICT_development.html

This is what we mean when we talk about a whole systems approach to sustainable development.

Go here for more: http://www.onevillagefoundation.org/ovf/ecoliving_solutions/integrated_built_environs.html