The contribution of built, human, social and natural capital to quality of life in intentional and unintentional communities

Ecovillages, co-housing communities, and other types of intentional communities (ICs) have proliferated in recent years. There are currently several thousands of these communities worldwide and their numbers are increasing rapidly. We surveyed a subset of these communities to learn more about their characteristics, including their world view or vision, the status of four basic types of capital (built, human, social, and natural), and the quality of life (QoL) they provide for their residents. Survey results indicate that ICs have a better balance between built, human, social, and natural capital than unintentional communities (based on a parallel survey of neighborhoods in Burlington, VT, USA) and that this results in a higher QoL among residents. It is difficult to assess the sustainability of ICs, but the data indicates that within ICs, social capital is substituted for built capital thereby reducing the level of material throughput. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.