By Lacy Cooke
James Ehrlich, founder of ReGen Villages, commissioned Danish architectural firm EFFEKT to envision a future where self-sustaining communities could grow their own food and produce their own energy. ReGen Villages are planned off-grid communities that address issues ranging from climate change to food security through sustainable design. They plan to start building these utopian communities this summer.
There are five principles behind the ReGen Villages: “Energy positive homes. Door-step high-yield organic food production. Mixed renewable energy and storage. Water and waste recycling. Empowerment of local communities.”Homes in these gorgeous communities are totally designed for sustainable living. They’re powered by photovoltaic solar panels, but passive heating and cooling systems take pressure off the electrical use of each house. Families grow their own vegetables and fruit in connected greenhouses. Together, the houses form a “shared local eco-system.”
Villages include several public squares that are equipped with electric car-charging stations, and there are also vertical aquaponic farming spaces. The community shares water storage facilities and waste-to-resource systems.
In addition, there are areas for livestock, communal dining, playgrounds, and community learning centers.
EFFEKT Partner Simon Lynge told Dezeen, “Our modern lifestyle is utterly unsustainable and this calls for more resilient solutions for the future. The technology already exists, it is just a matter of applying science into the architecture of everyday life.
ReGen Villages is engineering and facilitating the development of off-grid, integrated, and resilient neighborhoods that power and feed self-reliant families around the world. The time has come to redefine residential real-estate development for the next three billion people coming to the planet.”
ReGen Villages already has plans to take their vision to the next level with the first community to be built in the Netherlands this summer. They’re also planning pilot projects in Sweden, Germany, Norway, and Denmark, with plans in the early stages for communities in China, Africa, and the United Arab Emirates.
