Embedded Files
A co-housing community for 10–20 households on 1 hectare near Rio Maior (1h from Lisbon), blending private homes with shared spaces (common house, laundry, gardens, and much more). We come together on a voluntary basis to share meals and activities, attend events and workshops, manage the community, and have fun. Guided by a set of principles such as cooperation, inclusivity, experimentation, pluralism, sustainability, and light-heartedness, we aim to balance community and individuality.
Our vision also includes the organization of activities that enrich local communities, inspire visitors, and advance social and environmental goals. In the medium-term, we plan to create a co-op (or association) to drive initiatives like community gardening, repair workshops, cultural events, and retreats. Some facilities will welcome visitors, like a “social club” and guest accomodation, with fair pricing and surplus reinvested into community goals.
What we are about
Community & conviviality
Private homes for our members... a Social club with a café-bar, a multi-purpose room, two offices, and a members’ living room... Guest accommodation for visitors...
Arts, culture, education, & Ideas
An Extra-ordinary (outdoor) stage for music, theatre, cinema, lectures... Workshops for arts, crafts, and social enterprises... Writing pods... and much more...
Well-being & Recreation
A Melody Yurt for yoga, meditation, martial arts... a Natural swimming pool to refresh us... Fun and play elements for all ages integrated in the design...
Sustainability & Food
Eco-building integrating natural construction methods, common areas, and much more... a Linear food forest, veg & herb gardens with a chicken rotation system... various other sustainable systems like dried toilets, rain collecting roofs, compost area, etc.
A few facts for those who love numbers
1
Hectare of land
10-20
Desired number of households (full-time residents and "translocals")
7+4
Adults and children already involved
A longer vision statement for those who love to read
Vision statement
We are a group of people engaged in developing a co-living environment where community and individuality can thrive side by side. Simultaneously, we collaborate voluntarily to promote initiatives that contribute to local communities, social and environmental goals.
As a group, we are committed to treat each other with thoughtful consideration, respect, and care. We aim to promote a fair, inclusive, non-dogmatic & tolerant environment where different ideas and beliefs can co-exist.
At the same time, we recognise the difficulties linked to this collective endeavour. Therefore, we are willing to experiment and fail, pursuing better practices while knowing that we will never achieve a perfect endpoint.
Our core spheres of action
Community & individuality
Many people value their autonomy and privacy, but at the same time, they want to engage with their surrounding community and have a sense of belonging. Here, we co-create conditions that encourage community and individuality to thrive side by side. This means developing environments where meaningful relationships and activities that sustain a community can emerge, where we care for each other; but it also means supporting each other’s individual goals and refraining from unwanted interference in other people’s lives.
Interpersonal relationships
We believe that treating each other with thoughtful consideration and respect is essential for healthy interpersonal environments. Here, we encourage ways of interacting that promote this goal. This means that we are mindful of the ways we treat each other, and that we adopt principles of governance and decision-making that are inclusive and promote a fair distribution of power (these ideas are further developed in two documents, our Respect and consideration pledge and Governance agreement respectively). These ideals are not always easy to achieve. Therefore, we work together on a regular basis to promote a healthy interpersonal environment. If interpersonal conflicts emerge, we try to solve them in good faith, and we are willing to resort to different forms of mediation if necessary. We developed these ideas in a Conflict resolution agreement.
Local communities
We aim to be well-integrated with our neighbours and contribute to the municipality, the region, and everyone who visits us. To achieve this goal, we aim to open some of our common spaces to the public and we promote member-led initiatives and collaborative projects with the people and institutions around us.
Social and environment responsibility
We think that we have, as individuals and as a community, social and environmental responsibilities. Here, we aim to make it attractive for people to lead socially and ecologically responsible lives. We also promote several initiatives that contribute to tackling social and environmental challenges. We aim to do this in a way that is compatible with our aspirations to lead lives that we enjoy and value. We developed these ideas in a Justice and sustainability statement.
Our core guiding principles
Our core spheres of action enunciate some of our main values and aims, such as respect, consideration & care for each other, local, social & ecological responsibility, a sense of belonging and the respect of the individual. The following principles complement these values and aims with guiding norms for our activities and practices.
Cooperation
We aim to develop a culture of collaboration and of sharing, as opposed to a culture of competition. For this purpose, we create systems that encourage cooperation and the sharing of practices, knowledge, money, tools, responsibilities, etc.
Voluntariness
We all contribute with time and money to the necessary tasks for the well-functioning of the project. Besides that, participation in activities/projects is voluntary: members voluntarily get together to promote joint initiatives. We also aim to achieve many of our goals using creative design ideas to encourage our members (without mandating them) to follow/contribute to our joint aims.
learning & experimentation
We are committed to try to continuously improve our practices. To do so, we experiment with different practices and search for creative solutions to our problems.
Pluralism
We aim to sustain a non-dogmatic and tolerant environment where different ideas and beliefs can co-exist. People have different lifestyle choices and worldviews and we try to refrain from unnecessary judgment. We try our best to carefully listen to each other and revise our views if appropriate. We promote this environment without compromising core values such as a rejection of violence & abuse of power.
Inclusivity
We aim to be inclusive of different backgrounds, characteristics, and lifestyle options in our activities. We also aim to promote affordable housing and offer opportunities for those of us with lower financial means to be members or enjoy what we offer as friends & visitors of the project.
Fairness
We aspire to be fair in all our activities. Among other things, we implement policies for a fair distribution of power between members, for a fair pay for people who work with us, and for fair prices for people who visit us.
Lightheartdness
We try to do all this remaining humble and not taking ourselves too seriously. It is important to us to have room to pursue our aspirations to lead lives that we enjoy and value, while also having space and time for fun & play.
Imagination
We seek to imbue our activities with imagination and a spirit of playful creativity. We value inventive ways of expressing ourselves, exploring artistic, poetic, and out-of-the-ordinary forms of engaging with each other and the world around us. Imagination keeps us open, vibrant, and young at heart. It help us approach challenges in unexpected ways and to make space for wonder, humour, and beauty in our everyday practices.
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