ToGather: a field research archive of intentional communities and ecovillages
ToGather documents how intentional communities govern themselves, share resources,
hold land, handle money, and navigate conflict. It is built on primary fieldwork:
multi-day visits, first-person interviews, and photography, gathered over fifteen
years by Sharon Avraham across Portugal, Spain, France, the Netherlands, India and
Israel-Palestine.
It is a research archive rather than a directory. Every claim about a community
traces back to a recorded interview or a field note. The archive holds 35 documented
communities, 27 published interviews, and 446 research insights organised across six
themes. Depth is the point: 35 communities with real research rather than a thousand
listings.
Six research themes
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Governance.
How communities make decisions: sociocracy, consensus, councils, direct democracy, and hybrid models.
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Conflict.
How communities disagree, repair relationships, and hold cohesion when it breaks.
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Economy and money.
Shared income, contribution systems, land trusts, cooperative finance.
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Culture and vision.
Ritual, values transmission, and what holds a group together over time.
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Belonging.
Thresholds of membership, identity, and what it means to actually join.
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Land and joining.
Land tenure, ownership models, trial periods, and the path from visitor to member.
Communities documented in the archive
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Tamera, Portugal. Council-based governance with spiritual and ecological guidance.
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Traditional Dream Factory, Portugal. A DAO with voting weighted by tokens, presence and contribution.
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Spirala Ecovillage, Portugal. Collective decision-making across the whole membership.
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Ananda Kalyani, Portugal.
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Essencia, Portugal.
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House of the Rising Mojo, Portugal.
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Kibbutz Samar, Israel-Palestine. Weekly general assembly, direct democracy.
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Auroville, India. Participatory governance through working groups and a Residents' Assembly.
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Sadhana Forest, India. Consensus-based decision making.
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Feÿtopia, France. Hybrid governance: centralised ownership with seasonal doocracy.
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Life Itself, France. Evolving membership and board structure built around qualitative contribution.
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Kibboutz Akiva, France. Decisions made by a council of elders and leadership representatives.
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Ruigoord, Netherlands. A cultural free haven organised through commissions, volunteers and partners.
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Nieuw en Meer, Netherlands. Foundation-managed with tenant involvement through the Niks Minder association.
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ADM, Netherlands. Self-organised with collective decision-making.
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Vidàlia, Spain. Sociocracy 3.0, structured in circles with tiered membership.
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Lakabe, Spain.
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Sunseed Desert Technology, Spain.
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Sieben Linden, Germany. Consensus-based with council and working groups.
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Schloss Tempelhof, Germany.
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ZEGG, Germany.
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Damanhur, Italy. A living constitution that evolved from 130 articles in 1981 to 15 core principles.
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Findhorn Ecovillage, Scotland. Consensus-based decision-making with working groups.
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Lammas Ecovillage, Wales.
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Cloughjordan Ecovillage, Ireland. A democratic company structure with working groups.
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Suderbyn Ecovillage, Sweden.
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Sólheimar Ecovillage, Iceland. Collective decision-making across the membership.
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Twin Oaks Community, USA. Direct democracy with rotating leadership roles.
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Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage, USA. Modified consensus with ecological covenant requirements.
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Earthaven Ecovillage, USA. Council-based consensus with neighbourhood autonomy.
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EcoVillage at Ithaca, USA. A democratic cooperative with neighbourhood and village councils.
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Los Angeles Eco-Village, USA. A democratic cooperative with neighbourhood councils.
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The Farm Community, USA. Democratic governance with community agreements.
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Crystal Waters Eco Village, Australia. An incorporated association with an elected board and community consensus.
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Huehuecoyotl, Mexico.
Reading this without JavaScript?
The full archive is also served as plain HTML at
togatherproject.eu/functions/archiveHtml
,
with every community, interview, theme, library entry and field note
rendered in full.
Sections of the archive
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Communities
: the full documented directory, with governance model, land tenure, founding year and membership route.
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Interviews
: first-person conversations with members, founders and stewards.
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Themes
: the six research dimensions, with findings drawn across communities.
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Research
: thematic analysis and cross-community findings.
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Living Library
: curated reference pages on governance frameworks, conflict practices and ownership models.
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Field Notes
: ongoing news and updates from communities worldwide.
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Exhibition
: field photography from the visits.
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About
: the project, the method, and who is behind it.
Founded and researched by Sharon Avraham. Contact through
togatherproject.eu/Contact
.
Written fieldwork also appears at
jointogatherproject.substack.com
.