The Micro-village Initiative: from product-based to process-based in achieving sustainability
Creating urban settlements and a way of life that is inclusive and rich in social capital. The process is collaborative and integrative, reconnecting future residents to the development process from design through construction. Financial education is often necessary. The design is site specific, geared to providing necessary elements in a smaller footprint, with an efficient use of resources, respecting existing culture. Buildings work with climate, reducing heating/cooling loads through design; materials are chosen to support human and environmental health. Our design honours our biogenetic heritage and is sensitive to the framework of human scale. Collaboration leads to more efficient spending and buildings that relate to the residents' needs, creating a place in which they can thrive.
About You
About You
First Name
Laura-Belle
Last Name
Robinson
About Your Organization
Organization Name
HWYL collaborative inc.
Organization Website
Organization Phone
780-952-4995
Organization Address
10305-120 Street, #302
Organization Country
Canada, AB
Country where this project is creating social impact
Canada, AB
Is your organization a
For‐profit
How long has your organization been operating?
1‐5 years
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Innovation
Entry Form title
The Micro-village Initiative: from product-based to process-based in achieving sustainability
Describe your project
Creating urban settlements and a way of life that is inclusive and rich in social capital. The process is collaborative and integrative, reconnecting future residents to the development process from design through construction. Financial education is often necessary. The design is site specific, geared to providing necessary elements in a smaller footprint, with an efficient use of resources, respecting existing culture. Buildings work with climate, reducing heating/cooling loads through design; materials are chosen to support human and environmental health. Our design honours our biogenetic heritage and is sensitive to the framework of human scale. Collaboration leads to more efficient spending and buildings that relate to the residents' needs, creating a place in which they can thrive.
What stage is your project in?
Operating for less than a year
What makes your project unique as it relates to the theme of this competition?
The Micro-village initiative is a positive and unifying design response connecting human needs, culture, economy, and ecology. A sustainable future is rooted in the realization of human potential; it is dependent on how we define ourselves and our ability to connect with each other and with nature. Current development is product-based model in which supply drives demand. People are separated according to age or income level and removed from the things necessary for daily lives; the result is a virtual social network and dispersed lives. This model does not allow for healthy human development and self-actualization; it creates conditions which impact physical and mental health, economics, violence and crime, education, poverty, social inclusion, and environmental concerns.
The Micro-village creates an environment in which a strong identity can be achieved in a place that honours and supports residents' values. It develops a culture that supports healthier relationships in more responsible groups and fosters deeper understandings and wider sympathies. Diversity of age, income levels, ethnic and religious backgrounds give access to a richer life experience across all ages; single people are no longer isolated, a contiguous family is readily accessible.
Sustainability is measured across five capitals: human, social, built, environmental, and financial; the micro-village offers a process-driven model that will show positive returns on investment across all five. It can be implemented in any country, on an ad hoc basis or as part of a sustainable urban plan.
Share the story of the founder and what inspired the founder to start this project
Initially, most of my design work was to renovate homes, to make them more relative to the owners needs. Then I noticed that the family home was more of a human warehouse; there was no family life there. And the neighbourhood that was needed to support the family had been reshaped to the conveinence of automobiles. In all of planning and development, the fundamental needs of human beings were being ignored; I feared that the knowledge of those needs and how to satisfy them would become a victim of cultural amnesia. Having experienced life in the diverse cultures of the Caribbean, England, Japan, and Canada, I knew what was possible and desirable in human settlements.
In 2001, I started research on development practices around the world, trying to connect buildings with human development. I spoke with planners, developers, builders, bankers, and politicians. And, most of all, I spoke with families. And I learned the effects of the how, where, what, and who for of housing shaped our society. With understanding came the realization that many of society's issues could be dealt with if we focused on the most critical need of the tiniest of all human beings - the attachment relationship of a baby.
The design brief was simple: create the supportive environment that would allow for attachment and connection. The simple beauty is that this environment nourishes individuals through the full life cycle and allows each person to become their best self. This design brief informs and blesses all of my work.
Social Impact
This Entry is about (Issues)
Who or what (i.e. youth, women, environment, etc.) benefits from your project, and why is your project critical?
Benefits will be realized by children, youth, parents, elders, single people, couples, the larger neighbourhood, society, and the environment.
We cannot expect different results from the same methods. And we, across nations, need different results - for ourselves and our planet. This project offers a different model - a way to implement change at the grass-roots level and at the policy level.
Sustainability is based on love. If we cannot love ourselves, we cannot love someone else and we cannot love nature in the way that will save it. The global problems we face will respond to local solutions. This is one such solution.
Families, neighbourhoods, cities, our world all need positive interventions and home is where the start is.
Please describe how your project has been successful and how that success is measured.
The first project here in Edmonton is still in development. It was initiated by a group of individuals. As we work through the process, individuals are becoming more confident, developing new skills; the children are learning that their voice is important (even the 3-year-old is part of the sharing circle) and have started interacting as extended family. The seven different religions represented can choose to teach us of their important days; and we can choose to be enriched. The market crash affected finances of some of the families significantly; members are helping each other to rebuild their resources. Although not yet living together, communal meals are shared and birthdays and achievements are celebrated.
The success of the project will be measured according to conditions of wellbeing. In projects completed elsewhere, the quality of life is increased and stabilized. There is higher participation in civic life. The children and youth are well socialized, articulate and self-confident. Parents enjoy more free time and a reduction of stress. New parents are supported by the experience of others nearby, making them feel more capable. Monthly expenditures are reduced becaused of shared ownership, bulk buying, and things like car pooling: these things evolve as people live together. There is time - and a place - to be alone and regenerate and there is communal life available outside your door. The wellbeing establised on each site ripples out into the larger neighbourhood and into society.
How many people have been impacted by your project?
101 - 1,000
How many people could be impacted by your project in the next three years?
1001‐10,000
What barriers might hinder the success of your project and how do you plan to overcome them?
Bureaucratic barriers can hinder the process. Inflexible, and sometimes out-dated, zoning regulations can slow/stop a development and add significant costs to the budget. The solution comes, not in confrontation, but in education; with time, most city administrators are open to reaching a mutually beneficial solution. Ongoing education of lending institutions and investors is required at this stage. Smaller builders and developers are open to this model but there is resistance in the larger, more established firms. The micro-village has had to proceed on an ad hoc basis for now, but as more are developed, mainstream development - at fovernment and commercial levels - is starting to take note and express interest.
How will your project evolve over the next three years?
The project in Glenwood,scheduled to be completed this year, has created enough interest to start two more projects in the Edmonton area - both initiated by future residents. There are developers who are now reexamining large redevelopment projects to see if this model can be utilized as part of the development. In Glenwood, we are looking beyond the project and examining how its presence can help with the healing of the larger neighbourhood through involvement in reshaping the nucleus of the marketplace and participation in the revitalization process.
Sustainability
For each selection, please explain the financial and non-financial support from each
Individuals and families are financial supporters of the present project, but this model can be initiated/supported by governments, NGOs, businesses, and/or developers.
Participating families pay monies into the project based on the total budget cost and the cashflow timeline requirements; all monies are considered as an investment. At the time of possession, all monies invested - along with returns on the investments - will be credited as the downpayment on the family's private unit cost. Standard construction loan from a banking institution is arranged for the construction phase.
The local government has been supportive in rewriting zoning regulation to meet the needs of this site and this project; previous zoning would have done little for healing and environmental sustainability. The added benefit is that some of the planning staff working on the application have become promoters for the model.
Members of the larger neighbourhood have come out to public hearings and meetings to support the application for moving the project ahead.
How do you plan to grow and/or diversify your base of support in the next three years?
This model is becoming attractive to planners as a form of "neighbourhood rescue." The plan for growth borrows from the network marketing business model: each completed project is eager to help the next completed project along. The number of community builders is expanding and creativity is growing.
The shaping of common neighbourhoods of 5,000 to 10,000 residents will greatly increase the levels of sustainability that can be achieved. These neighbourhoods, each with a vibrant nucleus to satisfy the fundamental needs of its residents can provide the means for reduced travel and the development of local economies. Therefore, over the next three years the focus will be on strengthening neighbourhood structure as well as building micro-villages.
Our team includes architects, designers, community builders, life coaches, financial planners, and an economist. Each of us is a independent business entity - some with larger firms, each with a large and dynamic network. Members of the team come together as needed for each project. This is our integrative way of finding holistic solutions.
Collaboration
Please select your areas of intervention in the home improvement market
Design, Technology, Labor, Property rights, Infrastructure, Green housing, Environment, Urban development, Citizen/community participation.
Is your innovation addressing barriers in the home improvement/progressive housing market? If so, please describe in detail your mechanisms of intervention
This model allows a construction budget to fit the budget of the families. In lower income situations, residents can reduce costs with sweat equity; agressive standards, like going off the grid, can be put on a timeline to achieve after initial construction. Financial education help families to better utilize money.
Are you currently collaborating with private companies, or have you partnered with private companies in the past? With which companies?
Not currently.
Please describe in detail the nature of the partnership(s)
Select the unit(s) with which the partnership was formed
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 | 118 weeks ago Laura-Belle Robinson updated this Competition Entry. |
| 118 weeks ago Laura-Belle Robinson submitted this idea. |
