I see the Independent has an article on eco-villages or towns. It didn't mention all the things that REALLY make up an "eco-village" or town.
Total energy independence where all electricity is made by wind and solar, and all vehicles are powered by electricity and biofuel. Enough food is grown inside and outside for year around total nutritional needs. Houses that have super insulation, heavy thermal mass, and are self heated by the sun, with catalytic wood stoves and enough nearby forests to support wood stoves for backup. Everyone has water recycling systems, and all water comes from on site. There must be a knowledgeable base for teaching a sustainable number of children and a small manufacturing base for replacement and repair of systems.
There must be a system of defense and order, too. No dependence on the state or other parts of the world for any needs.
The proposed eco-towns do not have enough acreage around them to be true eco-towns, truly independent. It is a tough thing to do in a grossly overpopulated and overcrowded world.
The homes and businesses in such a place should be built out of used tires and straw bales as the most ecologically correct way of building, with use of waste and indigenous materials. Keeping hi-tech and well stocked information systems, and storage of supplies.
Even then, they may be vulnerable to toxic fallout and malevolent climate change. They will be the "haves" and vulnerable to thievery and attack by the "have-nots". So remote locations away from fallout patterns and in areas less prone to the worst of climate change may make it in the future.
Total self-sufficiency is very difficult for an individual or a family, but possible with a village or town in a large, good, area.

Hey moguitar,

I'm actually doing a Masters on Town Planning, and my dissertation is all about eco-towns and sustainable transport. I've been studying eco-towns for a while now and I have a questionnaire ready, if you would be ok to give 5 minutes of your time. It's www.tinyurl.com/35mjket. It takes you to a Google Forms online questionnaire.

Thank-you,

Michael

Hey, boomchabono, it looks like you need to read the above post about eco-villages and towns. The transportation aspect of an eco-village or town is mostly walking or bike riding, or even horseback. I suppose a small amount of biodiesel/electric for mass transportation in a large town. However, most biodiesel should be for the farms outlying the village or town.
In less sunny areas, geothermal heat can be used in some locations.
Your questionaire has nothing about true eco-homes, and expects people to live in eco-townhouses of unknown type. Not an Earthship type village or town.
Mike Reynolds, in his first Earthship book, does show a hillside townhouse Earthship design.
The idea of the construction is to have minimal use of non-human energy, to help clean up the environment of long term trash pollutants, and to use indigenous subsoil for rammed earth and soil cement/adobe. Waste straw for insulation from cereal crops(and as a soil cement/adobe binding material), and also for part of the composting of the village.
The idea is carbon neutrality, soil building, water recycling, and non-polluting power systems.
I saw none of that with your questions. Nothing about maintaining an ideal population, either. You can not be incomplete with your eco-village/town planning. Remember, these independent villages need to also be defended against those who would take, by force, various village resources, food, and even people. Do not assume peacefulness in an overcrowded world with scarcity as the rule.
Also, malevolent climate change effects should be taken into account.:GEEK:

What do we do with to current housing stock?
Modify to a high energy efficient standard.
Using water conservation devices / rainwater harvesting
Replumbing to utilise gray water for toilets
Utilising passive solar inputs - lean to greenhouses
Encourage use of local shops and businesses.
Growing ones on food - trading / swapping surpluses

We have to bring the "have nots" into the equation otherwise the "eco" thing becomes elitist. :cry:

Do you need planning permission for composting toilets / reed beds?

Hope this helps to further the discussion.
Edward

There are a number of approved composting toilets available. Local regulations vary, with a lot of ignorance out there. I put in mine after inspection.
As far as the haves and have nots and elitism; the people that do the hard work of building an eco-town and growing the food, recycling, and defending it, deserve the fruits of their labors. They are only elite in that they have the guts and knowledge to build such a place. The so-called have nots are the ones who did not do this labor, did not have the ability or brains, or maybe were just out of luck extra people. They must die and their bodies help regenerate the soil. That's the way it has to be in a collapsing from gross overpopulation world. Our compassion needs a line of reason drawn. It is a sorry state of affairs that the world has gotten so out of hand with too many people. We feel for them, sure, but can not let them in to where there is no ecological place for them.
The hard reality is that cities will crumble, and die-off will race across the land, hopefully without total destruction of the planetary biosphere. I hope that that portion of humanity that is intelligent, moral, and strong enough to live sustainably survives the coming catastrophes brought on by over-breeding, greed, and ignorance.
The overpolluted and depleted biosphere will take 50,000 years or more to become more benevolent. Perhaps when the next interglacial epoch happens, even with a skipped glacial epoch, that humans are a more advanced species that does not over-breed and uses natural resources at or below their various recharge and regeneration rates, and does not pollute faster that the Earth's natural systems can absorb. Living in knowledgeable harmony with the biosphere and each other.
The chances are small, and ecocide to mass extinction appears to be what will happen, but there still is hope. The eco-villages may make it, at least some of them.

What do we do with to current housing stock?
Modify to a high energy efficient standard.
Using water conservation devices / rainwater harvesting
Replumbing to utilise gray water for toilets
Utilising passive solar inputs - lean to greenhouses
Encourage use of local shops and businesses.
Growing ones on food - trading / swapping surpluses
I agree with this type of remodeling to existing homes.

We have to bring the "have nots" into the equation otherwise the "eco" thing becomes elitist. :cry:
Don't cry about the have nots who are too stupid, too weak, or have overbred too much to be sustainable people. The sustainable people with brains and morals are not elites--they are the ones who should be survivors and carry on the species.
Do you need planning permission for composting toilets / reed beds?Yes, generally.

Hope this helps to further the discussion.
Edward

Your sign off contains spam, and you only posted one lousy day and left---indicating a spammer more than a real member.:no: