Incorporation of these values and virtues into a sited-and-built greenfield village
amounts, essentially, to using fewer from withoutresources and enjoying more
available withinpotentials – achieving sociability along with improved sustain-
ability. Thus less movement, less waste to dispose of, less utility dependency, and
less heating and cooling of living spaces. Also morelifestyle
variety, more community facilities, more social interaction, more
environmental harmony, more toxin-free food and water, more
human satisfaction from settling into local jobs.^44
In general terms 30 to 35 dwellings net per hectare (12 to 14
per acre netbeing the legal curtilage plot and half the area of the
immediately adjoining access) has been recommended by Owens
(1986) as an optimal density range when passive solar energy gain
is an incorporated design objective. Rydin (1992) makes the point
(connecting with Owens) that such settlement, at these sorts of
density ‘Offers the potential for greater energy efficiency. The
actual outcomes depend[ing] heavily on households’ and firms’
resistance to distance [and that] where this resistance is low then
such an urban pattern may encourage numerous inter cluster
journeys and increase travel.’ A benchmark feature for an eco-
village in a greenfield setting is a minimum netresidential density
of 30 household units per hectare, which influences the siting
massing and materials incorporated into buildings. This housing
density is also dedicated to providing space for the incorporation
of some compatible and benign mixed-use activities and home-
working.
Overall the eco-village size is a function of the walkable dis-
tance for an average pedestrian moving on foot or by cycle to
and from the centre. This, in terms of the ‘ideal’ previously
established, is no more than a maximum of six or seven minutes’
purposeful walk, or about 400 metres (1,300 feet). As a circle-
equivalent this works through as enclosing about 50 hectares (125
acres).^45 Deducting 15 hectares (30 per cent) for a community com-
mercial-service centre, and for community pathways and collec-
tor vehicular routes, the area of the settled residential sector
comes down to 35 hectares, and at an optimum 35 units per
hectare net this calculates as more than 1,000 residential dwelling
units in total.^46 Based on the standard family unit – the much-
quoted ‘woman and man plus 2.2 children’ – as the start-up basis
to an eco-village, the residential population would be around
5,000 people – sufficient to generate an employing base of critical
mass, and to support a wide range of commercial and social serv-
ices including pre-schools, one or two grade schools and a small
high school.
A minimum of 30 households per hectare, intensely designed,
adhering to sustainable principles, passive solar energy retention,
attention to bioharmonic building design and construction, some226 Practice
In a standard within-city
suburban environment
residents are disinclined
to walk more than 300
metres to a local shop
or community facility.
Improve the ambient
environment – safe and
pleasant – and people
will walk up to 400
metres to pick up a
morning paper, visit the
shops and access the
local library.ECO-VILLAGE VITAL
STATISTICS
50 hectares: 125 acres
Notionally: 800 m
diameter (2,600 ft)
15 ha (30 per cent)
allocated for community
uses(centre, collector
roads, schools, pocket
parks, utility needs,
greenways)
35 ha (70 per cent) used
as residential (home
‘footprints’, yards, half
adjoining access street,
residential parking)
At 35 home units/ha:
total 1,200 homes.
At 4.2 persons/home:
5,100 population.With a ‘footprint’ for
two-level housing at
around 70 m^2
considerable curtilage
space can be positioned
adjacent to each home
unit, leaving sufficient
ground for recreational
and kitchen garden usage
(which, well designed,
need only be 60 m^2 ).