How to build a smart village

Playbook on developing Smart Villages

The last couple years have been quite a journey and exploring many different types of community developments. While traveling around South East Asia I was exploring what we would call eastern ways of living. People from all around the world come to visit and experience the asian cultures.

Sustainability and Spiritual practices.

What we found was many of these eco village projects, which usually consist of an emphasis on sustainability and spirituality practices. You can find them popping up all around the world.

A new edge is coming up.

What we have seen recently is that these ecovillages are converting into more of a smart village concept. With advancements in technology they are able to connect to the world. I think a lot of these have gotten a bad wrap over the years, not your typical hippie commune. These places are attracting many different backgrounds.

As the world continues to change we can look at these places for a solution on the UN sustainability goals. We think that smart villages can tackle many of the goals from affordable housing to sustainable cities. The way we live needs to be redesigned.

Get inspired.

How do you even start one of these projects? Well, it’s not the easiest process as explained by many, but there are easier ways to get started than you think. There are many projects already out there, no need to recreate the wheel, just research how others did it.

Keep in mind, we are building a village and social, economic, environmental, governance, financial and technology will all be components to planning a successful village.

The vision

what designs did you decide to build and sell to your audience? There are many alternative building methods, but depending on your designs and materials they will be required to get permitted depending on the area you live in. Some of my favorites are bamboo, shipping containers, rammed earth, and repurposing materials. What most people are used to is wood and concrete homes, they may sell and get permitted easier. If you do live in an area where the building requirements are met then you can get really creative with cobb, straw bale, earthship, ecobricks.

We aim to create circular economies and utilize everything that we consume and produce. There are many waste management systems, bio latrines, biogas, toilet separators, septic systems or using the public waste hookup. We have experimented with using self contained toilets with using tiger worms and reeds to break down all the waste. Upcycling and zero waste are other methods we use to close the gap.

Partner up.

Building a team and setting the scope of the project. Having a good accountant, good legal advisor, someone that knows construction should help jump start your project. What do you want your dream place to be and what seems feasible. Are you wanting to create an artists community, retirement, spirituality, techies, digital nomads, families.

Many of these villages are starting in rural areas, land is cheaper and abundant. One of my favorite strategies is to partner with farmers and build close to food and water sources. If you can work out a deal with farmers and their land, it makes your project move faster.

Plan properly

Once you find your land ask yourself do I have road access to get materials to the site. Is there a water source and electricity nearby or do you need off grid solutions. What resources are available onsite, food forest, public transport, fertile soil. You will need to know what kind of zoning the land of interest is. Can you convert from agricultural land to multi dwelling land?

I have seen many projects just start with no planning and later find themselves having to fork out a lot of cash or shutting down their project. Do not be those guys, go through your checklist to ensure the land fits all your needs.

Promote

The fun part for me is getting others excited about the project and getting involved. Create a nice offering to allow others to be a part of the dream. Your research will help them make their decision, trust me most people right now are feeling uncertain of what the future is ahead. These sanctuaries give them peace of mind.

Now once you have buyers and secured the land,

How blockchain technology can help ?

Continuing to close the circle, blockchain is allowing innovative means for funding and cycling cash flows back into the village. We see tokenized real estate as a means to accelerate these types of projects. Giving decentralized ownership to anyone who may want to contribute or support these types of projects.

Drive an exciting lifestyle.

Now once you have land, housing, and a small community, what do you want to create to drive and excite you lifestyle. Now we build these projects to get creative and to sway away from typical suburbia. Some of the fun things we have seen are music studios, cafes, coworking spaces, retreat areas, swimming pools, rope courses, gyms, greenhouses, amphitheaters, yoga shallahs and many more. This depends on how you want to attract more people to move into your village. What we have seend from many projects is more and more going for the smart village route.

Now wherever you get a bunch of people living together, you sometimes always run into conflict, what tools are there to minimize this? We first have a good values system in place, and governance systems. Sociocracy, holacracy or using the latest technology digital Autonomous Organizations are beginning to become popular. Using blockchain could be the solution to create smart contracts and make it clear on everyone’s involvement. If problems still persist within personal communication Non Violent Communication is a great tool for handling problems that may arise.

At the end of the day we want to live a place of belonging and meeting basic human needs. Especially during the pandemic when supply chain and resources are being exhausted, its nice to know you have your neighbors and a food forest next door. This creates an abundance mentality and still allows those to continue to thrive even during the challenges of the world we face today.