Social Innovation and the Global Ecovillage Network

Abstract

This research report on ecovillages starts with a chapter on the methodology that has been used to study GEN and the two local ecovillages. It is followed by three main chapters. Chapter 3 presents the ecovillage movement and the GEN network. Chapter 4 presents the German case study Schloss Tempelhof, and chapter 5 the Portuguese case study Tamera. Each of these chapters discusses the respective case according to the conceptual framework developed by the TRANSIT research project. This includes distinguishing different types of change and innovation (social innovation, system innovation, game-changers, narratives of change and societal transformation) and the project’s cross-cutting topics connected to empowerment (governance, social learning, resourcing and monitoring). The last chapter summarizes the findings drawn from a comparison between the different cases.