The object before you is a model of the Corymbia self-managed village built in Sydney in 2030. It is designed as an answer for Sydney’s high housing costs with added thought for sustainability and cultural inclusiveness. Carbon neutral and running off their own solar power system, the village consisted of two large community rooms that were used for a variety of purposes, from communal kitchens to workshops for craft and building/maintenance work and smaller private living spaces. Surrounded by gardens tended to by the villagers, almost all the food requirements of the inhabitants were grown on site.   

 

Housing 10-12 families, or around 40-50 people, residents qualified for a place based not on income but on the skills and services they could contribute to the community. Each household was required to make an initial five-year commitment but many residents stayed for decades. Careful attention was paid to the composition of the community, meaning older and younger people would live together, and skills sharing would be cross-generational. Each resident was required to deliver a workshop of their choice once a month to the community and popular ones included cooking with insects and building Virtual Reality worlds.

 

The community also encouraged diversity in culture, sexual orientation and ability. With smaller living quarters and then larger community spaces organic relationships developed across the community, with childless households welcoming the chance to interact and look after single parent households, and older residents and younger residents alike enjoying the chance to interact with each other.

 

Before joining the village every member was required to go through conflict resolution training. This was designed by the villagers to give members skills to negotiate their needs and manage life’s changes gracefully within a group environment. The training was so successful that the villagers ran a highly successful conflict resolution training program for both local and national businesses, providing a liveable income for all residents.