Being Light On the Earth. Eco-VIllage Policy and Practice For a Sustainable World. Volume 1

The world of Eco-Village is a universe of particular complexity, too often considered as a simple return to Nature and to an ideal and unrealistic Arcadian model of living. This book aims to illustrate how rich and articulated are the ideas that, over the centuries, have generated the contemporary concept of Eco-Village and Eco-Living. This publi¬cation is the most extensive and scientifically founded investigation of Eco-Villages published to date. The author, an expert on environ¬mental issues and history of architecture, through an extensive research lasting more than ten years, intends to describe the philosophical, cultural, historical and theoretical aspects of this complex topic. The discussion, rigorous but very readable, proposes the description of the fundamental concepts of the Eco-Villages, their complex philoso¬phy and the technical aspects, all illustrated with many examples. Because the subject has been comprehensively described for the first time, the book is split into two volumes. The first volume describes the historical and conceptual aspects of the contemporary Eco-Villages, supported by an extensive bibliography and accurate examples. The second is focusing more on the technical aspects, illustrating the most important Eco-Villages in the world.