2013 EC

RESEARCH DOCUMENTT

Prepared by: Ermiyas Tesfaye

ID No 304/08
Acknowledgement
I would thank the Lord all mighty for all the success in my work. I would like to thank my
advisor, Dr Benyam Girma not only for his thorough criticism and comments on my work
but also for guiding my work in to a more elaborate and focused goal. I would also like
to thank all architecture instructors for great discussions, ideas and criticisms. I thank my
parents, my colleagues and friends whom without their support, the finalization of this
thesis would not have been real.

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 CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
An Eco village is a traditional or intentional community with the goal of becoming more socially, culturally,
economically, and/or ecologically sustainable. An Eco village strives to produce the least possible negative
impact on the natural environment through intentional physical design and resident behavior choices. It is
consciously designed through locally owned, participatory processes to regenerate and restore its social and
natural environments. Most range from a population of 50 to 250 individuals, although some are smaller,
and traditional Eco villages are often much larger. Larger Eco villages often exist as networks of smaller
sub-communities. Some Eco villages have grown through like-minded individuals, families, or other small
groups—who are not members, at least at the outset—settling on the Eco village’s periphery and
participating de facto in the community.

Eco villagers are united by shared ecological, social-economic and cultural-spiritual values. Concretely, eco
villagers seek alternatives to ecologically destructive electrical, water, transportation, and wastetreatment
systems, as well as the larger social systems that mirror and support them. Many see the breakdown of
traditional forms of community, wasteful consumerist lifestyles, the destruction of natural habitat, urban
sprawl, factory farming, and over-reliance on fossil fuels as trends that must be changed to avert ecological
disaster and create richer and more fulfilling ways of life.

Eco villages offer small-scale communities with minimal ecological impact or regenerative impacts as an
alternative. However, such communities often cooperate with peer villages in networks of their own (see
Global Eco village Network for an example). This model of collective action is similar to that of Ten Thousand
Villages, which supports the fair trade of goods worldwide.

BACKGROUND
This study is mainly concerned with the housing areas of Hosanna town in a relation of eco-friendly housing.
The population growth of Hosanna affected the living standard and housing quality of the town. Some part
of Hosanna town is going to change in to slum area.
Urban housing development needs to be done in a knowledge and awareness of ecology, our relationship
with the environment, with our working life, with transportation. We need a plan or better governance and
planning processes to take care of the Earth and of lands, and therefore that the houses are integrated with
the working spaces, with agriculture and other activities. We need a systemic vision of the sustainability and
resilience in designing.
There is much evidence that human behavior can adversely affect the natural environment in a variety of
ways and that the forces that motivate environmentally detrimental behavior are likely to become even
stronger in the future. There is a need to better understand the coupling of behavior and environmental change
and how to mitigate the undesirable effects.
Houses could be considered as instruments whose central function is to modify the environment in the
favor of man. However, man by over exploiting the natural resources of the environment to provide his
own comfort has initiated processes that jeopardize his own existence in the environment. Hence

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sustainable issues are becoming important factors requiring the attention of the architects in their approach
to the design and production of houses.
The impact of the housing sector on the physical environment is so significant considering the fact that the
materials and methods used to construct and maintain houses and the energy used to service them are
enormous. The enormity of the impact of the housing sector on the environment and climate can be better
understood from the perspective of the design, material use, energy and water consumption.
To reduce the impact of urban housing development on environmental change there will be a design solution
in the selection of site, program development, project size, energy use, water supply, orientation and
material selection of the house.

PROBLEM STATEMENT
In Hosanna town there is no consideration of eco-friendly housing for several years. The current housing
condition of the town has caused many problems, such as inefficient use of resources and materials, highly
polluted environment and slum areas, uncomfortable living conditions and inefficient use of space.
Creating a community that is socially, culturally, economically, and ecologically sustainable, is important
to make the least possible negative impact on the natural environment through intentional physical design
and resident behavior choices. It is consciously designed through locally owned, participatory processes to
regenerate and restore its social and natural environments.
For not having such kind of villages in the country we lost efficient use of natural resources such as
electrical, water, transportation, and waste-treatment systems. And we made a negative impact on our natural
environment.

STUDY OBJECTIVES
The specific objective of the study is:

To design an Eco village model with inspiring and viable solution to eradicate poverty and degradation of the
environment, while combining a supportive social-cultural environment with a low-impact lifestyle.

Specifically,

• Evaluate and examine different eco village strategies that can be applied in Ethiopian local context
• Study major principles and design elements of which are essential to effectively design an
ecovillage
• Explore the advantage of environmentally friendly community and low impact development 
Analyze successful eco villages

HYPOTHESIS AND SPECIFIC AIMS

Hypothesis

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If eco-friendly housing strategy applied in hosanna town, it results a long-term positive effect on the environment,
and it reduces the current environmental and infrastructural problems.

Specific Aims
The aims of study are to promote:

• Sustainable site and building design

• Indoor environmental quality
• Water conservation and quality
• Efficient energy and environment
• Conservation of materials and resources

RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The overall target of this study is to answer the following research questions:

• How eco villages promote environmental sustainability?  Why eco village is needed in Hosanna
town?
• What is the effect of absence of eco village in Hosanna?
• How to apply eco village in Hosanna?

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research Area
The research area is in Hosanna town new developing housing areas.

Data Gathering Instruments

The instrument used to gather the required information includes observation, literature reviews, case studies
and personal experiences.

Observation
It is the gathering of primary data by investigator’s own direct observation of relevant people, actions and
situations without asking from the respondent. By using this method, I will observe the current situation of
housing sites.

Literature review
Literature review has been used during all the phases of the research. Literature was analyzed in order to
find related theories and researches done by the scholars in this field. In the following chapters of this
thesis, literature related to the concept of ecovillage and characteristics of environmental sustainability and
sustainable society will be reviewed.

Case studies

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Case studies are a suitable research strategy when a contemporary phenomenon is studied. Ecovillages
will be analyzed and findings will be compared in order to answer the research question and subquestions
discussed earlier.

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 CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Definition of Ecovillage
In 1991, Robert Gilman set out a definition of an ecovillage that became standard for many years. Gilman defined
an ecovillage as a: "human-scale full-featured settlement in which human activities are harmlessly integrated into
the natural world in a way that is supportive of healthy human development, and can be successfully continued
into the indefinite future."

Kosha Joubert, Executive Director of the Global Ecovillage Network, more recently defined an ecovillage as
an: "intentional, traditional; rural or urban community that is consciously designed through locally owned,
participatory processes in all four dimensions of sustainability (social, culture, ecology and economy) to
regenerate their social and natural environments."

In this view, ecovillages are seen as an ongoing process, rather than a particular outcome. They often start
off with a focus on one of the four dimensions of sustainability, e.g. ecology, but evolve into holistic models
for restoration. In this view, aiming for sustainability is not enough; it is vital to restore and regenerate the
fabric of life and across all four dimensions of sustainability: social, environmental, economic and cultural.

Ecovillages have developed in recent years as technology has improved so they have more sophisticated structures
as noted by Baydoun, M. 2013.

Generally, the ecovillage concept is not tied to specific sectarian (religious, political, corporate) organizations
or belief systems not directly related to environmentalism, such as monasteries, cults, or communes.

History of Eco village

The modern-day desire for community was notably characterized by the communal "back to the land"
movement of the 1960s and 1970s through communities such as the earliest example that still survives, the
Miccosukee Land Co-op co-founded in May 1973 by James Clement van Pelt in Tallahassee, Florida. In
the same decades, the imperative for alternatives to radically inefficient energy-use patterns, in particular
automobile-enabled suburban sprawl, was brought into focus by recurrent energy crises. The term "eco-
village" was introduced by Georgia Tech Professor George Ramsey in a 1978 address, "Passive Energy
Applications for the Built Environment", to the First World Energy Conference of the Association of
Energy Engineers, to describe small-scale, car-free, close-in developments, including suburban infill,
arguing that "the great energy waste in the United States is not in its technology; it is in its lifestyle and
concept of living." Ramsey's article includes a sketch for a "self-sufficient pedestrian solar village" by one
of his students that looks very similar to eco-villages today.
The movement became more focused and organized in the cohousing and related alternative-community
movements of the mid-1980s. Then, in 1991, Robert Gilman and Diane Gilman co-authored a germinal study

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called "Ecovillages and Sustainable Communities" for Gaia Trust, in which the ecological and
communitarian themes were brought together.

The first Eco-Village in North America began its first stages in 1990. Earthaven Eco-Village in Black
Mountain, NC was the first community called an Eco-Village and was designed using permaculture
(holistic) principles. The first residents moved onto the vacant land in 1993. As of 2019 Earthaven
EcoVillage has over 70 families living off the grid on 368 acres of land. The ecovillage movement began
to coalesce at the annual autumn conference of Findhorn, in Scotland, in 1995. The conference was called:
"Ecovillages and Sustainable Communities", and conference organizers turned away hundreds of
applicants. According to Ross Jackson, "somehow they had struck a chord that resonated far and wide.
The word 'ecovillage'... thus became part of the language of the Cultural Creatives." After that conference,
many intentional communities, including Findhorn, began calling themselves "ecovillages", giving birth to
a new movement. The Global Ecovillage Network, formed by a group of about 25 people from various
countries who had attended the Findhorn conference, crystallized the event by linking hundreds of small
projects from around the world, who had with similar goals but had formerly operated without knowledge
of each other. Gaia Trust, Denmark, agreed to fund the network for its first five years. Today, there are
self-identified ecovillages in over 70 countries on six continents.

Since the 1995 conference, a number of the early members of the Global Ecovillage Network have tried other
approaches to ecovillage building in an attempt to build settlements that would be attractive to mainstream
culture in order to make sustainable development more generally accepted. One of these with some degree of
success is Living Villages and The Wintles where eco-houses are arranged so that social connectivity is
maximized and residents have shared food growing areas, woodland and animal husbandry for greater
sustainability.

The principles on which ecovillages rely can be applied to urban and rural settings, as well as to developing
and developed countries. Advocates seek a sustainable lifestyle (for example, of voluntary simplicity) for
inhabitants with a minimum of trade outside the local area, or ecoregion. Many advocates also seek
independence from existing infrastructures, although others, particularly in more urban settings, pursue
more integration with existing infrastructure. Rural ecovillages are usually based on organic farming,
permaculture and other approaches which promote ecosystem function and biodiversity. Ecovillages,
whether urban or rural, tend to integrate community and ecological values within a principlebased
approach to sustainability, such as permaculture design.

Johnathan Dawson, former president of the Global Ecovillage Network, describes five ecovillage principles
in his 2006 book Ecovillages: New Frontiers for Sustainability:

1. They are not government-sponsored projects, but grassroots initiatives.

2. Their residents value and practice community living.
3. Their residents are not overly dependent on government, corporate or other centralized sources for water,
food, shelter, power and other basic necessities. Rather, they attempt to provide these resources
themselves.
4. Their residents have a strong sense of shared values, often characterized in spiritual terms.
5. They often serve as research and demonstration sites, offering educational experiences for others.

Characteristics of Eco villages

The principles on which ecovillages rely can be applied to urban and rural settings, as well as to
developing and developed countries. Advocates seek infrastructural independence and a sustainable
lifestyle (for example, of voluntary simplicity) for inhabitants with a minimum of trade outside the local

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area, or ecoregion. Rural ecovillages are usually based on organic farming, permaculture and other
approaches which promote ecosystem function and biodiversity. Some ecovillages integrate many of the
design principles of cohousing, but with a greater ecological focus and a more "organic" process, typical of
permaculture design.

An ecovillage usually relies on:

• "Green" infrastructural capital;

• autonomous building or clustered housing, to minimize ecological footprint;
• renewable energy;
• permaculture;
• cohousing or other forms of supportive community.
The goal of most ecovillages is to be a sustainable habitat providing for most of its needs on site. Its
organization also usually depends upon some instructional capital or moral codes - a minimal civics sometimes
characterized as eco-anarchism:

• local purchasing so as to support the local economy;

• local food production and distribution;
• moral purchasing to avoid objectionable consumption;  consensus decision-making for
governance;
• a choice to respect diversity.

The Principles of an Eco-village

The development of eco-villages or rural sustainable development can be classified in seven topics of
sustainable living, sewage management, optimal management of energy resources, environment
improvement, optimal water and agriculture management, improving health and cultural, social and spiritual
development. In each of propose headlines, some solutions are explained.

1- Sustainable living: One of the problems in Iran villages is lack of consistency of living with
environmental goals. For example, in some villages, non-sustainable use of surface water and underground
resources can destroy natural vegetation. In other areas, unduly pasture use by livestock has destroyed
pastures with high biological value. The concept of sustainable living is providing welfare without
inflicting damage in rural development.

2- Waste management: One of the biggest problems of villages in Iran is great storage of waste
and if organized solutions are not presented, besides epidemic of diseases, severe soil, water and
underground water pollution can be created.

3- Environment improvement: One of the important features of rural textures can be internal and
external nature perspectives, natural bed, semi-open spaces in the passages and combination of gardens
with residential units, coordination in the total texture in terms of details and using materials, villages and
their importance in improving searching and visual beauty, semi-open spaces and platforms for sitting,
water pond in villages, easy space technology and using stone and mortar as the main elements,
combination of stone and brick materials or brick, dried mud and stone, combination of wooden beams in
walls of building, combination of garden space with residential units and formation of house garden units
and etc.

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4- Optimal management of energy resources: There is another important point and it is energy
consumption growth with three times more than population growth. Based on these views, we should find
new resources. The resources that besides providing required energy of the world, no damage is imposed on
environment. Today, global communities focus mostly on renewable energy. These energies are less
destructive compared to fossil fuels. One of the renewable energies is solar energy, wind, mass biological
energy, tide energy, geo-thermal energy and water energy.

5- Optimal management of water and agriculture: Based on dry climatic conditions and
development of agriculture sector as food providing member, modern irrigation methods and efficiency of
water in agriculture are manifested. For example, irrigation efficiency in pressurized irrigation systems is
higher than 70% and it indicates reduction of water loss compared to the 30% efficiency of traditional
irrigation methods.

6- Improvement of health: City dwellers view of rural environment is living in a healthy space as
effective on maintaining the health of village dwellers. This view is an ideal for a rural life but health of
residents of village is not suitable.

7- Cultural, social development: Development of concept of an eco-village requires a good

cultural and social capacity in village to make changes to achieve this concept. One of the required cultural,
social issues is the social collaboration and team work among the villagers and change and progress with
modern conditions of the world.

Dimensions of Eco village

Three main dimensions in eco-villages are as follows and to achieve an eco-village, the following solutions
are presented

1- Ecologic dimension: It explains the relationship between people and their living environment.
Some of the important points here is energy storage, waste recycle with emphasis on recycle for low effect
on environment, using water treatment plants and using some methods of design to produce food products
and establishing ecological buildings.

• Developing organic food in community of region

• Establishing houses by natural and local materials by local architecture tradition
• Using renewable energy system with local focus
• Evaluation of biological cycle of products and activity
• Protection of water, air and soil health via correct energy management and avoiding
• resources and energy waste
• Encouraging bio-diversity and protection of natural non-residential areas
• Recycle of waste and creating a self-refining system
2- Social dimension: This criterion is dedicated to need of people to pass leisure time and creating
protected natural environment form social view. In eco-village, each of people can participate in decisions.

• Maintaining one’s identity

• Learning how to take correct decisions and resolving disputes
• Dividing common resources and providing mutual support
• Emphasis on preventive healthy methods
• Providing useful work for all members

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 • Providing a complete life for children, elderly and minority group
• Promoting permanent education
• Encouraging to unity and respecting the differences
• Development of cultural manifestations
• Social capital, identity and social consistency
Eco-village economy is planned as a social and family life is supported with saving in financial needs.
• Self-reliant economy
• Ecologic or green economy
• Entrepreneur
• Local production, regional to global market
• Alternative banks
• Local income production
3- Cultural/spiritual dimension: Eco-villages are inclined to renovate and find new cultural
manifestations via communication of human being and nature and the world. Culture and spirituality in
eco-village are shown as:

• Development of happiness via religious rituals and the festivals following natural cycle.
• Emphasis on creativity and art as the manifestation of unity
• Expressing a spiritual worldview by global relationship
• Respecting the ecological rules
• Respecting the spiritual statements by various methods
• Respecting the manifestation of different cultures
• Facilitation of individual growth and correct spiritual tradition
• Reliance on variety

The Contribution Eco villages to Sustainable Development

Nowadays the most often used definition of sustainability was introduced by the World Commission on
Environment and Development. They defined Sustainable Development as development that meets the needs
of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. the main
principles for the sustainable living:

• Respect and care for the community;  Improve the quality of human life;
• Conserve the Earth’s vitality and diversity;
• Minimize the depletion of non-renewable resources;
• Keep within the Earth’s carrying capacity;
• Change personal attitudes and practices;
• Enable communities to care for their own environments;
• Provide a national framework for integrating development and conservation;
• Create a global alliance.
Achieving sustainable development requires interactive changes in culture, institutional structure and
technology. Most of the residential buildings in the ecovillages display properties of the passive houses.
As the concept may already suggest, a low energy house can be any type of a house which uses less energy
than an ordinary house. Low energy houses share the following characteristics:

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 • High level of insulation, which means making thicker walls of the building than usually in order to reduce
heat loss;
• Energy efficient windows role in reducing heat loss and gaining solar heat is essential;
• Energy efficient heating system cut required amount of energy by half;  Rainwater recycling
significantly reduces waste of drinking water;
• Solar hot water heating.

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 CHAPTER THREE
CASE STUDIES
Case study 1
Eco-Village (South Florida)
Parameters
• The electric rail is contained within the public right of way of the 1-4 corridor
• High speed transit connecting Tampa and Orlando is unobstructed but interconnected with branching
satellite developments
• Development modules cap building growth at 2,000‟ diameter but vegetation and agricultural systems
can bleed out through the land
• Excess power and water can be fed back into existing infrastructure systems and vehicular
connections into and out of the modules is fast and efficient without disrupting the pedestrian right of
way within the development limits
• Eliminate dependency on external energy source but remain connected for excess energy sharing
• Electric power production for rail achieved through expansive solar array above rail line, geothermal
root system, and wind generated by passenger cars and passing winds
• Compact growth of satellite villages relieves uncontrolled sprawl
• Sense of community promoted by dense tightly knit neighborhoods and centralized commercial
districts for all living necessities
• Establish natural ecological processes and water catchment through ecological corridors and lakes for
water retention
• Twenty five percent of commercial and residential building sites allocated for natural public spaces
• All roof surfaces must be utilized with water catchment, solar panels, wind turbines, and roof gardens
• Terracing of building heights stepping back from central ecological spine with tallest buildings at the
perimeter
• Boulevard vehicular access for processional entry with parking, retail, and civic adjacencies
• Service access for loading and unloading goods, trash removal and parking access
• Cisterns for grey water storage located underground on all buildings
• Low lying geothermal grid underneath building but above cisterns for HVAC on every building
except parking structures
• Connective tissue of power, water, and sewer grids linking developments beneath system of
pedestrian paths
Site Analysis
The site for this project was chosen through an arduous process involving a variety of factors. Proximity to
local resources, climate, culture, and need were merged with an understanding of possible future events
such as sea level rise and natural disasters to find a safe and abundant site for a truly sustainable

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development. If you build a L.E.E.D. platinum city near the coastline and it gets creamed by a hurricane,
it’s not a sustainable city.

Ground water reserves, agricultural possibilities, and bio remediation of chemical dump site along with the
adjacency of the new U.S.F. polytechnic campus are the main driving forces for this site selection.

Green infrastructure is utilized as a concept that the utilities are provided through sustainable practices such
as solar, wind and geo-thermal technologies. This concept includes water and waste management as well
as ecological concerns associated with mitigating flooding and pollution.

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Environmental determinism is included here as the notion that the ecological systems come first in the
design process and determine the way in which buildings are organized. Environmental systems become
form determinants of buildings and establish a variety of natural spaces within the built environment.
Buildings are terraced back with garden roofs from the central ecological spine allowing for views towards
the natural and expanding garden spaces in the vertical plane. Twenty five percent of each building site is
also reserved for natural public spaces that are interconnected with ecological corridors throughout the
village. Some building sites near the water are reserved in their entirety for public parks and natural
ecological spaces

Agricultural urbanism and the notion of edible landscapes are great ways for realizing responsible and
beneficial usage of the natural spaces within the urban context. All residential units within the eco-village
have private front gardens that provide a sense of ownership and rear garden patios with window planters
along the exterior of the south and west sides for shade, vibrancy and food. Public and private garden
spaces provide healthy and locally grown food and cleanse the environment around them through a process
of Bio remediation.

Bio remediation is also used on the North West portion of the site that is a contaminated emulsified solvents
dump site. The site is capped and filled with organic material and plant life that cleanses it over time while
providing a recreational park space on the surface.
The eco-village is a transit-oriented development designed within a walkable radius around a central transit
stop. The rail can transport goods and service because the rail connects and stops within light
manufacturing and storage buildings. The village also employs two boulevards with parallel parking for
shopping and visitors. Two service and utilities road are used for deliveries, trash and light manufacturing
access. Parking is located at the threshold of the village within the walkable urban radius.

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Smart growth is achieved by capping growth at a green buffer zone of dense natural foliage that limits the
horizontal sprawl of the development and allows for a more communal approach of development. Growth
occurs vertically and public spaces are carved out of the building envelopes for light, air and public parks.
Power harvesting is accomplished through the incorporation of multiple sustainable systems that are
interlinked and shared throughout the village. A large solar and wind array radiates outward from the
south of the development and a series of wind and solar collectors are dispersed throughout the village and
linked by an electrical grid beneath the pedestrian path. Individual buildings also participate in this
system with solar and wind harvesting on the roofs for power as well as geo thermal under the ground for
air conditioning. The buildings take energy out and put energy back in the system on a continuous basis
and excess energy is stored and saved for future use.

Waste management is divided up in quadrants and links underground along the same path as the power and
water grids. Inhofe tanks are used for filtering the sewage in a natural way and are incorporated in parks at
four exterior locations in the village. The tanks do not smell and have an interesting feature of natural
plants that remediate the waste.

Grey water reclamation is provided for via water catchment areas on fifty percent of the roofs on all
buildings in the village. This water is piped and cleaned on the ground floor and stored in cisterns
underground. Excess runoff water is controlled and filtered through a series of linked water catchment
paths that become ecological corridors with natural plant systems and culminate at the lowest portion of the
site forming a lake.

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The main focus of the final design effort was directed at the organization and implementation of one main
eco-village which can be reproduced in different ways with the same kit of parts. The site development
begins with reestablishing the wetlands condition of the areas past by directing and containing the water flow
of the site. An inversion of natural park space as the main public place holders is established by ecological
corridors that bisect the development and allow for water reclamation and a natural cleansing process via
certain plant life incorporated in the system. This system connects a remediation park located over an
emulsified solvent dump site to the north with an irrigated agricultural field to the south through a dense
ecological park space in the center.

The next step in the process begins with the implementation of access roads and a green buffer zone
around the perimeter of the site that acts as a buffer for noise and a growth boundary for the buildings in
the village. This encourages dense community growth upwards and instead of outwards which mitigates
sprawl and uncontrolled growth. Service roads for trucks bringing in goods and services are linked with
light manufacturing buildings and retail spaces while boulevards are created for a processional entry into
the site flanked by parking retail and public buildings. However these roads do not cut off pedestrian paths
through the site and stop before the central green corridor allowing ecological systems and pedestrians the
right of way instead of the car.

Further, a grid of pedestrian paths which divide the site into individual plots of land for buildings and or
park spaces forms the connective tissue of the village. This path also houses utility access including water,
power, and sewage linking individual buildings in the village with a greater overall system. The power
and water for this system is generated mostly by the buildings themselves.

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The buildings are equipped with solar panels, wind turbines, and geothermal systems that generate power
and share it with the overall system. Grey water systems are also employed on the roofs for reclamation
of grey water for usage in toilets and watering plants. This water is stored in cisterns located under the
buildings and is not shared amongst the system. Sewage is handled via a system of Imhoff tanks that filter
the waste through a series of natural processes of settling and sedimentation along with anaerobic
digestion requiring no power. This system is separated in quadrants of development with multiple tanks
incorporated in park spaces near the exterior of the village. Clean water for drinking and bathing is
produced by the buildings as well through the implementation of atmospheric water generators located at
the tops of the buildings. This water is shared throughout the entire village and linked in the same way as
the electrical grid.

This eco-village is self-sustaining in the sense that it provides its own power, water, food and jobs while
naturally cleansing waste, remediating a chemical dump site and re-establishing wetlands within an urban
environment. The village provides power through sustainable means, provides ample land for food production,
generates clean water from atmospheric water harvesting, disposes of waste through natural process, cleanses
the land through bio remediation, and provides jobs in commercial, civic, light manufacturing, and research
and development areas. The village is a walkable community that provides everything needed for modern life
in a compact location and connects back with the new polytechnic university through a series of pedestrian
bridges that bring student and professor life throughout the selfsustaining village.

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Case study 2
Eco-village in Florida
An eco-village in Florida is the first economical project with net -zero energy. Florida eco village will be
the first affordable net-zero project in the US. An innovative housing development is set to get underway in
Dunedin, Florida that will see the creation of the first affordable LEED Certified Net Zero Energy
townhome development in the US. The Eco-Village will consist of 25 townhomes, all of which are
designed and engineered to maximize energy efficiency. Developer Planet Green Group aims to make eco-
friendly as well as affordable. The aim of the project is to provide affordable homes for everyone, but
especially ‘Hometown Heroes’ such as police officers, firefighters, nurses, teachers, veterans and other
professionals. Each house will be priced as low as $600 per month, making them ultra-affordable.

The homes themselves have been designed to combine building science and high-performance products
with the ability for homeowners to observe energy consumption. They are designed to reduce overall
household energy use, CO2 emissions, indoor water consumption, and reduce associated energy costs. One
of the features include a solar system that converts sunshine into electricity and eliminates any electric
costs. Others include power-saving appliances, LED lighting and home energy management systems to
allow homeowners to better understand home energy use and monitor energy consumption

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 .

Case study 3
GAIA village in Argentine
Gaia village is an eco-village in Argentine. In this village, rituals are performed. The main purpose of
development of this village is presenting solutions for global crises. This village is not a place to escape from
an earthly heaven and it is a small sample of a live lab to fulfill goals for sustainable development to share
their activities with them. The main principles of this eco village are as follows:

• Shared life
• Coordination and balance
• Participation

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  Democracy

Gaia village is not a self-reliant one. This village is managed by local community and there is special
focus on reduction of strict rules. Also, restoring security in this village is based on unity. In 1996, the first
project of this village is consistent with environmental development. In this project, some buildings in
village as applied already to establish milk devices and were deserted since 30 years ago and were
renovated. In the next step, a comprehensive design of energy management is performed on all buildings
of this village. One of the measurements in this village is tree planting in all areas starting with organic
garden plants. Other activities to create alternative living money is producing new economic resources
with establishment of some small enterprises. In the following Figure, some images of Gaia green village
and relevant activities of environment development are shown.

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Case study 4
Earthsong Eco-Neighborhood, New Zealand (2008)
Earthsong is based on the three principal areas of sustainable design (Environmental, Social and
Economic) as established in „Agenda 21‟, (Bell and Morse, 2008). Environmental consideration at
Earthsong relates to the overall design of buildings and landscape into a coherent whole; orientation of all
buildings on principles of passive solar design and natural climate control; building materials choice
considering embodied energy, durability, toxicity, recyclability and environmental impact; collection and
re-use of rainwater and waste water; renewable energy; solar hot water systems; and clustering of
buildings creating productive open spaces (Earthsong 2014). The „village‟ arrangement balances the needs
of individuals and community. Physical spaces encourage a diverse range of social interaction; cars are
confined to the outer regions of the site; varying dwelling sizes support a wide range of ages and
household types; a centrally located common house is a focus for community activities; and resident
management occurs through the body-corporate. A self-sustaining economy to allow creation of on-site
work and wealth was achieved through shared workshop and office facilities; leasable multi-purpose
workspaces (stage 2); reduced domestic energy costs from energy efficient and passive solar design;
reduced commuting costs through the site being 500 metres from a railway station.

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The Earthsong Eco-Neighborhood‟s incorporation of some onsite renewable energy and permaculture
makes it a more sustainable co-housing project. Sustainable materials were also considered important, with
careful management of non-renewable resources. As stated (Earthsong Econeighbourhood 1999) this
required;

• Specifying sustainably grown timbers as an integral part of each building;

• Using coating systems/carpets/thermal insulation with reduced environmental impact;
• Incorporating some major recycled building products.
• Encouraging better management of water as a precious resource through rainwater harvesting and
having water efficient devices and grey-water recycling.

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 CHAPTER FOUR DATA
ANALYSIS
Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world and struggle with several problems such as a high
population growth rate, an uncontrolled urbanization process, deforestation, erosion and housing shortages
as much as the growth of the cities have a great change for the last several years including Hosanna town
lead to uncontrolled housing settlements and urbanization to some specific areas without considering the
ecosystem and environmental changes.
In my data I have analyzed that eco village have many benefits and advantages:

SAVE MONEY AND RESOURCES

When it comes to saving money while building an eco-friendly sustainable home, we will have to plan
ahead. Using energy efficient solutions and also using recycled and second-hand materials can be quite
helpful for our budget. Finding the best possible eco-friendly solution for our construction problems can help
reduce the waste output, and we get durable and very affordable materials to work with.
PROTECT OUR HEALTH

Quite a lot of conventional building materials are not very healthy. Some traditional building materials are
very prone to moisture buildup, which helps develop toxic mildew and mold. With mold and mildew, there
is quite a lot of risk because they can cause some serious health issues like breathing problems and even
cardiac arrest. When building an eco-friendly house, we should focus on getting the mold and moisture-
resistant materials.
SAVE TIME

There’s a learning curve to master in order to completely understand what eco-friendly materials are the
best for our purposes, but once we’ve learned about those materials, the construction time drops
significantly. This is good for multiple reasons, as we’re not only keeping the environment safe by reducing
our carbon footprint; it also keeps the money in the local economy.

IMPROVE LIVING CONDITIONS

There’s a virtual sea of benefits that can affect our social life and the quality of our living conditions, once
we go green. We get a lot of natural lighting, very high quality of air, healthy and soothing indoor
environment and natural temperature regulation. These are just some of the standard benefits for ecofriendly
house users, and there are quite a lot more.

Building concepts
Energy loss
Buildings use up enormous amounts of energy. Some calculations make it as much as 70% of all the energy
used when all the factors are taken into account. This energy is mainly for heating and lighting and
therefore the aim is to design houses that are well insulated and make the best use of natural light.

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Insulation
Increasing the amount of thermal installation is the main component of preventing energy loss. This includes
draft exclusion, glazing, wall and roof insulation. By installing insulation you are paying less money for
heating bills.

Passive solar gain

In the northern hemisphere, a south facing site will be a much better location than a north facing site because
of access to sunlight and protection from the cold northerly wind. An eco-house starts life facing the Sun.
Ideally the site for the house should have a south westerly aspect and be protected from the north and east.
It's not always possible to do this but there will usually be an opportunity to take advantage of the passive
solar gain by having more glazing on either the front or the back of the building. Planting trees and
creating wind breaks on the north and east sides of the site can enhanced the solar gain effect by protecting
the house from the cold north easterly winds.

Having faced the house towards the Sun, high performance windows are used to draw in as much light and
warmth as possible. Sunlight then floods into the house and any heat generated is retained by a highly
insulated building shell, draught proof windows and doors and thermal mass within the building.

Active solar gain

Orientation towards the Sun also means that active solar systems can be fitted, both solar water heating panels
and electricity generating solar panels on the roofs, further adding to the free heat and electricity gained from
the sun.

Living gain
Living in the house also generates heat. Active human beings can produce as much heat as a one bar
electric fire. Add to this heat from cooking, washing, lights etc. and you can begin to see how an ecohouse
could get too hot. Conventionally opening the windows reduces heat, but an eco-house design could
include heat recovery ventilation systems.

Heat recovery ventilation

These systems extract the warm, moist air from bathrooms and kitchens and take the heat out of the stale,
damp air before venting it outside. The heat recovery system transfers this collected heat to fresh air coming
into the building and distributes it to the bedrooms and living rooms, which creates fresh air at room
temperature. An added benefit is that filters can be fitted on the air intake to provide a barrier to pollen or
other irritants.

Living heat loss

With the passive and active solar gains, insulation, draft proofed building shell and heat recovery system,
eco-houses could be zero heat; that is, in theory, you shouldn't need to keep pumping heat into them from a
central heating system. In practice life isn't like that. Kids leave the door open, pets come in and out,
people go out all day, cold snaps happen and some people like to sleep with the window open. An
ecohouse can incorporate design to have heating systems that can react quickly and efficiently to any
changes in room temperature as well as providing a heat boost to the water temperature down-stream of
the solar panels.
Health

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Other benefits of an eco-house, aside from the obvious one of having minimal heating costs, are a healthy
living environment. The heat recovery system can eliminate dampness and the moulds that are so often a
health hazard. The air intake filters prevent dust coming in with the incoming fresh air and the internal
vacuum cleaner system extracts dust from the house and vents it (via the dust collection bag and filter) to the
outside, thus no microscopic particles of dust remain in the house.
Load bearing internal walls are minimized to allow rearrangements of the interior spaces, and the build technology
is such that local trades can carry out alterations and easy maintenance.
For the health of the householder, and the planet, an eco-house should be built with materials that are free,
wherever possible, from toxins or harmful products of the petro-chemical industry.

Sustainable materials
One of the wider issues of energy efficiency is the embodied energy within the construction materials. (Embodied
energy is the energy taken up with producing and transporting the materials used).

Timber
Wood is a primary building material for eco-housing. This is because trees grow using energy from the
Sun, they don't pollute, they produce oxygen, absorb CO2, they provide a wild life habitat, they can be
replanted, they can be sourced locally, the timber can easily be put to some other use after a building is
demolished. Lime

Cement is a very useful building material and there are places where we have to be practical and use it.
However, one alternative to cement is lime. Lime has been used as a building material for thousands of
years and although energy and CO2 are used in its production it gently returns to limestone in time, taking in
CO2 in the process.

Reclaimed materials
There is also the use reclaimed materials, particularly bricks, slates and roof tiles, to make use of the
embodied energy within these materials. This can also help new buildings to blend in with their surroundings.

CHAPTER FIVE
FINDINGS
Housing is a fundamental need of man without which his very existence is under threat. Housing is one of
the three basic needs of man and it is the most important for the physical survival of man after the provision
of food. It has a profound influence on the health, efficiency, social behavior, satisfaction and general
welfare of the community. In the evaluation of man’s comfort, growth and development, it is inevitable that
housing be considered as a critical element.
I have presented theoretical background of the eco village giving a short history of their international
network and description of the main characteristics that intentional communities and sustainable society
should have in order to answer the main research question. In order to answer the question of how eco
villages promote environmental sustainability to its full extend, Answers obtained in this research gave a

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large-scale of factors that play an important role in the communities and contribute to the reduction of
environmental impact. Looking at the results of the research I would like to conclude that mainstream society
could learn a lot from the eco villages and their high degree of expertise in the environmentally friendly
living.

COCLUSION
The main purpose of this research was to find out how eco villages promote environmental sustainability as
an example to the rest of the society. Creating self-reliant community with sustainable living is the
necessary factor for formation of high-quality habitats. Based on the introduced criteria in eco-villages,
energy sustainability is of great importance and as shown in the history of creating eco-villages regarding
creation of a sustainable ecological life by people shows that creating these small activities can create eco-
villages.

The role of villages for making a living is of great importance. The economy of the countries in developing
countries including our country is mostly reliant on agriculture production and agriculture activities are
performed in villages. On one hand, to improve traditional methods of agriculture products and optimal
use of land and production and distribution resources of agriculture products and poverty eradication and
for social and cultural renovation of villages, the rural development importance is manifested.

RECOMMENDATION
The present villages and cities cannot provide good residential areas for a high quality life. Therefore, we should
find a new model of residential area to fulfill with the new community requirements and create sustainable
development in urban and village residential areas.

The position of sustainable life is the requirement of formation of sustainable villages. Variety of rural and
urban roles, creating self-reliant community with sustainable living is the necessary factor for formation of
high quality habitats. Based on the introduced criteria in eco-villages, availability of water, energy and
organic fertilizer are of great importance as reflected in the history of creating eco-villages to ensure
sustainable ecological life by the people. It is therefore pertinent that all these should be taken into
consideration in the development of sustainable living environment in our communities.

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DESIGN PROCESS

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY
https://slideshare.com
https://issuu.com https://ec.europa.eu
http://choicesmagazine.org
https://sciencedirect.com
https://ethw.org https://who.int
https://ecovillage.org
https://inhabitat.com https://Global
Ecovillagenetwork.org

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