Microvillages
Microvillages are a community of homes that cater for all ages from birth to death. They provide a setting for small children and the elderly to interact and support each other and allow for aging in a safe and connected environment. Comprised of Living Pods, Green Rooms and Naturescapes. They are interconnected with community and personal gardens and they are designed with high performance, thermally efficient building envelopes. They provide their own electricity and collect, store, distribute and recycle water. They are an approach to a lifetime of living, and are regenerative in intent for the people who live there, for visitors, and for the environment and habitat in which they are located.
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Watson Microvillage Demonstrate Concept Models
Rural Micro Village
Social cohesion and fabric of cross-generational village life
Heart at the Centre: Social space
• Community play, gardens, working in nature, preparing food and dining as a community
• Natural landscape
Embrace the Heart: Family Habitat
• Perimeter living pods and clusters to cater for the diversity of family types and across all generations
Peripheral Services: Storage and Connection to the next Village
• Places for the utility, vehicles and supports networks
Happiness and Meaning
Peace, Love and Joy
- Simple life in the outdoors, always active and in the garden, joy in nature, forest bathing
- Approaching life with joy, cherish each new day
- Treat everyone like a brother or sister even if you have never met them before
- Be part of a community and nurture friendships
- Practice teamwork, help one another
- Balance life with rest and activity
Self
- What is Happiness
- What is Meaning
- Developing Consciousness
- Becoming aware of the cycle of life
- From self and unconscious hedonism to social awareness and consciousness about our role in society
- Express our gifts, our art through creativity (or what some call “work”)
Work
- Working from the Heart not the Head,
- Connecting with people through their needs and their level of consciousness,
- Villages: Working to create Social structure and manifesting village and community in each project,
- Naturescapes: Providing opportunity to connect with nature and increase natural health
People’s Needs throughout Life
Who are we and how do we change and our needs change throughout our life?
- Infant: Accept love
- Child: Push boundaries
- Adolescent: Explore the world
- Young Adult: Find a partner
- Adult: Create a family
- Mature Adult: Consolidate extended family
- Senior: Support the young and celebrate life
- Elderly: Provide wisdom to the young and prepare for life passing, sharing life stories
