Placing Intentional Communities in Geography

Abstract

This article situates intentional communities (ICs) in the discipline of geography, and outlines an agenda for further research into the geographies and experiences of ICs, insofar as such spaces may inform future strategic responses to the complex, multiscalar problems that characterize the Anthropocene. The article introduces readers to different definitions of ICs; presents a typology of ICs; explicitly connects selected meanings, histories, and goals/missions of ICs to both Pattison’s geographic research traditions and outstanding “big” questions in geography; highlights selected examples of geographic research on ICs; and sketches a rough agenda for geographic research on and pedagogical applications of ICs.

Key Words:

• intentional communities
• geographic research
• ecovillages
• the four traditions of geography
• human-environment interactions

Notes

1 The FIC directory can be accessed at https://www.ic.org/directory/maps.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Christina Lopez

Christina Lopez is a doctoral student in the Department of Geography at Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas, USA.

Russell Weaver

Russell Weaver is an assistant professor in the Department of Geography at Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas, USA, and a Regional Economic Geographer in the School of Industrial Labor Relations at Cornell University's Buffalo Co-Lab, Buffalo, New York, USA.