Unhoused Ecovillages and Urban Permaculture with Mark Lakeman of Communitecture – Eco Report XTRA

In light of recent local municipal policies to prohibit camping in Bloomington, affecting the unhoused community, Roze asks Lakeman about Dignity Village, an ilkegal tent squat turned tiny home ecovillage small business incubator celebrated by Portland city officials, local police and citizens as a peaceful, productive example of place making and uplift for people experiencing poverty and facing a lack of affordable housing. Roze and Lakeman also explore other successful intentional communities and transitional housing programs.

Lakeman shares how these projects happened, how they operate and he expresses the need for a compassionate response to burgeoning homelessness, how his life and those of the people allowed a refuge have been enriched by contributing to building a self governing and humane community in the margins outside conventional urban planning to provide shelter for those not accommodated by the prevailing socio economic norms.

Zyro asks Mark about the inception and development of the City Repair Project in Portland, a village building and place making initiative that has been reclaiming street intersections and other spaces for neighborhood commons by engaging neighbors in collective street murals, public art and installing community infrastructure like solar tea stands and free libraries, sculptural benches, organic gardens, pocket parks and urban food forests.

Lakeman details how the effort was at first fought by city departments and is now accepted by the authorities while remaining a grassroots initiative that has spawned similar initiatives around the country.

Lakeman also discusses his inspiration to start creating community after experiences learning from visits to study other cultures and living with indigenous people impelled him to reach out, reclaim cultural agency and create social connections amidst colonial “unfrastructure” designed to discourage interaction, organizing and solidarity against unjust impositions by central authorities.

Eco Report EXTRA is a co-production of WFHB News and Public Affairs and Eco Media Center of Monroe County as part of an ongoing community media collaboration.