permaculture

[Wesley Roe and Marjorie Lakin Erickson <lakinroe@silcom.com>]

BOOK TOUR/Slide Show SEPT 21 -27 2004 Introduction to Building Without 
Borders Book Joseph Kennedy

Sept 21 Tues Santa Cruz- 7:30pm Louden Nelson Center 301 Center St. at 
Laurel St 420-6177 $5 donation Contact Vince Pastori 831/763-3848 
permasc@sasquatch.com
Sept 22 Wed San Luis Obispo 7pm Ludwig community center ( Mill and Santa 
Rosa (hwy 1) in SLO) contact Mickel gouldmund@hotmail.com
Sept 23 Thurs Santa Barbara 7pm Sola House 312 E Sola St $3 donation 
contact SB Permaculture Network www.sbpermaculture.com sbpcnet@silcom.com, 
805-962-1555
Sept 24 Fri 5pm Meiners Oak Thurs Oct 30 5pm Dinner with Joe K at the 
Farmer and the Cook (near Ojai) 339 W El Roblars 805-640-9608 (reservations)
Sept 24 Fri Meiners Oak (near Ojai) Oak Grove School contact 7pm 220 W. 
Lomita Ave, contact Robin (805) 646-8236 X 104 robingodfrey@oakgroveschool.com
Sept 26 Sun Los Angeles 7:30 pm, 117 Bimini Place, Los Angeles 90004 (1 
block east of Vermont just south of 1st St). Fee: $10 (sliding scale ok). 
Contact Lauren Segal 818-516-6959.
Sept 27 Mon West Los Angeles location/time to be confirmed contact (Lauren 
Segal) LA NextAid  www.nextaid.org contact@nextaid.org 818-516-6959.for 
details
Oct8 ? Berkeley Kat details to be finalized contact Katherine Steele 
<kat@steelemoon.com>

Tour Organizer Santa Barbara Permaculture Network www.sbpermaculture.org 
sbpcnet@silcom.com 805-962-2571

Cosponsors South Coast Permaculture Guild, Santa Cruz Permaculture Guild, 
Oak Grove School, Sustainable Building Council SLO, CRSP/Institute for 
Urban Ecovillages in association with L.A. Eco-Village, L.A. Permaculture 
Guild, and the Permaculture Institute of Southern California, LA Next Aid, 
Urban Permaculture Guild Oakland
.
BOOK SIGNING & SLIDE SHOW
with Joseph Kennedy, author of
Building Without Borders

Shelter is a human right, yet billions are homeless or living in inadequate 
conditions due to population pressure, war, or environmental disaster. The 
housing crisis facing humanity is widely acknowledged, yet few solutions 
have thus far succeeded in addressing it.

Join Joseph F. Kennedy, co-author and editor of the newly published book, 
Building Without Borders, Sustainable Construction for the Global Village, 
for a slide show and talk describing the role of sustainable building in 
solving this world shelter crisis. Truly sustainable construction supports 
human dignity, while minimizing negative impacts on the natural 
environment. The contributing authors to the book, from many different 
countries and academic backgrounds, describe such a way of building --- one 
based on vernacular tradition, the appropriate use of materials, and use of 
evolving hybrid building practices that link the wisdom of the past with 
modern technology. The book travels from Africa and Latin America, to 
India, China, Thailand, Poland and the U.S. Southwest. Profusely 
illustrated with photographs of real projects around the world, it includes 
case studies, technical information and a valuable Resource section.

Joseph F. Kennedy is an architect, designer, builder, writer, artist and 
educator. Working with pioneers in the field, he has been at the forefront 
of ecological design and construction for the past fifteen years.

Kennedy is cofounder and former director of Builders Without Borders, 
(www.builderswithoutborders.org), an international network of ecological 
builders dedicated to serving the underhoused of the world, with projects 
to create affordable housing with sustainable and local materials. He 
received degrees in Architecture from UC Berkeley and the California 
Institute of Architecture. He teaches ecological design and natural 
building at New College in Santa Rosa, California(www.newcollege.edu), and 
co-authored and edited The Art of Natural Building. He has recently formed 
the social profit organization Village Renaissance to further study and 
disseminate these ideas.

BELOW is short writeup about one part of the tour talk called Village 
Renaissance along with Book tour for Building Without Borders

THE VILLAGE: THE RENAISSANCE OF A TIMELESS WAY OF LIVING Joseph Kennedy

The Village is a book that will address a glaring global dwelling crisis. 
We are living in a world where a large proportion of the world’s population 
now lives in slums or soulless urban or suburban “communities. A 
two-hundred year spree of resource use has encouraged ecologically 
unsustainable development that utilizes energy-intensive infrastructure and 
long-distance transportation to serve all our needs. The dramatic shift 
from village to city in this relatively recent past has wrought untold 
havoc on societies and ecosystems around the world. While existing 
traditional ways of dwelling continue to be abandoned for a false hope of 
“modern” life, so-called “development” strategies actively destroy 
community bonds that could empower groups of people to solve their social, 
ecological and economic problems themselves. Few solutions have been 
offered that can truly address this dire state of affairs. However, while 
the global village is under attack, there is yet reason for hope.

The village once supported the needs of most human beings. Villages were 
largely self-sufficient communities that met our requirements for social 
interaction, physical protection, food, and culture, while relying on local 
skills and resources. Yet industrialization and various economic and 
political trends led to their decline. It has become increasingly clear 
that our current way of life is susceptible to disruption and is untenable 
for all but the wealthy few who can afford the ecological and economic 
costs of living in a world increasingly dominated by fossil fuels and the 
dwelling patterns that result. As documented by Richard Heinberg and 
others, the anticipated exhaustion of petroleum resources in our lifetimes 
will likely force localization upon us. As dwellers on this planet, we must 
be prepared for this inevitable reality.

In searching for solutions to this looming crisis, I believe that the 
village model is still vital, and I feel that it can be revived to address 
the realities of rampant suburbanization, the proliferation of slums and 
the isolation of many rural communities. I believe it is time to create a 
“village renaissance” to enable all the world’s people to live decent, 
productive, ecologically sustainable, healthful, spiritually uplifting 
lives thus, the need for this book. Fusing the best of the new onto the 
“rootstock” of traditional settlement patterns, new villages are not simply 
a replication of an ancient model. To begin with, they are often urban and 
are created within a variety of contexts. Such communities are 
characterized by a “human scale” that promotes social interaction and 
reliance on local resources for construction, food production, and meeting 
other basic human needs. Whether they’re called cohousing, intentional 
communities, neighborhoods, traditional villages, the New Urbanism, or 
ecovillages, efforts that are scaled to human needs and are bioregionally 
based will play a greater role if we are to make it through the coming 
decades.

The Village describes the history of village living, its essential 
features, the reasons for its decline as a means of dwelling, and how it is 
currently being revived as a viable alternative to urban slums, soulless 
suburbia, and untenable rural isolation. This book project is an effort to 
describe the best contemporary practices to inform the practical models 
that will need to be built at a large scale if we are to avert the social 
and ecological catastrophe that is well underway. It explores the village 
as an ethos a way of being in the world that can counter the increasing 
speed, violence, and despair that is prevalent in so many cultures today. 
Finally, it lights a beacon of hope that we can all live in peace, 
prosperity, and sustainability together.

APPLICANT ORGANIZATION:

VILLAGE RENAISSANCE

I am proposing The Village through Village Renaissance as this 
newly-founded nonprofit organization’s initial vision-defining document.

Village Renaissance is a social profit network that supports the creation 
of desirable, affordable communities using local materials and skills. It 
was founded and is currently directed by Joseph F. Kennedy. Through 
consultation, research, and prototype development, Village Renaissance will 
serve the needs of a global market for information on how to build 
holistic, sustainable, and replicable small-scale communities, especially 
communities in areas of the greatest need.

Such communities would:
§ Utilize local materials, such as earth, stone, straw, and wood, as 
primary building materials in ecologically sensitive and esthetically 
acceptable ways;
§ Be created through a teacher-training and community-empowering process;
§ Be robust, desirable, and easy to build and maintain;
§ Reflect local culture and mores;
§ Be easily replicable;
§ Integrate water catchment, energy production, food production, waste 
treatment, and local enterprise.

Village Renaissance is a project of the Heydendahl Foundation, which 
supports international programs that promote sustainable living, world 
peace, intercontinental relations, spiritual and ecological awareness, and 
organizational development through the creative arts.

Village Renaissance is a research and development project that has been 
created in response to the lack of comprehensive, up-to-date, coordinated 
information on the burgeoning village movement. Many experts feel that 
self-sustaining communities, both rural and urban, are our society’s best 
chance to provide decent housing for billions of people while taking 
pressure off our overburdened ecosystems.
 END



THE VILLAGE: THE RENAISSANCE OF A TIMELESS WAY OF LIVING Joseph Kennedy

The Village is a book that will address a glaring global dwelling crisis. 
We are living in a world where a large proportion of the world’s population 
now lives in slums or soulless urban or suburban “communities. A 
two-hundred year spree of resource use has encouraged ecologically 
unsustainable development that utilizes energy-intensive infrastructure and 
long-distance transportation to serve all our needs. The dramatic shift 
from village to city in this relatively recent past has wrought untold 
havoc on societies and ecosystems around the world. While existing 
traditional ways of dwelling continue to be abandoned for a false hope of 
“modern” life, so-called “development” strategies actively destroy 
community bonds that could empower groups of people to solve their social, 
ecological and economic problems themselves. Few solutions have been 
offered that can truly address this dire state of affairs. However, while 
the global village is under attack, there is yet reason for hope.

The village once supported the needs of most human beings. Villages were 
largely self-sufficient communities that met our requirements for social 
interaction, physical protection, food, and culture, while relying on local 
skills and resources. Yet industrialization and various economic and 
political trends led to their decline. It has become increasingly clear 
that our current way of life is susceptible to disruption and is untenable 
for all but the wealthy few who can afford the ecological and economic 
costs of living in a world increasingly dominated by fossil fuels and the 
dwelling patterns that result. As documented by Richard Heinberg and 
others, the anticipated exhaustion of petroleum resources in our lifetimes 
will likely force localization upon us. As dwellers on this planet, we must 
be prepared for this inevitable reality.

In searching for solutions to this looming crisis, I believe that the 
village model is still vital, and I feel that it can be revived to address 
the realities of rampant suburbanization, the proliferation of slums and 
the isolation of many rural communities. I believe it is time to create a 
“village renaissance” to enable all the world’s people to live decent, 
productive, ecologically sustainable, healthful, spiritually uplifting 
lives thus, the need for this book. Fusing the best of the new onto the 
“rootstock” of traditional settlement patterns, new villages are not simply 
a replication of an ancient model. To begin with, they are often urban and 
are created within a variety of contexts. Such communities are 
characterized by a “human scale” that promotes social interaction and 
reliance on local resources for construction, food production, and meeting 
other basic human needs. Whether they’re called cohousing, intentional 
communities, neighborhoods, traditional villages, the New Urbanism, or 
ecovillages, efforts that are scaled to human needs and are bioregionally 
based will play a greater role if we are to make it through the coming 
decades.

The Village describes the history of village living, its essential 
features, the reasons for its decline as a means of dwelling, and how it is 
currently being revived as a viable alternative to urban slums, soulless 
suburbia, and untenable rural isolation. This book project is an effort to 
describe the best contemporary practices to inform the practical models 
that will need to be built at a large scale if we are to avert the social 
and ecological catastrophe that is well underway. It explores the village 
as an ethos a way of being in the world that can counter the increasing 
speed, violence, and despair that is prevalent in so many cultures today. 
Finally, it lights a beacon of hope that we can all live in peace, 
prosperity, and sustainability together.

APPLICANT ORGANIZATION:

VILLAGE RENAISSANCE

I am proposing The Village through Village Renaissance as this 
newly-founded nonprofit organization’s initial vision-defining document.

Village Renaissance is a social profit network that supports the creation 
of desirable, affordable communities using local materials and skills. It 
was founded and is currently directed by Joseph F. Kennedy. Through 
consultation, research, and prototype development, Village Renaissance will 
serve the needs of a global market for information on how to build 
holistic, sustainable, and replicable small-scale communities, especially 
communities in areas of the greatest need.



Tour Organizer Santa Barbara Permaculture Network www.sbpermaculture.org 
sbpcnet@silcom.com 805-962-2571

Cosponsors South Coast Permaculture Guild, Santa Cruz Permaculture Guild, 
Oak Grove School, Sustainable Building Council SLO, CRSP/Institute for 
Urban Ecovillages in association with L.A. Eco-Village, L.A. Permaculture 
Guild, and the Permaculture Institute of Southern California, LA Next Aid, 
Urban Permaculture Guild Oakland
.