Why I Wrote Regeneration – Living in an Ecovillage
Regeneration – Living in an Ecovillage was written in 2020 for publication by the French publisher Terre Vivante, a project that ultimately did not come to fruition. Six years later, the manuscript feels more relevant than ever. As climate, energy, and social crises continue to intensify, ways of living based on cooperation, resilience, and regeneration are attracting growing interest. Publication by Bambual is now being considered in the coming years.
The book offers much more than a reflection on participatory housing. It invites readers to explore ecovillages as laboratories of social and ecological innovation, where new ways of living together and inhabiting the Earth are being imagined.
The opening chapter transports readers to the year 2045. Through a work of speculative fiction, it envisions a planet profoundly transformed by climate change. In response to these upheavals, ecovillages have multiplied and become a widespread model of organization based on cooperation, sufficiency, and the regeneration of communities and ecosystems. Rather than predicting the future, this vision seeks to expand our imagination of what is possible.
The book then traces the international history of the ecovillage movement, introducing the different dimensions of sustainability—social, cultural, ecological, economic, and systemic—before presenting thirty guiding principles illustrated through real-world experiences. It also offers fifteen practical tools for community living and provides an overview of the world’s leading ecovillage networks, with particular attention to their development in France.
Drawing on numerous testimonies from residents, project leaders, and practitioners engaged in the ecological transition, the manuscript combines lived experience with practical insight. It also features a foreword by Kosha Joubert, then Executive Director of the Global Ecovillage Network (GEN), who places ecovillages within the broader context of today’s global challenges. In her view, local communities are among the most promising places for developing the solutions needed to build a more resilient society in the face of climate disruption.
The book also includes the perspectives of internationally respected figures such as Michael D. Higgins, President of Ireland, and Christiana Figueres, one of the key architects of the Paris Climate Agreement. Both emphasize the essential role that communities play in the ecological transformation of our societies.
At a time when communities and regions around the world are seeking greater food, energy, and social resilience, Regeneration – Living in an Ecovillage offers an accessible synthesis of twenty-five years of experiences gathered from ecovillages across the globe. More than a practical guide, it is an invitation to rethink how we inhabit the Earth and to imagine new forms of collective life capable of meeting the challenges of the twenty-first century.
Although it has remained unpublished since 2020, this manuscript may soon begin a new editorial journey. Its story reflects a simple truth: sometimes ideas simply need time before the world is ready for them.
