Insights for sustainable lifestyles and communities: Ecocitizens as key informants

It is no easy task to understand either the complexities of sustainability or the meaning and implications of its related concepts, such as sustainable lifestyles and sustainable communities. This paper proposes directions for a situated comprehension of these notions. It will argue that a citizen-centred approach focussing on alternative forms of civil society such as the Simple Living movement and the Ecovillage communities – both of which promote sustainable lifestyles and communities – may offer insights for exploring the nature, limits and potential of a more widespread adjustment to sustainable ways of living. Along with providing an empirical framework for conducting such research, this paper discusses the question of ecocitizens as key-informants for the elaboration of design criteria for the built environment. Introduction Although it may be relatively easy to condemn unsustainable lifestyles, our notions of sustainable lifestyles and communities in relation to the built environment are far from clear, in fact there may be many more questions than answers. For example, with regard to the issue of sustainability and the built environment: What qualities should the built environment present in order to encourage and support sustainable lifestyles and communities? Prior to establishing adequate design criteria corresponding to such qualities, a second question needs to be asked: What do the terms ‘sustainable lifestyles’ and ‘sustainable communities’ really mean? Considering that ecocitizens (i.e. citizens who understand environmental problems, are conscious of their importance, and are active in finding solutions to problems) may have important experiential insights and knowledge to contribute to our understanding of the issues, this present research focuses on their possible contribution to research in the vast field of sustainability.