ABSTRACT
Scholars from many disciplines, including gender studies, environmental studies, sociology, history, geography, architecture, and planning, have chosen to make intentional communities the focus of research and publication, both as a category and scale of purposeful social organizing and as a diverse continuum of experimentation. Florida is one of about one hundred below-the-radar intentional women's communities in North America to practice a separate lesbian feminist 'utopia' on grounds of matriarchy. Embedded within the intentional community tradition are expressions of resistance to dominant social norms and expectations of home, work, and family life: motivations for challenging the status quo can be progressive and creative rather than solely reacting in opposition to dominant norms. Emphasis on 'intentionality' is rooted in collaborative housing and community, in opposition to top-down notions of 'master planning'. This is why intentional communities often pursue anti-establishment development approaches that challenge professional expertise, cultivating instead a do-it-yourself (DIY) culture of self-build and direct action.
