ABSTRACT
The Sieben Linden project fitted this criterion, and received funding on that basis. In the late 1980s, the Sieben Linden community formed and lived in a common house in Poppau while planning their development. This is a community self-build and co-housing village in northern Germany. People join Sieben Linden by first living in a few of the communal houses for a test period. After this, they can stay in the community – and many do this initially by building a timber ‘mobile home’, but with access to the common houses and other facilities. One of the benefits of Sieben Linden is that childcare is carried out by everyone in the common house in shifts. For parents, this makes working easier. The general ethos at Sieben Linden is much more concerned with embodied energy than in the population overall. Because everything is built using natural materials, synthetic-material smells were more noticeable when outside Sieben Linden.
