Intentional Communities

Intentional communities are man-made communities, where its members attempt to realise a common alternative way of life outside of mainstream society[6]. Although there is no one list of criteria to characterise them, the most cited criteria are:

  1. No bonds by familial relationships only.
  2. A minimum of three to five adult members.
  3. Members join voluntarily
  4. Geographical and psychological separation from mainstream society.
  5. A common ideology that is adhered to by all members.
  6. Sharing of (a part of) one's property.
  7. The interest of the group prevails over individual interests.

Not all intentional communities fulfill all of these criteria but they give a good idea of what is and what is not a intentional community. Intentional communities can be quite diverse. To get a better understanding of the different ways an intentional community can work, they can be split into four groups: ecological, communal, religious and practical communities[6].

Ecological Communities
Ecological communities are communities that withdraw to remote locations in an effort to live according to their own ideals. The community members actively separate themselves from society and aim to be self-sufficient. The separation is what identifies this type of intentional communities[7][6].
Ecological communities can manifest itself on different scales. It can vary from a group living together in a house (cohousing) to a whole village (ecovillages)[8], but all ecological communities have a support-structure and cooperate to achieve the ideals of the community[9].

Communal Communities
Communal communities center their ideals around the contact between communities members[6]. This means that the platform (chat-groups, website, etc.) or place (offices, pub, etc.) plays a central key in this type of community. The place or subject of the platform focuses on the particular characteristic that the members have in common. Examples of such communities are a cooking-forum for people who like cooking or a chat-group for parents whose kids are in the same class.

Religious Communities
Religious communities have their ideals centered around a belief or religion. If you look at these communities based on religion, then there is no boundary to their location. However, there are religious communities that also behave like a communal community, like local church-communities. The ideals of the religion are the ideals of the community.

Practical Communities
Practical communities are special because they don't center around ideals at all. Practical communities arise out of pure convenience, when people are better of sharing information or resources (on a regular basis). This can be a community of farmers sharing farming equipment, or students sharing a house.