ESC: Living and getting inspired in an eco community

We have already achieved a quality label in the former EVS, are now applying for a quality label for 2 volunteers. We have experienced in the last 1,5 years with workawayers and woofers that having two volunteers at the same time has a series of benefits: Integration in a new environment is easier having around a person of the same generation with similar interests and maybe needs. It also helps them to support each other on a structural level, and increases their impact on the group. Realizing own projects and discovering the surroundings can be more fun together. And last but not least: through the other volunteer they experience another country, language, culture. Regarding our organisation: „Wohnprojekt Hasendorf“ is a cohousing project to which environment, sustainability and solidarity are very important issues. It consists of approximately 25 adults and 12 children. Our property is located at the edge of Hasendorf / Lower Austria (municipality Sitzenberg-Reidling) and has a total area of 4,500 m², of which 1,200m² are dedicated as building land and 3300m² as agricultural area. Hasendorf is located in the triangle of Krems, St.Pölten and Tulln. Vienna is reachable within 45 minutes by public transport, the closest cities St.Pölten and Tulln within 30 minutes. We are experimenting with new types of solidarity and sharing inside our residential project. Our members have very different backgrounds, therefore each day we learn how to respect each other and not loose oneself in the group. One of our main purposes is to grow individually and as a group, and live together a sustainable life, by caring and sharing. Thus, for example we support each other in daily life and share a lot of things, for example not everybody needs an office or a guest room within their own flat, instead we share such infrastructure. In this way, the utilisation of these rooms is higher and our flats are smaller. On average, we use up less floor space per person compared to a single family house (in Austria 20,000m² of soil are sealed every day). Other shared rooms are a community kitchen and living room, a seminar room, a co-working space, a workshop and many more. We are planing and are taking first steps to open our infrastructure to all village residents as we want to contribute to the enlivenment of the village as such. In the seminar room there are taking place a lot of events: from Taiji classes, a MBSR training, impro-theater, public screenings in collaboration with Fridays for Future and so on. We are also planning a Transition Town Training, which two residents of the project are going to run (the Transition Town movement started in England, by now there are initiatives around the world, which are willing to realize an alternative and environment-friendly lifestyle in their surroundings - curious? watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QV16XK2y0V8). Having been inspired by other Transition Town Projects, we too want to initiate change within our community, our village, and our region towards a better future! There is also an old wine cellar on our property including two old earth cellars, which is currently being renovated by our community and which will be used in different ways: e.g. wwoofers (http://wwoof.net/#wwoof) can dwell in the attic, some people want to try brewing their own beer and so on. With our project „Presshaus 2.0“ (press house 2.0) we won the Lower Austrian prize for village and city renewal of 2016. We want to be "a lighthouse project“ for our region and also on a bigger scale for living based on solidarity and contribute to a more environmentally friendly development of our region. One example of our commitment is the close collaboration with the local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) "Ackerschön" which provides a good amount of vegetables for the people living in our project, as well as for approximately 80 households in the region. Furthermore, we plan to implement an e-mobility concept which will connect our municipality to the Tullnerfeld railway station (which provides fast train connections to Vienna and St. Pölten) and which will be open to other villagers. More examples of our links to the local community see question above.