The Environmental Impact of Sieben Linden Ecovillage

The Open Access version of this book, available at https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9780367145644, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.
Environmental impact assessment is widely taught and researched, but rarely covers both lifestyle and building construction in a town or neighbourhood. This book provides a broad assessment of the environmental impact of the ecovillage Sieben Linden in Germany.
The ecovillage was founded in 1997 and has a population of over one hundred people. This book shows how raising the awareness of individuals and adopting a consistent way of community living can be environmentally friendly. This applies both to everyday practices and the way the houses in the ecovillage are built. The tools used to measure the impact are Ecological Footprint and Carbon Footprint methodologies, making use of indicators such as Primary Energy Intensity and Global Warming Potential. Despite the difficulties encountered by using standardised methodologies, these research tools provide an overall assessment and have allowed comparisons with selected, similar cases and general values from statistic sources.
This book will be of great use to professionals and scholars in the fields of environmental impact assessment, particularly at the town/district/city level, and of city and ecovillage management. It will particularly appeal to those engaged in a Sustainable Development Goal #11 perspective, as well as environmental policy makers at the local level.

Andrea Bocco is Associate Professor of Architectural Technology at the Politecnico di Torino, Italy. His research interests cover the work and thoughts of unconventional contemporary architects, local development and construction with natural materials.
Martina Gerace graduated in architecture at the Politecnico di Torino (Master's in Architecture Construction City), Italy, in 2017. She is currently specialising in the design of technical installations in buildings.
Susanna Pollini graduated in architecture at the Politecnico di Torino (Master's Degree in Architecture for Sustainable Design), Italy. She is currently engaged in research on two fronts: the assessment of sustainability in architecture and raw earth construction in the developing countries.