This is a CTP of initiative: Ecovillage Schloss Tempelhof (Germany)
The initiative had met for already more than six months and intended to buy a piece of land to found, build an ecovillage. After a long process of seeking around Munich the initiative found an attractive offering in early 2007. Crown land of the state at Ammerlake, South of Munich, was open for sale. A large part of the group was highly interested in buying it. They went into a negotiation process with the estate agent. The internal processes of consideration with a large group took a long time. Through the group interest other investors were attracted to buy the land. Suddenly, another investor bought the land for a higher price than first offered for. This failure after putting hope into this land caused a serious existential crisis in the initiative and finally an insightful re-orientation towards community values.
By showing interest officially, investors became aware of the value of this property and the price was raised. Finally it was suddenly sold to an investor.
Internally, the group went through a crises and a transformation. After not succeeding in purchasing the land, more than 60% of the members left the initiative and those who were focussing on community started to reform the group.
The members of the group wanted to find a place for purchasing to build an ecovillage for living together near Munich in a green and quiet area.
The high prices and pressure on the real estate market around Munich was a difficult precondition for the project.
In summer 2007 Ammerlake site was suddenly sold to an investor.
In fall 2007 more than 60% of the members left the initiative
2008: Re-start of the group, focusing on inner community building
Contestation with external actors appeared in form of the investor who finally succeeded in buying the land. The interest of the group raised the attractiveness of the object. It made the land appear more attractive.
Although in this case, the previous owner had been the state government of Bavaria, it was perceived by the interviewees that groups have a minor position in the conventional contested process on the real estate market. It was not due to time pressure but due to political decisions that it was sold to the single investor. The financial ministry had chosen the single investor while the state parliament of Bavaria later criticized this as arbitrary decision.
Internal contestation appeared significantly only after the failure of buying the land. The disappointment and sudden loss of orientation caused existential crises: “the group almost died”, stated the interviewee. The conflicts caused doubts and they were considering giving up their ecovillage initiative because some had put the realisation of their ecovillage on this piece of land.
At that time, it was a shock for the group. It was painful for them to see that having put hope and effort into this potential ecovillage site, which was completely lost. It was not the first object with consideration to purchase and the initiative has already experienced the difficult situation of the real estate market around Munich. It was completely open, if they could find anything else in a decent time span.
After the disappointment, the group went into a phase of reflection. They had already practiced to deal with difficult situations on a socio-psychological level by cultivating the attitude of learning something out of each set back. This time, they finally learned that the failure was actually a sign for the group not yet being strong and conscious enough to carry such a large project, including financial investment and responsibility. They concluded, “a group process was needed.”
The first learning outcome was that the group shifted the focus of development from outside search to inner group process development and clarification of the common ground. This learning caused a new start with regular meetings for community building processes and visions on how to organize decision making. The group started visiting existing communities like Schloss Glarisegg, Sieben Linden, Auroville, Damanhur and others to learn from their experiences.
Secondly, they realised that they had to be ready to go further away from the expensive area around Munich. The members were confronted with reconsidering their priorities: either nice green living close to a city like Munich or focussing on community and investing more time and energy for setting up the ecovillage project.
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