AnnuAl ConferenCe ProCeedings CAnAdiAn AssoCiAtion for the study of Adult eduCAtion/ l’AssoCiAtion CAnAdiEnne Pour lkétude de l’éduCAtion des AdultEs 2015 Annual Conference of CASAE/ACÉÉA Université de Montréal, Québec toward a culture of collaboration (Korten 2006, McKibben 2008). While governments and businesses around the world slowly come to recognize the imperative to shit to some kind of ‘sustainability’ in the face of growing global ‘crises’, such as climate change, the true pioneers of the post-carbon culture shit appear to be grassroots initiatives (Hawken 2008). Among the pioneers are ecovillages – intentional, experimental communities, modeling alternative social, economic and cultural arrangements that they believe bet- ter align with natural systems (Dawson 2006). Ecovillages are predominately small-scale settlements that incorporate a variety of ‘sustainable living’ elements, such as cohousing, collaborative consumption, on-site organic food produc- tion, and cooperative community businesses (Dawson 2006, Litin 2013). Increasingly, ecovillages are being recognized as important models, and learning grounds, for ‘sustainable community’ (Dawson 2006, Litin 2013, Norberg-Hodge 2002). Furthermore, while they are certainly not the only attempt to model sustainable community, various ecovillage advocates suggest they are compelling due to their ‘holistic’ nature (Dawson 2006, Litin 2013, Norberg-Hodge 2002), or as Litin puts it, as “they weave together the various strands of sustainability into integrated wholes at the level of every- day life …” (2013: 3). Much can potentially be learned from the ecovillage model about how to build alternative human constructs that are ec- onomically, environmentally and socially sustainable. How- ever, ecovillages – like any community – are only successful if they have the collective capacity (e.g. skills and resources) necessary to achieve their desired outcomes. For people so- cialized in fundamentally individualistic and competitive environments, the capacity to live more communally and work more collaboratively is something that must be gained. Little academic focus has been given to understanding the social organization of ecovillages, or what the study of A bstract Ecovillages are ‘grassroots’ sustainable community develop- ment models that seek to build the culture of collaboration deemed necessary to support a shit to a post carbon world (Dawson 2006; Korten 2006). While much can potentially be learned from the study of these experimental sustainable communities, perhaps the greatest contribution ecovillages can make is to help us understand how to transition from in- dividualism and competition in order to live “smaller, slower and closer” (Litin 2013). his paper presents the indings of a case study of Whole Village ecovillage in Caledon, Ontar- io that explored the structures and processes through which ecovillagers build capacity for living and working together in support of sustainable community. It provides insight on the complex interplay between elements of community build- ing, community dynamics and capacity building, and ‘con- ditioning inluences’ (Chaskin 2001) that can either support or undermine the development of sustainable community. Introduction Humanity is facing its greatest challenge ever – how to live on an unstable planet now that we have severely disrupted three out of nine of the planet’s critical biophysical pro- cesses - climate, biodiversity and the nitrogen cycle (Folke 2013)? To adapt to changing planetary conditions, a grow- ing number of commentators and academics from various disciplines are suggesting the need for a fundamental shit in how we meet out material needs – one that would see us dramatically reduce our reliance on carbon-based fuels, largely through reduced consumption and increased provi- sion of goods locally (see for example: Folke 2013, Heinburg 2004, Hopkins 2008, Korten 2006, Moore & Rees 2013). his shit to a ‘post carbon’ world presents a signiicant chal- lenge for societies shaped by an economic paradigm based on unfettered growth and global trade. Furthermore, some change advocates suggest that a shit to a post-carbon world requires cultural transformation away from individualism, Building capacity to live and work together in support of sustainable community: indings of an ecovillage case study paper presentation Lisa Mychajluk Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto