The Influences of an Eco-village towards Urban Sustainability : A case study of two Swedish eco-villages

Abstract: Scholars who study grassroots innovations argue that small-scale community-led urban projects can serve as catalysts accelerating sustainability, by spreading their techniques and practices into a broader society. This thesis explores the claim by investigating influences of two Swedish eco-villages through two spheres: individual and whole eco-village project basis-influence. The study finds that living in the eco-villages helped the residents to reinforce their environmental behaviours. Also both projects had an indirect impact on the housing companies and the municipalities in light of knowledge building and inspiration. However, there was little evidence that ideas and techniques from the eco-villages were adopted by the higher institutional levels. The findings indicate a need for linking grassroots urban projects to municipal programmes.