Governance and decision-making : Lessons from three French eco-villages

Abstract: In a context of rising environmental pressure and slow societal changes in response, the emergence of ecovillages comes as a small-scale solution to actively propose sustainable alternatives to the modern consumerist society. The human factor plays a key role in enabling such ecovillages to last. An adapted governance and decision-making system is thus needed to ensure a positive future for such places. This paper investigates the governance models for ecovillages through an ethnographic study of three French ecovillages using different governance systems. Building on data collected via immersion in those ecovillages, the paper analyses the advantages and drawbacks of the different governance systems. Their practical implementation is given much importance as a first finding is that the human factor as well as the informal governance play key roles in supporting these ecovillages’ governance systems. The comparison between the three studied ecovillages also shows that they all base their decision-making process on consent and implement a formal tension management system. The thesis argues that those elements are key features of a successful governance for an ecovillage. Consent is praised as it enables collective intelligence but avoids the flaws of a systematic search for universal consensus. Consent can be included in an integrative governance approach which uses different decision-making processes for different types of decision and allows to recognize and structure informal decision-making. As findings illustrate the prominent role of the human factor in ecovillages’ governance, the thesis argues that an adapted tension management system is needed to avoid conflicts and that the governance system should be adaptable to evolve with its members and allow a strong shared culture to emerge. The paper also examines what elements of ecovillages’ governance can be applied in other contexts, such as companies or politics. The horizontal governance systems used, the decision-making process enabling collective intelligence and the general focus on well-being and human relations can all be sources of inspiration in various contexts. The thesis invites for further research on ecovillages and their governance as they provide rich and diverse propositions which could nourish a fresh momentum towards a more sustainable society.