Reconsidering Morris’s Ecotopia through Current Ecovillage Implementations

Abstract

This paper seeks to respond to the issues that arise in the Ecotopian ideas of William Morris, one of the first utopian socialist who considered environmental issues and championed the idea of a decentralized and low-impact settlement based on ecological lifestyle, in comparison with various types of the existing ecovillages as the implementation of Ecotopia in the 21st century. It considers how far the idea of Morris is embodied in these practices and concludes by exploring the different functions of the ecovillage and by examining its correspondence to, and limitations in the face of, wider social transformation towards Ecotopia.