The Willie J. Spencer Eco-Retirement Village

The purpose of this project was to synthesize two ideas; the dire need for innovative, elder-care environments, and eco-villages. The project investigates the elderly population dilemmas facing the nation, the current systems in elder care, and some of the innovations emerging in this area. The findings are daunting. The elder population is growing exponentially, and the current systems, many in jeopardy, barely accommodate existing needs. Accommodating existing needs is only part of the problem. The needs of the elderly must be provided for in an innovative, loving, caring, and nurturing environment. The study goes on to investigate eco-villages. Eco-villages are an old idea that has reemerged in the past ten years or so. They are becoming popular alternative living environments for many seeking to live in an ecological and environmentally sensitive manner. Part of the eco-village concept is a communal working village. In other words, all the members of the village participate in the operation and function of the village. Everyone pitches in to garden, cook, build - anything that needs to be done for the village to function and produce a self-sufficient economy. By examining the reality of the elder-care dilemma, and combining it with the concept of an eco-village, the project proposes a solution, which is an eco-retirement village. One of the major components of this idea is for enough people, village residents and volunteers, to donate enough time and work towards the operation of the village to offset the costs, allowing low-income elders an alternative to nursing homes. Time and work donated to the village are "banked" as hours that can go towards monthly rents/fees for residents to live there. Synthesizing these two ideas revealed some viable possibilities and presented some obstacles. A more intensive study would need to be conducted to determine if society would embrace these alternative ideas, and if the "banking hours" system would be enough to offset the costs of operating the village and providing for the members and staff.