The posts relate to the village project and vision, which ultimately sets itself the humble task of attempting to find the scale that can help us speed up the process to reach the 80% CO2 cut by 2050 while enjoying our lifestyles and giving the developing world a chance.

And with a challenge this big, we need solutions that can match it. It’s great that there are so many different solutions out there making their contribution, but we need a space where we can bring everything – products, services, systems – together, to demonstrate the effectiveness of clever combinations. Hence we’re inviting professionals from a range of disciplines to design the village together, and we’re covering a large spectrum of design approaches on this blog.

We are hunting for innovations that can be transferred globally, tailored if necessary, or adapted. We also seek solutions that can transcend niches in order to make significant contributions to our end target. These possible ways towards measurable change must be practical, too, not in a lost dreamscape confusing people with wishful thinking. So we’ll write about existing places, products and ideas or being put into practice, as well as pioneering ideas that will make up the technological breakthroughs of tomorrow or that simply ‘join the dots’ to make sustainable systems reality. We’re not saying that the things we’re covering are perfect – but we do think that we can learn something from their approach.

You’ll find that the effective, scalable and practical solutions we cover fall into four main categories:

• Urban Design Strategies – topics such as new transport systems, new and retrofitted buildings and urban planning will be covered here.
• Self-sufficiency systems – this refers to the energy and agriculture systems that keep the community moving; the sustainable systems that transfer energies between sustainable designs.

These two we call this the ‘macro’ perspective, you probably think of it as ‘bigger picture’.
• Social and economic fabric – the ‘softer side’ of sustainable design if you like – covering issues such as wellbeing, education and health, governance structures and economic models. The relationship between local and global interactions also falls into this category. We refer to these things as the ‘between’ – the invisible structures that affect everyday life.
• Alternative solutions and products – here you’ll find the individual products that exist within all the other systems. New technologies, groundbreaking materials, and one-off products will be covered. We call this the ‘micro’.

As well as covering inspirational sustainable design, we’ll also use the blog to update you with news of our own – perhaps the outcome of the Lab or new speakers who’ll be appearing at the Forum. At the moment, we’re developing the programme for the Forum and working on the Lab experience. Last week, we had a great meeting with some of the thought leaders from the Lab, who helped outline some of the key questions to tackle during the 3-day experience. They also weren’t shy about challenging the project and its merits – much to our benefit – you’ll see our FAQ has gone up, which aims to answer most of the questions you’d want to ask. If it doesn’t, please drop us a line at info [at] clear-village [dot] org, and we’ll add it in.

It’s also important to say that it’s not just the C.L.E.A.R. Village Lab that’s a collaborative experience. We’re actually looking to engage and collaborate throughout, presenting a variety of viewpoints on different topics and from different continents. If you’d like to write for us feel free to pitch us an idea or three, and we’ll get back to you asap. Some of our writers write regularly, others when the mood strikes, others just the one flash of inspiration. Likewise, comments, thoughts and feedback on anything we’ve posted are always appreciated – we’ll summarise these once a month and upload them in their own post. Both positive and negative are welcome.

It’s exciting to wonder what might be covered here in coming years – and what ideas we might see appear in the real-life village. The journey is just beginning!

A possible technology for the village

Bike sharing: a possible transport solution for the village

A modular phone: a sustainable product concept for the village? (Combined with a repair and reuse system, we imagine)