WestWyck EcoVillage: An Urban Eco-community in the World’s Putatively Most Liveable City

Abstract

Nestled in the quiet suburb of Brunswick West, in inner suburban Melbourne is WestWyck, a demonstration eco-housing development. As with Christie Walk before it, WestWyck is another concrete example of the desire to reinvent the city along ecotopian ideals, transplanting elements of the Gemeinschaft social relations of the village. The following case study sets out the history and motivations behind its construction. In the first part of the chapter, ‘Stage One’ is described in detail, this includes the construction process and the challenges faced in recycling a heritage building and experimenting with novel technological systems, from financial constraints and long project timelines, to obdurate planning systems and cultural hurdles. After this follows a detailed description of WestWyck’s physical layout, the dwellings, common facilities and the impending Stage Two. Of particular interest is the development’s approach to water management. The chapter then examines the socio-economic organisation of WestWyck, breaking down the resident population by age, gender and household composition, as well as analysing other demographic characteristics such as education attainment, employment status and occupation. Following this, the chapter sets out the formal and informal community decision-making structures.

People need to see, feel and touch what you build, and by doing this, you begin to show how the city can be transformed. Our aim here with WestWyck was to see how far you could go with urban density while running a fairly green agenda. To explore it with a view to it being a demonstration project and position ourselves to disseminate that information. In a sense we are maintaining the educational thread of the site, given it was originally a school.

WWPL (pers. comm., 2013)