Conversation with Tim Smit, First conversation

Tim Smit is Chief Executive and co-founder of Cornwall's Eden Project. Dubbed 'the Eighth Wonder of the World', each of its three biomes and its outdoor spaces emulate different climates found throughout the world. Eden works to educate people about environmental matters, encouraging greater understanding, empathy and action.

Thomas Ermacora, the founder of CLEAR Village Foundation, caught up with him to ask him his views on the village project and groundbreaking approaches to sustainability.

What do you think are important principles to build a sustainable village on? "It's important to think about its aims - carbon limits is a much more realistic, and hence attainable, goal than 'zero carbon'. Even though it may be a small community surrounded by countryside, the village doesn't have to be considered to be a rural settlement. There can be a blend of attitudes - whereas there was a huge difference between rural and urban space in the 20th Century, now technology means that there's a real overlap. Meetings can take place virtually, meaning we don't need to live so densely. All sorts of urban work can be carried out in rural settings. Maybe a better word to describe space such as this is 'hinterland'."

"There's another challenge in making the village relevant to everyone. We don't want a romanticized vision of people growing their own food and living off the land. Otherwise the idea won't scale. If anything, we want a Nobel Prize in 'Keeping it Real'."
And what about production issues?
"The focus can't solely be on local sourcing: the village won't be able to make or grow everything itself, but that's not a bad thing. What it does need to explore is whether some of the current business models, such as mass production, are going to change.

To give a clearer example, Eden's speaking to leading DIY companies to develop a new model for mowing its lawns. You don't need 400 lawnmowers for 400 lawns - you can share. We're encouraging these businesses to become service providers rather than product retailers.

It's a great idea, but what are the challenges around setting up new business models such as this?
"Our world is influenced by traditional concepts of capitalism and definitions of growth. We need a new language of shared ownership - something much subtler, more relevant to more people - and we need to set this up in a limited timespan."
So a lot of things need to be rethought.
"Not necessarily redesigned, but yes, reassessed to make sure they're robust. But some things do need to be adapted so they make more sense - we currently rely on central dispersal hubs to reduce the number of trucks on the road. More post offices should be opening, not closing, as that will mean less travel for most items. There should be an accountant in the background of most of the conversations about the village, as they could noted down and suggest new business models that could work for the village. What we are thinking about now is not enough in a world that can only survive by making a 80% carbon reduction in 40 years."

And what kind of vision do you think the village should take?
"It obviously needs to think about the technologies and types of houses, and the environmentally friendly products it will use, but it also needs to focus on the human relationships that people want.

With Eden, we decided that sustainability should be a fundamental part of the vision, but not its central focus. It made more sense to focusing on building quality of life and strong social bonds. Sustainability awareness comes from there. Environmentally friendly living is important, but it is not what humans are about - they value social relationships and the human element of lifestyle more!

I'm tempted to say it should have a holistic focus, but 'holistic' is a word that's carries too much baggage from hippies and bohemians. Perhaps 'systemic' is a better word. Or 'membership'. It's similar to 'community ownership', except that phrase can feel vague and suggest that there's a lack of direction and control. Membership implies a society in which your vote will count.
The village needs to help foster relationships, structures and iconic places. Those are the things that make people feel complete."

What excites you most about CLEAR Village?
"It's the idea of having a real place where you can experience thinking. It's very different from just thinking about the issues. There are some great existing places, but they're not geared towards visitors. Eden is about allowing people to experience something that will shape their lives. This is what CLEAR Village will do too."

Do you have a vision of the village's aesthetic?
"Well, biology isn't square. It could evolve organically, moulding itself around the key structures and relationships it exists to serve."

How do you encourage a particular aesthetic approach?
"It's very important to think through the predetermined shape issue. When men design with squares and rectangles, very efficient, 'Napoleonic' designs tend to emerge. Biology may not be the most efficient design methodology, but we should let it inspire us."

Doesn't natural selection mean that biology is, in fact, the most efficient?

"We live with a myth that natural selection leads to perfection eventually. In reality, although living things do adapt, they're not necessarily the best adapted. They're not perfect, they are in the process of adaptation. It's a good model for human habitation."

So adaptation should be chosen over firm creation.

"Yes. We need to avoid an approach that's too masculine - masculine thought processes often overlook social factors. For example, the best science fiction writers from the Fifties predicted all the technologies we now have, but only Aldous Huxley anticipated that social changes would also occur. They weren't small fish: they were things like gay rights, single-parent families and the ageing population. Masculine thought tends to build good things for an 'average person who doesn't exist'. A feminine perspective is necessary.

It's even important when thinking of the tools you use when designing. Lego and SimCity are based on square shapes made of unnatural materials and constrain the thought process. Bits of wood and string and old objects are much better - every piece is different, and people can bend and mould them according to their imaginations, not the other way around.

The Brazilian CEO Ricardo Semler had the idea of a using a giant sand pit to stimulate participants. It's like a real SimCity. They use more than sand - around the sand pit is loads of junk representing designs, infrastructure and services. So a lump of plastic grass could represent sewage, whereas a blue cable might be broadband. It's a great stimulus - people like to be physically involved."

What type of people should it aim to attract?
"It's essential that it appeals to a wide variety of people… if everyone there is an environmentalist, its culture will be unbelievably boring. It needs people who think differently to each other - humans can only make progress when they're stimulated and challenged by different ideas."

"The village needs to take the effort to engage people emotionally and intellectually."