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ECOVILLAGES 263
The diversity of ecovillages is also characteristic of Hungarian ecovillages: these
communities share common points and goals, but the way in which they are
implemented and the extent of their success varies greatly (for more details, see
Farkas 2017a). The diversity of the Hungarian ecovillage scene means that it is
very difficult to form generalizations about them, at least at the micro level. Those
who move to Hungarian ecovillages are mainly urban intellectuals, whose
motivation for moving out is not economic, but rather the aim of creating a better
life in a moral, cultural or ideological sense.
Figure 3. Network of Hungarian ecovillages. Graphic figure: Zsuzsanna Farkas
ABOUT SUNNY HILLS OF ISTRIA ECO-COMMUNITY
Founded in 2014, the community is located in Hrvoji, Slovenia, near the Slovenian¬
Croatian border. In the village of Hrvoji, which had been almost completely depopulated
after the Second World War, the founding members of the community bought a building
together for cohousing. Sunny Hills can therefore be seen as both an eco-village and a
cohousing (cohousing is a place where people voluntarily form a community and
organize their own community life). They create shared spaces as previously agreed
upon and share tasks and activities to the extent they choose. )
The community strives for sustainable solutions, such as: partial food self-sufficiency,
car and tool sharing, repair and reuse of objects, ecological wastewater treatment, gray
water use, composting, chemical-free living, waste reduction. Food self-sufficiency
includes vegetables, rearing goats and hens and, to a lesser extent, foraging (mushrooms
and wild fruit). Two hectares are farmed on permaculture principles and the land is
rented. Vegetable production is the most successful; this aspect of food self-sufficiency
discussions and negotiations, but several members of the movement continue to use the term
ecovillage’ for themselves.