Sustaining Svanholm: The Possibilities and Challenges in a Danish Ecovillage

Sammanfattning: This paper focuses on the Danish ecovillage by the name of Svanholm, with a special attention to how different areas of sustainability is being understood and carried out in practice in the ecovillage. Through a long-term fieldwork and anthropological methods herein, the paper seeks to understand Svanholm with all its possibilities as well as challenges, whether it be in a technical, environmental, economic, political or social area of sustainability. With postdevelopment theory, degrowth theory and deep ecology as the supporting theoretical framework and the concept of ecovillage seen in a broader context, the paper also investigates Svanholm from an outside perspective, whilst paying attention to the historical aspect of this Danish commune. The chapters on the different areas of sustainability in Svanholm are followed by a discussion that takes into account both a critique on the ecovillage concept, as well as looking into if and how ecovillages can seek to inspire. The paper is more focused on the empirical knowledge gained from fieldwork than on being theoretically heavy, and it seeks to let the voices of the inhabitants of Svanholm work as the main guideline in understanding the values and visions for sustainability in this Danish ecovillage.