Tärkkilä Living Heritage Community, Finland

In Tärkkilä, Finland, pioneers are using a permanent legal structure to take communal ownership of land in order to secure it for the creation and use of sustainable communities.

A key feature of this innovative smart rural solution is that ownership of the land is held by a Foundation or other legal structure that ensures it remains in use for a sustainable community in perpetuity. This secures communal ownership of the land for future generations. It prevents it falling back into private ownership due to the departure or death of individuals within the community.

Rather than inheriting land or property, what children inherit from their parents is the right to live within the sustainable community. They get to carry on their parents’ work serving healthy soil, air and water and enjoying the fruits of this service.

The living heritage sustainable community approach can be used to create ecovillages or other forms of local sustainable community based on the commons approach.

Alongside the ownership structure of the land, the integrated solution being pioneered in Finland typically involves the provision of guidance and training. This supports people to make the transition to life in a sustainable community.

To find out more about this Smart Rural Solution see here

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