The Design Commons
A shared, slow-burning space to design the village of the future.
We were inspired by how programmers around the world collaborate to build free software. So, we asked: why not apply the same approach to designing the One Planet Agrahood?
time to collaborate
The OPA Design Commons
The OPA Design Commons is a collaborative project for bringing together practical experience, experiments, and ideas to design a new model of human settlement. The first OPA design is rooted in the Willamette Valley bioregion and is intended to become a living laboratory for exploring how housing, food, water, energy, land stewardship, and community life can meet basic human needs within ecological limits and with little or no reliance on petroleum. By combining the knowledge of many people, the Design Commons aims to create a practical blueprint that can be tested, refined, and brought to life.
If you’re a grower, builder, maker, citizen scientist, permaculture practitioner, researcher, community organizer, ecological practitioner, or hands-on experimenter, we invite you to bring your knowledge, experience, and curiosity to the challenge of figuring out how the OPA could actually work.
How to join
Joining the Online Design Commons
People express interest in becoming an online commoner by filling out a short application. We are looking for individuals who bring meaningful knowledge gained through hands-on experience with regenerative and sustainable practices. This includes people who have developed insight through consistent observation of natural processes, whether in social or physical landscapes.
Designing a complete village system requires many different skills and perspectives. Our hope is that the project will bring together people from many walks of life to work toward the common goal of the OPA design. In the application, you’ll be asked to identify which parts of the project resonate most with you. As a next step, someone from our team will reach out to learn more about your interests and make a personal connection.
All participanting commoners agree to a set of shared agreements, the Commons Charter, that helps to maintain a healthy and productive community.