The Role of Urban Intentional Community in Advancing Environmental Sustainability Education

• In Event: Virtual Poster Session
  In Virtual iPresentation Only: SIG-Environmental Education Virtual Poster Session

Abstract

The environmental crisis demands urgent, comprehensive responses, emphasizing local action and fostering environmental responsibility. This study investigates how an urban intentional community in Israel cultivates environmental responsibility through collective action and promoting environmental sustainability education (ESE). Framed by Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Human Development Theory, it explores how sense of community shapes members’ environmental values and behaviors, influencing both family life and the broader urban educational context. Using mixed-methods case study design, this research based on semi-structured interviews, and is enrich by a quantitative questionnaire, social network analysis, observation, and documents analysis. This study offers new insights into the role of intentional communities as grassroots agents in shaping sustainable urban society, offering both theoretical and practical contributions to community development and ESE.

Authors

• Shoshan Barkan-Eran, Hakibbutzim College of Education

• Dafna Gan, The Open University of Israel