NewFuture Holistic Context

BackgroundWhy NewFuture

In many countries the system has become extractive. Instead of providing fair services at fair prices, too many leaders, organisations and businesses extract as much value as they can. Municipalities struggle to provide reliable, quality services, and profit often comes at the expense of people and planet.

NewFuture asks a different question: rather than fighting the existing system, how do we build an alternative to it? How do we become as self-reliant as possible, and how do we create a high quality of life that more people can afford?

We are building a small residential community that produces most of what it needs (energy, water and food) and shares what makes sense to share rather than own individually. By combining natural resources, shared assets and circular systems, members enjoy a high quality of life at a much lower cost than an average household, with more time, more security and stronger relationships than living alone could give.

The community is designed to be self-reliant rather than dependent: renewable energy instead of the grid, borehole and rainwater instead of municipal supply, locally grown food, and shared vehicles and tools instead of duplicated private assets. It is a working demonstration that a better system can simply be built, and one that more people can afford to join.

Our values

FrameworkHow to read this

A holistic context describes the future we want in each area of community life, in three parts. It runs be, do, have rather than the usual do, have, be: we start from what we want life to be like.

Each context also lists ideas and goals we are exploring. They are options, not final decisions.

Context 1Cost of living and quality of life

Ideas

Transport systems

• Various types of shared vehicles: two sedans, a bakkie, a minibus, a motorbike, e-bikes and a trailer.
• All vehicles are electric.
• All vehicles are shared amongst all residents.
• Residents pay a fixed monthly amount that covers the fixed costs of the vehicles: licences, insurance, services and cleaning.
• Residents pay per kilometre used, managed by a fully automated system using RFID tags or facial recognition.

Goals

• We maintain our quality of life at 50 % of the cost of an average household.
• No electricity bills and no grid connection.
• No water bills: 100 % of our water comes from rain and borehole water, clean and healthy.
• No fuel costs: all our vehicles are electric and 100 % of their fuel comes from renewable energy.
• Reduced vehicle costs: loans, services, licences and so on.

Context 2Self-sufficiency and self-reliance

Ideas

Food systems

• All trees planted on the property are fruit or nut trees. Hedges and fences are planted with fruiting vines such as granadilla and grape.
• One or two people are responsible for the food systems on the land.
• Greenhouses, automated irrigation and hydroponics.
• Chickens, several beehives and a mushroom-growing facility.

Renewable energy systems

• One large central solar system and one large central battery system.
• Panels on the community centre, the carport and the tiny houses, all connected to the central system as a microgrid.
• Monthly fixed fees cover the maintenance and expansion of the systems.
• It generates enough electricity for appliances, cooking, heating and cooling, and transport.

Water systems

• Water is pumped from a borehole to a tank. There must be enough water, of good quality, tested at the start and continuously.
• Water levels and pump control are fully automated.
• A central treatment plant with filters and UV light cleans the water.
• As much rainwater as possible is collected from roofs for the gardens.
• Monthly fixed fees cover the maintenance and expansion of the systems.

Goals

• 100 % of our household energy comes from renewable energy.
• 100 % of our water comes from rain and borehole water: clean, healthy water.
• More than 50 % of our food is grown on our land: abundant fresh fruit, vegetables, eggs, honey and mushrooms.

Context 3Ownership and asset management

Ideas

Tiny houses

• The private space each person needs: bedroom, toilet, small kitchen and a room for eating and relaxing.
• Options include caravans, containers, light-steel builds on trailers and imported pre-built homes.
• Each person buys or builds, and owns, their own living space.

Community centre

• About eight service stands with electricity, water, wastewater and waste removal around the community centre.
• The centre holds the shared facilities: kitchen, dining hall, tool library, yoga and fitness studios, bathrooms and laundry.
• The kitchen has a large industrial dishwasher and a pizza oven.

Vehicles

• Shared, as described under Context 1. Private vehicles are allowed but discouraged; if the shared fleet is fully booked, ride-hailing services such as Bolt can fill the gap.

Workshop

• A workshop for the community and for individuals, with tools and equipment for woodwork, metalwork, building, electronics and sewing.

Tool and asset library

• A shared store where members take what they need and return it when done.
• Every item carries an RFID tag and is scanned out and back in, so it is always clear who has what.
• For example: drill, label printer, drone, camera, multimeter.

Storage

• Lock-up storage for each household, which keeps the tiny houses small.
• A shared storage facility, built cheaply, possibly from containers.

Goals

• Minimal capital spent on assets.
• More capital available for investment.
• More discretionary income for training, personal development, entertainment and rest.
• Visible use of the tool library: shared items used by three or more households.

Context 4Community and co-operation

Ideas

• We are all trained in, and practise, Non-Violent Communication (NVC).
• We know other approaches to good communication and conflict resolution, such as Crucial Conversations, Crucial Confrontations and The Next Conversation.
• We share activities at least once a week.
• We share meals at least once a week.
• We help each other with various tasks.
• We are good at resolving conflict.

Goals

• Not just renters, but a close-knit community.
• Support in everyday life and in challenges.
• Low turnover: members stay because they want to, not because leaving is hard.
• The community doesn’t rely on one or two people.

Context 5Environment and waste

Ideas

• Organic kitchen waste from every household and the community centre is composted centrally in a three-bin, rat-proof composting station.
• All waste is separated into streams and recycled, much like the German system.
• Human waste is composted for the fruit trees.
• Low-carbon alternatives are used where possible, for example in building materials.
• Fossil fuels are avoided: no gas stoves or heaters, no petrol lawnmowers, no petrol or diesel cars, no petrol generators.

Goals

• Less than one small bin of non-recycled waste per household per month.
• Enough free compost for fertile soils and abundant food.
• A carbon footprint at least 50 % below average.

Context 6Governance and decision-making

Ideas

• Decision method: sociocratic consent rounds. A proposal passes unless someone has a reasoned objection, which must then be integrated. Not consensus (too slow) and not majority voting (it creates losers).
• Decision thresholds: operational decisions under R5,000 by the responsible role-holder; larger spending and policy changes by consent round; land, legal structure and membership by a full-circle meeting with a defined quorum.
• Roles, not bosses: each area (energy, water, food, finance, security, maintenance) has a named role-holder with a written mandate, reviewed every year.
• Conflict escalation when NVC is not enough: direct conversation, then a conversation facilitated by a neutral member, then an external mediator, then the exit process in the member agreement. Written down before it is ever needed.
• Documentation: all policies and decisions live in a shared handbook that prospective members can read before joining.

Goals

• Routine decisions resolved within seven days.
• No unresolved dispute older than one month.
• No decision ever depends on one indispensable person.

Context 7Membership

Ideas

• Members share responsibilities, but nobody is so stretched that they burn out. Physical, mental and emotional well-being matter.
• A healthy balance between private life and contribution to the community.
• We are looking for people who are open-minded and more spiritual than religious; who keep their ego in check; who are emotionally healthy and mature and resolve conflict constructively; who are free of addiction; and who speak Afrikaans fluently.

Goals

• Never fewer than six members.
• People are free to leave as they wish.

Context 8Finance

Ideas

• Capital contributions: each household’s buy-in is recorded at nominal value and returned at nominal value on exit (optionally inflation-adjusted), paid out over a set maximum period such as 12 months, so no single exit can drain the reserves. No capital gains on the land: this attracts members who want a home, not an investment.
• Monthly fee: one transparent fixed fee per household covering energy, water, waste, the fixed costs of the vehicles, the community centre’s running costs and a maintenance reserve, plus metered charges such as vehicle kilometres. The budget is published and reviewed every year by consent round.
• We research the average cost of living of a typical middle-class South African household and measure ourselves against it.

Goals

• A reserve fund that covers six months or more of fixed costs.

Context 9Spirituality and personal development

Ideas

• Books: A New Earth and The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle.
• Practices: meditation, yoga, qigong and chanting.
• Classes at the School of Practical Philosophy and Renaissance services.

Further readingReading list

• The Sharing Economy: The End of Employment and the Rise of Crowd-Based Capitalism by Arun Sundararajan
• Utopia for Realists by Rutger Bregman
• Creating a Life Together by Diana Leafe Christian: why most intentional communities fail, and what the successful ones do differently
• Many Voices, One Song by Ted Rau and Jerry Koch-Gonzalez: a practical handbook for sociocracy
• The Five Secrets You Must Discover Before You Die by John Izzo

See how these values shape the plan for the village →