Äerdschëff meets Autarkia: Towards a New Generation of Earthship Communities
Recently, the President of Äerdschëff asbl had the opportunity to take part in a guided visit and in-depth exchange with members of the Swiss initiative Autarkia . This young organisation is rethinking the Earthship concept and developing it into modern, comfortable and community-oriented living spaces, firmly rooted in autonomy and permaculture.
Founded in November 2024 in the canton of Thurgau, Autarkia carries a strong ambition: to create autonomous communities that bring together housing, regenerative agriculture, renewable energy and shared governance. The project builds on the Earthship principles developed in the 1970s by American architect Michael Reynolds, while adapting them to today’s social, ecological and technological challenges.
From Individual Earthships to Living Communities
Autarkia’s approach goes far beyond the individual autonomous building. The initiative aims to connect several Earthships on a single site, organised around permaculture gardens that support food self-sufficiency and strengthen collective life. Built using earth-filled tyres and other natural materials, the buildings are designed as fully-fledged living spaces—comfortable, durable and genuinely inhabited, rather than merely experimental or demonstrative structures.
Particular attention is paid to design quality and everyday comfort. By integrating a wide range of natural materials, both indoors and outdoors, Autarkia seeks to significantly enhance the look, feel and habitability of Earthship architecture, offering a contemporary interpretation suited to present-day expectations.
Shared Governance and Responsible Technologies
One of the most innovative aspects of the Autarkia project lies in its governance model. The communities are intended to be organised through a Decentralised Autonomous Organisation (DAO) based on blockchain technology. This approach aims to ensure transparency, collective decision-making and shared responsibility, while enabling decentralised management of resources, land and assets.
This combination of low-tech architecture, permaculture, renewable energy and responsibly used digital tools strongly resonates with the reflections developed at Äerdschëff around ecological bifurcation, sufficiency and new forms of collective organisation.
Shared Visions in Dialogue
The meeting between Äerdschëff and Autarkia highlights the emergence of a European ecosystem of pioneering initiatives experimenting with tangible alternatives to conventional housing and social models. While each project is deeply rooted in its local context, they share common challenges: autonomy, resilience, social justice and collective governance.
We are delighted by this first promising exchange, which opens the door to future collaboration, knowledge-sharing and mutual inspiration. Such international dialogues reinforce our conviction that a different relationship to housing, community and the living world is not only desirable, but already taking shape.
