As I’ve traveled the world on my motorcycle misadventures I’ve had the opportunity to drop in on some interesting “intentional” communities, that is, communities based on some unifying philosophy: Arcosanti in Arizona, Auroville in India, and Damanhur in Italy. These places are great travel destinations, cultures within themselves, really, and they often provide simple, low-cost accommodations and tours of the community and to nearby attractions. (Damanhur, for example, has a day long tour of “Magical Turin” that includes the Egyptian museum and the place where the Cafe Mocha was born.)
When I rode the Ural around the United States in 1995 I dropped in on Arcosanti, 60 miles north of Phoenix, Arizona. The force behind Arcosanti is architect Paolo Soleri who, in direct opposition to his teacher Frank Lloyd Wright (father of todays suburban sprawl), believes that humanity should be living in ever closer proximity, in supercities called “archologies.” An archology is a huge city all under one or just a few roofs, where people live and work, leaving the surrounding land untouched, or available for farming, and within easy reach if one should want a walk in nature. Public spaces are built in, and of course there is no need for cars. The vision is shared transport (community owned cars) and public transport linking these cities. 
I love the place and return as often as I can, staying in one of their monastic guest rooms with large windows facing a canyon that takes on magical properties as the light changes.
In 2000 I was in India on a Royal Enfield Bullet. I dropped in on Auroville just outside of the formerly French colony Pondicherry, where you can still buy French bread and croissants. Auroville is an international community of mainly Europeans. It is spread out and difficult to visit without a tour guide because you can’t tell which buildings are private and residential and which are public or business, but there are some nice community spaces there, and a large meditation space called Matrimindar. 
This place is important to me because I had my first ever out-of-body experience here, despite a lot of skepticism, while meditating on the largest crystal in the world, a human-made crystal manufactured, if you can believe it, by Leica.
In 2001 I took a Moto Guzzi around Italy, stopping at Damanhur in the Piedmonte region in the north, famous for its wine and nestled at the foot of the Italian Alps. Damanhur’s community is interested in the relationships between science, spirituality, art, nature, and technology, and they work on fantastic projects, including time travel. I know, I know, it sounds far fetched, but when you’ve visited the extensive underground temple (decorated by skilled artisans, most of whom were not artisans when they came to this community, by the way) and go through the meditation rituals and take part in some of the activities, you can help but admire this advanced community.
The philosophy of these places make sense. Basically, that it takes a village. There’s community housing with fully equipped private quarters, but with opportunities for communing… large kitchens, recreation areas, regular meetings, common goals, whether spiritual or architectural or agricultural. At Arcosanti people live in small apartments and share large public spaces, at Damanhur people live in huge 15 bedroom houses, all off the grid. In Aurobindo my impression is that the more traditional single-family dwelling situation is prevalent. These places all “walk the talk,” taking up as little space as possible on a shrinking planet, practicing organic and sustainable agriculture, giving back to their own and surrounding communities, experimenting with architectures, technologies, and lifestyles that may help the wider humanity to solve the great problems we face because of rampant and irresponsible consumption.
Have you visited these, or other, communities? I’d love to hear about it in the COMMENTS below.
