This research project critically and practically investigates recently established intentional communities in post-industrial American cities, through up to five case studies of buildings or neighborhoods created by groups seeking low-consumption, socially responsible lifestyles. Reviving depressed districts, redundant buildings or brownfield sites, these projects present potential models for progressive twenty-first century urban development. The project documents and analyzes these new urban interventions through the lenses of design, urban history, policy, finance, and technology, as well as photographs and narrative interviews with their creators and stakeholders. The project's primary aims are: to observe and draw attention to these emergent intentional communities; to document a social-spatial movement at a specific historical moment; to contextualize; to derive new recommendations for propagation in the United States; and to suggest how such market-based community architecture might offer lessons internationally.

Sarah Mineko Ichioka is an experienced leader, influencer, and innovator whose diverse portfolio includes high-profile management, curatorial, and editorial work with some of the world's most respected institutions of culture, policy, and research. Unifying her work is a passion for cities and their potential. From 2008 to 2014 Ichioka was director of The Architecture Foundation, the UK’s leading independent center for architecture and urbanism. Her previous employment includes Tate Modern, the Venice Biennale, the London School of Economic’s Urban Age project, and New York City’s Department of Housing. Ichioka has been honored by the Global Public Interest Design 100, the British Council's Cultural Leadership International Fellowship, and the Fellowship of the Royal Institute of British Architects. She holds a BA in history from Yale University and an MSc in city design and social science from the LSE. An American and British citizen, Ichioka is currently based in Asia.