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A model housing development is underway in Bega on the Far South Coast of NSW.
This development aims to create high-standard housing while consuming much less of the Earth's resources, both in construction and in the long term. The use of permaculture principles in the design has helped ensure that resources will be used more efficiently and sustainably. In 2007 a meeting of intending residents selected the name 'Bend' for the completed neighbourhood.
The development proposal reflects the philosophy that:
* Individually and as a society we have to significantly reduce our ecological footprint on the earth. In particular our current consumption of energy, water and soil cannot be sustained.
* As individuals and communities we are both diverse and interdependent. For human life to be sustainable we need to accept our diversity and work creatively with each other.
Rather than merely accommodating a community of its own, the planned neighbourhood of private and publicly owned buildings is intended to be fully integrated with all aspects of the local community.
 - A plan showing the subdivision and main facilities - click for larger view or download from Resources page.
BEND is a coalition of (extra)ordinary people actively working towards these goals.
Broadly, the project involves buying a suitable block; offering part of it to the adjacent Rudolf Steiner school to provide playing fields and scope for expansion; obtaining council approval for a subdivision under Community Title; implementing all infrastructure works needed; selling 21 freehold blocks for public and privately owned residential housing; and creating a Management Statement that ensures that the Neighbourhood accords with BEND's aims. BEND has been conducting landcare and environmental improvements to the site, and will hand over an overseeing role to a Neighbourhood Association once the sale of a proportion of blocks is finalised.
A unique aspect of the project is that while the development site is in a rural setting, with food production and nature conservation integral and important priorities in the design, it is within the town of Bega, the regional centre of the NSW south coast.
Some of BEND's objectives have already been achieved – to find out more, visit the information pages of BEND's various project areas.
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