Under the heading of ‘Redeveloping Relationship’, Simon Grant develops a distinction between belongingness - the basic human need to be accepted, cared for, and feel safe within a group - and creative work - the purposeful, co-creative activity that groups undertake to make something in the world.
Drawing on his own experience in co-housing communities in Lancaster and Belgium, as well as a striking case study of a French eco-village that collapsed despite its members sharing ideals and intentions, Simon argues that conflating these two things is one of the most common and costly mistakes intentional communities make.
The tension between belonging and work, Simon suggests, isn’t a failure of character or personal psychology. It goes deeper than the popular diagnosis that communities collapse because members haven’t done enough “inner work.” Rather, groups often fail because they haven’t recognised that belonging and creative collaboration are structurally different needs, each requiring its own conditions, norms, and attention.
