The Cleveland EcoVillage is the ongoing redevelop of a neighborhood around the W. 65th Rapid station based on environmentally friendly design principles. It is a diverse neighborhood on the near west side that is already pedestrian-friendly and community-oriented. The area has older and newer homes—including some of the city's finest examples of green building—mixed in with numerous schools, historic churches, and community gardens.

Inspired by the small house movement and responding to residents who wanted both affordability and energy efficiency, the EcoVillage and the Cuyahoga Community Land Trust recently broke ground on five green cottages at Pear Avenue, directly across the street from the W. 58th Street EcoVillage townhomes. As with the townhomes and the ecological restoration plans at nearby Zone Recreation Center, the cottages are a collaborative pilot project that organizers hope not only heats for $35 a month, but that others can replicate.

All of which makes documenting the process—the give and take between green, affordable and also accessibility for seniors and disabled—just as important as the ribbon cutting and moving day. EcoVillage Project Manager Mandy Metcalf has started posting lessons from the green cottages project here so that architects, developers, builders and homeowners can learn about the decisions that are shaping their development.

In her first post, Metcalf describes the green features, why the design process needed to be open ended and involve many partners and she starts to describe some of the team’s early realizations that smaller doesn’t always mean more affordable.