Imagine a residential scale windmill handmade with found materials, a see-saw that acts as a water pump, easy-to-assemble DIY solar water panels, and other innovative 'clean-tech' solutions.

Imagine a visionary community ensuring economic livelihood through exported tree resin, a rekindled tropical rainforest and a cutting edge sustainable hospital.

Las Gaviotas is that place.  A real village in rural, inhospitable Columbia. Not fiction, nor a utopia. The only radical part of this social experiment is that it is working. Scientists, students, families and leaders live side-by-side creating a verdant community, while designing and exporting critical technology - shared in an open source format; designed to be replicated, tailored and customized to each locale.

Also called “appropriate technologies,” prevalent everywhere from rural farms in Ecuador to high-density low-income housing in Bogota.

Originally funded by a UN development grant, the project proved successful, quickly scaling to widespread applications.  Las Gaviotas is now a well-established incubator for new innovations in appropriate technology.

The lessons of Gaviotas have far-reaching implications - how do they apply to, say a mid-level North American manager sitting at an air-conditioned desk?

Simplicity and Utility

Gaviotas inventions are popular because they are made from found, local, and/or renewable materials. Often these inventions are easy to build, fix and disassemble. These traits lend well to adaptation and scaling. Consumers and stakeholders are empowered - increasing ownership and a sense of stewardship.

This is a critical success factor for program and project developments.  Open source technology can be customized and personalized to engage stakeholders on multiple levels and lead to deeper community impact.

Playfulness

Playfulness is a very serious design consideration for scientists at Gaviotas.  The see-saw harnesses momentum of children's playful energy and functions as an efficient communal water pump. Businesses and technologies that are able to engage an inherently playful, curious nature evolve quickly and are more likely to take hold in the mainstream.

The I-phone embodies this principle:  gratifying user interfact tactility.  Proliferating applications demonstrate that technology is a vehicle for creativity, not a substitution for it.  Collaborative technology is more successful than not, and playfulness feeds creativity.

Humility

One of my favorite anecdotes in the history of Gaviotas was a moment of profound surprise. The community wanted to repopulate the barren grassland with trees, in order to provide shade and shelter. The only tree that would grow was a non-native pine tree. After successfully establishing a pine forest that was to be used for timber, the Gaviotans found many other uses for the Pine trees that are much more sustainable forest practices. The biggest surprise came when native tropical hardwoods began to thrive in the understory of the pine forest. The Gaviotas scientists found success because they assume that nature will be a potent collaborator and approach technological solutions with humility. Humility creates a fertile table for innovation.

To find out more about this thriving technological laboratory, you can read an account by the international journalist Alan Weisman. There are many examples of appropriate technology solutions. The recent Cooper Hewitt exhibit Design for the Other 90% was at the Portland Mercy Corps. Organizations such as Bikes to Rwanda and Architecture for Humanity feature appropriate technology and design. Cameron Sinclaire is the co-founder of Architecture for Humanity will be speaking at the Sustainable Industries economic forum in Portland on September 17th.