Nomadbase

What is a nomad base?
A nomad base is a shared living space where all inhabitants can feel like hosts or in other words: 'at home'. It is a place where the inhabitants - how temporary they may stay - feel at home, do their 'thing' and can learn and share at the same time with the other people who live there. A shared culture of participation in common activities (household and events for example) as well as mutual care among inhabitants and visitors are highly necessary for these spaces to remain sustainable.

The values of sustainable sustainability, sharing and openness are central. A nomad base does not exist for the sake of financial profit.

A nomad base can be a shared living space (like a house, an eco-village or intentional community) rented, owned or squatted by one or more individuals who decide to also share this space with nomads. It could also be a temporary space on a temporary location like some piece of (squatted) land. Each location might have their own specific culture, aspiration, focus, terms of living, minimum or maximum length of stay, intentions, and so on.

The limits of nomad bases
See the discussion page for ongoing brainstorming

Conference
There might be many nomad-bases around the world, though these are not so much connected with each other yet. To help creating a network of these spaces, the website nomadbase.org was started January 2009. To make new connections between houses, spaces and nomadic travelers, a conference is in preparation to take place in Berlin towards the end of November of 2009: SHE goes MAD.

Ideas
We can work on a manifest that can be publicized in various cities through hospitality exchange networks and forums, inspiring and inviting other "houses" to join a nomad-base network or inspire other individuals that are already using their houses as nomad bases to connect with each other.

We don't want to set any specific rules or definitions of what a nomad base should be, but describe certain potential properties/tendencies/intentions of nomadic bases, the kind of dynamics likely to develop in such bases, ...

Nomad bases could stay in touch with each other, exchange on ideas, processes and experiences.

Date-line

 * January 2009 nomadbase.org is in an alpha stage.
 * August 2009 Nomadbase is now a group on crabgrass to discuss the feature-list and on redmine to discuss code-development. Discussion currently focuses on using a branch of crabgrass.
 * November 2009: A conference about nomad-bases?: SHE goes MAD