Garden Communities

During my civil engineering studies in Aachen, Germany, I was introduced to wastewater management, and I immediately knew what I wanted to do: prevent open dumping of wastewater by building wastewater treatment plants in coastal cities and towns. During my PhD, I wrote my doctoral thesis about the computer simulation of water treatment plants. From that experience, I came to realize that conventional sewage collection networks and wastewater treatment plants did not actually make much sense.
Why not reuse the nutrients in human waste to produce humus and manure rather than pollute water? Such questioning of the status quo naturally made me a rebel (which, to be honest, I quite enjoyed). To break new ground, I founded an engineering consultancy in Lubeck in northern Germany on the Baltic Sea. In Lubeck, I worked to develop new wastewater treatment concepts. It was only later that I realized that when you know that what you are doing is right, despite setbacks, it will work in the end.
I experienced the typical reactions to rebels: at first, I was ridiculed; then came vehement attacks in many of my presentations. Later, these innovative water concepts became a major topic of discussion and many millions of research dollars were invested into them (these millions unfortunately did not go to the rebel!). I developed a wastewater concept to produce liquid fertilizer and energy. The process used wastewater collected from vacuum-powered toilets that was combined with green waste produced in a new housing development.
We constructed a pilot-scale neighborhood to pilot the concept, and since then several similar facilities have been built based on this model, especially in China. In Hamburg, one such settlement is currently being built for about two thousand inhabitants. And an even bigger one is under development now in Sweden. It took about 25 years for my innovative ideas to be recognized as sensible (and not totally crazy!).
Unfortunately, the larger developments being constructed in this area are based on my very first concepts using vacuum-powered toilets; if I could start over, I would begin immediately with improved blackwater loops or low-tech Terra Preta Sanitation. Back in the day of my thriving consultancy, the University of Technology in Hamburg (TUHH) found my work so interesting that I became full professor there and director of a TUHH research institute. I was a student of Ralf's in 2012-2015 when I did my master's degree at the TUHH in Hamburg.
But before that, I was raised in a small town in Kansas, where I grew to appreciate the benefits of small town life, local economy, and reliable and friendly neighbors. Returning from Germany in 2015 to work as a wastewater treatment consultant, I found my way back to the Midwest, where I live today with my wife. In writing this book, it is clear to me that building a community is easier said than done: you do this over a lifetime.
And I hope this book can inspire you to take the next step in your own community-building journey.