Willow pond: A decentralized low-carbon future scenario

•We describe a future residential community that is almost self-sufficient.•Home structures and management are intelligent.•Local manufacturing depends on recycled materials, 3-D printing, and sprawl farms.•Challenges to overcome include shifting to a collaboration-based economy, among others.•Adopting these ideas would drastically reduce a community's ecological footprint.

This paper describes Willow Pond, a future residential community that is moving toward self-sufficiency. Driven by volatile food prices and supplies, volatile energy prices and supplies, economic globalization, frustration with politics, and technological convergence, the residents of Willow Pond introduced a self-sufficient structure. Home systems feature photovoltaic skins, fuel cells, and artificially intelligent home management. Local manufacturing systems feature only recyclable, reusable, and renewable materials; additive manufacturing; and sprawl farms. Willow Pond also boasts electric vehicles, immersive telecommunications, largely closed-loop water systems, redesigned community spaces, and central energy storage. Residential self-sufficiency challenges include shifting from a cash- to collaboration-based economy; managing community size to maximize efficiency; balancing technological versus human capital; and dealing with self-sufficiency versus traditional jobs, among others.