A Radical Plan: Village Homes in Davis, CA turns 50!
From Cultivating Place by Jennifer Jewell / Cultivating Place
May 21, 2026 · 1h 2m
About this episode
The episode explores the 50-year history and design of Village Homes, a sustainability-oriented community in Davis, California, featuring insights from longtime residents and experts.
This week, we continue plumbing the potential of gardens and gardeners for growing a future we want to cultivate- for the benefit of all. In order to look forward, we look back to the radical plan of a 50-year-old intentionally-designed community and sustainability-oriented housing development, Village Homes, in Davis, California. Central to the intelligent design? You got it, Gardens and Green spaces at every turn, and accessible to all. With the community now celebrating its 50th year, Cultivating Place is joined by Carol Hillhouse, UC Davis Student Farm Associate Director Emeritus, and Robert Thayer, Landscape Architect, both Gardeners by nature and longtime residents of Village Homes. Cultivating Place now has a donate button! We thank you for listening over the years, and we hope you'll continue to support Cultivating Place. We can't thank you enough for making it possible for this young program to grow and engage in even more conversations like these. The show is available as a podcast on SoundCloud and iTunes. To read more and for many more photos, please visit www.cultivatingplace.com.
People in this episode
Host: Jennifer Jewell
Guests: Carol Hillhouse, Robert Thayer
Topics covered
- sustainability
- community design
- gardening
- housing development
- intentional communities
Keywords
- Village Homes
- Davis California
- sustainability
- gardens
- community design
- intentional living
- landscape architecture
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: UC Davis
Places: Davis, California, Village Homes
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