In the rolling landscapes of Alentejo, a bold vision is taking shape. In recent years, more sustainable communities and villages have emerged across the country, but few carry the ambition of NEOS, a 410-hectare conscious village born from the dreams of two remarkable people: Karen Aiyana Birch and Vincent Daranyi.
For Vincent it all started in 2017, when at a personal development seminar, he had to envision his ultimate life, and there he saw a land with people, evolving and studying human ways of being. In 2023, a chance encounter at an airport, flying back to Lisbon, propelled everything forward. Vincent stood last in line to board the plane when a woman tapped his shoulder and asked, “Are you Vincent?” She was a reader of his newsletter, and an estate agent. The chances of that happening were minuscule, but there she was. They started talking, and she asked him about his dream. When he told her that he needed land to make it happen, she simply said, “I’ll find you the land.” Three days later she sent him a link. The week after he stood on the land and knew immediately: this is it.
Karen’s visions of a new way of living and eco-villages had already started when she was very young yet were fully activated in 2012 with a strong calling. Unsure of whether she was meant to create it or contribute to somewhere that already existed, she eventually realised that other projects didn’t reflect her vision. In 2020 she decided to build “The New Earth School,” an online platform offering professional masterclasses and training programmes in sustainable culture, whilst waiting for her village vision to find the missing pieces.
When she and Vincent met, they found their visions surprisingly compatible, and together they now build Neos Village and Neos Center, two halves of the same vision. The south part of the land, 158 hectares, is designed to grow into a village with 144 homes, made from sustainable materials, sizes varying from T0 to T5. There will be clusters of houses surrounding communal spaces for gatherings, creative studios, and for children to play. Everything is designed for connection to happen. Karen says, “We want to emphasise that people are not just buying an isolated house, they are investing in an entire village to be created for a better way of living.” They decided to limit the number of houses, so even in the smallest plot, you experience being in nature and not looking at a wall or hedge. The idea is that people can move in by the end of 2028.
The north part of the land, 252 hectares, is Neos Center, where they currently run retreats, for example, their own four-day retreat, the Neos
Experience. Guest facilitators can also rent the facility to host their own events. The bigger vision of this area is a fully grown healing and educational centre for residents and visitors alike. The centre will also feature a restaurant, a welcome centre with gallery and artisan market, a large conference centre for 250 people and accommodation.
Karen says, “Ideally we want everything as integrated as possible, so some residents could be working in the Center. And we also hope to provide jobs for the local community around here.”
About
Sustainable Living
Sustainable Living is a hand-curated, bilingual platform of the people, projects and practices building a more sustainable Portugal. Each week we feature one of them on this page. Browse projects, people, jobs, events and the daily news in Pulse, all in English and Portuguese. Discover more projects at sustainableliving.pt.
Find neos.life:
Read the full profile on Sustainable Living: sustainableliving.pt/projects/neos-life
Website: neos.life
Instagram: @neos.life
The Depth behind the Dream
“We want NEOS to be a representative of what the planet needs right now. And that means holding what seems like opposites together. It needs to be completely financially grounded, stable and viable. While at the same time there needs to be an energetic component. Like a new culture being created, and an intelligence around people going through healing and transformational processes, and what all of that means”, Karen says.
Her co-founder, Vincent adds: “It’s like this project brings everything to the surface where we still need to evolve as humans, because its creation is just this intense pressure cooker. We are doing many things at the same time. From getting the retreat place ready, to construction, to the master planning, fundraising, community building and the village. We started farming, we have 200 cows that came with the farm. And on top of all the people challenges.”
The idea is to start programmes in regenerative living, permaculture, conflict resolution skills, all these different aspects of becoming a new human. And people can stay to do residential immersions for 6 or 9 months.
Next year, 2027, an onboarding programme developed for future villagers starts, where people will attend three retreats of several days to learn essential community living skills. So, by the time people actually start living on the land, hopefully by the end of 2028, the community is already formed, people know each other, and the skill set for creating a life together is already developed.
They say, “Neos Village is for people who really want to pioneer a new way of living.”
Our conclusion is that perhaps it is an old Portuguese way of living being reshaped for creating a more sustainable way of living in these challenging times, where we forgot so much about taking care of each other and our beautiful planet…
Karen says, “When we first arrived on the property, one of our Portuguese team members was living here with his family at the time. They just wanted to share dinners with us – he and his family are very kind and community-oriented, and that is very inspiring. It helps to open you up and to bring people together.”
On a final note, Vincent says, “We are looking for people who are excited to learn and grow together, who want to create community, who are convinced this is a better way of living and want to be part of that, and are like, ‘Hell, yes.’
Contact
Web: sustainableliving.pt
Email: info@sustainableliving.pt
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Facebook: facebook.com/sustainablelivingpt
About Vincent & Karen
Vincent:
Vincent’s journey from investment banker and startup founder to coach and community builder reflects his profound personal transformation and commitment to exploring the edge of consciousness — whose synthesis is the creation of neos·life. He has worked with a diverse range of clients, from VCs, entrepreneurs, and authors to moms, movie makers, and agency owners, helping them find clarity, purpose, and fulfilment.
Karen:
Karen’s background of 20 years is in transformational facilitation and programme design. She founded a regenerative facilitation academy and initiated the Global Ecovillage Network’s UK and Ireland bioregional branch. She authored several books plus co-wrote and produced the award-winning feature film ‘The Blueprint’ portraying a bioregional ecovillage timeline on Earth. Karen originated The New Earth School (neos·academy) and is now integrating everything into neos·life.
Disclaimer:
The views expressed on this page are those of the author and not of The Portugal News.
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