easy town books

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Special edition 1

book 4, building
PRELUDE TO DAY 33
Before the start of the campaigns

pdf-file // 34k words

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Special edition 2

book 4, building
DAY 32 TO DAY 25
The first week of campaigns

pdf-file // 21k words

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Special edition 3

book 4, building
DAY 24 TO DAY 17
The second week of campaigns

pdf-file // 25k words

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Special edition 4

book 4, building
DAY 16 TO DAY 8
The third week of campaigns

pdf-file // 52k words

CAMPAIGNS FOR OUR FUTURE

book 4, building, specials on this website

• published chapters, overview
• behind the scenes
• campaigns & negotiations team

The finale is coming

In book 4, building, part 1, a diverse team of visionaries and experts have 39 days to convince the British government and the British public to let them build a town from scratch and to run the town as an experiment for twelve years.

Their aim is to find out what kind of environment would allow humans to thrive and the planet to recover.

So far, the team’s research suggests nothing short of rethinking everything: from the way humans build, learn, communicate to rethinking economic and political systems and pretty much everything in between.

In order to make their case for the town, the team organise major campaigns which aim at engaging the British public in discourses about the future prospects of humanity and the planet, and with that the team hope to win the public’s support for the town project.

What started as a few ideas for campaigns and a lot of politics in the British Parliament, when I began to write book 4, soon became a large collection of ideas for CAMPAIGNS FOR OUR FUTURE.

Why CAMPAIGNS FOR OUR FUTURE? Because these campaigns allow us to come together and to think and shape together. More, these campaigns allow us to experience what we might need and how we might work together – and have fun with it.

I decided to publish a first draft of book 4, building, chapter by chapter and online to make the ideas quickly available. It didn’t go as quickly as planned but by now, only the last week is missing, the finale.

While I’d promised myself not to be too strict while writing so that the ideas can get out and can be used, I find that the final week does require some more care and time. Therefore, I presently focus on completing all chapters and more of the additional material.

I wrote the previous paragraph at the end of January 2026. Now, at the start of April, I can confirm that the final week needs a lot more than a quick first draft because here all threads come together.

And not just that. The previous chapters laid the foundations for a finale that digs deep, sideways and expands on major topics we need to address to secure a future for our planet and for ourselves.

Often enough I am frustrated that I’m so far behind my schedule while at the same time acknowledging that I had been juggling quite a few things, that being present on social media is important, and for me still quite a learning process, that my photographic work is an integral part of my online work and that being on the Island of Usedom was a great privilege with many positives, but that it isn’t a good place to get work done.

I’m not happy to be back in Berlin, but at least here I can focus and work without distraction. I’d been on Usedom so much in 2025 and at the beginning of this year that I had forgotten how important it is to be able to wake up with a thought and have the freedom to start the day with three hours writing until hunger forces me to find the kitchen. I had forgotten how crucial it is to be able to pace up and down, discussing this or that issue, testing a speech, being in motion. And not only because of the thinking processes this allows but also because this way I don’t sit stiff for endless hours. I had missed my thinking walls. I had not forgotten about them. Here in Berlin, I have a wall with a rudimentary map of the town. And I have two large canvases, I occasionally use to sort ideas or map out scenes.

I hope that my work will, rather sooner than later, allow me to move, preferably either to another country or like a nomad to several, but right now, I can finally appreciate again that I am in a space where I can work without interruptions.

Saying all this, I couldn’t be more thrilled about the progress I made and make. I laughed this morning discovering that Day 8, wrapping the campaigns, started with only three pages, got to seventeen and now will probably be around ninety. Day 8 has gained so much richness, so many short story snippets which allow a glimpse into personal lives, all connected to the wrapping of the major campaigns, and that from across the UK and from across all project teams, giving a sense of what has passed and what is to come.

Today, I hope to finish my extensions for Day 7, body & Sexuality. Just this morning, I wrote another unexpected dialogue for this chapter, picking up a thought I had in my half-sleep, and I remember thinking afterwards: wow, this chapter is getting to a depth I hadn’t anticipated. And it got more intense.

With a bit of luck I might start with extending Day 6, community, today. It’s a bit of a strange chapter in the sense that I tinkered a lot with it back in December, but there was always a sense of: great ideas, but something is missing. I think it was my struggle with this chapter that made me go back to the previous chapters and to change my approach.

So far I had treated this work as writing a quick first drafts to make my ideas available. And I had been pushing forward rather than picking up threats and making more than the obvious connections.

But my struggles with Day 6 showed that I was at a point where I needed to go back, where I needed to think both back and forwards to unfold the full potential of this final week.

The ideas, visions, outlines, scenes which then emerged make me smile with wonder.

I’m always under pressure, not least because I am in need of some income from my work, but also because the situation on our planet seems to be getting worse by the day.

Therefore I decided to split the final week so that the first part can get online sooner. Luckily there is an ideal split point after Day 5 because this chapter challenges our economic system fearlessly, and from Day 4 on a new major element enters the story.

To be a little more precise. Once I’ve completed Days 8-5 and all accompanying material for the online publications, I will return to social media and very likely on several platforms. I’ll preluded the restart of CAMPAIGNS FOR OUR FUTURE with a podcast of THE END OF ALL WARS, 21 Episodes, spread across 8 days.

• Back online (8 days)
• THE END OF ALL WARS, audio (8 days)
• Prelude (1-3 days)
• day 8, Wrapping The Campaigns (4 days)
• day 7, Body & Sexuality (4 days)
• day 6, Community (4 days)
• day 5, Spotlight Economics (4 days)

BREAK

• day 4, Politics Fail Us (4 days)
• day 3, Rewilding (4 days)
• day 2, Everything Is Connected (4 days)
• day 1, Do You Want A Future? (8 days)

I might use another three days of prelude after THE END OF ALL WARS to get everyone up to date with what the story is about. Afterwards, each chapter will have three active online days and one day off. The first day will be about the chapter, the other two days pick up topics, add additional material and if possible online discourses and collaborations. Highlights will be MAKE IT HAPPEN STORIES, DIGGING DEEPER, ONE PERSON, THE UNIVERSE IS WORRIED, NARRATIVES REVIEWED and HOW DO WE SOLVE THIS? Plus the introduction of ideas for TOWNS WITH A PURPOSE, for alternative BUSINESS MODELS and BUSINESS IDEAS. The fourth day is my day off.

Well, that’s the plan. I’m off again and focus on writing, editing, extending.

If you’d like to get involved or if you’d like to support me, please, don’t hesitate to get in touch: contact@easy-town.org

Charlie Alice Raya, 2 April 2026

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IT’S OUR WORLD

Connect on Bluesky
@charlie-alice-raya.org

book 2,
travelling

and we (still) need to talk about sex

by Charlie Alice Raya

Travelling around the world, Alice and her team build an international network for the Easy Town Project.

Travelling with them are the past, personal demons and unwittingly the issue of sex.

About the author

Someone once said to me that she had never met a person who encompassed so many contradictions. I think the remark was partly about me being very strong and occasionally disappointing her because I am also a human who carries quite a few scares.

I like the thought of contradictions, of acknowledging all we can be and all we are. Which reminds me of a quote from book 3/2, shaping:

‘Unfortunately,’ she added, ‘my past is quite a downer. But what helps me is to remind myself to be all I am — and nothing I am not.’
Rose smiled a little. ‘To be alive, kicking and dancing, and laughing.’

© Charlie Alice Raya, book 3, shaping

Unfortunately, I didn’t ask her what she meant. I was very young back then. Very young. That makes me chuckle. I never think in terms of getting older, but I always look back and shake my head about how terribly young I was in my twenties, thirties, forties. I felt so grown up, especially in my twenties. How little I knew. At least, I had already read Socrates, the Apology, and knew something about what I don’t know. But still, I was so young. And yet, I am not a bit old now. A bit wiser, maybe. But mostly, I am just me, age doesn’t feature. But there is a sense of extension. The child in me is wide awake and so is the adventurer, though he is ageless and yes, he is male. Then there is the wise old woman. I don’t think she has fully materialised, but her seeds are in me.

I have to laugh. The above sounds so mythic, but I’m not at all a spiritual person and I don’t believe in gods. Mind you, they might exist, but they clearly have no interest in humanity. As for the universe, I sometimes wonder whether it plays a game with me, the universe or fate – but if either do, then I’d like a word in private. I sometimes joke: if fate has anything to do with my life, then fate is a bastard.

Mind you, I am stubborn enough, and I have all those contradictions which enrich my world. I will keep going.

Maybe, I shouldn’t write these texts in the evenings, I can never get quite serious at this time of the night.

You see, I have a playful, life-loving soul, a curious, rarely resting mind and a body that says I’ve been sitting too long, today.

And then there is my dedication to explore how we can do better, for ourselves, for our fellow humans and for our planet.

You can find out more about me here about the author page >

Have a great evening, morning, day, wherever you are.

Charlie Alice Raya, 24 March 2025

More news

including from the other Charlie Alice Raya projects

Overviews

The easy town story is the source of many ideas, projects, questions, thoughts and by now there are 14 websites for the various ideas online, there is more in planning and still more, waiting to be considered.

I built the Charlie Alice Raya website as the hub for all ideas, books, offers, challenges and more: charlie-alice-raya.org

There you can also find an overview of all 14 websites.

Which isn’t to say that there are good reasons to stay on this website where you can dive into the easy town books and find a lot of background information, plus some of my photographic work.

universe

When I returned to work in autumn 2024 after a long period of recovery, I brought some new projects and books. The end of all wars is one of those, and the first book of that series was published on September 2024.

Find out more on the website the-end-of-all-wars.net

breastless

breastless is another new project and deals with overwork, cancer, gender and other trifles.

Find out more on the website: breastless.net