Abstract
Off-grid and low-impact lifestyles have emerged as important sites of socio-ecological ex-perimentation that challenge conventional understandings of sustainability. This study ex-amines the initiative ‘Portugal It Is’, a Lithuanian diaspora homestead in rural Portugal, as a qualitative case through which to explore the relevance of such lifestyles to the emerging concept of the Symbiocene. Using an abductive case study approach informed by the Bio-mimetic–Organizational Ecology framework, the research draws on a longitudinal analysis of publicly available video narratives, supplemented by field observations and informal re-search conversations. The findings indicate that the transition to off-grid living involved processes of adaptive learning, ecological stewardship, livelihood diversification, and the development of new relationships with local communities, digital networks, and ecological systems. Rather than achieving complete self-sufficiency, the initiative evolved through forms of socio-ecological interdependence and relational value creation. The study develops and empirically illustrates the concept of symbiotic livelihoods to describe livelihood ar-rangements that integrate environmental care, adaptive learning, and community engage-ment. The findings suggest that off-grid initiatives can function as experimental niches in which alternative human-nature-economy relationships are developed and refined. The pa-per contributes to sustainability transitions literature by advancing a regenerative and co-evolutionary perspective on emerging socio-ecological futures.
Lankauskienė, R.; Rulevienė, G. 2026. From Sustainability to Symbiosis: Lifestyles as Laboratories of the Symbiocene. Sustainability : MDPI. ISSN 2071-1050. eISSN 2071-1050. 18, 15, 7732, p. 1–28. DOI: 10.3390/su18157732. [Scopus; Social Sciences Citation Index (Web of Science); Science Citation Index Expanded (Web of Science)].