About

The Rural Urban Synthesis Society (RUSS) is a members-led Community Land Trust based in south London, founded in 2009 with the aim of creating sustainable community-led neighbourhoods and truly affordable homes right across London. We have a busy calendar of events led by our 1,000+ members and an ambitious development plan. Our mission is to reduce our communities’ dependence on fossil fuels, increase food security, encourage bio-diversity and provide affordable housing for Londoners.

RUSS aims to establish a model development process for creating socially, economically and environmentally sustainable neighbourhoods of high-quality homes, managed by residents, which remain genuinely affordable for future generations and which can be replicated in Lewisham, London and across the UK.

We are currently developing 36 new homes at Church Grove in Ladywell, Lewisham, on the same site as our Community Hub, which we built in 2019.

We help to spread our model and pass on the lessons from our projects through the RUSS School of Community-Led Housing and a busy calendar of public events.

RUSS is guided by ten key principles. These guidelines, which have been developed through workshops with members and the wider community, embed the ethos of affordability, sustainability, self-governance and community engagement into everything we do. Guiding RUSS forward in line with these principles is the job of the Board of Trustees, our whole membership and our professional Project Team.

As a volunteer-run Community Land Trust, RUSS relies on people like you to make our vision of affordable, sustainable living a reality. Find out more about the different ways you can get involved here