Reston the Inspiration for Korea's 'Happy Village'

Following in the footsteps of an exciting visit from a delegation of Brazilian builders of suburbs, Reston was again host to an international contingent of designers who want to learn the secret sauce of a place where one can live, work, play and get involved (tm). (Hint: It's honey BBQ sauce, with just a soupcon of Russet Brown.)

This time, it was representatives of Jeollonam-Do province in South Korea, where plans are in the works for an "Innovation City" and a "Happy Village," which is what they came to our beige community to learn more about. Obviously, they've never read the comments section on this filthy "web log," but otherwise we can totally see the connection with happiness. Anyhoo, our favorite correspondent, The Peasant From Less Sought After South Reston, managed to unearth some details about the Happy Village on the Internets. From what we could gather, the Happy Village concept mostly involves taking traditional rural homes and connecting them to water and sewer. But don't take our word for it -- take a gander at this helpful illustration!

Who wouldn't want to abandon their "busy and dry lives?" Plus, the Internets tell us that the cost of living in the Happy Village is significantly lower than in the rest of Korea, apparently in part because of the cutting-edge "green" construction in which people simply use their arms to create roofs above their heads. We're sure the DRB-san would approve, the end.