An Intentional Community is an inclusive term for cohousing, residential land trusts, communes, student co-ops, urban housing cooperatives, and related projects for those who choose (i.e. "intend") to participate in them. That is, these communities are organized around a core set of values or belief systems to which their members adhere.

Some groups may be utopian and others separatist in spirit, while others are designed to be models for mainstream society to observe and perhaps emulate. Eco-villages, communes and kibbutzes, and Biblical Christian reserves are among the types of communities to be found in this category.