LILAC (the Low Impact Living Affordable Community) is 20-home cohousing community with over 40 residents and was the first attempt in the UK to develop a community that attempts to simultaneously address the challenges of: low-impact living, affordability, and community self-governance. Developed from 2009-2013 and based on a 0.7 hectare site in Leeds, UK, LILAC is an Industrial and Provident Society and has received grant funding from several sources including: social enterprise charity Unltd and the UK Government’s Homes and Communities Agency. Key lessons for other attempts to develop post-carbon cities include the need for holistic approaches, prioritizing self-determination, engaging with productive political tensions, adopting a process-based approach, developing a strategy for replicability and adopting a non-parochial approach to localities.