EoP: Designing for Place

Elements of PermacultureDesigning for Place

Ben Kessler Laughing Crow Permaculture

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Design Process I1. Observation– What is already here?

• 2. Interpretation– What does it mean?

• 3. Design– What can we do with it?

• 4. Implementation– Do it!

• 5. Assessment– Did it work?

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Humans are a Keystone Species• Like beavers and elephants, humans deform, reform, and

transform their environment

• “There’s a learning curve in all phases of design. There’s an unlearning curve in how we relate to our habitat - cultural views of humans and nature as separate.”

– Connor Stedman

• “We must make treaties with the land - and keep them.” – Farrell Cunningham

• As permaculture designers, we are building relationship with our role as major actors in the landscape.

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Castor canadensis

River

Pond

Wetland Meadow

Forest Meadow

Ethics Earth Care

People Care

Distribute the Surplus

Yahatidom: “Being a part of the cause of its goodness.”

Earth Care

Care of the earth means care of all living and nonliving things: soils, species, atmospheres, forests, micro-habitats, waters, etc.

Rebuild nature’s capital.

“I am not protecting the forest, I am a part of the forest protecting itself.” – John Seed

People CareCare of the earth also implies care of the people so that our basic needs for food, shelter, education, satisfying employment, human contact, etc. are met.

Nurture the self, kin, and community- those who we can be responsible for directly.

Distribute the Surplus “Fair Share”

After we have taken care of our basic needs and designed our systems to the best of our ability, we can extend our influence and energies to helping others achieve that aim.

Consume appropriately.

Limit reproduction in some practical sense.

Life Ethic

The permaculture system also has a basic Life Ethic, which recognizes the intrinsic worth of every living organism, human or otherwise.

Pan-species Personhood: Everybody’s somebody, and nobody’s more inherently important than anybody.

PersonPerson

Person

Person

People

Person

People

Densely populated Ariundle Woods, Scotland

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Panarchy

All systems affect all others.

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Design Process IIObservation

Ethical Intention

Natural Systems Thinking

Assessment

PatternIntegrates all for best

Flow & Function

Tools, Ideas & Systems

Methods of Design Visioning

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Design Process III

Observation

Sequence The Map

Implementation Master Plan

Investigation Assessment

Analysis

Conceptual Design(The Vision)

History & Background Statement of Intent

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Guiding Design Principles1. Everything is connected to everything else

2. Every Function is supported by many Elements

3. Every Element should serve many Functions

4. Independence through Interdependence

Element: Any component part of a systemFunction: What the system is designed to doProduct: The Yield of an Element

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Stack FunctionsAssemble Elements to complement each other’s Functions spatially and temporally.

Standard & Coppice Circle Garden

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Resources & ChaosA Resource is any energy storage which assures Yield.

The Chaos/Disorder Principle: If Resources are addedbeyond the capacity of the system to productively use them,then that system becomes chaotic or disordered. (after Eugene Odum)

Chaos or Disorder is the opposite of Harmony, asCompetition is the opposite of Cooperation. In disorder,much useful energy is cancelled out by the use of opposingenergy, thus creating Entropy or ‘bound’ energy. This iswasteful.

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Eutrophication

Too much of a good thing!

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Function & FailureFunctional Design:

Sustainable (at minimum); provides for its own needsHas good, or surplus, Product Yield

Requires that:Every Product used by some ElementNeeds of every Element supplied by other Elements in the system

Failure Results in:Pollution: Unused Product/over-abundant ResourceWork: Deficiency of Resources/lack of aid to one or more Elements

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Design Fail

This machine turns fresh water, valuable nutrients, andorganic material into Pollution.

For more information, visit http://weblife.org/humanure/default.html

Utter Chaos!

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Slow the Flow!

- Catch & store materials at their highest energetic state

- Increase the number of energy uptake points (i.e. increase surface area)

- Slow the passage of materials from high to low energetic states

- Use only the amount of energy that can be productively

absorbed by the system

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Source to Sink

Throughput System Regenerative System

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Effective Design Goals1. Adaptability2. Optimize Relative Location3. Use Biological Resources4. Stack Functions5. Appeal to Senses; Beauty6. Physical Comfort7. Practicality8. Safety9. Maintenance10. Integrate Elements: Natural, Constructed, Social, Ethical11. Conserve Resources: Yours, Enviroment’s

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Methodologies of DesignTechniques: Concerned with How to do things

e.g. Organic Gardening

Strategies: Concerned with How and When to do thingse.g. Biodynamics

Design: Concerned with Patterninge.g. Permaculture

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Approaches to Design

1. Maps: “Where is everything?”

2. Analysis of Elements: “How do these things connect?”

3. Zone & Sector Planning: “Where do we put things?”

4. Observation: “What’s going on here, anyway?”

5. Experience: “What feels right for this place?”

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MapsUse P.A. Yeoman’s Scale of Permanence to inform sequence of maps:

1. Climate: Hardiness Zone, Temperature, Rainfall, Extreme Weather2. Land Shape: Hills, Valleys, Rivers, Flats

3. Water Flow & Storage: Swales, Dams, Ponds4. Roads: Paths, Deer Trails, Highways5. Trees: Orchards, Forests, Woodlots6. Buildings: Homestead, Commerce Center, Police Station7. Subdivision of Land: Fences, Garden Beds, Neighborhoods, Fields8. Soil: Earthworks, Amended Areas, Topsoil Profile Zones

Remember: “The map is not the terrain…”

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Parkside Development Stormwater Flow, Los Angeles, CAcourtesy of Scott Kleinrock

Epworth Forest Gardencourtesy of Ethan Roland & Conner Stedman

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Analysis of ElementsList the Yields, Needs, and intrinsic characteristics of eachElement.

Lists are made to try to supply (by some other Element inthe system) the Needs of any particular Element.

Experiment on paper, connecting and combining Elementsto achieve no Pollution and minimize Work.

Close the Loops!

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Yields & Needs

Tomato/TomatlSolanum lycopersicum

Yields NeedsFull Sunlight, Water, NPK, Micronutrients,

Warm Soil, Protection from Herbivores, Mycorrhizal Partners, Slightly Acidic Soil pH, Well-drained Soil, Structural Support, Love

Delicious Fruit, Spatial Demarcation, Mulch, Dense Verdant Foliage, Pest Protection for

Brassicas and Gooseberries, Companionship for Basil and Nettles

Zone 0: House

Zone I: Annual Garden, Deck, Greenhouse

Zone II: Barn, Orchard, Ponds

Zone III: Pastures, Windbreaks,

Zone IV: Woodlot

Zone V: Wilderness

Zones help us place elements on the site so they reduce Work, Resource use, and maintenance, boost Yields and diversity, and recycle Resources.

Zone Planning

Sector Analysis• Sun: Summer & Winter paths

• Winds: Cold, Hot, Dusty, etc.

• Fire

• Wildlife Corridors

• Views: Pleasant, Ugly, Privacy

• Shade: Buildings, Vegetation

• Landforms: Slope, Sinks, etc.

• Traffic: Human, Cars, etc.

• Pollution: Chemical, Noise, etc.

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Slope & Temperature

Cool Sink

Warm PocketMid-Slope

Wind-Chilled Summit

RisingThermals

Adiabatic Winds

Vegetation Buffers Changes in Temperature

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Slope & Water- Water flows downhill

- Water collects in low, cool areas with poorly drained soil

- Water is stored in the bodies of living organisms

- Water is stored in the soil

Keyline: Where the slope of the landscape changes.

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Thanks toAndrew Jeeves

Bill MollisonConner StedmanScott Kleinrock

&Tyrone LaFay

for words and pictures

Contact Informationbkessler@gm.slc.edu

laughingcrowpermaculture.wordpress.com