Permaculture Designs & Practices (Pt. 3): Methods of Design

 

What distinguishes permaculture from other approaches of alternative agriculture is its emphasis on conscious design (Krebs and Bach, 2018).  Design, as a verb, refers to the “intentional transformation or modification of landscape features in a certain area which is expressed as graphic representation, conceptual description, and/or physical manifestation” (Lovell et al, 2010). On the other hand, design, as a noun, refers to “the spatial arrangement of landscape features resulting from the design process, either in the existing state or as a proposed future state” (Lovell et al, 2010). 

A permaculture design is also characterized by the integration of manmade, natural, spatio-temporal, socio-cultural, and economic components of a system recognizing that social systems are not separate from natural or land use systems (Krebs and Bach, 2018). The functional relationships and interconnectedness of the components within the system are the main emphasis of whole-systems design (Mollison, 1988). Ferguson and Lovell (2013) summarize the most important features of planning with the use of permaculture. These include 1) identifying the site characteristics; 2) determining the interaction of individual elements (components) on several levels (scales); and 3) recognizing the spatial arrangements of elements as drivers of multi-functionality. 

The main objective for permaculture designs is to have every component within the system to be multifunctional (Mollison, 1988).  Each of these functions should be supported by a diversity of other components. The diversity of connections strengthens ecological processes and functions of the farm landscape (Mollison, 1992). Design can be modified during actual practice and learning from experience.  It is a continuous and evolving process that is guided by the development and updating of information and skills that comes from observations and experiments from past experiences (Mollison, 1988). Malezieux (2012), discussed a three-step framework that is a common practice in permaculture: 1) observation of natural processes in the ecosystem; 2) development and experimentation of new techniques; and 3) implementation of new techniques.

According to Mollison in “Permaculture: A Designer’s Manual” (1992), permaculture design has four different components: techniques, strategies, materials and assemblies. Each component is defined as the following:

1. Techniques - a ‘one-dimensional’ concept which focuses on the ‘how’ of doing something.

2. Strategies - a temporal aspect of technique which is a means used in applying a technique to achieve a future goal.

3. Materials - refers to physical and natural resources which include implements, tools and technologies.

4. Assemblies - a component which incorporates technologies, structures, plants and animals in a design.

Permaculture design is guided by three core ethics: 1) care for the Earth, 2) care for people, and 3) fair share (Mollison, 1992). These three ethics are universally shared by all permaculture designers albeit varying in the phrasing of this moral code. Although permaculture ethics were not explicitly stated in early permaculture text (Holmgren, 2002), these were later narrowed down to three by Mollison and Holmgren as a result of their research in community ethics as practiced by religious groups and cooperatives (Holmgren, 2002). The ethics were used as a permaculture teaching tool which carried a universal message that is highly relatable to all cultures. This is especially true to indigenous peoples all over the world who are more attuned to the rhythms of nature compared to other groups of people. These ethics are also the basis for decision-making within a permaculture design system. 

The three ethics of permaculture serve as the ethical and moral foundation in addressing design decisions and challenges in the real world. The essence of these ethics is then operationalized into design principles. Different authors have variations of these principles. Mollison provided 5 principles of design in “Permaculture: A Designer’s Manual” (1988); Holmgren expanded Mollison’s into 12 in “Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability” (2002); and Peeters et al combined their ideas into his own set of 12 ‘natural laws’ of design in “Systems Thinking – An Ecological Process” (2011). 

Among the three, Holmgren’s version has been adopted and modified by many practitioners. He enumerated the following design principles: 1) observe and interact; 2) catch and store energy; 3) obtain a yield; 4) apply self-regulation and feedback; 5) use renewable resources; 6) produce no waste; 7) design from pattern to details; 8) integrate rather than segregate; 9) use small and slow solutions; 10); use and value diversity; 11) use the edges; and 12) creatively use and respond to change. 

In a thesis entitled, “An Instructional Module on Permaculture Design Theory for landscape Architecture Student” (2016), Althouse categorized these twelve design principles into five design processes in the perspective of landscape architecture: 

1) inventory and analysis (principles 1, 4, 5); 

2) determine your needs (principles 2, 3, 6); 

3) functional diagrams (principles 7, 8); 

4) concept designs (principles 9, 10, 11); 

5) final design (principle 12).

Aside from the design principles, permaculture designers use several methodologies for designing a project. Mollison (1988) enumerates ten methods of design as follows: 

1) design by listing characteristics of components (analysis); 

2) design by expanding on direct observations of a site (observation); 

3) design by adopting lessons learned from nature; 

4) design as a selection of options or pathways based on decisions (options and decisions); 

5) design by map overlay (data overlay); 

6) design by assessing the results of random assemblies (random assembly); 

7) design for work places (flow diagrams); 

8) design by the application of a master pattern (zone and sector analysis); 

9) zoning of information and ethics; and 

10) incremental design. 

References

ALTHOUSE, KENI. 2016. An Instructional Module on Permaculture Design Theory for Landscape Architecture Students. Utah State University.

KREBS, JULIUS, S. BACH. 2018. Permaculture—Scientific Evidence of Principles for the Agroecological Design of Farming Systems. Sustainability (Switzerland), MDPI AG, 2018 vol: 10 (9).

HOLMGREN, DAVID. 2002. Permaculture: Principles & Pathways Beyond Sustainability. Permanent Publications. Australia.

FERGUSON, RAFTER SASS., S.T. LOVELL. 2013. Permaculture for Agroecology: Design, Movement, and Worldview. A Review. Agronomy for Sustainable Development.

MALEZIEUX, ERIC. 2012. Designing cropping systems from nature. Agron. Sustain. Dev. 2012, 32, 15–29.

MOLLISON, BILL. 1988. Permaculture: A Designer’s Manual. Australia. Tagari Publications.