Permaculture as a Design Modality for Healing and Regeneration: Design with a Deeper Agenda

Abstract

This paper describes the discipline of permaculture with particular emphasis on healing and regeneration of the land. Permaculture is a design system for creating sustainable human environments. Traditional site design concerns itself with placement of elements to achieve aesthetic or economic effects or both. Permaculture extends this effort to create environments that are healthful and nurturing for the humans and other species inhabiting the site and that are sustainable in their use of natural resources. The practice of permaculture involves observation of healthy natural systems and the design of human systems on the basis of the patterns observed in the natural systems. Its fundamental approach is to conserve what is on the site and stop the loss of resources; to heal and repair the damage that has been done; and then to create systems of abundance so the site will support wellbeing for all its inhabitants and its surroundings. The paper describes the basic steps in good permaculture design, describes a number of tools and design principles, and concludes that the designer can have a much more profound and holistic impact than has been generally assumed.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Patricia Michael

BIOGRAPHY

Patricia Michael has over 20 years' experience as an environmental consultant and teacher of permaculture. She is the owner of an environmental design consulting practice and designs a wide variety of projects from broad-acre rural sites to mixed-use developments to small holdings, both urban and rural. Current projects include several small-scale intensive garden and outdoor-room sites and a large ecological mixed-use development. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Wichita State University, received her Master of Fine Arts from the University of Oklahoma, and is a graduate of the New Alchemy Institute in Ecology and Sustainable Agriculture. She has won numerous awards for her designs. She lives in Austin, Texas, USA.

William Meacham

William Meacham is a software system architect, designer and programmer and is employed as a senior consultant by Renaissance Worldwide Inc, an international information technology consulting firm. He has over 20 years experience in the field. He holds a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Texas at Austin, Texas, USA, is engaged in study in the International Permaculture Academy, and is a private scholar in the fields of ethics and comparative mysticism.