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Permaculture

Design

✤ Whole Systems

Consideration and

Integration

✤ Pattern Literacy

✤ Climate Specific

Soil Building

✤ Regenerative

Fertility

✤ Water and Nutrient

Cycling By Warren Brush

Washington DC

January 2015

For Resilient Human

Habitats

Design

Methodologies

Multiple

Functions

Relative

Location

Multiple

Elements

Energy

Efficient

Planning

Using

Biological

Resources

Using Small

Scale

Intensive

Energy

Cycling

Accelerating

Succession

Edge

Harmonics

Attitudinal

Principles

Using

Biological

Resources

Care of the Earth Care of the People Return of Surplus

Permaculture is an whole systems ethical

design process that draws from science,

indigenous understanding and

natural patterning

Permaculture

Design

Process

Data Gathering Observation &

Assessment

Element

Analysis

Sector Analysis

Slope

Analysis

Zone Analysis

Community

Engagement

Feedback

Integration

Interpretation

Relative

Placement

Permaculture methodologies are a scaleable tool that is sensibly

applied in site specific applications to rural, peri-urban and urban

sites of human settlement

Former 5 acre dump site

for neighboring high-

density, low-income

community

Poor soil structure and

nutrient profile

Small Farmholding Development - Kenya

Design process was

initiated for the site

Initial Design Process Assembled for Site

Earthworking Strategies

Slowing Entropy

Basis of Soil Building

Benefits of

Earth Shaping

Erosion mitigation

Water/nutrient harvesting and

reticulation

Micro-climate creation

Perennial planting structure

Alley cropping agroforestry

system with perennials and

annual production

Resource Identification and

Waste integration using

BIOGAS DIGESTERS

Nutrition per square meter of

planting is nearly 10x that of

a mono crop system

Mulches, support species

(nutrient fixing, etc.),

perennial and annuals,

earthworks, and patterning

create soil building systems

Animal integration is

essential for healthy and

effective nutrient cycling.

Three years of

soil building and

growth

Practical

Application of

Permaculture

Design

WARREN BRUSH

www.permaculturedesign.us

warrenbrush@mac.com

805-729-8131

casitasvalley.com pri-kenya.com quailsprings.org

Community Engagement Data Gathering

✤ Linking Wealth to Ecological and Social Equitability

✤ Local Cultural and Social Relevance (Shelter, Water, Energy, Food, Economics/Exchange, Governance, Unseen Patterns)

✤ Gathering Data on Land Use, Cadastral Information, Topography, Soil Profile and Consistency, Watershed History, Weather Patterns, Precipitation, Social Patterns, Disturbance History, Plant Stock and Seed Access, Cooking and Nutrition Patterns, Resource Assessment, etc…

Site Observation

✤ Varied periods of time and season

✤ Different vantage points

✤ Non-judgemental observations noted

Element Analysis

Relative placement

Each function needs

to be supported by at

least three elements

Each element needs

to support at least

three functions

Zone Analysis

Sector Analysis

✤ Element placement in relation to external energies

Slope Analysis

✤ Nutrient cascade

✤ Water flow

✤ Energy/gravity

✤ Microclimate

Feedback Integration

✤ Pulling the design altogether

✤ Creating feedback benchmarks

✤ Staging design