permaculture

[Russ Grayson <pacedge@magna.com.au>]

On Saturday, June 7, 2003, at 03:38  PM, Charles Knoles wrote:

> Hey Y'all
>
> Russ Grayson raised a question a while back about how to do permaculture in urban settings like apartments and such.  I thought it was an interesting design challenge but it got lost in the mix with the recent drama.  I've been thinking about it and I thought maybe we could all throw in our two cents worth about how it might be done.
>
> There's at least two types of situations that we could think about.  Firstly an apartment that has already been built that an urban permy moves into. Therefore windows are not necessarily aligned to the sun, conventional trash disposal procedure, flush toilet etc.

In relation to this, the Australian government's Greenhouse Office has made funds available through a programme that has facilitated the Cool Communities project currently being implemented by the UNSW Ecoliving Centre in Sydney. The project is a mutual assistance one in which people are assisted in making their homes more energy and resource efficient through the installation of energy efficient compact flouro lights, flush-reducers in older toilets lacking dual flush, water-conserving attachments to taps, installation of small, organic food gardens and assistance in setting up green waste processing through composting or worm farms. Applicants assist with three other homes to become eligible.

This, I think, is a good example of how government funding can be used to encourage community action. The model is not new - in the early 1980s the Victorian government encouraged a similar scheme for the self-building of houses. That was aimed at affordable housing such as mudbrick. It is also similar to the local permaculture 'work-nets' that have appeared in Sydney from time to time but which seem to have disappeared with the mid-1990s. I guess the Cool Communities iteration of the idea demonstrates the benefit of association with an institutions, in this case, the federal government.

> The second situation is where an apartment is designed from scratch to be permacultural, sky's the limit, dream away! Let's assume though that there isn't any growing space around the base of the apartment building.

I have mentioned before that there is a six-level apartment block going up within a couple kilometres of where I live that is passive-solar (north-aligned in Australia, that it), treats greywater, generates electricity from rooftop installations of photovoltaic panels - the energy is sold to the energy authority under the 'green energy' programmme - that has a street level plaza that will include small retail shops (no supermarkets) including coffee shops and cafes (in part to generate street traffic at night) and that includes the narrowing of the street with one-lane choke points, footpath projections into the street and landscaping with 19 pistachio trees (which provide summer shade but lose their leaves in the cool season to let in warm light).

Is this what you have in mind? There are other energy and resource efficient apartments in the city.

> Russ said something like: "don't assume it's all about food".  Russ, can you expand on that so we know what other things you were referring to?

I was referring to permaculture in general - some permaculture people say that the system has become mired in a 'gardening ghetto'. Gardening is desirable (I have taught organic gardening for some years for a Sydney evening college) but is best seen as part of a wider urban food system inclusive of food coops, farmers markets (taking off in Australia at the present time) and the retailing of sustainably-produced food through small retail businesses and supermarkets (more and more organic produce is appearing in supermarkets, which will continue to be the primary source of food for urban people).

Then there are themes pertinent to permaculture, especially in large cities, such as energy efficient building (enforced in some NSW local government areas through council participation in the NSW Sustainable Energy Development Authorities' Energy Smart Homes Scheme). Also, water and resource efficiency in construction. And livelihoods - how do we make a living in contemporary circumstances? This is of concern to a great many people. I found that out a few years back when I attended a Conversations for the Twenty-First Century meeting on working life. The organiser expected perhaps fifteen people to turn up. The roll-up numbered around 150.

There are others, but maybe that will do for a start.

I attended an event organised by an association of people, for the most part in their early 20s to mid-40s, who work in the so-called 'new industries' (financial services, media, education, IT and so on) and found the subject of their discourse to be similar to that which you could expect with permaculture people - 'green' business practices, environment etc. I wondered if this group of quite mainstream CBD workers was interested in this stuff, then where does that leave permaculture and the currency of its ideas? Clearly, there is an opportunity to influence such thinking but that requires the ability to speak their language and to be conversant with their concerns and having the ability to address them. What I realised is that Bill's Designer's Manual, groundbreaking book that it is, would not appeal to them because it is overly rural in application and because Bill has little to say about contemporary urban issues (the book was written in 1988 and has not been updated) and the situation of the world today.

So I guess what I am asking about is a contemporary interpretation of permaculture, based on its ethics and principles, aimed at the urban majority (c 85% Australians - I understand the USA is more decentralised).

..........................................................................................................
Russ Grayson
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pacedge@magna.com.au  Phone/ fax: 02 9588 6931
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