permaculture

[Will Carey <cure@rtinet.com>]

on 10/19/04 6:12 PM, permaculture-request@lists.ibiblio.org at
permaculture-request@lists.ibiblio.org wrote:

> But it almost seems too easy to criticize cities and idealize rural life.  I
> know Toby warns against this, and makes a good case, but I would also 
> refrain
> from citing per capita statistics - considering that while per capita costs
> may be small, the overall cost of the system they compose may be enormous.

Stephanie...

You are correct!  The imbedded energy costs of all urban system support is
incredible.  

Unfortunately, I don't know of anyone who's done good research on the
subject.  Mathias Wenkernegal started down that line of inquiry at UBC's
Planning school in the late 80's... We started his PhD research on energy
throughput modeling of urban systems.  But his mentor, Bill Reese, talked
him into researching a developing the concept we know of as "Ecological
Footprints".

So the question of energy-efficiency lifestyles is high-density cities like
Manhattan, etc. is still open... And there's no good way of incorporating
some of the resource/ waste/ livability issues into a good systems model.
And where do you draw the line on accounting the total system?  The whole of
the " commute-shed"..which can cover counties? Or even the whole of the
"food-shed". ... Which can be global

What dense cities do provide is a great opportunity for saving energy...

This also begs the question of why we haven't incorporated Richard
Register's EcoCities concepts into the Permaculture curriculum.  The
strongest theme expressed is "priority by proximity" ... Which is equatible
to "Guilding" in Permaculture.

Register even quotes from the Permaculture Activist on page 160 of
EcoCities... A short essay on "proximity power"

But the last time I co-taught a Permaculture course ten years ago... I got a
lot of blank stares from everyone about incorporating concepts from Richard
Register, Paolo Soleri, John Todd and John Tillman Lyle into the PC course
curriculum.  

I also had an article in the now-defunct EcoCity Journal about zoning and
sector strategies for integrating PC concepts into Urban Planning and
EcoVillage design. 

I'm not sure if there's been a review of EcoCities in the Permaculture
Activist, but there should be... Register spends several pages (pp. 117-
120) talking about Permaculture as one of the foundational concepts in New
Paradigm thinking. 

-- Will Carey, Director
Center for Urban & Rural Ecology
32861 Lake Creek Drive
Halsey, OR 97348
cure@rtinet.com
541.369.2936






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