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Applications
Cultural & Ecological designing

Applications of methods I employ in designing, counseling, consulting and teaching are as diverse as the methods themselves. Most are manifestations of Whole Systems Design, a way of doing whatever it is we do that is not limited to any particular discipline, practice or field of endeavor.
  • Permaculture design can be applied at any scale from a tiny urban lot (or apartment balcony or rooftop) to entire communities, watersheds and bioregions. Consequences of applied permaculture design include rich and diverse ecological systems that are highly self-regulating and self-sustaining. Depending on the scale of implementation, these systems not only provide food but also harvest and store water, mitigate drought and flooding, provide fiber, fuel and building materials and more. Permaculture is a whole systems approach to designing locally self-sufficient communities at any appropriate scale.
  • Water is our source of life - and there is no shortage of ways to ecologically harvest, store, restore, re-use and conserve this precious liquid. Methods such as Keyline design, catchment water, graywater systems and bio-filtration can be applied in most any context, from desert to tropical rainforest, from rural space to urban density and everything in between.
  • Shelter is a universal need - methods I employ can be applied to varying degrees in any shelter context, from urban high-rise and high-density to suburban lots and neighborhoods to rural landscapes.
  • We are always involved in communities of various sorts - so improving interpersonal communication, group processes and human interactions is always worthwhile. This is especially true from the perspective of Cultural and Ecological designing, which suggests that the nature of our interactions with each other are fundamental to the consequences of whatever else we do in the world.
  • Regardless of what we do, it is how we do it that matters most. Whether in corporate offices, on factory assembly lines, as a volunteer, in our familes and neighborhoods, in intentional community, in government service - whatever the context, human interactions are fundamental and always worthy of understanding and improvement.


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