Urban permaculture aims to apply permaculture design principles to cities to make them more sustainable. Some key strategies discussed include increasing urban biomass through rooftop gardens, vertical planting, and urban food production. Proper water and waste management can help cities become closed-loop systems. Community building through projects, cooperatives, and public spaces can increase self-sufficiency and resilience. Designing cities at a human scale with mixed uses and alternative transportation can reduce resource consumption and build strong local economies. Examples like Curitiba, Brazil demonstrate how urban permaculture principles have been successfully applied.
8. Understanding Cities
The edge is where the action is. (buildings,
covered/not covered, concrete, roads,
chopped up, jumbled up)
9. Urban Ecology
๏ต More hard surface than soft
landscape
โ Climate
โ Heat
โ Run-off
โ Wind tunneling & turbulence
10. Urban Ecology
๏ต High dependence on fossil
fuels
โ Cars
โ Electricity
โ Increased pollution and heat
11. Urban Ecology
๏ต High dependence on large
support systems
โ Electricity
โ Gas
โ Water
โ sewage
12. Urban Ecology
๏ต Low levels of self-sufficiency
โ Food
โ Imports
โ Flow through (very few loops)
โ Social dislocation
13. Principles
โข Observation of
Nature
โข Focus on Natural
Patterns & Edge
โข Diversity
โข Each element
performs multiple
functions
โข Relative Location
โข Each critical function
supported by many
elements
โข Energy Efficient
Planning
โข Biological
Resources
โข Energy Cycling
โข Appropriate
Technology
โข Small Scale
Intensive Systems
โข Stocking
โข Stacking & Packing
15. ๏ต Clean indoor air
๏ต Spider plants are
one of the best air
cleaners among
houseplants
16. ๏ต Grow some food -
sprouts,
mushrooms, greens,
espaliered fruits
๏ต Organically grown
food - as local as
possible
17. Meet Your Neighbors
๏ต Buying/barter clubs (Austin
freecycle, more local freecycle)
๏ต Coops
๏ต Playgrounds
๏ต Community gardens
๏ต Block parties
๏ต Creek watch
19. Get a Project
๏ต Cohousing
๏ต Ecovillage
๏ต Political and social
action
๏ต Environmental
action
20.
21. Design Strategies in Cities
๏ต Analyze
โ Yields: social edges,
resources (waste?),
information
โ Needs: security, self-
reliance
22. Inner Cities
๏ต Increase Biomass
๏ต Vertical Planting
๏ต Rooftop gardens
๏ต Balcony and window box
gardens
๏ต Pollution tolerant species
(Gingko, London Plane,
Acacia Longifolia, Black
Locust
23. High Density Residential
๏ต Food Parks
๏ต Food trees
๏ต Home gardening education โ
square foot gardens
๏ต Vertical planting
๏ต Community gardens
๏ต School gardens
๏ต Children community
plantings
๏ต Warehouse โ live/work
communities
25. Med-Low Density Residential
๏ต Food Parks
๏ต Community Orchards
๏ต City Farms (chickens,
bees, livestock)
๏ต Home Food Production
๏ต Food trees on quiet streets
32. Design Strategies in Cities
๏ต Identify & use local energy sources -
solar, wind, water, and methane.
๏ต Support home retrofit, and new-
homes, using passive solar design
and green building materials and
techniques.
33. Design Strategies in Cities
๏ต Encourage small
farms and
community gardens
throughout the city.
๏ต Encourage edible
landscaping, both
public and private.
34. Design Strategies in Cities
๏ต Nurture local celebrations -
culture, history, nature, art,
music, dance, education,
barter/trade fairs, seasons,
harvests.
๏ต Build sense of community -
coops, local pubs, sidewalk art,
gardens, block parties, creek
watch
๏ต Support local businesses.
35. Design Strategies in Cities
๏ต Minimize the need for transportation:
โ Design for mixed-use urban
neighborhoods
โ Design suburban areas with shops,
schools, parks in walking distance
โ Provide public transportation
38. Food
๏ต Buying
โ Local trading feeds your
community several times for
each dollar, whereas the $
goes away when you buy
from a national company
โ Community Supported
Agriculture (CSA)
โ Buying clubs
39. Food
๏ต Growing without a garden
โ Balconies, trellises, windowfarms
window boxes, window sill,
sprouts, mushrooms, planter boxes
Community gardens, vacant lots,
friends/neighbors/relatives with
garden space
โ Trees in large planter boxes, city
streets
44. Building Community
๏ต Community sizes
โ 30-40 people - minimal
number of people to cover
most human functions
โ 200-300 people minimum
for genetic variability,
smallest village
โ 600-1000 people can know
each other by name,
optimum village size
45. Building Community
๏ต Community sizes
โ Over 250 households in
community/over 3000 people in a
school = dysfunction (cliques, theft &
cheating, hierarchies)
โ 1000-5000 max for federation of tribes,
bioregional group, maximum village size
46. Building Community
๏ต Community sizes
โ 7000-40,000 people in towns; not
workable unless broken into smaller
cooperatives/villages
โ 50,000 = optimum city size
โ Regions of the world = 10 million
optimum
47. Building Community
๏ต Sharing utilities
โ 4-5 families share 1 washer
โ 5-10 people share 1 shower,
Zone 1 garden
โ 15-35 families share kitchen,
gardens, food processing (2-
3 people shop, prep, cleanup
for each meal)
48. Building
Community
๏ต Projects
โ Coops - food buying, child care,
automobile
โ Barter, banks, etc.
โ Farm Links - Bulletin board with NEED
LAND/HAVE LAND listings
49. Strathcona Community Gardens โ
Vancouver, BC Canada
๏ต Community Gardens
๏ต Began in 1985 when local residents saw
gardening potential in an abandoned 3-
acre industrial dump site, got a one-year
lease from the parks board
๏ต Tested soil for metals- OK, but very poor
soil, so began composting - Now
composting a ton of garbage a week from
local restaurants
54. 200 individual plots
Vine walk &
espaliered
orchard
Apple trees &
meadow
Wild Area
Nursery
beds Kids area
55. Strathcona
๏ต No fence โ open to all people to sit on a
bench, help, connect with nature & other
people - Surplus-produce table - free
๏ต Learned that gardening is political
๏ต Some members of city govt. want to use
garden for playing field or park; gardeners
must keep area clean, though it is used by
prostitutes, drug-users & the homeless.
56. Strathcona
๏ต It's growing - gardening on some
unused land adjacent to Community
gardens
๏ต Created connection with the larger
community: coalition to stop an
environmentally unfriendly garbage
processing plant- and stopped
spraying herbicides in Vancouver
parks
58. Greening Cities
๏ต Create city-country fingers, so all
have easy access to country
๏ต Break into villages/pods with
community-bonding activities:
โ neighborhood-size facilities
โ block parties
โ local markets & night-life
โ ecological projects
59. Greening Cities
๏ต Human scale buildings & activities
๏ต Create safety
๏ต Create a stable biological base:
โ Soil
โ Water
โ species protection.
60. Greening Cities
๏ต Increase biomass (Green:other-l:2
minimum)
โ Green belts not just around traffic, but
for walking trails, etc.
โ Texture hard surfaces (biotexturing)
๏ต Create negative ion generator sites
(plants, splashing/falling water)
61. Greening Cities
๏ต Create people- friendly economic
system
โ Recycling is main source of raw
materials for industry.
โ Barter systems/new currency with no
advantage to hoarding
โ Business in homes
โ Reduce social tensions, by reducing gap
between rich & poor
62. Greening Cities
๏ต Energy systems based on solar &
wind
โ Decentralize energy production
โ With PV, homeowners become
producers of electricity
63. Greening Cities
๏ต Transportation
โ Mostly rail & bus, bicycles; people live
closer to workplace
โ Close some streets to prevent/reduce
thru traffic
๏ตroads = traffic
๏ตBig Roads = Big Traffic
๏ตas population increases, roads widen so less
space for humans & wider gulfs to traverse
๏ตurban sprawl = more roads and so on.
64. Greening Cities
๏ต Goals
โ Value systems emphasizing quantity,
expansion, competition, domination will
be replaced by quality,
conservation, cooperation,
partnership
โ Measure of success is sustainability, not
growth
65. Greening Cities
๏ต Some city examples:
โ L.A. dedicates 70 % of its space to
automobiles - roads, parking lots,
garages, etc.
โ Hong Kong raises 45 % of its vegetables
โ Cuba is creating the first post-fossil fuel
economy
โ Norway's gov't is investing in farms
โ Vietnam - PC is the official agricultural
policy
66. Hopi Villages
The oldest cities in North America.
๏ต The village is an entity, the plaza its heart
๏ต Many homes built by women-like giving
birth
๏ต Built by the people, for the people
๏ต Apartments were created as extended
family units
๏ต Building was art instead of science
๏ต face to face society instead of back to
back."
67. Curitaba - Brazil
๏ต Capital
๏ต City of 2.4 million
people ,
๏ต Changes began in
1971, when Jaime
Lerner was
elected mayor
68. Curitaba - Brazil
๏ต PRIORITIES
๏ต Decrease the number of vehicles
โ many roads designated for the sole use of
collective vehicles
โ increased public transportation - buses
๏ต Increase ratio of green areas to
inhabitants
โ in 1970, .5 sq. meters/person
โ in 1992, 50 sq. meters/person
โ 1.5 million trees have planted in 20 years
69. Curitaba - Brazil
๏ต "GARBAGE THAT ISN'T GARBAGE"
๏ตBegan as an education program, now almost
90% are separating garbage in home
๏ตSpecial collection van for recyclables "
๏ตPaper recycling alone spares 1200 trees
daily!
๏ตProfit is reinvested in social programs
70. Curitaba - Brazil
๏ต "GARBAGE THAT ISN'T GARBAGE"
โ Landfill is spared
โ Garbage Purchase where no access for vans
โ pay people to bring garbage to vans instead of
paying garbage collection company
โ pay with transport vouchers or surplus produce
(gov't buys surplus produce at low price
instead of having it thrown in river or burned)
71. Curitaba - Brazil
๏ต LOCAL DISTRICT EMPOWERMENT
โ Local districts belong more to the people
than to the city (Polish Woods, Italian
district, etc.)
โ The people who live in a district knows
best what its needs are
72. Curitaba - Brazil
๏ต CITY GOV'T DUTY: ENVIRONMENTAL
EDUCATION
โ Environmental education is not a separate
course, but is inserted into the curriculum.
โ Free University for the Environment - short
courses designed for the people - energy
efficiency, recycling, gardening, planting trees,
etc.
โ Green Guard - police who work in parks and
teach people about the environment
73. Curitaba - Brazil
๏ต LESSONS:
โ Search for the simplest possible solution
โ Work with local people - people who
know and like the city
โ Changes should be done on the
broadest scale possible
โ Although started with traditional top-
down legislation, now recognize the
importance of involving the people in
every initiative
74. A sustainable society is one which
satisfies its needs without
diminishing the prospects of
future generations.
Most important habits of thought are. Cape Town: 9,600 plant species, of which 70 percent are found nowhere else in the world.
High proportion of hard surface to soft landscape
Climatic changes
Re-radiated heat
Increased run-off
Wind tunneling/turbulence
High CO2 levels due to lack of biomass
High dependence on fossil fuels
Motor vehicles, electricity
Increases pollution and heat
High level of dependence on large support systems
Electricity, gas
Water
Sewage
Low level of self sufficiency โ see above, plus:
Food
Imports
Flow through โ few loops
Social dislocation
High proportion of hard surface to soft landscape
Climatic changes
Re-radiated heat
Increased run-off
Wind tunneling/turbulence
High CO2 levels due to lack of biomass
High dependence on fossil fuels
Motor vehicles, electricity
Increases pollution and heat
High level of dependence on large support systems
Electricity, gas
Water
Sewage
Low level of self sufficiency โ see above, plus:
Food
Imports
Flow through โ few loops
Social dislocation
High proportion of hard surface to soft landscape
Climatic changes
Re-radiated heat
Increased run-off
Wind tunneling/turbulence
High CO2 levels due to lack of biomass
High dependence on fossil fuels
Motor vehicles, electricity
Increases pollution and heat
High level of dependence on large support systems
Electricity, gas
Water
Sewage
Low level of self sufficiency โ see above, plus:
Food
Imports
Flow through โ few loops
Social dislocation
High proportion of hard surface to soft landscape
Climatic changes
Re-radiated heat
Increased run-off
Wind tunneling/turbulence
High CO2 levels due to lack of biomass
High dependence on fossil fuels
Motor vehicles, electricity
Increases pollution and heat
High level of dependence on large support systems
Electricity, gas
Water
Sewage
Low level of self sufficiency โ see above, plus:
Food
Imports
Flow through โ few loops
Social dislocation
Johnsons backyard gardens, Oasis Gardens โ now Urban roots farm,
TEDxOU - Jason Roberts - How To Build a Better Block
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntwqVDzdqAU#t=431
New York artist Ken Butler on left
Paraguay kids with trash instruments