Regenerative Design
In this course we explore the fundamental design philosophy of permaculture and apply it to a research task to demonstarte your understanding. Regenerative design involves a robust thought process. Working from a living systems perspective shifts the focus of everyone’s attention from simply solving today’s problems to working to realize the upper limits of creative potential a healthy system is capable of manifesting.
In this course we explore the following aspects of regenerative design:
- Pattern Recognition: The main goal in applying patterns in landscape design is to harmonise with natrual processes that are constantly working to build a balanced interaction of diverse elements, in order to store as much energy moving through an ecosystem as possible within living things. This process guides the assembly of natural systems, which develop into complex, self-regulating assemblies of life that result in the longest storage of energy passing through an ecosystem before it is lost again. The more complexity within a system the more opportunity for that energy to passed between different organisms within beneficial interactions or consumption of each other resulting in a greater yield from that system.
- Permaculture Principles: Permaculture is often described as a way of seeing and thinking about the world which incorporates a diverse "toolbox" of technologies to the design of sustainable and regenerative habitats for life. Such a broad idea has been further broken down into permaculture principles by one of the founders of permaculture David Holmgren. The idea of the principles is to provide a set of considerations to guide a permaculture designer. These principles can be used as a checklist for a designer to go through and see what improvements can be made to a system.
- Sectors & Zones: Investigates the patterns and layout of a permaculture site. Permaculture zones describe areas within a farm landscape that have different frequencies of use and would therefore suit different land-uses. Those areas closest to the house and are frequented most often would suit placement of systems that require regular maintenance and inspection. These efficiency of time and effort result in great savings of personal energy and efficiency of operation which allow a person to economise time spent on tasks and focus on areas with the greatest return of yield, without being bogged down with routine maintenance tasks.
This is a project based course - where we explore the theory and review examples of perennial orchard systems designed in alignment with ecologically-balanced permaculture principles.In this course you will explore concepts with others and benefit from working collaboratively to improve learning outcomes through online forums and an exclusive access Facebook mastermind group.
The course is entirely online - with topics explored through video resources, readings and online forums. The course builds towards a research and design task that provides opportunity to expand upon course materials, learn from each other and receive coaching and advice on your project goals.