Retrofitting the Suburbs permie style- favorite video list

I'd like to make a list of people's favorite videos about retrofitting the suburbs, permie style.

A lot of retrofitting for livability in the suburbs will depend, in my viewing, on learning to cooperate and build community with one's neighbors.  It's doesn't help that much to be the only person with a bike and a great garden in 10 square miles, right?

This is my favorite example, Shani Graham's Ted Talk about it sums up their Holmgren-inspired approach very well.:

There are times I've shared that video and received the response "That's great, but it would never work in  [insert reason]."  My neighborhood. My town. The US. Etc.

When I ask why not, the answers have often been many of the same objections Shani Graham talks about in her video above. Like having neighbors you don't like or think are weird or haven't figured out how to get along with. Community organizing is not everyone's forte. I still believe we all have skills we can use and develop to participate in this sort of change.

Other times people object by pointing out that their neighborhood has an HOA or other building/behavior restrictions.  Of course those exist, but they don't exist everywhere. We do have the choice of where we live, and sometimes have to make huge moves to gain the lifestyle that we truly desire.  I've had to do that, and though it was very painful, now it feels so good to have found a place where I can do what I want to do.  I only have so much energy to use swimming upstream; now I leave that to others who have that amazing drive, like Brad Lancaster, below!

So I'm going to share a couple more examples of people doing this work in the US.

My first US favorite is Brad Lancaster, whose successful projects changed the laws in Tuscon and Arizona.  He had to break them first, though!

Another guy I admire for his ability to communicate and persevere is Ron Finley, the Gangasta Gardener of LA.

This is a nice short new interview, fairly recent.  If you like it, definitely check out his journey to this point. There are many other videos out there, including a Ted Talk by him.

Here is another favorite, this one in Portland, Oregon.

In 2007, Ole and Maitri Ersson bought the rundown Cabana apartment complex in the city and immediately began to de-pave parking spaces to make space for what today is a huge permaculture coliving space and urban food forest.

Today, the Kailash Ecovillage has 55 residents who all help farm where there was once pavement, grass, a swimming pool, and an overgrown weed patch.

Another from Portland, Oregon, that involved the same designer as the apartment complex above, but with single family housing.

From agile neighborhoods for veterans or the unhoused to pocket hoods for Portlanders, the dozens of co-housing villages designed by Mark Lakeman are nationally recognized and in demand.

"All my work, and all the permaculture, comes under an overall unifying heading. That is ReVillaging, you might say," he explained, "With USA neighborhoods being mostly expressions of development-driven goals, they are more products than villages, featuring the fewest community gathering places of all '1st world' countries..."

“The best villages in the world are characterized by a menu of consistent elements or patterns,” explains Lakeman. “The first would be that when you come to the perimeter of a village that there'd be a celebration of the passage through the boundary, and so gateways are important.” He points out that gateways aren’t like gated communities but meant to be welcoming. Perimeters are also essential: he specifies that, at Cully Green, there is an abundant, fruiting, and self-watering landscape.

This one might be counted as purely urban, it's the Los Angeles Eco-Village. It's been in existence for 29 years.

In urban Los Angeles, about 3 miles west of downtown, 500 people live on 11 acres where priority is given to bicycles, fruit trees, greywater, veggie gardens, clotheslines, compost, shared spaces (tool shop, art space, bike shop), micro-businesses, on-site natural food coop and chickens.

Kim Goodwin wrote:
Other times people object by pointing out that their neighborhood has an HOA or other building/behavior restrictions.  Of course those exist, but they don't exist everywhere. We do have the choice of where we live, and sometimes have to make huge moves to gain the lifestyle that we truly desire.  I've had to do that, and though it was very painful, now it feels so good to have found a place where I can do what I want to do.  I only have so much energy to use swimming upstream; now I leave that to others who have that amazing drive, like Brad Lancaster, below!

People forget that the A in HOA is association. That it's a member-run and member-driven group, not some authoritarian regime. It is possible to get the HOA to change it's opinion on things, I wouldn't take it on as a fight, but rather a show and tell with an invitation to join and expand on things. Rather than swim upstream, met people where they are then invite them to wade out a bit further with you as illustrated in the first video posted.

I don't have videos to share, but previously did work on consensus building in educational settings. A great technique is the conversation cafe. https://www.conversationcafe.org/principles-for-conversation-cafes/ There are many other similar approaches, but I think the key is getting people together to talk about an issue that is affecting them all. In my neighborhood we actually had a water crisis, and I was able to give a presentation on simple homescale greywater solutions that I learned from Art Ludwig's book, and then help several neighbors set up a rainwater catchment system (we only have seasonal rains so that's not a definitive solution as our lots are not large enough to have tanks that will last 6 months).  People love to learn things that will save them money and solve serious problems they are having,  again meeting them where they are at, and moving forward from there.

A couple of videos for you:

The Birdhouse in Hollywood, CA

In which they "steward" neighbor's yards!

A front yard garden in California, to invite neighbors to share in the harvest and join in the cultivation.


I've also heard of some different programs, Where you offer lawn care service to people but it's edible plants, and it's like a CSA, but instead of paying me to take care of your yard, you pay less and me and my crew grow edible plants in your yard and our other clients' yards and you get a weekly box just like you would from a CSA also for less than other local CSAs because we used your yard as part of our farm.  I can only just now find one video from Canada, but I'm sure I heard about this in Florida--when Rob Greenfield lived there, and also in Minneapolis and somewhere in the west.

This is a set up of very forward-thinking, cleverly designed apartments in London with both individual and shared gardening areas.

The BedZED eco village is a sustainable housing development based in London, UK. We went to the eco village to see both the green building design and the sustainable community.