Hello.
As it happens, I've been thinking for some time what is or can be urban
permaculture. In my
city, we live in tall buildings, not everyone enjoys a small terrace for pot plants, and while there are a few parks here and there, never
enough, and urban
trees on the streets, mother nature is mostly absent.
If you are lucky, you may find an urban market garden, but they are very expensive or highly contested. So I am thinking, is this a must for a permaculturist? If so, we are denying most urban dwellers the opportunity to become one.
So, I go back to the definition: A design tool for human activities that have three ethics: care for the people, care for nature, fair share. Is it possible to care for all of that in a
concrete jungle? Maybe.
I read the design principles again. Nowhere it says 'Thou shall plant,' or 'thou shall plow and irrigate with tears'.
While it's true that nature speaks out loud in a forest full of life, and loud enough in our gardens, Nature still exists in human only environments, for what are we people but products of the same nature?
If I liberate myself from the notion that a permaculturist must have a garden or a farm, then I can start the design process with whatever activity I fancy.
Let's start as always with observation. What do I have in a big city that I can consider 'sectors' of my design?
Or rather, what are inherent urban attributes, features that will always define an urban place, even after the fossil fuels era?
In medieval times, there were different classes of settlements: the rural village, usually a feud or a religious community, and the burgh. The burgh was were liberal proffesions could be worked: artisans, doctors, traders, etc. By focusing all the specialists in one place, they were easier to find, to
feed and protect, and the specialists could find enough clients for their trade. The city is just an evolved burgh, with habitants in the hundred thousand, or in the millions.
So one defining characteristic of a city is its massive population. And then its focus on specialized work.
As an example, if my bussiness is shopkeeper, I have many opportunities for selling stuff that is unique, because there are oh so many different people with different tastes. I could
sell just chocolote boxes, and there's a chance that my bussiness is successful. On the other hand, if I want my bussiness to succeed, I need to be a shopkeeper most of the working hours. I cannot be a shopkeeper in a specialized chocolate box shop and then go to the farm to raise
cattle in my spare time.
As a corollary, unique items and services are more easily obtained in the city. Another collary, living with more people that we can acknowledge means that we have to join an interest group if we want to be part of a community, or we risk feeling isolated.
More observations. In a city, the space is premium. Every square meter counts. The city might be large, but it is also dense, meaning there could be many ammenities, shops and jobs at walking or cycling distance. I say 'could' because some modern cities are poorly designed and are forcing people to use cars. Having a small terrace in the appartment is expensive, having a backyard garden might be prohibitive.
Also, the city habitat is not suitable for large wild animals, and this was done on purpose. City dwellers don't want
deer, wolf or bears roaming their streets. Rats, feral cats, pidgeons and other small critters have their place, even at its habitants displease.
While not inherent to the city, we have to account the current city features as it transitions to the end of fossil fuels: full of traffic, noisy, polluted, hot, bright at night, many international products, and so forth.
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Let's say there's a Bert who owns a chocolate box shop, it's his bussiness and his job, and he is doing well. He learns about
permaculture. He lives in a 7th floor flat without any terrace, in a big city of one million inhabitants. How could he apply
permaculture to his life? He could redesign his current activities following the principles. He could draw a map of the shop (you know you love maps!). He could analyse
energy flows, light, temperatures, looking how to save on the energy bills, using whatever natural heat or light he could find. He needs to be sure that any change, any investment, keeps him in the black (obtain a yield!).
He may change the way he packages the products, to reduce waste, or even design a return system. He may study the patterns in which their customers buy: how they move through the shop, seasonal purchases, and then he adapts his workflow to fit their customer habits. Designing from patterns makes everything more simple when arriving at the details.
Integrating activities is hard to achieve for a specialist guy, but he tries. What are the different activities on the shop? Attending customers, contacting providers, cleaning, decorating, accountability, ... Can they really be integrated? Not likely. But how about the other activities. As it happens, Bert loves reading
books in his spare time, and even wanted to join a reading group for some time, for his social interactions need some help. Here is a possible solution: integrate the lecture group with the shop. Maybe the shop could offer a reading group time, when sales are low. This may be good for the bussiness or not, but it certainly can be good for Bert, who now can work and attend to the reading groups he wanted. He could also buy a
coffee machine, so the customers can taste his chocolates with a suitable drink.
He may learn that there's an active vegan community that dislikes his chocolates because he is using animal fats. Opening a vegan line of products for these customers might not be economically profitable, but there's image value: These are customers that are going to speak well for the bussiness, and having a good reputation is good in general.
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As you see,
permaculture principles can be applied to just any human activity. The only real difficulty in the city is that we live immersed in the industrial world and its consumerism. With wild life absent, it is easy to fall into materialism and value profits first and only. The profits mindset is short sighted, maximises benefits at the expense of the future or the well-being of others. The homesteader is almost free from this chain, he can make anything he needs on his own, and only needs some money for a few things. The specialist is not, he needs money for pretty much every material thing he needs.
Therefore, I understand why permaculture has been more successful among homesteaders and gardeners.
In the example above, Bert had some agency on how to design his bussiness. People hired in big companies do not have this chance; policies are decided based only on maximum benefits for the investors by a commitee of people that will never be in touch with the real clients. Change is not going to come from here, permaculture is bad for short
term sighted benefits. Small family bussinesses, and co-operatives, is where change can begin.
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That said, I would love to find more examples of urban permaculture designs, not just about urban gardens, but of bussinesses, city buildings, urban communities (with or without garden), real permaculture projects where all the sectors and zones are defined, patterns are understood and the principles are applied. Where we work with nature rather against her, even if it is our human nature.
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