Ideas for a Low Maintenance Permaculture Park?

In my new job I have been presented with the opportunity to design a waste water irrigated public park/playground in the Nile Delta of Egypt. My plan is to squeeze permaculture into the design every way I can, but my options are limited. In addition to working in a water scarce region there will also be very little maintenance opportunities. There will basically be one big installation, and then only minor clean up work done by untrained volunteers from then on. This means no opportunities for working with the natural succession of the plant species. I would appreciate any creative permaculture ideas for this design. Thank you!

Ideas so far:
Use productive plants whenever possible (herbs, fruits, etc.)
If irrigation is taken from the canal instead of recycling grey water (depends on what site is chosen) maybe install a demonstrational reed bed to clean the very polluted canal water

~Starr

have you looked around for the local "stakeholders" who know a thing or two about what grows under those conditions in that area? I'm thinking ... permaculturalists / botanists in that area?
Do you live nearby or can you open up a conversation to identify a 'local window" connected to the community there (plus the one here) that knows a thing or two?

and ... your post inspires me to ... trembling ... tell folks of my challenging project as well. In my case I *suspect* I would be well advised to focus on a soil enhancement approach. It's a steep hillside in south Taiwan I've been given wide open invitation to bring it to thriving life. Good luck with you. I'll follow this post, and go post my own.

That's another very challenging aspect of this project. This village is small and rural. Though agriculture is the main industry it is heavily and inefficiently irrigated, so I'm not totally certain what they're growing is actually well suited for the environment! But I will definitely be asking around for local knowledge, and researching the surrounding area for ideas.

got an update on this project? I've got an update on mine (soil building - see below)

Starr Brainard wrote:In my new job I have been presented with the opportunity to design a waste water irrigated public park/playground in the Nile Delta of Egypt.  My plan is to squeeze permaculture into the design every way I can, but my options are limited.  In addition to working in a water scarce region there will also be very little maintenance opportunities.  There will basically be one big installation, and then only minor clean up work done by untrained volunteers from then on.  This means no opportunities for working with the natural succession of the plant species.  I would appreciate any creative permaculture ideas for this design.   Thank you!

Ideas so far:
Use productive plants whenever possible (herbs, fruits, etc.)
If irrigation is taken from the canal instead of recycling grey water (depends on what site is chosen) maybe install a demonstrational reed bed to clean the very polluted canal water

We yesterday signed a year-long lease for a plot in a community organic farm. They asked us to use if for at least a week before deciding (there are fire ants and other challenges and it was clear from experience that eyes of sparkly-eyed folks often dulled within a week of real hands-on involvement.
In our case, we're going for a RuthStout garden and we're simply building the compost layer ... for perhaps up to 2 months with a few bags of whatever we can collect at a time. The stuff disappears FAST in this humid tropical climate (southern Taiwan).

I'm all about community and locating the people who care, then sharing the overall picture (constantly re-envisioned with each new voice) and asking "What piece would you like to see through to the end?"
It's not at all like I can guarantee what'll happen, but for sure interesting things happen every day. my motto: Be prepared to be surprised.

Geoff Lawton has several videos on how they used succession planting in a very dry location, perhaps some of their strategies would work in your situation?