I read Toby Hemenway's book "The Permaculture City" after I bought it from Chelsea Green. Great book full of insights. I've been thinking it's the sort of book that should be required reading for anyone who's elected Mayor or to a City Council! There are even things in it that I think could apply to my "city" except Lone Oak has only 500 some odd citizens within it's boundaries!! There are more in the surrounding area who send kids to our school system but the town itself only consists of a strip of ten or so businesses spread along about a mile of access road to a state highway. It was once much bigger when the Katy Rail Road ran through town I'm told.
I have a question for Mr. Hemenway as he is visiting our forums: Can some of the ideas and practices put forward in "The
Permaculture City" work in a town as small as ours? I know from the book that it is the shear number of chance meetings that occur in large, densely inhabited cities that make them so productive but I'd like to think there is a Permaculture way of jump starting this kind of innovation so that a small town like ours can grow into a real Permaculture City while avoiding the mistakes larger cities have already made. If I had the money I'd get an extra copy of the book to just GIVE to the City Council to keep in City Hall. Not sure they'd read it but they might. Especially if I point out that doing things the Permaculture way often ends up being the least costly way to do them.
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