Designing Ecological Habitats - Gaia Education

macro to micro: introDucing ecosocial matrix as a tool for integrateD Design 251
Most permaculturists are comfortable with integrated design on the
individual garden or property level, and this in itself can take several years
of observation, research, creative thinking, experimentation and design.
Integrated design demands an interdisciplinary approach and systems
thinking. One needs to know enough about a lot of different things to see
where and how they can interact beneficially.
Permaculture Design methodologies inherently support an integrated
approach. Like Sector Planning, which is primarily concerned with
harnessing and/or ameliorating the energies of elemental forces of sun, wind
and fire; working with the geophysical landform in terms of topography,
slope, gradient and soil; plus the diverse interactions and patterning of
elemental energies within the landscape in terms of aspect and the mosaics
of soil qualities, vegetation and microclimate arising from these interplays.
Then there’s the patterning of elements and functions within the site,
designing a complex web of beneficial inter-relationships between the various
physical elements – plants, structures, animals, technologies – ensuring
needs are met in a diversity of ways. Integrating the invisible flows of
nutrient cycles and energy, and the movement of water through the system,
closing the loops and ensuring no pollution also must be considered. Then,
patterning and assembling all these systems and individual components in
the design for efficient management through conscious relative placement
that integrates the time-space logistics of access, schedules and proximity
– this is design for convenience. The Permaculture Design methodology
useful in this phase of integration is often referred to as Zonation.
Integrated systems go beyond the design and into the management
and maintenance of systems, right down to the daily interactions. I often
find students wanting to separate jobs out in rosters: one person to do the
garden, another the animals, another the orchards and so on. But the system
is designed to integrate these daily actions. Animal green feed is collected
by doing five minutes of weeding in the garden; thus through the process of
collecting green feed for the animals the garden is maintained, so we don’t
need to spend a lot of time just simply weeding as a single purpose exercise.
Tending the animals is integral to maintaining the plant production systems
and visa versa – separate these jobs out and it’s not long before management
systems begin to collapse.
There are countless excellent permaculture designs within the confines
of individual property boundaries, integrating physical elements such
as buildings, plants, animals, technology and water systems with energy
flows and human interaction. However, many fall short in terms of their
integration with neighbours or with the wider landscape and community.
A truly integrated design needs to address these surrounding influences
and interactions by designing the details within the context of the bigger
picture. This lack of integration with neighbourhood and bioregion has also
been true of much of the intentional community and ecovillage movement
in Australia and the USA. Ultimately it is on this larger community scale
that we, as a society, have the greatest capacity to develop self-reliance and