Conclusion to Inquiry Circuit # 1

By Dan Palmer, Making Permaculture Stronger

The focus of this initial circuit has been the popular practice of defining permaculture design as, above all else, a process of assembling elements into whole systems.

Christopher Alexander’s Challenge meets Darren J. Doherty’s Design Process: More Thoughts

By Dan Palmer, Making Permaculture Stronger

This two-part series is part of a larger inquiry that started when we accepted Alexander’s challenge. Accepting this challenge means giving Alexander’s living process perspective2 serious attention towards any value it might offer permaculture.

Christopher Alexander’s Challenge meets Darren J. Doherty’s Design Process

By Dan Palmer, Making Permaculture Stronger

This post continues and deepens an inquiry into two contrasting understandings of design process.

The Exceptional Case of Dave Jacke & Edible Forest Gardens

By Dan Palmer, Making Permaculture Stronger

Dave Jacke has contributed the most comprehensive, conscious and clear treatment of sound design process yet seen in the permaculture literature. 

Christopher Alexander’s Neglected Challenge to Permaculture

By Dan Palmer, Making Permaculture Stronger

I find it curious that permaculture authors...don’t acknowledge Alexander’s critique of their core understanding of design....

Creating buildings and environments that support life

By James Alexander Arnfinsen, Levevei

Why is it that so much of what has been built for the last 100 years seem to go against what we have consciously and unconsciously learned throughout our human history (not to mention our almost 2 million years of evolution!)

Toward an Architecture of Place: Moving Beyond Iconic to Extraordinary

By Staff, PPS, Project for Public Spaces

We all realize that a “sense of place” is of fundamental value to people everywhere — in every city, every town, every neighborhood, and every culture, for all ages.

The commoning of patterns and the patterns of commoning: A short sketch

By Franz Nahrada, The Wealth of the Commons

There are a thousand ways of doing things wrong – and only a few ways of doing things right.

Toward Resilient Architectures I: Biology Lessons

By Michael Mehaffy, Nikos A. Salingaros, metropolismag.com

The word “resilience” is bandied about these days among environmental designers. In some quarters, it’s threatening to displace another popular word, “sustainability.” This is partly a reflection of newsworthy events like Hurricane Sandy, adding to a growing list of other disruptive events like tsunamis, droughts, and heat waves. We know that we can’t design for all such unpredictable events, but we could make sure our buildings and cities are better able to weather these disruptions and bounce back afterwards. At a larger scale, we need to be able to weather the shocks of climate change, resource destruction and depletion, and a host of other growing challenges to human wellbeing.