PDC Course
Within this course we explore how permaculture design philosophy and how it can be applied to a design project.
The two main philosophies within the course are systems-thinking and regenerative design.
The two main philosophies within the course are systems-thinking and regenerative design.
Systems-thinking
The “systems-thinking” approach look at how elements of a system inter-relate in positive ways that lead to healthy outcomes. In looking at how the elements inter-relate you then think strategically how to best place compatible elements in time and space within environments that best suit the function of those elements.
In this way you may position a herd of cows within a pasture at the optimal time to convert pasture to manure and promote carbon sequestration and soil building or chickens within a garden to convert weeds and bugs to manures and mix mulches into the garden bed in preparation for planting.
Within this course we explore systems -thinking within the following design methodology:
In this way you may position a herd of cows within a pasture at the optimal time to convert pasture to manure and promote carbon sequestration and soil building or chickens within a garden to convert weeds and bugs to manures and mix mulches into the garden bed in preparation for planting.
Within this course we explore systems -thinking within the following design methodology:
- Information about the environment in which the system will be developed is obtained.
- Strengths, weaknesses and opportunities of that environment are identified.
- The goals, values and resources of the creative agent (or agents) that are going to manipulate the factors within that environment to create a productive system are identified.
- Alignments are identified between capabilities of the creative agent and opportunities within the environment.
- A small range of potential alignments are developed as prototypes to a minimal viable level and stress-tested for feedback from the environment and impact on the creative agent.
- Feedback is reflected upon on the basis of the awareness of patterns that will lead to positive outcomes aligned to promoting better health and becoming self-reinforcing.
- The most promising prototypes are further refined and developed as productive systems.
- Opportunities are sought to create beneficial alignment between the systems created and other systems to create synergistic outcomes that will result in promoting greater health and resiliency within the systems, for the creative agent and for the environment in which those systems are positioned.
- Initial developmental and inquiry focused stages, shift to modification and refinement on the basis of broader and deeper feedback filtered through an awareness of underlying principles aligned to creating greater levels of health and resiliency of that system.
Regenerative Design
Permaculture started as a design system for creating ecological agricultural systems, recognising that natural systems autonomously produce a steady supply of useful resources when allowed to develop a natural state of balance. Permaculture emerged as a way of designing a landscape to best imitate this ecological balance within productive agricultural systems. However the systems thinking framework behind permaculture is a progressive and adaptable tool to apply to a wide range of systems from how you craft your life to how you build a city.
In this Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) course we investigate how a systems-thinking approach can be applied to a permaculture design methodology to create health-promoting and resilient systems. I call these regenerative systems.
In other words: we explore how you can make sense of the complexity of a system and modify it in ways that restore it to good health, produce a good range of useful resources and ensure it is well-aligned to the environment in which it is positioned.
This system could be a farm , your body, the relationships you have, financial, a business, a community, a housing project, a house, a glasshouse, a pond etc etc.
Central to understanding regenerative design is having a design philosophy supported by principles that guide your actions towards replicatable and desired results. To achieve this requires an understanding of the form and function of the system you are designing in a state that results in regenerative outcome. The function of natural ecosystems are researched to understand this and what is learned is transferred into the design of productive agricultural systems.
To achieve this we explore within this course:
In this Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) course we investigate how a systems-thinking approach can be applied to a permaculture design methodology to create health-promoting and resilient systems. I call these regenerative systems.
In other words: we explore how you can make sense of the complexity of a system and modify it in ways that restore it to good health, produce a good range of useful resources and ensure it is well-aligned to the environment in which it is positioned.
This system could be a farm , your body, the relationships you have, financial, a business, a community, a housing project, a house, a glasshouse, a pond etc etc.
Central to understanding regenerative design is having a design philosophy supported by principles that guide your actions towards replicatable and desired results. To achieve this requires an understanding of the form and function of the system you are designing in a state that results in regenerative outcome. The function of natural ecosystems are researched to understand this and what is learned is transferred into the design of productive agricultural systems.
To achieve this we explore within this course:
- Background of permaculture
- Pattern recognition
- Principles of permaculture
- Applying ecological design
- Creating regenerative systems
Navigating Course
The course is navigated via a Moodle platform the provides an outline of the course resources and information on the assignment tasks that contribute towards the final submission.
There are individual submission dropboxes on the Moodle platform for the assignment tasks, and a tutor will give you feedback on these submissions so that you experience an interactive learning environment and have the opportunity to bounce ideas of someone as you progress through the course.
It is also strongly recommended to also submit assignment tasks to the Facebook Group to benefit from the feedback and support of the online learning community, that is enhanced by each persons active participation. The Facebook Group is also the ideal place to share insights, resources and research to help stimulate and enrich others in their learning and benefit from their collaborative feedback.
There is a completion tracking set up so that you can see your progress through the course, associated with viewing the course topics and submitting assignment tasks.
Once all topic modules within the course are completed, the last module provides resources, guidance and a dropbox for submitting your final PDC design task.
There are individual submission dropboxes on the Moodle platform for the assignment tasks, and a tutor will give you feedback on these submissions so that you experience an interactive learning environment and have the opportunity to bounce ideas of someone as you progress through the course.
It is also strongly recommended to also submit assignment tasks to the Facebook Group to benefit from the feedback and support of the online learning community, that is enhanced by each persons active participation. The Facebook Group is also the ideal place to share insights, resources and research to help stimulate and enrich others in their learning and benefit from their collaborative feedback.
There is a completion tracking set up so that you can see your progress through the course, associated with viewing the course topics and submitting assignment tasks.
Once all topic modules within the course are completed, the last module provides resources, guidance and a dropbox for submitting your final PDC design task.
