Permaculture Design: On the Practice of Radical Imagination

Urban Farm DB summary

This article examines permaculture design, developed by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren, not only as an application of systems theory but also as a form of figurative, ecological reasoning. Permaculture challenges the division between theory and practice, or rationality and sensibility, inextricably linking these modes of knowledge in explorations of patterns. Specifically, it describes permaculture design thought through three aspects: visual thinking in patterns, the role of radical imagination and speculation, and systems theory thought drawing from the Gaia hypothesis.