The Permaculture City: Regenerative Design for Urban, Suburban, and Town Resilience - Softcover

Toby Hemenway

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1603585265 ISBN 13: 9781603585262

Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing Co, 2015

Synopsis

"Permaculture is more than just the latest buzzword; it offers positive solutions for many of the environmental and social challenges confronting us. And nowhere are those remedies more needed and desired than in our cities. The Permaculture City provides a new way of thinking about urban living, with practical examples for creating abundant food, energy security, close-knit communities, local and meaningful livelihoods, and sustainable policies in our cities and towns. The same nature-based approach that works so beautifully for growing food connecting the pieces of the landscape together in harmonious ways applies perfectly to many of our other needs. Toby Hemenway, one of the leading practitioners and teachers of permaculture design, illuminates a new way forward through examples of edge-pushing innovations, along with a deeply holistic conceptual framework for our cities, towns, and suburbs. The Permaculture City begins in the garden but takes what we have learned there and applies it to a much broader range of human experience; we re not just gardening plants but people, neighborhoods, and even cultures. Hemenway lays out how permaculture design can help towndwellers solve the challenges of meeting our needs for food, water, shelter, energy, community, and livelihood in sustainable, resilient ways. Readers will find new information on designing the urban home garden and strategies for gardening in community, rethinking our water and energy systems, learning the difference between a job and a livelihood , and the importance of placemaking and an empowered community. This important book documents the rise of a new sophistication, depth, and diversity in the approaches and thinking of permaculture designers and practitioners. Understanding nature can do more than improve how we grow, make, or consume things; it can also teach us how to cooperate, make decisions, and arrive at good solutions. "

About this title

Review:

"Permaculture is applied ecology, and its practice is evolving as society becomes more urbanized. As Toby Hemenway puts it, 'We're not just gardening plants but people, neighborhoods, and even cultures.' Whether you're new to permaculture or a seasoned 'permie, ' The Permaculture City is essential: it captures the explorative state of the art in readable, often delightful prose. And, like all good permaculture books, it is eminently helpful at solving a myriad of practical problems in the home and garden."--Richard Heinberg, Senior Fellow, Post Carbon Institute

"I'm someone with a strong bias towards country living and I've always thought that the phrase 'urban permaculture' is oxymoronic. I've often thought master planners should be working to revive small towns, not build more cities. Toby Hemenway has shown me the error of my ways. The function of a well-conceived city, he says, is to inspire. His book inspires."--Albert Bates, president, Global Village Institute for Appropriate Technology

Booklist-

"For the past six years, Hemenway's acclaimed first book, Gaia's Garden (2009), has been the world's best-selling guidebook on home and garden permaculture. He now continues to champion this environmental philosophy that involves working with nature, instead of against it, for maximum sustainability. Although permaculture practices originally began with small-scale farms and gardens in mind, in his latest work Hemenway presents a much larger vision of applying them to metropolitan settings. In what is more than simply a handbook on finding space to grow fruits and vegetables in the concrete jungle, the author demonstrates just how widely the permaculture net can be cast by including advice on sustainably managing critical urban resources such as water, shelter, electricity, and even community centers. After introductory chapters on permaculture principles and the history and evolution of cities, Hemenway covers the basics of designing urban home gardens before moving on to discuss "water wisdom" and home energy solutions. An invaluable resource for city planners and dwellers alike, as well as an optimistic exploration of the possibilities for ecological well-being in our future urban landscapes."

"Many people who are searching for a more fulfilling life, wanting to reduce their ecological footprint and build resilience for uncertain futures, grasp that permaculture might be part of the solution but are often unsure how it applies to their particular situation. For residents of towns and cities in the modern affluent world, The Permaculture City shows how permaculture design makes common sense."--David Holmgren, co-originator of the Permaculture concept

"Toby Hemenway's Gaia's Garden is the go-to book I always recommend for those interested in permaculture. His new book, The Permaculture City, is the much-needed urban version, a great introduction and full of important information on adapting permaculture to an urban environment."--Starhawk, permaculture designer and author of The Empowerment Manual

"The Permaculture City is a triumph in bringing the wisdom of permaculture practices to city dwellers. This book is a 'bridge book' for greening our urban landscapes. Rich in practical knowledge, Toby Hemenway is a trailblazer in demystifying the art of living sustainably within ecosystems: teaching how YOU can be a collaborative partner in a healthy urban biosphere. This book's impact will be increasingly significant as we inevitably march toward living in built environments. For urban planners, architects, green builders, and simply citizens who want to enjoy a higher quality of life, The Permaculture City is The Book to lead the way."--Paul Stamets, author of Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World

"Toby Hemenway combines the skill of a storyteller with the vigour of experience and insight. He shows us an urban landscape with gardens, food, energy systems, and architecture that can ensure genuine sustainability. Beyond these vital elements, he also creates a template for a new kind of city: a human scale collection of village communities where quality of life is valued above quantity of output. With the majority of the human race becoming city dwellers, this is vital information for a more collaborative, intelligent, and resilient urban landscape, one that will enable us to face serious challenges now, and in the future."--Maddy Harland, co-founder and editor of Permaculture magazine and Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts

"Toby Hemenway is among the true visionaries who can turn vision into practical action. The Permaculture City is a landmark book that will be used for decades as a compass and field guide to regenerate our world and communities. Toby depicts the virtuous circle people are already creating across the country and world, from small acts an individual can take, to larger systemic changes that only communities and societies can make. This is the gospel of building resilience from the ground up, and Toby is a true hero of our age--he shows us we're all invited to the party."--Kenny Ausubel, cofounder and CEO of Bioneers

"Half the world's people now live in cities, and as Toby Hemenway convincingly demonstrates, they can be at the very forefront of the revolution in how we live. This book will thrill you!"--Bill McKibben, author of Deep Economy

"We stand at a crossroads where long-held societal beliefs are shattered and assumptions fall before knowledge and reality. Human civilization is in the balance. Few people have grasped the significance of the moment in the way that Toby Hemenway has. His voice is particularly important at this time. The Permaculture City is his attempt to understand what we are confronted with and to skew the discussion toward sustainability. There is no doubt that his message is timely and relevant. Read this book like the life of your children depended on it ... because it does."--John D. Liu, director of the Environmental Education Media Project and visiting fellow at the Netherlands Institute of Ecology

About the Author:

"Toby Hemenway is the author of the first major North American book on permaculture, Gaia s Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture. After obtaining a degree in biology from Tufts University, Toby worked for many years as a researcher in genetics and immunology, first in academic laboratories at Harvard and the University of Washington in Seattle, and then at Immunex, a major medical biotech company. At about the time he was growing dissatisfied with the direction biotechnology was taking, he discovered permaculture, a design approach based on ecological principles that creates sustainable landscapes, homes, and workplaces. A career change followed, and Toby and his wife spent ten years creating a rural permaculture site in southern Oregon. He was editor of Permaculture Activist, a journal of ecological design and sustainable culture, from 1999 to 2004. He teaches permaculture and consults and lectures on ecological design throughout the country. His writing has appeared in magazines such as Whole Earth Review, Natural Home, and American Gardener. He is available for workshops, lectures, and consulting in ecological design. He lives in Sebastopol, California. Visit his web site at www.patternliteracy.com "

About this edition

• Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing Co
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1603585265
• ISBN 13: 9781603585262
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320