Phoenix Permaculture Design Course
Description, General Syllabus, and Course Details & Policies
A 72 Hour Permaculture Design Certification Course – Phoenix, AZ
Description of Course
This standardized 72-hour course leads to a Permaculture design certificate. It covers the major aspects of sustainable design with an emphasis on Southwest dry lands. It encourages the student to move toward pattern recognition, noticing the links between plants and animals, climate, and landforms that make up natural ecosystems. Being able to read these patterns and incorporate them into design is the basis for the Permaculture system of sustainable human settlement.
The course focuses on dry land communities, addressing individual site and neighborhood “problems” such as storm water flooding, and learning how to see these problems as solutions in setting up sustainable community. Students are encouraged to practice reading the landscape, to map and analyze energies flowing through a site, and to develop integrated designs for sustainable human settlements based on this site analysis.
A General Roadmap for the Course:
Updated syllabus with course dates, details, and event locations, will be provided on first day of class.
Weekend I
Core PC topics,
Wheel of Community Exercise, A Permaculture Mind Map or the Permaculture Tree, what is Regenerative – Degenerative, Permaculture Ethics Discussion
Site Analysis and Design Methods (Story of Place)
Developing a Site Analysis then Story of Place, Discover Practice Design Site, Introduce the pattern of the sun (as a sector) and do the sun dance, Begin researching and completing Site Analysis for weekend II
Weekend II
Principles in Permaculture Design,
Introduce Vision Statement/Conceptual Plan List, begin individual presentations, discover permaculture principles, Discover Permaculture Design – how to work on a first draft of a design
Micro to Macro
Understanding Your Design, Introduction of zones, climates and microclimates, guilds, and analyzing the elements that impact a design space.
Weekend III
Water Harvesting
Introduce the fundamentals of harvesting water in an arid region. Using A-frame and bunyip design tools, designing and building swales, other water issues.
Zone 1 Strategies
Introduce
Weekend IV
Permaculture applied
Tour small scale urban Permaculture examples. community development and how to design for taking care of people in community, Tour and story of place, tour of farm and residential community, story of place, the community’s work in neighborhood, watershed, and region
Permaculture systems & Design Review
Non-profit Permaculture and taking your Permaculture out into your neighborhood, Invisible structure design for community, Community Permaculture systems design
Weekend V
Community Living and Invisible Structures
Final Design Project –
Final Design Project Presentations in two or three groups and all day design seminar.
Presentations, Evaluations, Graduation, and Social
Passive Solar Design and Natural Building,
Natural Building hands on, Passive Solar design assessment talk and application to both, Natural Building materials and conventional construction.
Course Details & Policies:
Course registrar
- Janis Norton – Janis@UrbanFarm.org
Schedule and Teaching Manager for Course
- Don Titmus
- Teaching assistants/Instructors: Contact info for others involved with the course will be available the first day of class.
Course Objectives
What are the expectations for the participants in the course?
The expectation is by the end of the course that each participant will understand and be able to apply all of the ‘key subjects’ and ‘exercises’ listed in the schedule for the course. Also, participants will be able to apply Permaculture site analysis and design principles to their own site designs, as well as to their neighborhoods and communities. The participant will also acquire hands on experience with gardening, water harvesting, and natural building. The participant will understand the importance of the vision statement and conceptual design, as well as the four-step design template, which is applicable to a wide range of design situations.
Required Resources:
- The Permaculture Designer’s Notebook. Known in this document as PDN and supplied as a part of this course – Required, provided with course.
Optional Resources:
- Introduction to Permaculture by Bill Mollison, known in this document as ITP – an Optional textbook, but helpful
- Rainwater Harvesting For Dry lands vol. 1 by Brad Lancaster, known in this document as RHFD – Optional but highly recommended
Required Materials
- Tabbed notebook with all handouts for the course (will be provided the first day of the course to each participant, paper, and pen.)
- Some specialized tools like the ‘A’ frame and ‘Bunyip water level’, which are used in site analysis. (How to build and use these tools will be covered in the second day of the course.)
- A computer with access to the internet and e-mail.
Grading Policy
Evaluation criteria: the design certificate is awarded on a pass or fail basis, based mostly on participant’s final design project presentation, but also on attendance and participation in activities through the course and several tests. A minimum of 75 points out of 100 ( a middle C) must be earned to receive a Permaculture Design Course Certificate.
Late work policy: late work is allowed to be submitted within three months after the end of the Design course, but no design certificate will be awarded until completed final design project and presentation is made.
Incomplete and make up work: Incomplete work is allowed to be submitted within six months after the end of the course , but no design certificate will be awarded until completed final design project and presentation is made.
Academic integrity/responsibilities
It is up to each participant in the course to ask questions of the teachers/instructors to make sure he or she understands the material, to do the suggested study, exercises, and reading between weekends, and to ask for help if needed from other participants in the course in order to understand and apply the material. It is up to each participant to be on time for class.
Attendance Policy
It is expected that except for an emergency, each participant will attend the entire course, including each day and class. Exceptions can be made for having to miss an occasional class or even a whole day, however make up work assigned by the registrar or teacher for the day will have to be completed to pass the course and receive a certificate.
Subject to Change Statement
‘Subject to change’ statement – Other than the pass/fail policy and the attendance policy, the schedule, location, and other aspects of the course may be subject to change with advance notice, as deemed appropriate by the teacher of the day or the registrar of the course.
Notice of Possible Objectionable Materials
Radical ideas like integrated design based on mimicking nature, gardening, water harvesting, community economics, community resilience, and living in balance with the natural world may be discussed and practiced in this course.
Assignments/Due Dates
We will go over this the first day of the course.
Assigned Readings
Before each class day, read the material in the tabbed notebook of handouts for the coming day. Other reading and study material may be assigned during the course.
Topics for Each Day
See the day-by-day schedule contained in a separate document in the course notebook.
Teaching Format
Course topics will be addressed using the following methods:
- A small amount of lecture
- Guest presentations/demo/hands on exercises by local experts and participants.
- Class discussions with comments and questions
- Interactions with standing groups of six to eight students who will meet mostly during class hours and occasionally outside of class to work on site analysis, design, and other projects.
- Participatory exercises in groups and as individuals
- One-on-one interaction with the teacher in class or out of class.
- Hands on learning and exercises in topics like gardening, water harvesting, and natural building.
Assignment Format
A handout will be available in the course notebooks concerning the format and expectations on the required final design project presentations. The required individual short presentations will be demonstrated the first day of the course also.
Bibliography
A bibliography is provided in the tabbed course notebooks for the course.
Required/Helpful Knowledge or Skills
Required: openness to learn a new way of designing integrated and sustainable human settlements that mimics the natural environment.
Basic computer and other research skills, basic drawing skills, knowledge of what a contour line is and how these lines show three dimensional topography on a two dimensional surface.
Some Web reference sources
