Graeme Sherriff and Joe Howe

In: UA Magazine 6 - Transition to Ecological Urban Agriculture: A Challenge

The term "permaculture" is derived from Bill Mollison's vision of permanent agriculture. Permaculture is about producing food in an environmentally sound way. It is concerned with people growing their own food on their own land and using it for themselves, their immediate family and possibly the local community. This is the impression gained from examining permaculture food projects in Britain. Since its inception permaculture has developed and diversified. It is essentially an approach to designing productive whole systems, through the maximisation of the interconnectedness of elements, which has an ethical foundation in sustainability and a scientific basis in ecology. The key characteristic is that it sets out to maximise beneficial relationships through the effective placement of elements.