Jon's Permaculture Analysis & Assessment Protocol
by Jon Kent
1. Political climate
2. 4. Identify the zones of use and then sort them according to importance to the "client", e.g., home, neighborhood.
3. 2. Elements: identify elements which comprise the system, e.g., water, soil or residents, staff.
4. 3. Sort the Elements on a Scale of Permanence from most to least changeable, e.g, staff, residents.
5. 5. Identify which elements are important to which goals and/or objectives.
6. 6. Make some observations, not interpretations, about the characteristics of the site.
7. 7. Do a niche analysis, i.e., needs & yields, of one or more elements.
8. 1. Identify the client. Explore the clients needs by formulating questions for the client, posing those questions and recording the answers.
9. 8. See what patterns emerge from this big soup.
10. 2. Elements, sorted by permanence: Money Political climate Legal/regulatory climate Natural environment Energetic environment Nurturing environment People Building Building Lot People Elements: Residents Residents' responsible parties Staff Volunteers Visitors Board Professionals Neighbors Gov't Officials
11. Zones of use sorted by importance to client: Private space Inside community space Outside community space Neighborhood Town County BioRegion Country World
12. Goal: We live together simply and interdependently with the life affirming energy of our environment.
13. Objective: Our home brings in and shares out enough resources each year to sustain itself and regenerate.
14. Objective: All who connect with our home experience clear communication; process conflicts to achieve our common aim; and, share power with one another.
15. Objective: We live happily, fulfilled and at peace within and as part of the natural world.
16. Elements, sorted by permanence:
17. Money
18. Legal/regulatory climate
19. Natural environment
20. Energetic environment
21. nurturing environment
22. people
23. building
24. building lot
25. Observations: About the people- Elders live alone in their homes. Elders report being lonely and afraid. The US government is planning on cutting back or eliminating elder’s health care support (Medicare & Medicaid) and public pensions (Social Security). Elders are unable or do not want to continue working. Over 60% of Baby Boomers have no savings and no source of income. Elders want to stay in their homes as they age.
26. Observations: Types of decision making- 1.No structure 2.Majority Rule 3.Parliamentary Process 4.Unanimity 5.Hierarchy 6.Consensus 7.Consent through Sociocracy
27. Observations: Ways to resolve conflict- 1.Competing 2.Avoiding 3.Accommodating 4.Compromising 5.collaborating
28. Niche analysis for people: Needs- Clean Air Healthy Food Stimulating Environment Opportunity to give and receive Human respect and connection Nature Peace Yields- Wisdom Opportunity to receive Connection to past and future generations Practice in just being
29. Emerging Patterns: 1.Elder housing in the Pioneer Valley is approaching a material, spiritual and energetic state of desertification. Drawing the analogy to agriculture, desertification is the creation of a collapsed, compacted, eroded and salted soil. It is a socio-economic problem (taken from NPDC binder p. 33). In agriculture, deserts can be reclaimed through techniques such as reforestation, interceptor banks, swales, adding gypsum, changing land use, supplanting fire regimes, etc. 2. Permaculture design seems to rest on the principal premise that one element of a system, i.e., humans, intervene to regenerate other elements of the system, i.e., soil, water, plants, etc. Another premise needs to be developed in regard to social permaculture design of elder housing. This is because the designing element, i.e., humans, have not lost their capacity to design but they are approaching losing their capacity to intervene and implement their design. In other words, the designing element is approaching the state of being incapable of design implementation. The design plan needs to address this notion of what might be called auto-parasitism or entropy.
30. Use the story corps method to explore the needs of elders in housing.
