The Permaculture City: Regenerative Design for Urban, Suburban, and Town Resilience: Toby Hemenway: 9781603585262: Amazon.com: Books
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Toby Hemenway
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.
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Editorial Reviews
Review
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.”
Library Journal-
"Permaculture refers to a method of agricultural design that uses natural approaches. While several chapters address the unique challenges and opportunities in creating an urban garden, Hemenway refers often to his first book, Gaia’s Garden, the initial major volume published in North America on permaculture principles, for further detail. Here, the author’s focus narrows to an urban setting, where permaculture means more than having a sustainable garden but can generate powerful change and community growth. Combining anecdotal stories of local U.S. neighborhoods practicing permaculture principles with black-and-white and color photos, Hemenway describes ways in which urban dwellers can not only create their own backyard oasis but join with their neighbors to build shared spaces in which to produce food, culture, and identity. Valuable tips on water conservation via rain harvesting and graywater collection mingle with advice on reducing energy consumption, producing local energy resources, and decreasing your foodshed and carbon footprints. Notes and index provide a reliable reference for further reading. VERDICT: An enlightening read for anyone interested in green gardening, environmental ethics, social justice issues, and seeking positive community change.”
Publishers Weekly-
"This eagerly awaited book from West Coast permaculture expert Hemenway, author of the classic Gaia's Garden, pushes permaculture design beyond its usual realm of homesteading and gardening, applying it to the complex systems that make up contemporary urban life. Other permaculturalists are also exploring these ideas, but Hemenway's intelligent, down-to-earth analyses, astute systems thinking, and clear organization offer a particularly comprehensive, open-ended, and sophisticated yet understandable overview to readers who want to discover, evaluate, utilize, and integrate the untapped resources abundant in any city or town. Hemenway focuses on the philosophical, ‘whetting appetites' and providing toolkits rather than in-depth instruction, with the goal of teaching readers 'to become adept at a whole-systems approach to living in and finding solutions in cities, towns, and suburbs.' Referencing livable-city innovators such as Jane Jacobs and human-scale design thinkers such as Christopher Alexander, Hemenway shows how permaculture concepts can be stretched and rethought in an urban setting to include not just one's house, garden, and yard but also neighbors, parks, and city agencies.”
"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
“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
“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
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About the Author
Toby Hemenway was the author of the first major North American book on permaculture, Gaia’s Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture, as well as The Permaculture City. 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 associate editor of Permaculture Activist, a journal of ecological design and sustainable culture, from 1999 to 2004. He taught permaculture and consulted and lectured on ecological design throughout the country, and his writing appeared in magazines such as Whole Earth Review, Natural Home, and Kitchen Gardener. Toby passed away in 2016.
Visit his web site at www.patternliteracy.com
Product details
Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing (July 31, 2015)
Language: English
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Biography
Toby Hemenway is the author of Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture, which for the past six years has been the world's best-selling book on permaculture, a design approach based on ecology for creating sustainable landscapes, homes, communities, and workplaces. He has been an adjunct professor in the School of Graduate Education at Portland State University, Scholar-in-Residence at Pacific University, and a biologist consultant for the Biomimicry Guild. He teaches, consults, and lectures on permaculture and ecological design throughout the US and other countries. His writing has appeared in magazines such as Natural Home, Whole Earth Review, and American Gardener. He lives in Sebastopol, California, where he is developing sites and resources for urban and small-town sustainability.
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Top Reviews
Lorecrystal
5.0 out of 5 starsAwesome!December 24, 2016
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
This is Toby Hemenway's last work before his death in December 2016. It is a wonderful introduction to design thinking, focused on the use of permaculture in towns & cities (where most people live these days). Since I am familiar with permaculture, only about half the book was new information, but it is worth buying for the other books mentioned alone.
11 people found this helpful
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Really good start to a great series
5.0 out of 5 starsAn Amazing Follow Up To Bill Mollison's pioneering Book Permaculture: A designers Manual!!!!!!!March 25, 2016
Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase
If you are tired of hearing about all our social and environmental problems and want practical solutions that you an ordinary person can put to easy practice in the city, suburb or town you live in, you have to read this book! This book can help you do things to battle climate change, rebuild run down neighborhoods, and rejuvenate your local environment and economy, n you can start with your own home.
10 people found this helpful
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danny
5.0 out of 5 starsWonderful Application of PermacultureOctober 22, 2018
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As always, Toby Hemenway's book is well-written and thoroughly detailed, cited, and thoughtful. Toby starts the book with an introduction to permaculture and then starts to make his case for how a city can be green. The general format of how Toby approaches topics in this book is with a brief history of the subject of that chapter (which is quite useful to see how history has shaped our perceptions and beliefs), and then he applies the same four or five methods to each subject to explain how the needs of that chapter can be met through a permaculture lens. What I appreciated the most from the book was how Toby applied "Mission, Goals, Strategy, and Techniques" to each section. His focus on stepping back from the techniques-perspective of hsi book was especially important for getting me to see the bigger picture and how to find the right techniques for a given situation or place. The most interesting chapters for me were Chapters 8 and 9, which were about human interactions and making a community. I had not considered to think about people this way before, through the permaculture lens, and now it is a lot more interesting to figure out how to improve relationships with others and how to effectively get things done wherever I am.
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Brad B.
5.0 out of 5 starsGreat read and very inspiring.August 11, 2017
Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase
This is a truly amazing book that can change your mental framework going forward. I love how the author addresses all aspects of life through the permacultute lens. I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to create a change in culture, whether that be political, ecological, or economical.
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Yaqoub Al Meer
5.0 out of 5 starsTotally recommended for people interested in urban designJanuary 22, 2018
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Engaging and informative.
Totally recommended for people interested in urban design, the environment, or gardening.
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Karl Treen
5.0 out of 5 starsVery important book. Well done.February 14, 2017
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The book we've been waiting for. Not a list of techniques but a translation of principles. This important book should definitely be in your collection.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 starsRecommend to Everyone!!June 23, 2017
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Amazing book with very helpful and diverse information and I love how he breaks ideas down so it is easy to understand, but not unnecessarily. I recommend this book to everybody and is useful if you are designing a small yard to a few acres or are interested in how we can make cities more sustainable and energy efficient.
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micki madison
5.0 out of 5 starsFive StarsFebruary 18, 2017
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great book so sad to see that Toby is not with us any more.
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