GEOG 103 Introduction to Human Geography

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Permaculture in urban areas

Bill Mollison, the famous Australian researcher said in his book ‘Introduction to Permaculture’ that "Permaculture is the conscious design of agriculturally productive ecosystems which have diversity, stability, and resilience of natural ecosystems." (Vitari & David, 2017). Permaculture refers to the system of social and agricultural design principles, which are centered around the simulation of the features and patterns of the natural ecosystem. This concept allows the thought that the social traits are extremely important part of a sustainable life system. Permaculture includes the branches of ecological design, environmental design and construction, and ecological engineering (Hathaway, 2016). It is also concerned about the management of integrated water resources, helping in the development of sustainable agriculture.

According to Krishnan et al. (2016), permaculture is an artistic and scientific procedure for the creation and restructure of human settlement to meet the basic needs of humanity i.e., shelter, clean water, food, community and energy, in such a way that it not only becomes sustainable but also regenerates the natural resources and biodiversity actively. Whatever be the activity of construction and designing, the practice of permaculture begins at the very first step of working with the nature. That way, people can make healthy habitat and preservation of natural resources for the present and future generations. It is a result of detailed observation and practices of thousand years across the world to preserve the natural ecosystems and make sustainable developments. In the era of urbanization the practice of permaculture has become extremely important to maintain the balance of the nature.

People and the communities are part of the nature. Hence, the habitats for people have strong effects on the nature. All the lives on earth are interdependent and the collective actions of human beings determine if the future generation would experience abundance of resources or scarcity. In the process of urbanization, people designed the cities, towns and farms in a way that exploits the sources of groundwater, oil, gas and other sources of energy and injects toxic elements into the nature. This makes the system unsustainable. The valleys, coastlines and diverse forests have turned into deserts, and damaged barren landscapes due to the practice of urbanization, which is becoming extremely unsuitable for habitation. Thus, the urban areas need permaculture to maintain a connection with the nature (Armstrong & Lopes, 2016).

According to a report by United Nations, almost 66% of the population of the world would be living in cities and towns by 2050. The cities place a heavy burden on the planet in terms of exploitation of resources, such as water, food, energy. Therefore, it is vital that the cities should be self-sustaining and consider about the needs of the every living being. Implementation of permaculture systems and other sustainable methods can help the cities to generate their own energy, to produce their food, capture and conserve the water, and recycle the energy. Hence, rather than exploiting the scarce resources, the cities can contribute in generation and preservation of the resources by implementing permaculture. This way, forests can be recovered, degraded and damaged landscapes can be restored along the global ecosystems, and providing for the basic needs of the human beings.

Middle et al. (2014), say in their literature that, urban permaculture is a harmonic interaction or connection between the natural ecosystems and artificial materials. Hence, sustainable city planning is the basis of urban permaculture. These practices encourage people to foster and rehabilitate the private and public lands with sustainable systems. The principles of these systems are to look after the planet and the people, put limitation on the resource consumption and bring equality in surplus distribution. Thus, to fulfill these objectives, the planning of the urban areas has to be intentional. This needs collaboration with the nature in a respectable way for creating a supportive environment for all the living beings. However, to implement these, new regulations and policies should be formulated and enforce. So that further degradation of the environment can be prevented. In such practices, there is multiuse of land, which helps in the creation of the smart cities. The smart cities integrate the activities like shopping, work, recreation along with housing.

Urban permaculture and sustainable urban planning include the techniques of ecological construction for the commercial, residential and public purposes and use the recycled materials. For example, the usage of carbon-friendly temperature control systems, water systems that capture rain water and reduce the usage of freshwater, implementing green roof to reduce air pollution in urban areas. Green roof also helps in natural insulation. Along with that, the plantation of fruit trees, nuts, and vegetables helps in the improvement of biodiversity. The community gardens help in reducing the soil damage and replenish the urban lands. The increase in the availability of the food locally can help in saving the energy from transportation of food from distant places (Mann, 2014).

In Canada and United States, the permaculture has seen a significant growth in the last decade. There are many permaculture projects in the continent of North America. For example, Prospect Rock Permaculture is one of the oldest permaculture firms in Vermont. They produce a variety type of fruits and nuts, berries, vines, vegetables, medicinal herbs, teas and eggs, and honey. They also host many workshops on permaculture in urban areas. In Pittsburgh, a food forest is being developed by People’s Garden on a barren landslide. In the Mid West, one of the many permaculture institutes is Central Rocky Mountain Permaculture Institute. In Canada, there are many eco villages in the Ontario and British Columbia (Vitari & David, 2017).

The benefits of permaculture are the nurture and care of the earth, people, fair share of the population and consumption, less waste of resources, cost reduction, less pollution, development of community values, creating resistance to chemicals, promoting green living and diversity, and improvement in the environmental conditions. Usage of the natural components leads to reduction of cost, otherwise spent for conventional farming. Since the products are recycled, therefore the wastages are reduced. Pollution is reduced due to plantation. Natural fertilizers are used for faming leading to the chemical resistance. There are many more permaculture processes that help in improving the sustainable development of the environment (Viljoen & Howe, 2012).

The challenges faced the permaculture practices are usage of energy, effects of urban heat island, waste of natural resources, lack of food, shortage of water, poverty, unemployment, transportation, pollinator rescue, and loss of natural habitation. As the number of cities is increasing globally, the demand for energy is increasing for electricity, heating and cooling, water pumping and sewerage etc. Lack of vegetation in the cities increases the temperature and contributes in global warming. With the rise in urbanization, the wastage of natural resources and water also increases. The farmlands are going far from the cities, hence, the cost of delivery and transportation is rising. Along with these, there are other challenges also which need to be taken care of for successful urban permaculture (Hathaway, 2016).

Therefore, it can be concluded that, permaculture has become a very important requirement in the urban areas of the countries. It is a step towards sustainability. By practicing permaculture, the society would not only benefit the present generation, but would also contribute towards the creation of a better future. It helps in the conversation of the natural resources and creates the harmony between the nature and the societies. Thus, for a sustainable future, all the societies must practice permaculture.

Ideal sustainable food system

Food systems refer to the way that the food travels from the field to the fork. The system include the activity of growing, cultivating, harvesting, dispensation, packaging, marketing, transporting, consuming and disposing of the food. The food system also includes the inputs and outputs of food culture. A sustainable food system is a mutual network, which integrates various elements of the nature and economy to promote a society’s economic, social and environmental well-being (Tansey & Worsley, 2014).

According to Lang & Heasman (2015), the principles of a sustainable food system are: to promote healthy life to people, by supporting the mental and physical health of the population, and enhancing the quality of food system; to make the system sustainable by conserving, protecting and regenerating the natural resources and biodiversity, and meeting the food and nutrition requirements without compromising the resources for the future generations. Along with these, the system must promote resilience to meet the challenges of volatile climate, costly water, pest resistance, and energy supplies.

ElMekawy et al. (2015) say that, the sustainable food system must be diverse in the scale and size, and include a broad range of food production and other related activities. it should also be diverse in geographical differences  of natural resources, and climate and regional heritage and culture and must provide the choice of healthy food and living for all. The systems should be fair, encouraging equality in accessing the food; transparent by providing the opportunity to gain knowledge about the food systems, and the system should be economically balanced, with the provision of wage equality.

A sustainable and healthy food system enhances and strengthens the interrelated and interdependent relationships among the various sectors of the food system and its characteristics in the economic background. An ideal sustainable food system must be able to fulfill all the principles. For example, the food system must be secure and resilient to all types of uncertainties and volatility, such as climate change, inflation, supply of inputs etc, should be affordable and accessible to all the members of a community. It should be energy efficient, must include healthy and safe food for all, contribute towards ecological health and organic farming, must support various sustainable form of rural and urban food production. The system must be able to balance the food imports with the local production capacity, and adopts the regionally suitable production process and choice of crops. There should be scope for creating awareness regarding food and agricultural issues. Recycling of wastes, water and farmland should be on focus along with conservation of resources. Lastly, there should be parity in the fair wage to the people associated with farming (Monteiro et al., 2013).

Douglas (2014) says that, in a town or a city of a developed nation, like U.S.A. or Canada, an ideal sustainable food system can be implemented. In these countries, the food consumption and production patterns have a significant effect on the food system. The fresh water reserves are decreasing, there has been increase in the pesticide resistant weeds and insects, the toxics runoffs from the chemicals to the rivers have increased. There are many more such issues. However, to confront these issues, a sustainable food system must be developed, which could change the way of food production and consumption and reverse the damages already done. To establish an ideal sustainable food system in such an urban city or town, the following steps can be taken.

Selection of a sustainable food: people should buy the food from a local firm, applying sustainable production techniques. Frozen food must be preferred to reduce wastage and get the full nutrition.

Foods with antibiotics should be avoided: in the U.S.A., almost 80% of the antibiotics are applied on the livestock to enhance their growths and prevent from diseases that come from the overcrowded, and unhygienic habitats of the animals. This practice not only damage the health of the animals, but also affects the health of the people who consume the antibiotic fed dairy and meat. Hence, in an ideal sustainable food system, antibiotics on the animals should be banned except for medical necessities, and the dairy and meat products, which are not antibiotic free certified, should be avoided (Garnett, 2014).

Supporting the right of farming in the local area: People should raise the concern of farming locally. They should support the sustainable agriculture in their locality. They should buy the products that are grown locally using sustainable farming, rather than buying the imported food.

Supporting the GMO labeling: The producers should be regulated to disclose the genetically modified food all over the country. Although there is big support for GMO labeling, it is still not widely practiced. It should be made mandatory for the producers so that people can make the decision for food purchase based on necessary information (Bystrom et al., 2014).

Raising awareness among people: the citizens of the nation must educate themselves and raise the awareness about sustainable food system. It is very crucial in the era of urbanization to know about the sustainability. Hence, it is a responsibility of the people to know about these practices and make choices for healthy food for themselves and for the family. It not only helps in the development of the community, but also promotes the sustainable development of the environment (Gliessman, 2014).

Hence, it can be said that, in an urban city or town in the U.S.A. or Canada, the production technique must include sustainable practices of using abandoned land, reduce water and resources wastes, prevent air and water pollution, reduction of chemicals, and developing resilient crops. However, this system is utopian because all the features cannot be implemented at the same time. There are challenges of funding and many other barriers. Thus, ideal sustainable food system is a utopian concept.

References:

Armstrong, H., & Lopes, A. M. (2016). Re-Ruralising the Urban Edge: Lessons from Europe, USA & the Global South. In Balanced Urban Development: Options and Strategies for Liveable Cities (pp. 17-27). Springer International Publishing.

Bystrom, R., Dow, C., Hunt, R., Lee, S., Min, M. L., Ramanaidu, K., & Turner, R. (2014). Benchmarking transitions towards a local and sustainable UBC Food System.

Douglas, M. (2014). Food in the social order. Routledge.

ElMekawy, A., Srikanth, S., Bajracharya, S., Hegab, H. M., Nigam, P. S., Singh, A., ... & Pant, D. (2015). Food and agricultural wastes as substrates for bioelectrochemical system (BES): the synchronized recovery of sustainable energy and waste treatment. Food Research International, 73, 213-225.

Garnett, T. (2014). Three perspectives on sustainable food security: efficiency, demand restraint, food system transformation. What role for life cycle assessment?. Journal of Cleaner Production, 73, 10-18.

Gliessman, S. R. (2014). Agroecology: the ecology of sustainable food systems. CRC press.

Hathaway, M. D. (2016). Agroecology and permaculture: addressing key ecological problems by rethinking and redesigning agricultural systems. Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, 6(2), 239-250.

Krishnan, S., Nandwani, D., Smith, G., & Kankarta, V. (2016). Sustainable Urban Agriculture: A Growing Solution to Urban Food Deserts. In Organic Farming for Sustainable Agriculture (pp. 325-340). Springer International Publishing.

Lang, T., & Heasman, M. (2015). Food wars: The global battle for mouths, minds and markets. Routledge.

Mann, S. (2014). Urban Agroforestry: Connecting agroecology, permaculture, urban forestry and urban agriculture with agroforestry.

Middle, I., Dzidic, P., Buckley, A., Bennett, D., Tye, M., & Jones, R. (2014). Integrating community gardens into public parks: An innovative approach for providing ecosystem services in urban areas. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 13(4), 638-645.

Mollison, B., Slay, R. M., Bourgignon, C., & Bourguignon, L. (1991). Introduction to permaculture. Tyalgum,, Australia: Tagari Publications.

Monteiro, C. A., Moubarac, J. C., Cannon, G., Ng, S. W., & Popkin, B. (2013). Ultra?processed products are becoming dominant in the global food system. Obesity reviews, 14(S2), 21-28.

Tansey, G., & Worsley, A. (2014). The food system. Routledge.

Viljoen, A., & Howe, J. (Eds.). (2012). Continuous productive urban landscapes. Routledge.

Vitari, C., & David, C. (2017). Sustainable management models: innovating through Permaculture. Journal of Management Development, 36(1).