research_report_sanjeev-shankar [the libarynth]

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Note: This research began with the working title, 'Gro World - Urban Permaculture' which has now been modified to 'Gro World - RUrban Permaculture'. The researcher has found strong, continuous links between Indian cities and the immediate rural surroundings. This is an important departure from cities elsewhere. These urban villages produce food, milk and other services for the city. 'RUrban' refers to this symbiotic relationship.

Introduction

Plants are the centre of the web of life. The growth of urban centres around the globe has had a critical impact on ecology. Some of the questions at the core of this research are:

Is there an ecological limit to economic growth?
Do we have the right to consider human beings as more valuable than other life forms?
Is there an option to treating forests as sacrifice zones for urban growth ?
Can we afford to place nature as an object, which is manipulated, commodified and sold?
How can we imagine a fertile future for our cities?

This project explores aspects of human environment, its relation with ecology and our attempt for sustainable growth. The relevant fields of inquiry are urban ecology, sustainability, human plant interaction and biomorphism. It documents the global status of urban permaculture and explores ways in which we can transform our cities into productive, healthy, edible and playful green visions. In recent years there has been a growing public movement to bring ecology out of the bush and into the urban environments where most people spend their time. While, this is important, people are still grappling with the problem of a balance between 'growth' and conservation. And this is not limited to emerging cities. The thrust of this research and thereby this project is to explore methods to initiate collective public action to bridge this gap.

The objectives of Phase 1 are given below:

On-line and literature survey of state of the art in urban gardening and permaculture (global perspective)
On-site research and comparison of urban gardening in the Benelux and India
On-site research of Gurukula Botanical Sanctuary, focusing on preserving and increasing biodiversity
Design for urban gardening prototypes and kits
Article for the Luminous Green publication on the Gurukula Botanical Sanctuary
Participation in the Research Gathering in October 2007
Participation in the groWorld design session in April 2008
A written report in the prescribed format

The findings of this research would find use in regions, which have a strong tradition of agriculture: China, Japan, India, Guatemala, Costarica and Peru, to name a few. And, through a comparative analysis of the urban character, gardening trends and culture of Europe and India, this research aims to bring out aspects which can inform a sustainable growth pattern in these regions. Further, the section on urban permaculture kits, explores a series of design experiments which could act as catalysts for product solutions and initiatives for a sustainble city.

Some of the reasons for this project are as follows:

Uncontrolled growth of cities has had a devastating impact on ecology.
By the end of 2008, half the world's population will be living in cities for the first time in history.(according to a UN report)
Cities are becoming increasingly polluted, unhealthy and disconnected with other life forms.
Urban problems include acute hunger, unemployment, inflation, urban sprawl, rising poverty, expensive health care and sharp increase in cars.
Food crisis is futher compounded by increased use of pesticides, herbicides, biocides and rapidly deteriorating soil quality.
There has been an acute drop in forest cover and a sharp increase in desert area.
Natural and traditional systems are a crucial resource and can offer us remedies. Problems can be seen as opportunities.

For details on the methodology of this project please click on method.

Permaculture

Permaculture is an integrated, evolving, multidimensional and creative design response to a world of declining energy and resource availability with emphasis on design processes drawn from nature. It is about holistic values, design and systems of management. It also reflects the ongoing evolution of our knowledge systems and can be applied to other areas requiring holistic thinking, for example: human settlements, business enterprises, political and economic systems, learning environments, health field and child rearing. For more on this topic please see history of permaculture

Urban Permaculture

In urban situations, space is limited, there may be little or no access to land, and various regulatory restrictions exist when it comes to gardening or having backyard animals.¹⁾ Some of the concepts that people have used in urban settings are discussed below. These are a mix of approaches, ranging from gardening to co-parenting, going across different aspects of sustainability. Further the character of cities in the western world is extremely different from the eastern world. These differences work at social, political and physical level and have shaped these cities. The examples discussed here are therefore quiet diverse, but the vision of “no loss” and a practical aspect of “community” links them all. For more on this topic please see urban permaculture concepts.

Possibilities for urban permaculture kits

This section explores a series of initiatives which could trigger independent green worlds. see urban permaculture kits

Discussion

see site visit and survey notes

Directions

The idea of growth and sustainability is a journey and not a destination. It is constantly unfolding and evolving. The insights and lessons through this journey go beyond farming. Since, the nature of farming and land is highly interconnected, it affects every aspect of our society. The author would like to conclude with the following directives:

The first step is to bring out the connection which exists between a fertile soil and healthy crops, healthy animals and healthy human beings. Land must be safeguarded from the operations of finance and our needs have to be more clearly streamlined. A gradual approach for recovering the land is needed and the benefits of this shared with everyone.

The demographic breakdown and scale of impact must be taken into consideration. There is an urgent need for integration. This is extremely crucial in countries like India and Bangladesh, where a large section of the population is poor, illiterate and remains disconnected from the mainstream.

The most insightful ideas are also the most basic. These can come from any source, independent of age, status and academic background.

Urban communities should join hands with rural areas to create a prosperous and contented countryside, which inturn would become a great support for our future.

Critical focus on agricultural research backed by scientific education, traditional wisdom, aggressive trial and error and practical farming experience. This field needs action. We need spirited individuals willing to do physical work with strategic technical assistance.

From an urban farming perspective, personal kitchen gardens seem most effective. They are small, dispersed, diverse, flexible, simple to maintain, easily transformed and directly impact the food situation at a family and community level. They personify the idea of self reliance and feeding ourselves and can be catalysts for larger green initiatives at community, regional level.

The need for a gradual shift towards a 'we' and 'us' based culture from a 'me' and 'I' based approach. This is one of the most crucial directives and also one of the most difficult to achieve. In some way, it amounts to tranforming the culture of a place and a group. Collective communities like India, are facing a reverse trend with the recent shift towards a capitalist, individual based, self serving attitude under the influence of 'progress'. This can have serious impact owing to the sheer magnitude of India's population. Spirituality, media and the government can play a purposeful role to check this shift. Ironically, a lot of traditional economies which were based on capitalist ideologies are reflecting on a more holistic, inclusive and sustainable approach. Ideas of 'social capitalism' and 'social entrepreneurship' are hopeful signs.

There is a need for information 'exchange' and collaborations between different cultures and contexts to develop a 'greater' system with self reliance and interdependence. Strategic assimilation as a design approach has valid relevance. There needs to be a balance between clear streamlined structures and flexible organic systems; between small self organised clusters and larger fabrics; between independent points of view and a general concensus.

In cultural contexts, links with tradition should involve the use of past processes of change rather than the maintenance of past structures and patterns. We have to constantly reevaluate and revalidate our responses and ideas of 'growth' and 'progress' in such turbulent and recursive times. Such metaphors of progress and growth must move towards leaving things inside us rather than behind us. Having said that, if a thing needs to disintegrate and be left behind, we must let it go and let new systems be born. The aspect of ethics is important in such a situation and should be openly discussed.

We must constantly strive to create fertile and diverse systems which bring culture and nature together. This could be through technology, media or traditional mediums. An important example is the use of science and technology through 'e-choupals'in rural Indian villages to increase crop productivity('choupal' is a hindi term for a village gathering place) .

Suggestions

The researcher would like to suggest the following threads for the future:

Looking at traditional systems of living, farming and education in India which are comparable to permaculture as a holistic approach. The researcher would like to research on Vedanta²⁾ and other aspects of Indian philosophy.

Analysing the attributes of community based approaches in countries like India and how can we create such initiatives in western societies.

Rethinking our relationship with other life forms in an infinitely interconnected world.

Finding appropriate ways and methods to bring 'ethical' thinking as a core topic in design education and education in general.

Creating an International Platform for Growth and Resilience, which tinkers towards a more inclusive, collaborative methodology through a system of integration, informed by scientific research, practical experience, randomness, risk and travel. One of the intiatives could be to bring apparently polar groups together to find a common ground. These groups could include men with women; young with old; scientists with traditional farmers; environmentalists with corporate executives; capitalists with social entrepreneurs; secular groups with military regime heads; real estate developers with conservationists; politicians with middle class people; middle class western families with parallel families from the east and so on. At a regional level, the model could work in a bottom up manner with conflicting interest groups being brought together to openly discuss issues.

Creating tangible manifestations of human plant interaction to nudge it out of the speculative zone. How would a new relevant design practice emerge through observation of and cooperation with natural systems? The researcher envisions the emergence of a new field of research which merges aspects of urban ecology, design ethnography, cultural anthropology and life science.

Ultimately thinking of ways in which we can create conditions that make independent ingeniuos ideas inevitable and further trigger collective actions in imaginative, purposeful ways.

The claims and insights in this research have been informed by the interviews, site visits and surveys conducted by the design researcher. The surveys have been based on online research and published papers and books.

Books

An Agricultural Testament by Sir Albert Howard
Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability by David Holmgren

URLs

Films

Power of community: Produced by the community solution organization, the film explores the peak oil crisis with focus on community based solutions that reflect the values of cooperation, conservation and curtailment. The film captures the free fall of Cuba's economy in early 90's with the fall of the Soviet Union and its turnaround using drastic measures to become self reliant. It demonstrates the role of community in dealing with acute challenges. Every aspect of cuban life was affected by the 'special period', but no change was as far reaching as agriculture. Cuba was forced to switch to survival agriculture from the green revolution practices it was accustomed to. A drastic effort to convert every piece of arable land to organic agriculture was begin. An urban agriculture movement resulted where every vacant lot in the city was converted into an orchard. Under urban gardening, idle plots of land were identified, cleaned and turned into gardens by the community. The people cooperating and caring about each other were the main factors for the turnaround. With sustainable practices Cuba found that it took 3 to 5 years to rehabilitate the soil again. To increase food production the government worked with farmers to find local solutions. The result was smaller farms and cooperatives with a high degree of privatization and autonomy. These were able to use sustainable practices in a much more efficient manner and created new ways of decentralized growth under a larger umbrella. With a more stable method of land distribution and ownership, thousands moved to rural areas. The impact was also felt in the education, housing, transportation and energy alternatives realms resulting in improvised solutions from the people and the government which has not only created a unique model for all of us but also reinstilled faith in the power of simple steps taken at a community level.

Bill Mollison-Global Gardener Series 1-4
Bill Mollison-Funding the Revolution
Bill Mollison-Permaculture Design Course
Farming with Nature-A case study of successful temperate Permaculture
Permaculture- Sepp Holzer - Aquaculture-Synergy of Land and Water

¹⁾

http://www.permaculture.org/nm/index.php/site/Urban/

²⁾

http://vedantaworld.org/vedanta.htm

Gro World - RUrban Permaculture

Introduction

Permaculture

Urban Permaculture

Regional Cultural peculiarities

Europe and India _ urban farming

Orient and Occident_ agricultural methods

Possibilities for urban permaculture kits

Discussion

Directions

Suggestions

References