Embedded Files
Full recording available to
What design structures do we have available & how do we use them?
There are several design structures available to use.
These consist of a sequence of steps that help the designer keep to a systematic approach.
Beyond these are the design frameworks that help us place our designs in a wider context.
The most comprehensive framework is our world-view, which greatly influences which designs we do, why & how.
In this class we will study the different kinds of structures we have at our disposal
Whether we are aware of this or not, we all use design structures when we start creating anything, & often we stick to the same one/s through habit, because we don't know there are many alternatives that might make our designing more productive.
To the extent that these structures are un-conscious we end up reproducing destructo-cultural patterns in new & original ways.
Permaculture designers collect & study these in some detail because becoming aware of them greatly amplifies our design literacy & so make us much more effective designers.
Natural Succession patterns (which we use a lot in Permaculture design, because we are generally interested in accellerating natural successions toward higher fertility, biodiversity, effectiveness, etc.) are also frameworks, as all models are, to a smaller or larger extent.
As design frameworks help us see where we are in a design process, or cycle, other types of frameworks are also very useful in terms of mapping processes, especially when they can get messy, or where we need to be more conscious of possible pitfalls.
Our world vision is a basic structure on top of which we base (often without realizing) all that we design.
It's good to question those now & again.
Here we propose some points of view to consider as design frameworks.
This is a more complex and very useful kind of map or framework that attempts to show us the various patterns that any life event can go through.
It is useful (if applied) in the same way any other framework can help us: with this map we can orient ourselves and choose more consciously which path we wish to take, or understand why other paths happen.
(If you have done Module 1 you will have seen another version of this pattern in the class on groups and communities)
Pages in this chapter:
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse