Permaculture in the City

Urban permaculture is more than just gardening in the city. Urban permaculture takes what we learn in the garden and applies it to a much broader human experience. In this way, we not only do plant gardening; we also do human, neighborhood, and even cultural gardening.

The purpose of this book is to teach its readers to think like permaculture designers, to enable them to master a holistic systems approach to finding solutions while living in cities.

Cities are leverage points. Unsustainable cities will drag the rest of society down with them because most human production and consumption occur in cities, and the vast majority of all products move through cities. Moreover, most ideas and cultural trends come from cities. If we cannot create regenerative urban cultures, what happens elsewhere doesn't really matter.

What permaculture designers learn by thinking about the entire system, applying food production and habitat restoration, has fundamental and primary application to human ecology in the urban environment. That's why this book cannot be solely about gardening; in fact, only about a quarter of it is.

Permaculture can be used to design small potted gardens on apartment balconies, humble but inspiring plots in allotment gardens, micro-food forests in narrow city backyards, food-producing wildlife gardens in parks, and productive farms in marginalized neighborhoods.

This book documents a new depth, versatility, and diversity in the approaches and thoughts of permaculture designers and practitioners. It contains stories and examples of hope for our cities. There are the people who live here and the wild and domesticated nature that has been heavily affected by them. Permaculture in the city was first experienced and then written for us to apply this entire experience to all functions of city life.

Toby Hemenway's first book in Turkey, "Permaculture Gardens," attracted great interest. "Permaculture in the City" is a book powerful enough to create the same impact.