TOWARDS AN ENVIRONMENTALLY AND SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE APPROACH TO PLANNING HUMAN-HABITATS IN THE 21ST CENTURY

Abstract

An investigation into the current unsustainable situation we are in at the beginning of the 21st century, with focuses on food production and sheltering, two basic tasks that humankind has always been struggling from time immemorial to fulfill in its course of existence. These two essential tasks, manifested in modern agriculture and architectural planning, driven by the “invisible hand” of the modern profit-maximizing-based economy, have been transformed dramatically during the Industrial Revolution in the West, and especially after the Second World War on a worldwide scale. Masked in the name of “efficiency” and “growth”, modern industries and economy are implicitly bringing us all along with our planet to a destructive end, the threats of which are being recognized more and more everyday as we turn on the news. Arising as a radical alternative for this myopic, short-term thinking in planning and development, Permaculture – a holistic sustainable design framework, with its wisdom acquired from the studies of Nature and ancient traditions, with practical, small scale, day-to-day innovations, promises us a satisfying way of solving these problems of ours for a more durable future. It starts first and foremost with the two basic, vital tasks of food production and sheltering, and from there extends to cope with the other lethal mistakes we have made to our environment, society and culture. This dissertation’s aim is to deconstruct the general framework of Permaculture Design Paradigm, seeking its applications in architectural design and planning, in close relatedness with other fields of equally high importance such as: water harvesting, food production, economics, ecological design, socio-political engineering etc. It ends with a conclusion on the possibilities and also difficulties in realizing this big picture.