Living Landscapes
Observe. Integrate. Design

Module 17 / 25

Design for Catastrophe

Young orchard trees, mulched beds, and paths beside a woodland edge.

A design needs to account for disruption as well as ordinary conditions. Use your site observations and the sector map from Module 6 to examine hazards relevant to the place you are designing and the systems it depends on.

The videos and readings introduce disaster, extreme weather, and community responses as design concerns. Use them to frame your site-specific research, supported by current local information. Your discussion will connect the hazards you identify with possible responses and the access, water, or power those responses would require.

Topics

  • Types of disaster, impacts, risks, planning, and responses
  • Analysis, behaviour, and mitigation

What you’ll learn

Learning goals

  • Be able to identify and prevent potential site problems through good design
  • Increase resilience by knowing how to prepare for emergencies and disasters

Read, watch & explore

Getting the books · access & editions

Use your own copy, buy the book, or borrow it through a library when possible. If you are local to me, contact me about borrowing a copy. You can also contact me for information about digital or other access to assigned readings.

If your edition uses different page numbers, contact me and we can match the correct section.

For articles, excerpts, videos, and other resources, use the links in the lesson. If a video player does not load, try its source link. If you cannot access a reading or media resource, or it has no link, contact me with the module number and resource title.

Ask about books, readings or media access ↗

Designing for disturbance

Watch

Designing for Catastrophe Video

YouTube

Consider how the site analysis changes when you examine disruption to access, water, or power.

Watch on YouTube

If the player does not load, use the source link.

Watch

Permaculture, Natural Disaster, and Community Design

YouTube

Look beyond the site’s physical features to the role of shared decisions and community responses during disruption.

Watch on YouTube

If the player does not load, use the source link.

Watch

Permaculture Design and Extreme Weather

YouTube

Relate the extreme-weather examples to the hazards you identify through current information for your own site.

Watch on YouTube

If the player does not load, use the source link.

Read

Natural disaster resistance - Permaculture Association

permaculture.org.uk

Open resource

Research risks at your site

Place the most relevant risks and responses on your sector map and in the implementation plan for your design. Distinguish reducing exposure from eliminating risk, and note any dependence on access, power, or water.

Book reading

Practical Permaculture

Jessi Bloom and Dave Boehnlein

Pages 304 to 306: A compact checklist of design-for-disaster considerations for the site-specific hazard research activity

Use current public weather, flood, wildfire, and emergency-management information for the location you are studying.

Book access & editions

Exercise & discussion

Research project: Identify the primary natural disasters and other catastrophes that could happen at your design site along with possible strategies for mitigating them. Discuss with me.

What to prepare

  • Your research notes on the primary hazards at your site and possible mitigation strategies.
  • Your sector map and implementation-plan notes showing the relevant risks, responses, and dependencies described in Research risks at your site.

Save written notes as a document or PDF. For paper maps or handwritten notes, use a clear photo or scan. You can combine related work in one file.

Share & discuss

Attach your hazard research, updated sector map, and response-plan notes.

Email the address listed under “Get In Touch” on my contact page. Do not use the contact form. Include the Permaculture Design Course, Module 17, and “Site hazards and responses” in your subject or message.

Find my email address ↗

Readings & resources

Return to the course outline ↑