Update:

As of 2018, Planet Repair’s Urban Permaculture Design Course (UPDC) has transitioned to The City Repair Project. CR is an NGO that was originally organized out of PRI, and with it’s outstanding capacity to organize and produce projects and events it has taken on the coordination of this course. Mark Lakeman remains involved as a co-lead teacher. One of the most innovative permaculture courses in the world, this UPDC is a project-based design course that includes a sequential, multiple-cycle design methodology.

For up to date information on the course, see http://www.cityrepair.org/updc.

From PRI: “Our course is embedded in the neighborhood of Sellwood, where we grapple with urban transformation in a real context dealing with real people and social dynamics, challenges, and opportunities! Each session we explore a different ‘layer’ of the possibilities for neighborhood transformation and ‘block repair’. We consider simple no-cost or low-cost interventions and small scale intensive systems that any neighborhood could implement in order to help transition our urban spaces into thriving social ecologies. Blending the whole system design methods of permaculture with the urban reclamation techniques of block repair, we explore opportunities to reclaim the commons, activate underutilized spaces, integrate water management and energy systems, take down fences, create vibrant perennial food systems, and localize our economic relations.”

Additionally, “We will be hosting many of our bioregion’s top instructors of ecological design who will cover a wide variety of topics, including soil remediation, water harvesting, food systems and forest gardening, natural building techniques, urban ecology and foraging, plant propagation and grafting techniques, small scale energy systems, and community mapping and collaborative design methods. However, our course is not limited to the classroom and theoretical learning – we will be spending lots time outside applying our knowledge, learning from hands-on techniques, and actively implementing systems that will have an immediate direct impact on the neighborhood and on the planet!”

A Poster for the second annual course, below.