06081 Access/Transportation Design Challenges

You have got to connect your land use decisions with transportation decisions. — Tim Caine

In permaculture, we learn design by actually doing design. The purpose of the Design Challenges document in each of the sections is to give you practice doing design. Each challenge document has some small projects that you can work that will help you to develop design skills. Never forget that none of these challenges exists in isolation. Each is an aspect of the holistic design for your life that is the iPermie goal!

Design a way to get to work or school by walking, public transportation, bicycle, or a combination methods that do not require the use of a personal car. Assume that using a car is simply not an option, either because you can't afford to own and drive a car, or because fossil fuels are not available for private use.

Note that for the purpose of this exercise it doesn’t matter if the end result is practical for daily use outside of a fossil fuel emergency, although of course there are always bonus points for practicality. The point of this design exercise is to jump start your mind to think about transportation in ways other than “get in the car and drive.” This process starts with “open the door and walk down the sidewalk” and goes from there.

Design a way to get to the other aspects of your life (shopping, entertainment, friends, family), by non-automobile transportation.

If the only way to get there is by walking, go ahead and design this, as it should give you some good perspectives about the geographies of your life. NB: Google Maps will figure a walking path for you between two destinations on its map system.

If as you work through these design problems, you find no practical result for regular use, design a different geographic relationship between the place you live, and the places you work, study, shop, worship, play. Where is the sweet spot in the geographic destinations of your life for your Zone 1.