Natural Elements
About Natural Elements
In Permaculture Design The Natural Elements or ‘Sectors’ deal with forces and influences in your landscape, such as sun, light, wind, rain, fire, views and water flow. Good planning and design allows us to manage incoming energies for system advantage, identify where they come from, and either enhance them or protect our systems from them. When developing a design these external energies that flow across the site, or features that are outside your boundary, are mapped and then at each stage of the design’s development they are considered as resources that can be used to enhance the quality of the environment.
Examples of Natural elements / sectors include:
Winds – direction, qualities (ie hot, cold, strong, gentle), frequency
Sun path – winter and summer
Typical fire direction
Water flows, flood prone areas
Access – roads and pathways
Pollution sources – noise, air, water, chemical, visual…
Driving rain, storms and cyclones
Wildlife, animals – movement patterns, habitat corridors
Utilities – power, phone, gas etc.
Neighboring activities
Some of the ways that the Natural elements / sectors are factored in design:
For passive cooling design
For passive humidity control design
For hazard mapping and site protection from hazards
For water use management
For storm water management
For designing the site in a way that will reduce pollutants on site
For harmonizing with and enhancing natural eco systems
For ensuring maximum efficiency in utilities supply
For enhancing social relationships on site
The natural elements map of Taman Petanu