Design for Resilient Human Settlements

This is the second story from the learning process in Millenrama. You can read the first here.

The week 5-9th of May 2010 team El Manzano was hosted in Millenrama, Mantagua, 5th region to run an Applied Permaculture Design course.
As El Manzano tests ideas for assisting people and communities to engage in transition and design for resilient human settlements, the team develops competency in the delivery of catalytic learning events, in facilitation and leadership by design. As the experience is reviewed once again it is confirmed that there is no power equal to a community deciding what it will become.

Joined by colleagues from the Chileno Institute of Permaculture and associates of the Permaculture Diploma system, the weekend was a multifunctional learning event on many scales. The team emerged content with a deeper level of professionalism, the clients inspired and more confident in their shared vision, and the students moved to participate, not only in the Permaculture community but also in this new emerging community of transition in Millenrama.  

This five day course is a basic introduction to permaculture design, in practice. With a group of clients, in this case the team of six from Millenrama who are in the process of forming a new community project, and students from all over the 5th and metropolitan regions, we move through the design process step by step in order to take full advantage of many minds, ideas and multiple skills. Participants make sense together about the present state of the world and possible futures that we might weave, they find practical experience in observation, analysis, design, presentation, communication, the basic process required for co-creating our world.

We quickly formed a group among the diverse participants, not an easy thing to do anywhere...let alone in Chile. And once again we have learned that functional diversity is healthy, that difference of opinion and conflict are normal parts of being together, they provide food for creativity. We recognise that the critical challenge in sustainability is working together in alignment, and that alignment is a choice we can all make. We can choose to put aside our differences in the common good. We can quickly find common ground and create a space for the full participation of everyone.

We learn that common sense, a collective ´´knowing´´, can be found, can help communities to find long term pathways, and to identify the next achievable steps. By being together in practical conversation our consciousness is raised, our cultures are transformed, and as we return to our own homes we find new ways for shaping the daily lived-in worlds around us. We learn that by making small humble acts we can leverage our networks and catalyse large and powerful change.  

A big thank you to the team from Millenrama. We are sure that this project is one that will make a difference in the region and provide a focal point for collective action for sustainability. Welcome to you, as a new node of the international learning community for transition.

If you would like to particpate in the formation of this living university in Chile and develop your own regional node contact us today, join the conversation. If you would like to run an applied design course with your community contact us today. 

For more information about Millenrama visit the website or contact them today to see how you can participate.