Pattern Understanding

Understanding
Permaculture Design Certificate Course
Los Angeles Arboretum
October 16, 2010

Lindsay.Dailey@gmail.com
The most beautiful thing we can
experience is the mysterious.

It is the source of all true

art and science.

-Albert Einstein
 Pattern…
• …is the ordered arrangement of objects or
events in time and space

• …results from the pressure between two

elements
Astronomers model the patterns
found in galaxies
Physicists study the patterns of
the movement of atoms
Biologists study the growth
patterns of plants and animals
Meteorologists study the
atmosphere’s climate patterns
Geologists study the
patterns of the earth
Industrial Agriculturists
study the patterns of ???
Permaculture studies the patterns of the natural
world to design sustainable human settlement
Toroidal Pattern (Overbeck Jet)
Nets
Meander
Branching
Branching
Dendritic Branching Pattern
 Orders of Magnitude
and Scale
IN WATERSHEDS…
• Rivers start with sheet flow
• Rill
• Runnel
• Creek
• Stream
• River
• Estuary
 Edge
• Pattern expressed as a line
• Practical application of pattern for designers

• “Edge effect”