Permaculture: A Regenerative Solution for Business, Community and Lifestyle

The course will offer an introduction to the permaculture design framework as a tool for thinking innovatively and critically about sustainable and regenerative approaches to business, community and lifestyle. ‘Permaculture’ offers a holistic design framework for creating regenerative ways of living that aim to maximize beneficial relationships, through observing, emulating and working with rather than against nature (broadly defined) to enhance resilience, diversity, productivity and stability. The permaculture framework is increasingly being applied worldwide to support and inspire more sustainable lifestyles and communities, to improve biodiversity, energy efficiency, mental health, sanitize consumption, and design livable, humane social systems. Permaculture principles can be used foster responsible production and consumption through a whole-systems approach. In a business context, the principles have been applied to support sustainable business development and circularity; in communities they have been used to enhance wellbeing and strengthen social networks as well as alternative forms of social organization; and in lifestyles they have been used to inspire more humane and sustainable consumption, among others. The course will address ways in which permaculture is being used to rethink the three course areas: i) business ii) community iii) lifestyle. Critical perspectives on permaculture will also be addressed.

Course leader

Isabel Froes - Department of Management, Society and Communication Maribel Blasco - Department of Management, Society and Communication

Target group

This is a bachelor level course. CBS Summer University courses at Copenhagen Business School is open to all and welcomes domestic and international students as well as professionals.

Course aim

Identify a real-life problem facing businesses/community/lifestyle when it comes to living up to sustainability goals, and formulate this problem as a research question Describe how the permaculture framework can support regenerative approaches in the chosen domain of study Apply the permaculture framework to a case selected by the student group within one of the three course themes Critically evaluate the applicability of the permaculture framework for addressing the problem in question Apply the PC principles in designing/organising your own project and/orgroupwork process, and reflect on the benefits and challenges of doing this