Systemic design

Systemic design is related to permaculture and is a tool for creating regenerative solutions, including socially and economically sustainable solutions. Systemic design can be seen in the context of the permaculture principle “design from patterns to details”.

A systemic design can start with a loosely defined desire for a future situation. In systemic design, systems thinking is used to see the bigger picture. Systems thinking helps us understand the complex situation we face, because “any design is either an element in a system or a system in itself, and is part of subsequent causal entanglements”.

With the help of visualization, you can understand complex systems and map the entire landscape you are designing in, and identify where you can and how to intervene.

Systemic design can include social systems and service systems. In systems thinking, relationships can be highlighted, because it is relationships that cause something to happen in the system. A change in one part of the system leads to changes elsewhere in the system through the way the part is connected to other parts.

When I design, I start by considering the four life-giving elements: air, fire, water and earth. The place has changed from nature to settlement and intensive cultivation. What changes are necessary for the settlement? How can I recreate the ecosystem of nature into my design? How do I recreate balance in nature as a result of settlement and intensive cultivation?Muskedalen provides an educational picture of the cycle from nature to a settlement and back to nature. The runoff from the hill onto the fields illustrates groundwater in practice. For the sake of order, the logging field on the right belongs to the neighbor. I have never hired a contractor with a forestry machine.

Primary resource use:

First, I consider the water in the system. The water resources here are good and the groundwater is local. Just above the house there is a hill and a small marshy forest. This provides a good water inflow to the house, and the well that supplies the farm with water. The runoff from the hill also provides water for the vegetable soil. The runoff from the yard leads to the upper pond in the garden.

Greywater is treated in an approved greywater plant. Mixing feces with water is not a good idea. An incineration toilet is used as a temporary solution. For urine, a urine plant has been built, which consists of a urine pit with a nursery above.

There is a great need for soil here, and compost is an important resource. There are compost systems for food waste, plant residues and wood. A first goal is to grow most of the food eaten in the summer itself. By building an underground cellar, the food can be stored through the winter.

Water system around the house and yard: blue lines are open water, green lines are buried drainage and red is tap water.

The area around the house was wet and there was probably runoff from the neighbor's area, which is higher in the terrain. It is not unlikely that there is an origin there, water that has come up from the bedrock. In this area, there is more often than not too much water than too little water.
Much of the drainage work that has been done here is a result of runoff from the neighbor's area, and the formation of the bedrock. On the map you can see that the runoff from the neighbor's forest goes down into the yard, that water is led out into the gutter.

Drought periods also occur, and then a water system is required that can balance the amount of water. The map does not show the cultivation system with ditches and raised beds, but shows the ponds in between. The map shows both existing and future elements.
The blue lines show open water in the well, ponds and gutters.
The green lines on the map show drainage pipes that have been buried. The green arrows show the water inflow.
The red lines show tap water under pressure, both well water and pumped water.
The yellow line shows the path of urine from the urinal to the urinal pit.
The brown line shows the greywater from the house to the greywater system.

Secondary resource use:
Processing food so that it can be stored using various techniques such as canning, fermenting and, last but not least, making wine.

There is a modest electrical system here, which limits the use of electrical energy. Electrical energy is considered good energy that is used to power lights, electronics, motors and occasional heating. Self-cut wood is used for heating, and solar heat is stored directly.

The drawing shows how the site is intended to function, with both existing and planned elements.

The yellow lines show the movement pattern for household-related activities. In the zoning system, the yellow lines belong to zone 1. This is where the most frequently used items in daily life are placed.

The blue lines show the movement pattern for work-related activities. The blue fields show intensive cultivation. In the zoning system, the blue lines and fields are related to zone 2.

The movement pattern changes with the seasons. In winter, there is activity around the firewood, and the cultivation beds are resting. In summer, there is full activity in the cultivation beds, while the winter wood dries.

The red lines show the movement pattern for tractors and cars.