Validation of the interaction system for sustainable rural environments. A permaculture design approach

Abstract

This article presents the design and validation of the interactions system for the transformation of the village of San Miguel in the municipality of San Francisco – Cundinamarca into a sustainable rural environment, from a permaculture design approach. It corresponds to one of the results of a research carried out by the Colombia´s Catholic University Faculty of Design, constituting a reference to be replicated in other contexts with similar characteristics, by contributing to the sustainable development of rural territories. It proposes the conceptual and methodological articulations between design and sustainability from a permaculture approach and, from the interactions of human ecology, that is, between the human social system and the ecosystem. It also provides an instrument for the evaluation of permaculture and sustainability levels applicable in the target territory. With a bimodal methodological proposal, it addresses aspects of qualitative and applied research, under a critical social approach, for which it uses Participatory Research (PI) and Action Research (AI) as a method.