Resources

Permaculture Research Institutes, Courses, & Curricula

• Permaculture Institute, Inc, headed by Jason Gerhardt (USA) and Natalia Vega (Costa Rica)
• Permaculture Institute of North America (PINA), professional association of regional hubs across North America and Hawaii
• Permaculture Research Institute, headed by Geoff Lawton (Australia)
  

Permaculture Design Certificate Courses

Many permaculture design certification (PDC) opportunities are popping up across the globe. Before registering, however, you may wish to verify that the certification provided is recognized as valid by the Permaculture Institute Inc. (http://www.permaculture.org/). Permaculture Institute Inc. is a nonprofit organization founded in 1997 by Scott Pittman and Bill Mollison, dedicated to growing ecological culture.

In 2026, we launched an online training called “Permaculture Design Fundamentals” through USU Extension which culminates in a personalized USU Extension certificate. Discover more at: https://extensioncourses.usu.edu/product/permaculture-design-fundamentals/ 

Free online resources for obtaining a PDC and other permaculture training include, but aren't limited to:

• Erik Ohlsen's Regenerative Landscape Business Training free, 2-part webinar series
• Geoff Lawton's "The Permaculture Circle" free, 100+ videos, animations, and other resources
• Permaculture Women's Guild PDC free, 52 weekly lesson course
• Teaching Permaculture with Rosemary Morrow free, permaculture podcast

Curricula

• Seeds of Change: Building Community and Resilience with Plant Guilds
• Children in Permaculture Handbook
• Introduction to Permaculture Youth Activity

Videos & Documentaries

View Video Library

Articles

• Concept Plans vs Detailed Plans - Smarter than Crows
• Glossary of Permaculture Terms - Cascadia Permaculture
• Guidelines for Perennial Polyculture Design - Permaculture News
• Rain Water Harvesting
• Simple and Effective Gravity-fed Greywater Harvesting Systems Legalized in Utah
• Toward 21st Century Permaculture: Peoples' Science or Pseudoscience?
• Thermal Mass "Fruit Walls" - The Original Greenhouse
• The Role of Trees and Forests in Healthy Watersheds
• Cities in Transition: The Role of Urban Planning in Energy Policy
• The Value of Incorporating Nature in Urban Infrastructure Planning

Websites

• Cascadia Permaculture (Jude Hobbs)
• Deep Green Permaculture (Principles & DIY instructions)
• Dunbar/Spring Neighborhood Foresters (Before/after photographs of Brad Lancaster's work)
• Ecosystem Restoration Camps
• Garden Wise Salt Lake City
• Gary Nabhan
• Geoff Lawton
• Greenhouse in the Snow
• Harvesting Rain Water (Brad Lancaster)
• Heartwater Farm
• Hopi Tutskwa Permaculture Institute
• Liber Junction & Backyard Permaculture
• Occidental Arts & Ecology Center, CA
• Pattern Mind (Joel Glanzberg) 
• Permaculture Association: Forest Garden Research
• Permaculture Institute
• Real Earth Design
• Swale Calculator
• USU Dish Up! : Nutrition Education in a Bowl
• USU Extension Sustainability
• USU Permaculture Blog
• Whole Systems Design (Human Habitats)

Permaculture Design Research

• Aikenhead, G. & Michell, H. (2011). Bridging Culture, Indigenous and Scientific Ways of Knowing. Don Mills ON: Pearson. ISBN: 978-0-132-10557-6 https://education.usask.ca/documents/profiles/aikenhead/bridging-cultures-description.pdf
• Bevis, Leah EM., Barrett, Christopher B. (2020). Close to the edge: High productivity at plot peripheries and the inverse size-productivity relationship. Journal of Development Economics.
• Borland, C. (2021). The Planetary Garden, Permaculture Ethics, and Frameworks of Care: Reclaiming Value of Care, Care Work and Nature Through Youth Education Programming. DePauw University. https://scholarship.depauw.edu/studentresearchother/28/
• Brain, R., Adams, J., & Lynch, J. (2017). Mitigating projected impacts of climate change and building resiliency through permaculture: A community ‘Bee Inspired Gardens’ movement in the desert Southwest, USA. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, 223(11), 505-515.
• Chapman, J.M. & Schott, S. (2020). Knowledge coevolution: generating new understanding through bridging and strengthening distinct knowledge systems and empowering local knowledge holders. Sustainability Science, 15 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11625-020-00781-2
• Ferguson, R.S. & Lovell, S.T. (2017). Livelihoods and Production Diversity on U.S. Permaculture Farms. Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, 41:6, 588-613.
• Ferguson, R.S. & Lovell, S.T. (2013). Permaculture for agroecology: Design, movement, practice, and worldview. A review. Agronomy for Sustainable Development, 34(2), 251-274.
• Ferguson, R.S. & Lovell, S.T. (2017). Diversification and Labor Productivity on US Farms. Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems.
• Finn, R. & Phillips, L.G. (2023). On the certainty of entanglements with ecocide: pragmatic action for responsive pedagogy inspired by ecological psychology and permaculture, Educational Review, 75:1, 115-133, DOI: 10.1080/00131911.2021.2001438
• Forte Taylor, R.C., Clark, O.G. & Malard-Adam, J.J. Assessment of permaculture integration into gray and mainstream scientific literature in four languages. A review. Agron. Sustain. Dev. 45, 36 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13593-025-01017-2
• Hostetler, M. (2020). Cues to care: future directions for ecological landscapes. Urban Ecosyst,  https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-020-00990-8
• Kapyrka, J., & Dockstator, M. (2012). Indigenous Knowledges and Western Knowledges in environmental education : Acknowledging the tensions for the benefits of a “ two-worlds ” approach. Canadian Journal of Environmental Education, 17, 97–112. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ990624
• Laursen, S., Puniwai, N., Genz, A.S., Nash, S.A.B., Canale, L.K., & Ziegler-Chong, S. (2018). Collaboration across worldviews: managers and scientists on Hawaiʻi Island utilize knowledge coproduction to facilitate climate change adaptation. Environmental Management, 62(4): 619-630. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-018-1069-7
  
• Mang, P. & Red, B. (2011). Designing from Place: A Regenerative Framework and Methodology. Building Research & Information, 40(1), 23-38.
• McCann, R., Spangler, K. & Millison, A. (2021). Life paths to leading systems-level change: Higher education's pitfalls and potential. Sustainability & Climate Change, 14(4). https://doi.org/10.1089/scc.2021.0005
• Ross, N. (2023). Permaculture Curriculum for Public School Children in the United States. Hamline University. https://digitalcommons.hamline.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1919&context=hse_cp
• Roux-Rosier, A., Azambuja, R., & Islam, G. (2018). Alternative visions: Permaculture as imaginaries of the Anthropocene. Organization, 25(4), 550-572. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350508418778647
• Spangler, K.,McCann, R. & Ferguson, R. (2021). (Re-)Defining permaculture: Perspectives of permaculture teachers and practitioners across the United States. Sustainability, 13(10). https://doi.org/10.3390/su13105413
• Yadav, S.P.S., Lahutiya, V.,   Ghimire, N.P., et al. (2023). Exploring innovation for sustainable agriculture: A systematic case study of permaculture in Nepal. Heliyon, 9(5). DOI 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e15899

Extension Fact Sheets and Guides

• Attracting Pollinators to Your Yard Using Native Plants
• Food Forests
• Getting Started with Permaculture Living
• Greywater
• Permaculture
• Noxious Weed Field Guide for Utah
• Vegetable, Fruit, and Herb Book
• Urban Edibles: Ornamentals
• Urban Edibles: Weeds
• USU Campus Tree ID
• Nurturing Native Plants: A Guide to Vegetative Propagation of Native Woody Plants in Utah
• Start Your Own Seedlings Outdoors

Permaculture Design Plans & Manuals

• Beacon Food Forest, Seattle WA.
• Teal Farm, Huntington VA. Design Plan
• Utah State University Moab, Moab UT. Design Plan

Utah State University, Moab, Moab UT. As-Built Garden Map and Key, designed by Claire Core:

• Northeast garden map
• Southeast garden map
• Shade islands map
• Front entry garden map
• Canyon gardens map
• Plant palette map key

Utah State University Moab Site Operation Manual 

Utah State University, Moab New Campus Architectural Design Plans Phase 1: USU MOAB Feasibility Study (includes an entire chapter on permaculture design for the campus)