PDC Design & Implementation Strategies 3

Question 1

A permaculture designer uses a scale model of a site during client consultations. This tool primarily serves to:

Accepted Answer

Help clients visualize spatial relationships and design decisions

Answer

Physical or digital models help clients and designers visualize how elements relate spatially, improving communication and design accuracy.

Question 2

What is 'guilds' in the context of permaculture design implementation?

Accepted Answer

Groups of plants that mutually support each other's growth and productivity

Answer

A guild is an assemblage of plants (and sometimes animals) selected because their combined interactions create a more productive and resilient system than any plant alone.

Question 3

When implementing water harvesting on a slope, which earthwork is designed to slow, spread, and sink water along the contour?

Accepted Answer

Swale

Answer

Swales are on-contour ditches that intercept runoff, allow it to spread horizontally, and infiltrate into the soil rather than flowing downhill.

Question 4

In permaculture, the 'problem is the solution' approach encourages designers to:

Accepted Answer

See existing site problems as resources or opportunities

Answer

Reframing problems as solutions means that a wet boggy area, for example, can be embraced as a water feature or wetland habitat rather than a drainage problem.

Question 5

Which of the following best describes a 'sector' in permaculture design?

Accepted Answer

An external energy or influence that passes through the site, such as sun, wind, or fire risk

Answer

Sectors map external energies — sun angles, prevailing winds, flood paths, fire risk — that enter the site and must be managed or utilized by the design.

(PDC) Permaculture Design Certification Practice Test

(PDC) Permaculture Design Certification Practice Test

PDC Design & Implementation Strategies 3