A contraction of “permanent agriculture,” coined in 1978 by Australian ecologists Bill Mollison and David Holmgren. Permaculture is an approach to developing ecological human habitats and food production systems that use land sustainable and build communities that harmonious integrate dwellings and agriculture in regard to climate, annual and perennial plants, animals, soils, and water use. Permaculture focuses not on the separate elements, but on their relationships and how they are placed in the landscape.