WHAT WE OFFER

APW offers a new form of permaculture education through a wide range of workshops that focus on various aspects of ecological literacy, place making, and sustainable design and living. The workshops are intended to inspire, challenge and empower participants to action. While the workshops are grounded in the Auckland bioregion, the skills learnt are easily transferred to other bioregions.
Design – "Design is basic to all human activities" (Victor Papanek). It is also "an interactive, imaginative process for creating something that has never existed before" (Janis Birkeland). The idea of design is ubiquitous in our society yet we take for granted that good design, like other skills, is a learned behaviour. The act of design underpins permaculture and is fundamental to the philosophy and practice of APW.
Research – APW is actively involved in researching the Auckland bioregion. The primary objective of this research is to deepen our understanding of what it means to live sustainably in this bioregion. Rather than simply researching what is already here, APW is continually developing and responding to new knowledge developed through a range of creative research methodologies, which involve professionals from a range of fields and APW workshop participants.
Education – "Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself - Education is the fundamental method of social progress and reform… Through education society can formulate its own purposes, can organize its own means and resources, and thus shape itself in the direction in which it wishes to move" (John Dewey). APW provides a dynamic and interactive learning environment, utilising a range of teaching methods that accommodate and respond to different ways of learning. Our workshops teach the application of systems thinking and regenerative design while providing participants with useful and relevant skills training.