Permaculture is a holistic approach to designing spaces for growing things that scales from flower gardens to mass agriculture and focuses on permanence and sustainability.

Permaculture is grounded in three ethics:

1. Caring for the earth.
2. Caring for people.
3. Sharing in the surplus.

Permaculture applies three tactics in design:

1. Observing and interacting with natural patterns.
2. Focusing on energy efficiency.
3. Use permaculture principles as a guide to mimic nature.

The North Carolina Extension Gardener Handbook Appendix G. provides a good overview of the Permaculture approach.