What it is
Inhabit is a 2014 documentary exploring permaculture as a design science for regenerative living. The film visits practitioners across the United States: urban food forests in Detroit, watershed restoration projects in New England, suburban permaculture retrofits, and rural homesteads designed using permaculture principles. Rather than focusing on the problems, the film documents solutions already in practice, showing permaculture applied from backyard gardens to regional land management.
Why we picked this
Inhabit is the most visually compelling introduction to permaculture in practice. While many permaculture resources are text-heavy or workshop-focused, this documentary shows actual implementations across diverse climates, scales, and contexts. The Detroit urban farming segments are particularly powerful, demonstrating how permaculture addresses food security, community building, and ecological restoration simultaneously in post-industrial landscapes.
Key takeaways
- The film documents permaculture implementations across eight US climate zones, proving the design system's adaptability from arid Southwest to humid Northeast.
- Detroit's urban food forest movement, featured prominently, has since grown to cover hundreds of vacant lots, feeding thousands of residents.
- Permaculture's three ethics (Earth Care, People Care, Fair Share) are shown in practice rather than stated in theory, making the philosophy tangible.