For many people, myself included, the above conception of permaculture is so global in its scope that its usefulness is reduced.  More precisely, i see permaculture as the use of systems thinking and design principles that provide the organising framework for implementing the above vision. it draws together the diverse ideas, skills and ways of living which need to be rediscovered and developed in order to empower us to provide for our needs, while increasing the natural capital for future generations. 

In this more limited but important sense, permaculture is not the landscape, or even the skills of organic gardening, sustainable farming, energy efficient building or eco-village development as such, but it can be used to design, establish, manage and improve these and all other efforts made by individuals, households and communities towards a sustainable future.  The Permaculture Design system Flower shows the key domains that require transformation to create a sustainable culture.  Historically, permaculture has focused on land and nature stewardship as both a source for, and an application of, ethical and design principles.  Those principles are now being applied to other domains dealing with physical and energetic resources, as well as human organization (often called invisible structures in permaculture teaching).  some of the specific fields, design systems and solutions that have been associated with this wider view of permaculture (at least in Australia) are shown around the periphery of the flower.  The spiral evolutionary path beginning with ethics and principles suggests knitting together of these domains, initially at the personal and the local level, and then proceeding to the collective and global level.  The spidery nature of that spiral suggests the uncertain and variable nature of that process of integration.