Abstract
It is common sense to design with nature instead of against it. Designing against the grain of nature is inherently problematic, can cause extensive difficulty from natural disasters, and requires more reliance on fossil fuels and mechanical control systems. People are seeking new ecological understanding and methods to reduce this dependency on nonrenewable resources and artificial systems. Ironically, the "new methods" being sought are not new methods at all! They are methods that were employed for centuries before the advent of the Industrial Revolution. They are the vernacular methods of traditional, indigenous societies that, by necessity and adaptive ingenuity, shaped the built environment in harmony with nature. This chapter will explore designing with nature's influential land and climatic context. It is the second in the triad of linked chapters expanding upon human-environmental-technological themes.