5 Best (and Worst) Places to Build a Home or Village

Permaculture instructor Andrew Millison presents on best and worst locations for building housing in the landscape.

#5 Best - 00:39
#5 Worst - 1:52
#4 Best - 2:29
#4 Worst - 4:01
#3 Best - 6:21
#3 Worst - 6:23
#2 Best - 6:46
#2 Worst - 7:55
#1 Best - 8:46
#1 Worst - 9:28

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[johnnywoodson]

As someone interested in worldbuilding and learning more about the existing experiences of sustainable living, your channel is very informative!

[eclogite]

On the last point: It never ceases to amaze me that we've known how to build walkable, livable cities for thousands of years, but suddenly after WW2, the popularization of the car makes so many people just forget how to plan properly

[isaquepim]

As someone who lives in a tropical zone, you do have to worry about the sun facing side, but for the opposite reason. Basically rooms that receive the sunlight till' sunset become impossible to be at. Walls get warm, air gets hot (fans you send you hot air) and the place super uncomfortable. Great video btw! :D

[ale]

A lot of old cites in Europe are in the in bend of a river: in old times this was a easy way to be protected from 3 sides from an invasion. Luckily today flooding is a concern of higher interest.

[Lorenzo]

Here in southern Brazil where the landscape is composed by grassland and smooth hills, people used to build on top of hills because that's where they could watch their cattle in the surrounding area, my family was one of them. Also, lower areas get frost more often in winter (cold air flows downards) which kill crops, and may have deficiency in wind flowing which made the place hotter during summer. River sides also have higher humidity and attract a lot of mosquitoes and insects while hill tops are more hospitable. Water, however, was always a problem. Most of the cities built around these parts are located on hill tops.

[felixr.]

There's a couple of things that I love about your videos. Firstly, you explain everything in an easily comprehensible manner and keep it concise. In addition, you always have great visualisations to go along with it. You're a great teacher Andrew!

[planetbob]

Building near a river:
It is also worth noting that over time rivers will change course. When a bend in a river reaches apex it will start to erode the inside of the bend and whip away a sand bar. It is natural for rivers to change course over time. It has to do with the fact that water flows in a wave pattern and this is evident in the constant bending of a river back and fourth. This is also affected by the type a land the river flows through.

[anonperson]

1:50 this is mitigated in very wet and relatively cool climates such as those found in northwestern Europe, the British Isles for example where wildfires are very rare, incredibly small and typically a result of extreme mismanagement. You can see this in more traditional anglo-saxon settlements, often on top of canyons and hills in wetland and floodplain landscapes. Using the floodplain for rich summer grazing then bringing livestock back to the uplands during the wet winters. They never suffered from wildfires, it's too wet for that.

[turmuthoer]

This'd make a perfect prehistoric, semi-educational 'city-builder' game. You'd have fun growing a small community while also learning the hard way that building on a floodplain at the base of the north-facing side of a mountain wasn't the best idea. Such games do already exist in abundance, but there's usually limited consequences for building anywhere you like.

[jodofe]

Note: Villages and towns are very commonly found on hilltops. This is because even though the hilltop is not the best site to build in terms of accessibility, it is a highly defensible position. And in the past, that was often of essential importance.
Furthermore, fortresses and castles, which are also commonly found on hilltops, often tend to develop settlements around them. So even though hilltops are not the most optimal sites for settlement in many regards, they are nonetheless one of the most common sites where people settled historically.

[roseforeuropa]

I've been on Youtube since 2007 and I believe this is one of the best channels I've ever stumbled upon. Your quality of work is excellent and the way you visualize the information is very creative and unique. I'm actually pretty blown away.

[LuizOliveira]

"But we are really talking about normal people here", best line in the video, Andrew! Anyway, always super informative. The PDC is getting better and better, congrats!

[Kameeho]

As a Western-Norwegian: "Let's build on all the worst locations we can ever think off"

But finally I learned why they never build houses ontop of the hills and mountains here! I have always wondered why they'll build a 50-man apartment complex on a rocky 45 degree mountains slope, rather than placing it ontop of the mountain instead.
You should Visit Bergen sometime, or Norway in general. Especially along the west coast. They seem to have gone against everything you said and opted for all the worst options xD

[saschab.]

So valuable! It's a shame in recent development this knowledge has been ignored due to technical progress. But nature remains stronger.

[benholeman]

Your point about the inside of riverbends being natural floodplanes was eye opening to me as a Dayton Ohio native. In 1913 our entire downtown area was (and most of it still is) on the inside of a bend directly down river from a confluence of the two largest rivers in the area. Naturally, in 1913 the entire city flooded and we ended up having to invent a revolutionary levy system just to make up for the fact that our founders weren’t exactly thinking ahead.

[clarkh]

As someone who has a Degree in Outdoor Education, and a Sub-Major in Geography, I am very impressed in the detail and accuracy of this video. I do not know this mans background, but he has a plethora of knowledge in this field. Well done!

[alpha]

You answered a question I have had for decades. I Studied the settlement of my home town and could never figure out why the homesteaders picked the place they did for their house. Thank you.

[CulinaryGuide]

Thank you. This answers so many questions for my future tiny house and permaculture dreams.

[STzim]

5 Worst: On top of a hill or mountain is quite decent defence. Now in modern times it`s unlikely you have a relatives murdered or enslaved by a raid. Like the vikings did. Or the cosairs. Or riders from the stepps. Or knights during feuds/war. Depending on time/place you should account of other humans as a threat. Then diffrent placement makes sense. Like building building on top a mountain. Or in a flood plain to take nr. 3 Venice - maybe that part of the settlers were survivors of plundered rome had something to do with it.

[blackcoat]

Fantastic! I'm planning to start a village
this is just what I've been looking for. Great video . lovin it.