Creating what is called a ‘Sector Plan/Map’ is a very helpful tool in designing properties such as our permaculture project in Baja California Sur, Mexico. A sector map creates a visual overview of energy interactions between your site and its surrounding. These interactions include, but are not limited too, things such as different types of winds and wind-directions, sunlight angles and resulting shadow effects, flowing water, noise, potential hazards such as fires, earthquakes, storms and hurricanes, floods, etc.
To demonstrate what a Sector Map looks like, here is the one I made for our property in Todos Santos:

Here is a quick breakdown of the different things depicted on this Sector Map, and how they are of relevance to the future design of the property.

Winds:
Depicted by the two dark blue arcs, you can see the predominant winds towards the N-W of the property, and the secondary S-E winds. Both are important to our design.
The N-W winds are gentle to moderate breezes that blow throughout most of the year. They provide reliable opportunities as potential sources for the cooling of buildings and outdoor areas. Another benefit could be the possibility for electricity production if we decide to supplement our off-grid electricity production with wind turbines.
Dust and salt could be a challenge if brought by winds, and something most likely to be dealt with towards this side of the property.
The S-E winds only occur occasionally, and mostly only between June and October. Although much less frequent, they do often bring rain and stormy conditions. These storms could be anything from gusty winds to tropical storms, and sometimes hurricanes. This means that we need to design for protection and damage control towards this side of the property. For example, we would add windbreaks to these property boundaries, but avoid using anything that could not handle extremely high velocity winds. Some trees are more prone to damage in strong winds, and therefore we would avoid planting them close to key infrastructure such as buildings, where they could cause extensive damage. We would select for trees that are more suitable to these conditions.

Slope:
Water always moves/flows at 90 degrees to the contour. Therefore, when you know the topography, and therefore the slope of the land, you can easily determine where potential water will be flowing onto and also off the property. The flow of water can be a great asset for the harvesting of water flowing onto your own land from the surrounding landscape, but it can also be the source of flooding, erosion and landslides in extreme weather events. All of these energies can be managed with careful design.
For our property, the NE boundary is the highest point on the property, and therefore we will focus our water harvesting and flood mitigation efforts here, with the intention to slow, spread and sink the water as we move across the property. In doing so we utilise this rare resource to the maximum, whilst minimising any destructive effects it may have on our property, or that of our downhill neighbours, during extreme weather events.

Solar Aspect:
The solar aspect of the site is another very important factor I utilise when designing a permaculture property. These angles are determined by the latitude of the property, and they are fixed.
Knowing the solar aspect of your property can be extremely helpful when determining the placement of infrastructure and plant systems, as they can be placed according to their need for either sun or shade, or a mix of both spread out over the different seasons of the year.
With a bit of simple math, I can place the house and the vegetation that surrounds it in such a way that the hot summer sun never shines directly into the house, keeping it cool, but then in the colder months, that exact location would allow direct sunlight to enter the house and naturally warm it up.
Another example could be the placement of a tree in relation to a small veggie patch. In the heat of summer, the high sun angle causes the shade of the tree to shade the veggie patch. In the winter months, when the sun angle is reduced, the veggies benefit by the sunlight reaching in below the tree. This placement, if done correctly, automatically regulates the growing conditions, without any additional inputs.
In a desert location such as ours, the sunlight can be very harsh for most of the year, but because we know from which angles it shines onto the site at certain times of the year, we can optimise its effect, and live comfortably within these conditions, greatly reducing the need for mechanical and energy intensive climate control systems.

Views:
I like to include these on a sector map, as they are important to a good design. not only do they influence the psychological wellbeing of the people living on the property, but they also greatly determine the overall value of the property.
By having the main views marked on the map, I can always use it as a reference when placing elements on the site.
Our main residence will be facing south, thereby making the most of both the solar aspect and the beautiful ocean view. Additionally, it will be higher up the property towards the NE, as this reduces the possibility of future neighbours covering our view towards the SW (ocean) with their own construction, as we have a benefit in a higher elevation. Worst case scenario, if future buildings do end up blocking a part of the view, a well designed garden will be in place between us and them, and be a great ‘replacement view’.

Noise:
The most obvious source of noise in the future would be from the public road on the SE boundary of our property. This can be greatly eliminated by placing secondary buildings towards this side. These could be structures such as the garage and workshop. Suitable boundary walls and plant systems can also greatly decrease the noise levels. In combination, these should make for a relatively quiet and peaceful living area towards the main residence.

Others:
Besides these main factors, there are many more that have not been listed here. These include elements such as fire hazards, earthquakes, tsunamis, external animal impact and disturbance, possible security issues, etc. The list goes on. The more information you can gather regarding the site and its surroundings, the more thorough the design will be, and adequately absorb and/or benefit from any of these factors that will influence it in the future.
As we get more useful information and data relating to our site, I will further develop and expand on this sector map, making it ever more detailed and accurate.

The aim is to design a complete system that withstands the test of time, and will provide abundantly to all the needs of everything living within and around its boundaries.

Thank you for reading my thoughts, and I hope it was of value to you.

Until net time.