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Insights / Spotlight

27 Nov 2024 / min read

Overheard - Notes from the Regenerative Design Lab

We’ve kicked off a new collaboration with Constructivist, bringing together industry, policymakers and planners to explore the future of regenerative design in the built environment. This article provides a snapshot of some of the emerging conversations and ideas so far.

Notes on the floor and a huddle of feet. Photo: David Gunn.

This autumn, we’ve kicked off a new collaboration with Constructivist, bringing together industry, policymakers and planners to explore the future of regenerative design in the built environment. Over the course of a 6 month process, we’ll be working with the group to dig deep into the ideas and practices of regenerative design, and then incubating concepts and policy pathways to integrate this thinking within the context of the built environment.

The early stages of Lab have seen an inspiring mix of ideas and experiences, ranging from an impromptu takeover of Chatham House meeting rooms as a venue for future-vision, found-sound performances to a reflective retreat in the autumnal idylls of Hazel Hill Wood.

It’s too soon to talk about findings and research projects, but in the spirit (if not quite the letter) of the Chatham House Rule, we’re sharing a snapshot of some of the conversations and ideas emerging from that process, accompanied by photographs from the Hazel Hill Wood retreat.

Tree tops. Photo: David Gunn.

“At the heart of regenerative practice is a reconsideration of our relationship to places, spaces and beings that surround us, and a reframing of these relationships as sources of abundance and interconnection.”

The woodland floor. Photo: David Gunn.

“How do we differently as people locate ourselves in these places? And stepping back, what does it mean for how we locate ourselves as people in the broader processes of transition?”

Participants gathered in a clearing. Photo: David Gunn.

“I can see how regenerative design principles can provide a compelling answer to some of the questions I’m asking … but how can those answers become economically viable within the current system?”

A woodland pond. Photo: David Gunn.

“I’m leaving today with a growing sense of our ability to engage more critically with the places and networks we inhabit”

A cabin in the woods. Photo: David Gunn.

“In another project we’re exploring how regulatory innovation can open up more long-term decision-making within the financial sector – I’m struck by the similarities – and opportunities in bringing these conversations closer”

Mushrooms on a tree stump. Photo: David Gunn.

“Whether its about how we solve the housing crisis or improve an area, our collective obsession with always building something new is really at the heart of our industry. We need to move towards a mindset that sees new build as a last resort, not a first principle”

A woodland clearing. Photo: David Gunn.

“From a systems perspective, Donella Meadows would tell us that we don’t have to do everything all at once – sometimes information flow can be a vital step in the right direction – getting data into the system, and allowing others to design and act upon it”

Woodland trees. Photo: David Gunn.

“We operate within an industry defined by its use of codes and regulations. Are those practices a way to enable regenerative principles, or are they part of the problem?”

Participants gathered around a bonfire. Photo: David Gunn.

In the coming months, the group will be working further to identify pathways to advance regenerative principles within their specific areas of practice. Specific research projects include: the role of insurance in unlocking regenerative outcomes, business models for community-owned regenerative housing, climate resilience and adaptation, sustainable forestry, and the evolving approaches to bioregions as a frame for both research and policy. Stay tuned - more updates here as we get them…