Today ‘we have emerging strategies, approaches and tools that will allow systems to flourish and evolve’ [1]. These strategies, approaches and tools will aid and support regenerative design and include:
The education. Regenerative models, from natural ecosystems to regenerative cultures and communities, are increasingly part of the built environment curriculum, training workshops and conferences.
The thinking. Many of the greatest minds in ecology, sociology, biology, health and the built environment are setting out how we can make the regenerative journey
The language. From one of a combative, egotistic approach to design and construction, to one that embraces a worldview, seeing ourselves and our buildings as part of nature, rather than apart from it. [1]
The economic frameworks. The circular economy and doughnut economy are just two examples that are turning the take, make, dispose culture on its head. A transition to a Regenerative Economy entails changing the worldview; Fullerton and Hunter suggest ‘a shift to an ecological world view in which nature itself is the model’ and that ‘The regenerative process that defines thriving, living systems must define the economic system itself’[2].
A regenerative economy redefines wealth in terms of multiple kinds of capital rather than just financial, including living, cultural, experiential, intellectual, spiritual, social, and material capital [3].
The standards. There are emerging sustainability standards that promote regenerative practices. Examples of these standards include The Natural Step, Living Building Challenge, WELL Building Standard, One Planet Living, Planet Mark.
The examples from nature. The origin of the ideas can be very diverse; their source can be either built or from the natural environment. The practice of regenerative architecture aims not only to decrease the ecological footprint of buildings but to make it positive, and also to produce architectural creations which foster a healthy lifestyle, and which are socially integrative. To achieve this, it is becoming a widespread practice that examples from nature or natural sciences form the basis of architectural design. One such approach, biomimicry, can be seen as following the best practice of nature, which has developed over millions of years and which is imitated with the help of modern design tools and building technologies by using natural materials and space creation. Buildings and cities can be thus designed the way nature
‘designs’ its systems, as natural ecosystems are the best models of sustainability. Natural ecosystems evolve to be in balance, and when disrupted, tend to reorganise and regenerate. In contrast with the principles of natural systems, current construction practice has rarely bothered to replace or replenish any of the resources used.
The built examples. From small scale zero cement, net zero carbon buildings such as the Cuerden Valley Park in the UK, to the commercial Bullitt Center in Seattle, to the UN17 Village in Copenhagen, we have buildings demonstrating it is possible.
As Denis Hayes, CEO of the Bullitt Foundation, remarked [4],the Bullitt Center (see Figure 4) is about opening a wedge into the future. Once something exists, no one can say it is impossible.
Figure 4
Bullit Centre, Seattle (Courtesy International Living Future Institute)
The data. It is vital to feed simulations and tools with real-world data. There is access to big environmental data. Through the data monitoring of the ecosystem and human relations to design, designers will be able to develop regenerative environments. This will make data one of the most valuable materials for future design practices. This necessarily implies both the recording of data and the use of simulation that learns from these data and forecast behaviours. According to the assertion: data is not information, information is not knowledge, and knowledge is not wisdom, data need to be transformed into information by the team of designer and scientist. Further steps are required to turn data into relevant design knowledge; this takes a creative spark. The spark of the invention that can spill out onto the back of a napkin is still crucial, but the complexity of Regenerative Design needs to be supported by digital models that can facilitate the exploitation of Data in design.
The software tools. With sophisticated digital modelling, data and monitoring tools, we have a new world of resources to make designs and planning decisions that are far more informed.
Modelling can be used to keep track of how a single design has an impact on the natural world, and how the natural world could inspire design, giving way to new and innovative methods of bringing sustainability into a practice’s structure also. These are the foci of the chapter titled ‘Tools and Data for Holistic Modelling’.
REFERENCES:
[1] Brown, M., 2016. FutuREstorative: Working Towards a New Sustainability.
[2] John Fullerton & Hunter Lovins (2013) https://medium.com/age-of-awareness/towards-a- regenerative-economy-bf1c2ed6f792
[3] Ethan Roland and Gregory Landua 2011
[4] Martin Brown and Andrea Learned, interview with Dennis Hayes as part of the Fairsnape Sustainability Leaders conversations. 2014 https://fairsnape.com/2014/08/05/restorative- sustainability-once-something-exists-no-one-can-say-its-impossible/ Accessed February 2019
The challenge for design practice is a matter of integrity, of upholding the numerous oaths taken when becoming accredited professionals, and therefore not undertaking design commissions that will continue to contribute to climate change deterioration.
Today, we have the economic frameworks, the standards, the software tools and indeed the examples of buildings and facilities that are regenerative. The challenge for design practice is putting these into place, and replicating and improving upon the cases.
The title and message of the World Green Build Council’s report – ‘From Thousands to Billions’ - nails it: We have thousands of buildings that exhibit regenerative characteristics that we need to scale that up to billions. Urgently.
The problem of climate change is strictly linked to human activities on Earth. Despite this awareness and over a decade of strategies and programmes, the progress in the built environment has been barely visible; we still lack action in effectively addressing these global issues.
Although most professionals involved in the built environment sector declare to embrace sustainability as one of the primary drivers of their ethos, regenerative design has been achieved at a disappointingly small scale, and it is hard to find examples.
There is a (still limited) number of projects that are intended to be demonstrations of Regenerative Design: The Bullitt Centre, USA;
The EAU Enterprise Centre, UK; The UBC CIRS Building, Canada;
The Edge, NL; Geelen Counterflow, NL; Snøhetta’s Powerhouse Kjørbo, Oslo.
It is necessary to move this practice beyond large commercial flagships. There is more environmental impact – and thus more opportunity – within the long tail of construction, necessitating the myriad millions of small projects across the globe to embrace change [1]. The book hosts several case studies in the chapter titled ‘Case Studies of Regenerative Design’.