Regenerative Design

The green building movement of the past decade has been a critically important inflection point in our evolution as a species, because for the first time in a century and a half we’re beginning to create buildings that do less harm. But if we stop there, we will have sealed our fate, because our future requires that we design, build and operate buildings that actually do more good, by participating in the health of the place. That’s where regenerative design comes in.

Every place is unique, and a truly healthy condition for the living system requires engaging the earth systems, the biotic systems and the people of each unique place in an ongoing dialog to support and nurture their co-development. This requires developing mutually beneficial reciprocal relationships between every living thing that makes up the whole system.

This is a deeper level of integration, one we’re just beginning to explore. But the potentials are vast. If we can reunite the art and science of design, if we can strive for radical change for the better, health of the Whole, and invest the best aspects of our humanness — spirit and meaning, aspiration and will — into our communities, we can begin to replace the degeneration of the past with a future where deep connectedness to place ensures a truly sustainable future.