Transition to a regenerative future: a question of time

Abstract

This paper explores the difference between the ways that nature functions and the way that the built environment is currently produced and operates, and if and how they can be realigned. While regenerative approaches can apply to a range of human enterprises, the paper focuses on their application to the production of the urban built environment. It examines if and how they may move into mainstream building practice and how long this may take given the inherent inertias in the building industry. Key issues include the recasting and interrogating of the accumulated knowledge held by design professionals within a broader living systems frame, and rethinking what constitutes a successful outcome of building design. Such efforts are set against the diminishing time available before a series of climate tipping points are crossed and further short- to mid-term constraints posed by a host of other powerful countervailing forces. Practice relevance A critique of emerging regenerative practices is provided with an overview of both the challenges facing design professionals moving them into mainstream building practices, and the opportunities it provides them. Rather than viewing their work as solely reducing environmental impact, regenerative practices offer architects and planners a positive casting and expansion of their responsibilities. They enable design professionals to both contribute in the bringing about of systems-level change and to provide inhabitants with greater opportunities and pathways to both navigate an uncertain future and re-establish, reconnect and co-evolve with natural systems.

Keywords

• agency
• buildings
• built environment
• climate crisis
• living systems
• professional practice
• regenerative practice
• timeframes
• transition
• urban sustainability