…not just in the places create, but in all the places our work affects. What if, as commissioners, designers, constructors and operators of the built environment, rather than causing ecological destruction, our work contributed to the healing our communities and ecosystems?
If you work in the built-environment sector, and want to re-imagine how your work could be a genuine force for good, then our work is for you.
We are Constructivist. We design and deliver training for engineers and other humans who are bravely shaping a new construction industry in the face of the climate and ecological emergency – one that aims to create thriving in its wake.
Today, Oliver was in Cambridge delivering his workshop “Things to Think and Feel about a Brief,” as part of his teaching on the Interdisciplinary Design for the Built Environment (IDBE) Masters programme.
With the launch of our fourth Regenerative Design Lab cohort next week, we’ve updated our regenerative design reading list. Interestingly many of the books don’t even mention the phrase regenerative design, but what they share in common is an alignment with the a holistic world view, within which regenerative design sits.
We are happy to announce the release of our latest report, detailing the findings from the third cohort’s six-month exploration into how policy changes can unlock regenerative design. Our report is now available for download, the findings of which offer a starting point for our next cohort investigating the intersection of policy and regenerative design.
We are called Constructivist after the educational theory that says learners learn by mapping new knowledge to what they already understand. With this philosophy as our starting point, we design training that is:
Inspirational – when learners are inspired the possibilities are endless
Problem-based – in which engineers develop the ability to identify and solve their own problems
Focused on building creativity skills – providing a systematic approach for engineers to build their creativity
Action-based – paying particular attention to how new skills are built in daily workflows.
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Conceptual Design of Buildings : how to have ideas
Oliver wrote Chapter 2 on how to have ideas in the Conceptual Design of Buildings, edited by James Norman and published by the Institution of Structural Engineers, London, 2020.
The aim of the Constructivist Regenerative Design Lab is to enable the transition to a regenerative built environment. We do this by taking groups of leaders and future leaders on a six-month programme exploring the principle of regenerative design and experimenting with putting these principles in practice. Together we create a learning experience that is explorative and transformative: building a community of regenerative change-makers and giving them the tools to make change
We ran our first cohort in 2022; cohort 4 will run from Autumn 2024 to Spring 2025; and we will shortly be announcing details of a 5th cohort.
Current cohorts
Cohort 4 delivered in partnership with Chatham House Sustainability Accelerator is exploring creatingpolicy that delivers regenerative design, building on the questions and findings from Cohort 3 (see below). Runs Sept. 2024 to May 2025.
Our third cohort of the Lab ran from Nov ’23 to April ’24. We explored the intersection of policy and regenerative design, and started to ask how can policy unlock the potential of regenerative design. Track our journey, group enquiries and findings in our Lab 3 report
Cohort 2 ran from April to November 2023. With our second cohort we developed and tested our lab methodology and toolkit for explaining key principles in regenerative design. Read about these approaches in our Lab 2 report
Our pilot cohort ran from April to November 2022. 19 leaders and future leaders from engineering and construction began our exploration of regenerative design and what it would mean to put these ideas into practice.
Over 8 months, five online workshops and three over-night residential stays, participants of a Regenerative Design Lab programme will:
unpack the principles of regenerative design.
experiment through application of principles in the workplace
explore application of regenerative practice in their own lives
reflect on the impact of this action on their design work
Our programmes are rooted in peer-support and practical action-learning, blended with expert facilitation and coaching. In our workshops and residential stays you’ll dive deeper, connect with your peers and reflect and apply learnings to a personal or professional inquiry.
At the start of the journey we’ll uncover a foundational understanding of regenerative design and its principles together. You’ll also identify a live, workplace challenge or project as a field for experimentation and practice for the 8 months. Through cycles of action and reflection you’ll cross-pollinate ideas, discover new behaviours, and grow your resilience as you support each other to apply principles of regenerative design in practice.
I took up engineering in order to practise philosophy
Ove Arup
Inputs
Participants – you will be part of a group of leading engineering or construction industry professionals who see regenerative design as the future and want to make it reality. Together, you will become a peer-group that support and constructively challenge each other throughout the journey.
Live projects – each member of the cohort will bring a live challenge or project to the lab. Be it design-based, site-based, organisational or strategic, you will explore how regenerative design principles can apply to your work, while developing your own regenerative practice.
Ecosystems – regenerative design solutions are specific to the ecosystems in which we are working. That ecosystem and your connection with it becomes an intrinsic part of the journey. To further embed ‘place’ into our programmes we return three times to Hazel Hill Wood, near Salisbury. Hazel Hill Wood is a hearth for our group, and a place to explore our relationship with living ecosystems.
Outputs
Individuals will be supported on a personal development journey, increasing their awareness and skill in regenerative design practice. They will leave with a toolkit of approaches and hopefully a transformed relationship with the ecosystem they are part of.
Organisations will benefit from a key member of their team introducing innovative regenerative design practice into their projects. The Lab also aims to provide organisations with an opportunity to fulfil their regenerative design practice commitments.
Industry will benefit from the shared results of these experiments in regenerative design practice. The understanding we gain from this, and subsequent Lab programmes, will feed into teaching resources and briefing tools that will be shared via the Regenerative Design Lab website for use by industry and academia.
Regenerative Design Lab residential workshop at Hazel Hill Wood
Reconnect with living systems
As part of each programme we hold three residential sessions at Hazel Hill Wood to explore our relationship with living ecosystems. Hazel Hill is a woodland retreat centre where people come to learn and heal through contact with the living world. It combines indoor workshop space and accommodation with access to a thriving forest with a range of ecosystems to explore.
We will take an experimental approach and observe, experiment, measure and learn from these complex natural systems. Participants will engage in a transformative process to shift perspectives away from believing we are separate from the natural world.
‘When we can think as part of a system, we can better self-regulate to thrive within the limits of that system’.
Ellie is a facilitator, designer, researcher, coach and collaborator who works at the intersection of innovation, systems thinking, future trends and learning design.
With gratitude…
We are grateful to an array of friends, partners and allies that have made The Regenerative Design Lab possible.
Chatham House Sustainability Accelerator
Delivery partner for Regenerative Design Lab Cohort 4.
