Category: For engineers (and other humans)

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Why a book about patterns?

We see patterns,

We think in patterns,

We create patterns.

A pattern is something that repeats,

A drum beat,

An oscillation.

Patterns make things regular and therefore intelligible,

Patterns help us predict what will happen next.

Out of a sea of random events a pattern can feel like a life raft,

Or pieces to build a boat.

The dictionary tells us the word comes from the Middle English ‘patron’ meaning something to be followed,

What if the patterns we are following are no longer serving us? 

What if the drumbeat is no longer leading us in the right direction?

What if the oscillations are going out of control?

Then we need to learn to see new patterns,

We need to learn to think in new patterns,

And we need to create new patterns.

This new book is about learning to see and create new patterns of practice — ones that we can integrate into our work. Patterns that can help shift our industry from creating harm to creating thriving.

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I’m back (with a book)

It’s been 47 days since my last entry on For Engineers and Other Humans, and since then I’ve been working on something that feels pretty big. 

So here’s the announcement: I’ve written a book. It’s called The Pattern Book for Regenerative Design—a practice guide for engineers (and other humans).

This book weaves together thinking from the Regenerative Design Lab, facilitation notes, posts from this blog and reflections from across my 1851 Fellowship in Regenerative Design. And now it is all in one place. 

The first release of the book will be on 12th May for subscribers to my mailing list. So if you are signed up, you will get more info (if not you can sign up here). The book will then be on sale directly through the Constructivist website on 11th June.

Our aim is to build momentum. The work that started in the Regenerative Design Lab now needs to go further, and the Pattern Book is the manual for doing that. Our intention is to grow the community of people using these tools bit by bit, and developing the content over time, based on feedback, what works and what new patterns readers come up with.

Stay tuned for more on what to expect from this book, and look out for a special invitation to mailing list followers to get hold of the book on 12th May.

More soon.

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Five books for getting into regenerative thinking

This week we updated the Regenerative Design Lab reading list and included five books that we think are a good way into regenerative thinking for engineers (and other humans). As far as I can remember, the word regenerative is hardly mentioned in any of them. But what I think they do between them is create a holistic view of people as part of a complex, living world. And from there, to think about how we work with, rather than against that interdependence.

From What is to What If –  Rob Hopkins

How the climate crisis is a crisis of the imagination and the work we need to do to imagine a thriving future. A brilliant, far-seeing book, with an excellent podcast series to accompany it.

Braiding Sweetgrass – Robin Wall Kimmerer

This book creates a bridge between Indigenous and scientific thinking. The short essay format makes this an easy book to dip into and return to.

Thinking in Systems – Donella Meadows

A great way into systems thinking, and for the early members of the lab, the way into exploring regenerative design, even though these are not terms Meadows uses.

Doughnut Economics – Kate Raworth

The book that launched the famous model linking social foundations with planetary boundaries, it is full of clear-thinking models for breaking free of the unlimited-growth paradigm.

The Hidden Life of Trees – Peter Wohlleben

Sheds light on how trees communicate with each other, collaborate and work with shared intelligence. Shows how living systems are interconnected and use feedback loops to respond to environmental change. Helps us shift from an anthropocentric to ecocentric view of how ecosystems work.

These are the entry points. The full reading list on the Constructivist website has a set of more in-depth and regenerative-specific books to follow on with.