Illustration of a cityscape surrounded by flora, fauna, and infrastructure, containing the phrase: “Human and living systems to survive, thrive and co-evolve.”

Goal of Regenerative Design

The goal of regenerative design is for humans and living systems to survive, thrive and co-evolve (Broadbent and Norman, 2024). For a detailed exploration of the origins of this definition, see The Regenerative Structural Engineer. Here is a practical guide for using this definition in different contexts.

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User Guide

  • For intuitive thinkers — Use the words survive, thrive, and co-evolve to explore what is life-giving and what is life-taking → see Thriving.
  • For systems thinkers — Use with the Systems Bookcase. Set holism as the paradigm, and place survive, thrive, and co-evolve as the system goals.
  • For people working on projects — Don’t mention it. This goal rarely solves today’s project problems. But the future we create will be the sum of today’s project decisions. Keep the Goal of Regenerative Design in your back pocket as a compass.
  • For dreamers – Use the Goal of Regenerative Design as a prompt for imagining a construction industry that creates the conditions for life → see the Kalideascope.
  • For change-makers – Use the Goal of Regenerative Design to help find positive strands in the present that you can build upon → see the Three Horizons.
  • For sceptics – Don’t bother. Tune in instead to what their hopes are → see Catalytic Style.
  • For strategic thinkers and business planners – Set the Goal of Regenerative Design at the top of the bookcase of the future in the Library of Systems Change. Work backwards to figure out how your plan over time can create more thriving.
  • For policy makers – Use the Goal of Regenerative Design as a north star, while working within the realities of today’s paradigm. Focus on policy levers that shift systems toward conditions where surviving, thriving, and co-evolving become more likely → see Policy Window and Ambition Loops.
Related motifs

Beavers, Role of the Regenerative Designer, Systems Bookcase.

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