regenerative design lab Archives

February 6, 2025February 12, 2025

Designing experiments in policy change – lessons from RDL Cohort 4 Session 6 hosted at Chatham House

On February 4th, our current cohort of the Regenerative Design Lab returned to Chatham House London. In this session hosted by our delivery partners, the Chatham House Sustainability Accelerator, our aim was to deepen understanding of system change, policy change and the Ambition Loop model.

July 2, 2024July 2, 2024

The Pattern Book – a new collaborative project in regenerative thinking

Earlier this month, we unveiled the Pattern Book project, an innovative workbook designed to guide professionals in the built environment towards regenerative design principles. The Pattern Book is the next evolution in the development of the Regenerative Design Lab.

New patterns for the future

The Pattern Book aims to be an emergent, collaborative resource, offering a collection of tools, techniques, and resources under Creative Commons.

“We see in patterns, we recognize patterns, we create patterns. To create a world in which construction brings about thriving rather than destruction, we need new patterns for thinking about how we design and build,”
Oliver Broadbent

May 16, 2024May 16, 2024

Models and frameworks for regenerative design – cohort 2 report now live

The news is that we have now published our report from the second cohort of the Regenerative Design Lab. Each cohort of the Lab represents an evolution in our shared understanding of regenerative design. The breakthrough in this cohort was to test tools, techniques and language that make regenerative design easier to understand. These methods bring much-needed clarity to the broader conversation about how work in the construction industry can create thriving.

Our reports are written to be shared; the content to be used. So download a copy and please do share with anyone who you think would be interested.

Download the report

May 16, 2024May 16, 2024

Cohort 4 Applications now open

Applications are now open to join Cohort 4 of the Regenerative Design Lab. For this cohort we are partnering with Chatham House Sustainability Accelerator to ask how can we create policy that delivers regenerative design. We are looking to build a mixed cohort of policy writers, designers and people interested in influencing policy. All the details on the cohort 4 page.

May 1, 2024May 1, 2024

Announcing the Regenerative Design Lab Summer Research Workshop

The Regenerative Design Lab community is growing. In 2022, the first 20 people began their journey through our pilot of the lab. Now over 50 people have completed the lab programme (and some of them have been through twice!).

So now our work as conveners of the Lab is as much about nourishing this existing community of regenerative practitioners as it is about recruiting more. And so to help support and further the work of this group of change-makers, we are holding our second summer research workshop.

October 4, 2023October 31, 2023

The Library of Systems Change

Two participants at the regenerative design lab stand in front of three bookcases situated in a forest clearing. The books on the left bookcase are red, in the middle are blue and on the bookcase on the right they are yellow. The different colours represent H1, H2 and H3 respectively in the Three Horizons model

The Library of Systems Change helps us understand how we can make systemic change over time. It combines the future thinking of Bill Sharpe’s Three Horizons Model with the systems organisation of the Systems Bookcase. It is another model James Norman and I developed in ‘the Regenerative Structural Engineer’, but which can apply to any system in engineering. The overall effect is a compelling visual model for how a system might change over time.

July 27, 2023July 27, 2023

Shifting the systemic barriers to regenerative design

The idea that construction should enhance ecosystems and communities rather than depleting them might sound like a given. After all, shouldn’t the world be genuinely better off, more resilient, thriving, and adaptable after we build something? This, in essence, is what a regenerative construction industry is all about.

However, when we start translating this approach to individual projects, we quickly encounter a plethora of barriers: supply chain restrictions, legislative hurdles, planning constraints, contractual structures, questions of long-term ownership, measurement and metrics, to name a few.

July 18, 2023July 18, 2023

Regenerative Design Lab Summer Residential

We’ve just returned from an enriching experience at our Regenerative Design Lab Summer Residential – the programme’s midpoint for Cohort 2. This marks a crucial stage in our journey, where we transition from envisioning a regenerative built environment industry to figuring out how we can start to build the transition.

June 23, 2023June 23, 2023

Bill Sharpe x Regenerative Design Policy Lab

The news we have been waiting to share with you is that systems thinker and futures practitioner Bill Sharpe is going to be joining us as part of the Regenerative Design Policy Lab. Bill is best known as the creator of the Three Horizons Model, which is so valuable for helping us envisage a transition to a regenerative built environment sector.

June 19, 2023June 20, 2023

Systems Mapping and Abundance Thinking: A Glimpse into RDL Cohort 2 Session 3

Today we held the third session for Cohort 2 at the Regenerative Design Lab (RDL).

Our monthly online sessions offer a platform for participants to discuss and digest the reflective work they’ve engaged in over the past month. Additionally, in these sessions we host skill development activities designed to bolster our understanding of regenerative practices.