Good system design is not enough
In regenerative design we spend a lot of time thinking about systems.
What is the system of construction? How does it work? What are the feedback loops that keep the show on the road? Which loops reinforce the outcomes we already have, and which might enable the more life-giving outcomes we want?
The living world is our template. Life is our best example of how to create thriving within ecosystem limits. Whether that’s through the systems of forests, wetlands, under-ocean reefs – in all of these contexts, the living system of life manages resources and energy while creating thriving.
So we can ask, what are the characteristics of living systems that enable them to thrive? Could our economy work in a similar way – we live on the same planet and are subject to the same laws of physics, after all. How would our economy be organised? What would our supply chains look like? How would our infrastructure function?
But watch out! There is a banana skin here.
It is possible to create systems that function really well — systems that are resilient, adaptable, efficient and well structured — and yet fail to create life-enabling conditions.
The potential slip is that good system design is not enough. Regenerative systems must be engaged with the system of life itself. They must participate in the living systems they are part of.
This is the key shift.
- Systems design asks, is the system well designed?
- Regenerative design adds on the next layer: how is the system working with the living world.
The transport corridor
Imagine we are designing a transport corridor to link connecting cities. From a systems perspective, we might aim for a system that is:
- Resilient – able to adapt to shocks
- Efficient – uses minimum resources to deliver its goal
- Modular – made of semi-independent parts so failures or changes in one part do not collapse the whole system.
- Adaptable – able to be configured in different ways.
From a systems perspective, that could be a great design.
But then we ask the additional regenerative question: what is this system doing to the living world?
Is the corridor slicing up habitats? Is the corridor severing communities? Is the corridor causing pollution? Is the corridor contributing to a wider system of ecological decline? Because on these counts, human and living world thriving is reduced.
Interestingly, landscapes themselves are a patchwork of different ecosystem types linked by their own corridors: waterways, hedgerows, continuous tree-cover, that allow exchange of species, nutrients and water.
So the question is, does the addition of an extra corridor, built by humans for transport, enhance these connections or cut them off?
It is not enough for systems to function well. They have to participate in and positively contribute to the living world.