Regenerative development is understood through the work of Mang and Haggard (2016), Mang and Reed (2012), Sanford (2017), Plaut et al. (2012) and Cole (2012). It is not restorative development, or activation or revitalisation. Its aim is to deliver a Living Environment: “a setting that is thriving, healthy, and resilient because its ecological, social, and economic systems are continually nourished” Plaut et al. (2016, p.2). Regenerative development is the process to achieve this. Plaut et al. go on to define it as “the process of cultivating the capacity and capability in people, communities, and other natural systems to renew, sustain, and thrive”. As one of its outcomes regenerative development is a way to understand a location and what brings it to life, it provides a process and a series of models to create an irresistible narrative of what a place could become.

Placemaking is a way of engaging stakeholders, generally human, though increasingly the non-human, in having agency over what happens in a specific location. It is a process of engagement that co-creates initiatives based on the needs, energy and will of those stakeholders. Placemaking has a series of ways of doing this, from tactical short term interventions creating a place specific response to longer-term strategic placemaking.

These two processes come together in RegenXPlace. Regenerative development provides a way of understanding a place holistically and to develop a compelling narrative about its potential, and placemaking allows this irresistible narrative to be applied in a very local context.  Together they support an ongoing conversation of what thriving looks like and how to design specific interventions to support the development of the potential of that place. This short video is an explanation through a fictional scenario of RegenXPlace.

 

 

References:

Cole, R.J., 2012, Transitioning from green to regenerative design. Building Research & Information, 40(1), pp.39-53.

Mang, P. and Haggard, B. 2016, Regenerative Development: A Framework for Evolving Sustainability.

Mang, P. and Reed, B. 2012, Designing from place: a regenerative framework and methodology, Building Research & Information, 40(1), 23-38.

Plaut, J., Dunbar, B., Gotthelf, H. and Hes, D. 2016, Regenerative Development through LENSES with a case study of Seacombe West, Environment Design Guide, (88), 1.

Sanford, C. (2017). The Regenerative Business: Redesign Work, Cultivate Human Potential, Achieve Extraordinary Outcomes. Boston: Nicholas Brealey Publishing.