Towards a regenerative paradigm for the built environment

Abstract

The concept of regenerative design and development is situated within the broader
\ntheoretical context of sustainability. The emerging regenerative paradigm is contrasted with
\nthe two current sustainability paradigms – internationally negotiated ‘idealistic’ public policy
\nand private sector ‘Ecological Modernization’ – that seek to maintain the status quo. Each of
\nthese sustainability paradigms is explained though a brief historical narrative to illustrate
\ntheir response to broader social pressures, the main critiques of each and some
\ncommonalities. It is argued that the dominant sustainability paradigms are reaching the
\nlimitations of their usefulness due to their conceptual foundation in an inappropriate
\nmechanistic worldview and their tacit support of a modernization project that prevents
\neffective engagement with a complex, dynamic and living world. The regenerative paradigm
\nprovides an alternative that is explicitly designed to engage with a living world through its
\nemphasis on a co-creative partnership with nature based on strategies of adaptation,
\nresilience and regeneration. It provides a foundation for a sustainability paradigm that is
\nrelevant to an ecological worldview.