Regenerative Design

For our team, "Regenerative Design" is the creation of systems that restore land and soil, strengthen culture and tradition, build sustainable economies and livelihoods, and expand human capabilities and adaptive capacity by aligning modern technology with place-based knowledge, living ecology, and long-term stewardship.

Regeneration Begins with Living Intelligence, Not Metrics

In this framework, regeneration starts with lived knowledge:

· Indigenous practices that evolved over millennia, not theory

· Ancient traditions that encode climate adaptation, social order, and resource logic

· Technology enters after these intelligences are understood, not before.

Regeneration, in this sense, is about remembering how systems already knew how to work, then strengthening them with modern tools where appropriate.

Human Systems Are Part of the Ecology

Much contemporary discourse treats humans as external actors within ecological systems, responsible only for reducing harm. This framing is incomplete.

In this framework, human systems are part of the ecology itself. Economic structures, labor practices, and governance arrangements directly shape land use, resource flows, and long-term environmental outcomes.

A system that restores land but depletes people is not regenerative. A system that empowers people but erodes land is not regenerative.

Regeneration only occurs when human and non-human systems recover together.

Place Is the Author, Not the Canvas

Place is not treated as a neutral site for design expression.

· Place, people, livelihoods, and geography dictate form

· Culture and climate dictate material logic

· Equality and fairness dictate social structure

Design is not imposed. It is drawn out of place, refined, and made legible for the present.

This is why such projects do not feel themed or imported. They feel essential, natural, and inevitable.

Circularity Is Necessary but Not Sufficient

Circular systems are fully embraced: water, energy, food, fuel, waste, and carbon. However, circular engineering alone is not regeneration.

In this framework, circular systems are the infrastructure of regeneration, not the outcome. Regeneration is measured by what becomes possible over time.

· New livelihoods emerging

· Knowledge being revived and transferred locally

· Communities gaining resilience and agency

· Cultural practices becoming economically viable again

If a system closes loops but produces dependency, it has failed this definition.

Regenerative Design Increases Capacity, Not Just Outcomes

Regenerative design is successful only if it increases capacity and capability.

· People should become more skilled, not more dependent

· Soil should be more alive, more productive, not depleted

· Culture should be more visible, not commodified

· System should be more natural and easier to steward, not vulnerable

In this practice, regeneration is not a static achievement. Just as wellness is not a final state, both are processes and ongoing experiences of renewal.