We are thrilled to share news of the launch of our Regenerative Playbook on the 1st of March. The Playbook is aimed at those not yet initiated into the ways of regenerative thinking. It is designed as a first step in introducing regenerative thinking, bringing sustainability and environmental approaches alive with questions and challenges to shift thinking. In a good way.
With all its tactile richness across 28 pages, The Regenerative Playbook will be a mighty regenerative conversation starter in any organisation looking to do sustainability differently.
Further, we are honoured and delighted that the playbook includes a foreword from Josie Warden Head of Regenerative Design at the RSA which is doing so much good (and positive) work in this space.
Why not buy two copies and give one away as an act of reciprocity.
If you have seen the beautiful Anti-Greenwash Playbook that Content Commslaunched at COP26 then you will be aware of the ability that these small books have to open conversations.
The Construction Decarbonisation or Emissions Bill was presented to parliament yesterday by Duncan Baker MP, and carried unanimously – the ayes had it!
Delighted to release the first of our Zoom Regenerative in Conversation podcasts …
Mindful Spaces and Places
Sophie Lacey is a skilled copywriter and content writer with extensive experience in the promotion of health & wellbeing in the built environment, retail, homes & gardens, food & beverage, beauty and fashion.
This podcast explores Sophie’s activities and perspective as a qualified meditation teacher across many areas, including mindfulness in nature, mindful spaces, biophilic design, multi-sensory storytelling and placemaking for wellbeing.
Pop over to our Regen Notes page to listen. The podcast is also available on Apple, Spotify, Tunein and many other podcast platforms. Please do subscribe, like, comment and share.
ZR In Conversation on Apple
About
Zoom Regenerative in Conversation is a regular podcast, capturing the essence and authenticity from the awesome conversations that ZR hosts Martin Brown and Anna Williamson have with ZR guests, enabling in-depth behind-the-presentation exploration of topics covered within the ZR sessions.rege
Zoom Regenerative is a Fairsnape initiative, sharing, pollinating and exploring dots that connect ecology and nature with the built environment.
To connect with zoom regenerative, you can like, share and subscribe to this podcast, engage in our monthly events, join us across social media using the #zoomregen or #ZoomRegenerative hashtags, subscribe to our Regen Notes newsletter and find more news and background at Zoom Regen
Future Podcasts
“It has always been a radical act to tell stories during dark times. They are the regenerative spaces of creation and renewal. As we experience a loss of connection to the earth we share stories that explore the timeless connections between ecology, culture and spirituality.” Emergence Magazine
We have a number of exciting in conversation podcasts lined up for release between Zoom Regen events.
If you have a story that needs telling exploring in these ‘climate dark times’ and would like to be an ‘in conversation’ guest please do get in touch
The Next Zoom Regenerative
What does it feel like to live on the brink of a vast historical change? It feels like now. Kim Stanley Robinson
Excited to announce that Zoom Regenerative returns for our next season on the 14th September at 8pm UK time to include:
exciting updates on the next chapter for Zoom Regenerative
an extended version of our ZR one-2-one chats that have led to so many connections, collaborations, contracts and friendships.
unconference style discussion to explore regenerative built environments in the light of the recent IPCC report and ahead of COP26
This book aims to provoke a new way of thinking among those involved in design and development. FutuREstorative is about our relationship with nature and how this translates into our understanding and ‘sustainable design’.
Brown has brought together thinkers and practitioners linked to the Living Building Challenge, and they advocate not just sustainable development or limiting our environmental impact, but a restorative approach, working with nature and making a positive contribution. It is a well argued, hard-hitting and ambitious philosophy.
The book is accessible and thought-provoking, avoiding the trap of previous ‘deep green’ texts, and whilst some points are repeated, their importance warrants this. Each section is well balanced between prose, diagrams, case studies and quotes.
One of the most useful sections sets out the principles of the restorative approach alongside checklists of existing standards such as BREAM and the Well Standard. It is here that the value of its holistic approach to designers becomes clear. It offers principles which value place-making and beauty alongside environmental aspects, making the links crystal clear. If its themes, and the thinking behind them, were adopted by planners and designers, it could mark an important shift in how sustainability informs planning and design.
Whilst this book will not give you all the answers, it will change how you think about the problem. In putting forward the restorative approach, Martin Brown draws together all the buzz words and current strands of thinking into a robust framework, from the future of zero-carbon, Passivhaus, well-being and the circular economy, right through to building information modelling or BIM, social media and the fourth industrial revolution. In doing so, he has created a onestop- shop for ambitious policy makers.
Brown and his contributors’ aim is to ‘inform and change the conversation, reframe the debate, and advocate for a radical change in direction for built environment sustainability’.
This book marks an important milestone in doing that.
Much has changed since the idea for FutureRestorative was conceived back in 2015. What have we achieved in 6 years? We have new regenerative agendas, we are leaving a pandemic portal, we had Code Red for Humanity reports and we prepare for COP26. FutuREstorative pointed out we have the technology and tools, yet we are missing and desperately need the ‘regenerative self’
The self that can make informed and conscious decisions. Decisions not only at a project level but for human and non-human communities through time. Decisions where reciprocity actions do not expect a personal or immediate return but heals the future for generations way down the line. A regenerative self recognises all is connected and nested, understands carbon ecology, how nature works and the interplay and importance of biodiversity. Interbeing.
Watch out for a follow up to FutuREstorative … FutuREgenerative Self maybe
Regen Notes is a Fairsnape fortnightly newsletter of regenerative news, stories and more, with a sideways focus on the built environment.
“Everything we need to avoid the exponential impacts of climate change is doable. But it depends on solutions moving exponentially faster than impacts.”
Christina Figueres
Regen Notes is a companion to Zoom Regenerative, where we join regenerative dots, share themes and work that invigorates, inspires and feeds our curiosity.
Regen Notes 16, the latest newsletter off the press covers Pollinator Loss, Consulting, Biodiversity Net Gain, Carbon Peak, Peatbog Super Heroes, Mushrooms, Zoom Regenerative, Locus, LFE Masterclass, Folk on Foot, Spell Songs.
Somehow, whilst we had all been busy, while had been doing all the small things that add up to life … the future had slipped into the present.
To Fairsnape blog followers and subscribers: Firstly thank you for your support. Posts here, on the fairsnape blog, will continue. However the newsletter format of substack gives a longform, newsletter based approach, joining the dots of regenerative thinking and practice with the built environment.
“We are on the cusp of something regeneratively wonderful
regenerative or something irreversibly disastrous”
Along with the increased use of the term ‘regenerative’ we have a changing narrative. And this is important, as it is narratives that define us and contribute, in turn, to how we define and shape our future. The future is not something that just happens to us, but it is something that we create. As Arundhati Roy noted in April 2020, we need ‘to imagine the future we want and be prepared to fight for it’. Yet, unless we urgently address the level of ecological and climate literacy, and levels of climate awareness within all areas of education, we will not have the narratives, insights and knowledge to imagine our future, to recognize goodness and what it looks like and to be able to fight for it.
Martin Brown RESTORD 2030
Over the past four years, the RESTORE Cost Action has created an important and significant Regenerative Body of Knowledge, (rBOK), for the built environment, A collection that includes many thought-leading publications, videos, presentations and more, covering the built environment spectrum from changing mindsets and system thinking, to design, construction, operations and internal environments.
Free downloads are listed at end of this post and watch out for forthcoming of workshops, courses and other dissemination events based on the wide scope of the rBOK Regenerative Body of Knowledge.
RESTORY. FAD_RestoryThemain results and insight into the project management strategies for RESTORE. Editors Carlo Battisti and Martin Brown
RESTORE Final Book: Rethinking Sustainability Towards a Regenerative Economy 22 Chapters, 45 Authors, 22 Countries, Free open access ebook Editors: Andreucci, M.B., Marvuglia, A., Baltov, M., Hansen, P.
SUSTAINABILITY, RESTORATIVE TO REGENERATIVE An exploration in progressing a paradigm shift in built environment thinking, from sustainability to restorative sustainability and on to regenerative sustainability. Editors Martin Brown and Edeltraud Haselsteiner
REGENERATIVE DESIGN IN DIGITAL PRACTICE A Handbook for the Built Environment. Editors: Emanuele Naboni and Lisanne Havinga
REGENERATIVE CONSTRUCTION AND OPERATION Bridging the gap between design and construction, following a Life Cycle Approach consisting of practical approaches for procurement, construction, operation and future life. Editors: Giulia Peretti, Carsten K. Druhmann.
REGENERATIVE TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE INDOOR ENVIRONMENT Inspirational guidelines for practitioners. Editors: Roberto Lollini, Wilmer Pasut
SCALE JUMPING Regenerative Systems Thinking within the Built Environment Editors: András Reith, Jelena Brajković.
RESTORD 2030 A Regenerative Guide for Educators, Students and Practitioners.
A primer for the (re)imagination of a city ten years into the future. The City of RESTORD.
We are on the cusp of something regeneratively wonderful or something irreversibly disastrous. Use of the word ‘regenerative’ has seen a welcome resurgence, applied to everything, from farming to leadership, fashion, culture, economics and the built environment.
Its current use reflects the urgency we now face as climate change and ecological breakdown become increasingly palpable. It represents a desire and a focused switch in mindset, away from the mechanistic, away from being only less bad, the common and dominant discourse, to one that is living and sees ourselves and the built environment as interactive parts of the beautiful and complex ecosystem web.
RESTORE: {verb} to bring back to a state of health, soundness, and vigour.
RESTORD: {noun} a city that is socially just, ecologically robust and culturally rich.
RESTORD2030, a guide for educators, students and practitioners, will be of interest to teachers in primary and secondary education, to lecturers and teachers in university education and those delivering sustainability courses, and workshops, including continuous professional development for (planning, design, construction, facilities management) practitioners. It is available for free download below.
RESTORD 2030 aims to inspire users to create new and enhance existing sustainability modules with a regenerative climate and ecological focus.
It is pinned on the need for us to understand what good looks like and to imagine a regenerative future, and then to identify the steps that will move us towards that goal.
It is not that regenerative thinking is new. It has been at the core of ecological thinking for decades, traced back to acclaimed and influential writers on nature and ecology such as Aldo Leopold, Rachel Carson and many others. Importantly, it has likewise been the foundation of many indigenous cultures since time immemorial.
Along with the increased use of the term ‘regenerative’ we have a changing narrative. And this is important, as it is narratives that define us and contribute, in turn, to how we define and shape our future. The future is not something that just happens to us, but it is something that we create. As Arundhati Roy noted in April 2020, we need ‘to imagine the future we want and be prepared to fight for it’.
Yet, unless we urgently address the level of ecological and climate literacy, and levels of climate awareness within all areas of education, we will not have the narratives, insights and knowledge to imagine our future, to recognize goodness and what it looks like and to be able to fight for it.
“to all who work in the built environment – the explicit purpose of your work must be to craft and cultivate the fertile conditions for life to thrive.”
Michelle Holliday preface to RESTORD2030 ‘‘Love Letter to Those Who Shape our World’.
Amanda Gorman The Hill We Climb. Image Unsplash/Yannick Pulver
Part One contains a selection of new thoughtful articles on education and awareness interventions based on, and enhancing the work from RESTORE publications, relating to the need for a new mindset and a nar-rative for a regenerative future.
Part Two provides insights into what modules are available through RESTORE members and the wider regenerative fraternity.
Part Three provides a reference portal into the myriad publications, presentations, articles, papers, videos and more from the four years of the RESTORE action.
Part Four provides a listing with details of the authors and contributors who can be contacted to facilitate elements of regenerative focused education and to give relevant advice on those themes.
The most important aspect of regenerative business today is to inspire future generations, future projects and future ideas to reach higher, to be bolder and to be far, far, more disruptive.
Martin Brown. Author
Image Unsplash/Paweł Czerwiński
EDITORS Martin Brown, Carlo Battisti.
CONTRIBUTORS Ann Vanner, Alison Watson, Blerta Vula, Giulia Sonetti, Ivan Šulc, Jelena Brajković, Zvi Weinstein, with Michelle Holliday (Guest Preface) Anna Williamson (TM and Vastu Architecture). Scott McAulay (Climate Literacy) Francesco Gonella (Systems Thinking) and Lydia Singh (RegenVast)
The Zoom Regenerative Pollinator series Pollinator Series – a series of three one hour sessions, commences on May 4th with Regenerative Minds.
We invite you to participate in three collaborative modules, hosted online by Martin Brown and the ZR team with guest contributors. The three modules will provide an immersion into regenerative topics, trends and thinking – to refresh existing knowledge and skills and/or begin to understand regenerative principles from the ground up and to view them holistically.
Regenerative Minds. 4th May A deeper understanding of what regenerative is and means within our built environment context. Perhaps all too often we use the Einstein quote that “we cannot solve problems with the same mindset that created them”. Yet we may not fully appreciate the mindset now needed to move forward with the regenerative, do more good, not just reduce impact, approach. This session will explore, using design and living systems thinking, how we can acknowledge that we inhabit a biosphere that is interconnected and interdependent.
Reciprocity. 6th May An understanding of a reciprocity based connectivity with nature and each other, through, and beyond biophilia. This module examines and goes beyond biophilia (love of life) to explore an understanding of what reciprocity can mean for us in the built environment. There are no transactional relationships in nature where living systems are based on reciprocity.
Regenerative Practice.11 May Exploration of project management approaches for regenerative projects. Moving from ‘systems thinking to ‘living systems thinking’ to provide a new form of symbiotic collaboration. Where we have power with, not over. Like the roots of a tree, or a complex web of mycelium, our collaborative strength is dependant on the strength of others, and vice-versa.
Our Restore / Zoom Regenerative event, listed as an Earthday event was a bittersweet affair with the four years EU Cost Action RESTORE ending its journey on the 30th of April. And like all strong communities – RESTORE has, and will continue to seed further progress in the built environment, and beyond. I echo Carlo Battisti (chair of Restore) recent comment, ‘it has been one of the most amazing and inspiring four years of my career’
The RESTORE programme assembled, through the work of over 160 members across 40 countries a phenomenal Body of Knowledge, all freely downloadable from the RESTORE pages.
Adding to the formable Regenerative Body of Knowledge (RBoK) from the RESTORE programme, there has been a raft of publications released this week as the 4 years EU Cost Action RESTORE winds up.
RESTORD 2030 a guide for educators,
Restory – the story of Restore,
A System Thinking Guide to Scale Jumping,s.
Recordings from the Sabden Restore Ready event can be viewed here, along with all other recordings for this series. This includes the brilliant Restore Animations – six short (90 sec) animations, one for each of the RESTORE working group.
Fairsnape 