A key part of modeling regenerative thinking is carefully considering how we define the words we use to talk about it. As Marilyn Strathern put it, “It matters what ideas we use to think other ideas with.”
If we try to think about regenerative and sustainable design practices while using words whose definitions trap us into degenerative thinking patterns, we have almost lost the game before we get out of the starting gate.
So, every month we will take the time to highlight the definition of a key concept in the field of regenerative design. These definitions will be pulled from the glossary we use to guide the development of all Institute’s courses.
For our first entry, it is only fitting that we start by defining the word regenerative itself. Here is the definition found in the Integrated Regenerative Design (IRD) glossary:
Regenerative – having the property of self-organizing by harnessing ambient flows of energy, material, and information from the surrounding environment to supply internal operation, thereby creating a local region of negative entropy that allows for the generation of internal patterns of structure, flow, and interrelationships that increase over time until they reach a state of dynamic equilibrium, the magnitude of which is determined by the available flows being used to supply the system. Regenerative systems tend to increase and improve the operational efficiency, resilience, and robustness of other systems with which they have interrelationships and in which they are embedded. In most ecosystems, this implies increasing biological fertility, ecosystem function, hydrological cycle health, human health, and community function.
Many attempts to define the concept of regenerative end up being fairly broad and conceptual, but the more technical definition given here is needed when we start considering how to rigorously apply the concept of regenerative design in engineering, architecture, planning, and other technical fields.
Even the glossary definition given here is somewhat simplified from the full technical definition used in some of the more advanced courses offered by IIRD.
The full, technical description of a regenerative system used in the Integrated Regenerative Design framework actually lays out a list of measurable criteria that a system needs to meet in order to be considered regenerative instead of degenerative. These criteria allow designers to evaluate systems against objective metrics to determine whether their performance is fully regenerative.
