REGENERATIVE DESIGN/ARCHITECTURE

While it had good intentions, sustainability was a concept that failed on launch and simply should have never been. Its original premise was to meet the needs of the present without compromising future generations’ ability to meet their needs—all within available resources. But, does that make sense? Imagine a bucket brimming with any finite resource. Over the years, that resource is diminished as a function of development, industrialization, manufacturing, and population growth. After a century of environmental thievery, the bucket is half-full and sustainability—with all of its good intentions—calls on us to use only what is needed so that we don’t compromise the needs of future generations. Thus, the current population adjusts its needs to provide the next generation access to a bucket of equal quantities of resources. The problem is, world population is growing at breakneck speed. In 1900, we had 1.6 billion living on the planet. In 2050, we’re expected to reach 9 billion. Let that sink in. Conservation has its limits. Regardless of the conservation strategy the population needs a bare minimum to survive. As the population grows, our bucket’s resources will start a deficit trend. Generation after generation will pass that bucket to drive the deficit so deep that resource extinction is eminent. The question becomes: Is sustainability a model that our culture should adopt and promote knowing that the bucket will one day be empty?. Regenrative Architecture begins by empowering our people to start dialogues about regenerative design, to go beyond green building certifications and to question the methods our industry has been using. We are motivating our work culture to explore net positive strategies so that our buildings can renew nature and give back to our communities.