The design of a regenerative system requires guidance from a philosophy of design that harnesses characteristics of complex systems that emerge in nature. Such systems demonstrate the complexity of mutually supportive inter-relationships that create stability and resilience over time.
Regenerative design is where the output of a system improves the health and resiliency of that system over time. This is achieved by positive feedback loops linked to production that function to strengthen that system. The characteristics of a regenerative system are having a functional diversity of inter-connected elements in ways that mirror the communities of plants and animals in ecosystems.
Nature is the ultimate practitioner of developing complex self-sustaining systems over time - that move ecosystems towards more complex and stable states. The emergence of this stability even shifts (on a global scale) life sustaining conditions within the atmosphere (air), hydrosphere (water), lithosphere (land) in ways that benefit life. Such processes have Terra-formed Earth into more climatically and atmospherically stable states - in the process of life evolving into complex self-organised assemblies.
Humans (as part of this great flourishing of life) have the innate design hard-wiring latent within our subconscious – which we can harness to continue this work of life on Earth – making our planet a more rich, diverse, productive and beautiful creation.
To achieve this outcome requires careful observations of what patterns within actions result in the most desired outcomes. These reliably reproduce actions that could be called design principles. Aligning our design-intention to these principles will provide a framework to reflect upon our outcomes and make guided-adjustments that we can refine over time.
Adopting principles is a way of guiding and orchestrating an approach to the design of a system. By analysis of patterns within outcomes, principles can be constructed that provide a predictable guide to expected outcomes based upon prior results. Over time these principles can be refined and simplified to provide benchmarks to guide actions to replicate those predictable outcomes. By combining outcomes, more assurances can be met and more precision in expected outcomes. Undertaking this formal process will also help crystallize ideas, allow for patterns to be more clearly identified and allow for better improvements to be made.
The principles of achieving regenerative outcomes in the design of the system I present here are:
A regenerative system is characterised by its complexity and inter-connectivity that replicates the function of natural ecosystems. To understand a systems thinking processes requires suitable information from a system, a set of principles to base your logic framework upon and a suitable outcome that can be benchmarked for success against a value like resiliency. Two characteristics of applying these design principles are systems-thinking, synergy and resilience.
Systems-thinking is a process of understanding how things influence one another. In nature ecosystems provide a wonderful reference point, where the complex interactions between communities of plants and animals creates a complexity of interconnected relationships from which the health of that system and its stability over time arises. This complexity of interactions enables matter to be effectively recycled within an ecosystem and not only produce no waste, but improve the health of surrounding ecosystems with which they are connected (locally and globally). Biological interactions within ecosystems also acts to slow and dissipate energy moving through that system so that the energy has greater ability to be transferred between species and contribute to constructing stability within that system and resources that can be accessed.
Synergy describes the harmonious relationship between the elements of a system that create outcomes that are greater than the collection of the individual outputs of that system. This is achieved by collaboration between the elements of that system that mutually re-enforce each other in ways that creates a harmonic resonance that amplifies the observed outcomes. This is achieved by subtle alignments, enabling the parts of that system to integrate and benefit from the complexity of interactions with other elements of the system that modify the context in which that system operates. This enables resources to be utilised more effectively and energy passing through that system to be slowed and utilised more effectively in constructing stable states of organisation that further moderates the environment of the system and enables each part of that system to operate at increasingly more efficient and refined states.
Resiliency can be described as the ability of a system to resist being destabilised and the elasticity with which it returns to a steady state when disturbed. Resiliency is commonly bench marked within permaculture to determine the outcome of a systems thinking process. Resiliency can be objectively measured by soil carbon, nutrient density of food, diversity of species, or presence of indicator species. These measures could be performed within soil communities, plant communities, or within freshwater species in streams and rivers impacted by the surrounding land use of the catchment of which they are a part.
At Regenerative Designs we offer a wide range of online courses aiming to support you in creating regenerative outcomes in you life, businesses and landscapes you inhabit. Our courses are broken up into individual topics (so you can explore particular areas of interest), focused upon design tasks (to create measurably beneficial impacts) and collectively themed upon 3 certificate programmes (to provide a comprehensive analysis, plan and implementation strategy).
Regenerative design is where the output of a system improves the health and resiliency of that system over time. This is achieved by positive feedback loops linked to production that function to strengthen that system. The characteristics of a regenerative system are having a functional diversity of inter-connected elements in ways that mirror the communities of plants and animals in ecosystems.
Nature is the ultimate practitioner of developing complex self-sustaining systems over time - that move ecosystems towards more complex and stable states. The emergence of this stability even shifts (on a global scale) life sustaining conditions within the atmosphere (air), hydrosphere (water), lithosphere (land) in ways that benefit life. Such processes have Terra-formed Earth into more climatically and atmospherically stable states - in the process of life evolving into complex self-organised assemblies.
Humans (as part of this great flourishing of life) have the innate design hard-wiring latent within our subconscious – which we can harness to continue this work of life on Earth – making our planet a more rich, diverse, productive and beautiful creation.
To achieve this outcome requires careful observations of what patterns within actions result in the most desired outcomes. These reliably reproduce actions that could be called design principles. Aligning our design-intention to these principles will provide a framework to reflect upon our outcomes and make guided-adjustments that we can refine over time.
Adopting principles is a way of guiding and orchestrating an approach to the design of a system. By analysis of patterns within outcomes, principles can be constructed that provide a predictable guide to expected outcomes based upon prior results. Over time these principles can be refined and simplified to provide benchmarks to guide actions to replicate those predictable outcomes. By combining outcomes, more assurances can be met and more precision in expected outcomes. Undertaking this formal process will also help crystallize ideas, allow for patterns to be more clearly identified and allow for better improvements to be made.
The principles of achieving regenerative outcomes in the design of the system I present here are:
- Sustain and enhance the fertility and life-supporting ability of the production medium: At the heart of any system is a key resource – which if you focus on its health and productivity it will act as a positive influence on the health and productivity of the entire system. IN a forest this could be the trees, in a lake the water quality and in most agricultural systems the soil. By incorporating practices that restore the health of this key resource – the flow of benefits impacts other aspects of the system. Within a business, this may take the form of staff morale and well-being or customer satisfaction.
- Design from patterns to details: Actions taken from a ‘big picture’ vantage point will have a co-ordinating influence on the finer details of how a business operates. This can be seen in the difference between leadership and management – where a management focus on productivity will miss the vision and direction of the infinite mindset of a leadership perspective that will provide an “over-arching” impact on the entire system.
- Use small and slow solutions based upon careful observation and dynamically respond to changes: This principle articulates the mindset of growth and development in a business that is often captured in lean development and agile methodology. This method takes the approach of using minimum viable versions of a new business idea and testing the receptivity of the target market to this concept and basing further development upon the responses received.
- Design closed-loop systems: These systems do not require large inputs of resources from external systems. Reduce external control to the absolute minimum required for maintaining the chosen state of production. Inputs used aim to work as far as possible in conjunction with natural cycles, rather than trying to dominate such cycles. Achieve cycles/flows of nutrients and materials that have as few losses as possible. This requires the conservation and recycling of nutrients and organic material.
- Support beneficial interactions within elements of a system: Integrate rather than separate. Foster beneficial processes and interactions such as occur in natural ecosystems, thus encouraging internal stability rather than a heavy reliance on external control measures.
- Encourage positive feedback loops: Reduce waste to a minimum. Increase diversity of beneficial collaborations: This principle is inspired by the observation in nature that in an ecosystem there emerges a complex diversity of species that maintain that complexity through niche specialisation. This means that each species finds a way of meeting its needs by utilisation a range of resources within its system and exists in a complex balance with other species within the system that creates a functional diversity and complexity that restores health and resiliency over time. Such a system requires time to emerge as species find ways to exist in different niches in ways that align in positive ways with other species.
A regenerative system is characterised by its complexity and inter-connectivity that replicates the function of natural ecosystems. To understand a systems thinking processes requires suitable information from a system, a set of principles to base your logic framework upon and a suitable outcome that can be benchmarked for success against a value like resiliency. Two characteristics of applying these design principles are systems-thinking, synergy and resilience.
Systems-thinking is a process of understanding how things influence one another. In nature ecosystems provide a wonderful reference point, where the complex interactions between communities of plants and animals creates a complexity of interconnected relationships from which the health of that system and its stability over time arises. This complexity of interactions enables matter to be effectively recycled within an ecosystem and not only produce no waste, but improve the health of surrounding ecosystems with which they are connected (locally and globally). Biological interactions within ecosystems also acts to slow and dissipate energy moving through that system so that the energy has greater ability to be transferred between species and contribute to constructing stability within that system and resources that can be accessed.
Synergy describes the harmonious relationship between the elements of a system that create outcomes that are greater than the collection of the individual outputs of that system. This is achieved by collaboration between the elements of that system that mutually re-enforce each other in ways that creates a harmonic resonance that amplifies the observed outcomes. This is achieved by subtle alignments, enabling the parts of that system to integrate and benefit from the complexity of interactions with other elements of the system that modify the context in which that system operates. This enables resources to be utilised more effectively and energy passing through that system to be slowed and utilised more effectively in constructing stable states of organisation that further moderates the environment of the system and enables each part of that system to operate at increasingly more efficient and refined states.
Resiliency can be described as the ability of a system to resist being destabilised and the elasticity with which it returns to a steady state when disturbed. Resiliency is commonly bench marked within permaculture to determine the outcome of a systems thinking process. Resiliency can be objectively measured by soil carbon, nutrient density of food, diversity of species, or presence of indicator species. These measures could be performed within soil communities, plant communities, or within freshwater species in streams and rivers impacted by the surrounding land use of the catchment of which they are a part.
At Regenerative Designs we offer a wide range of online courses aiming to support you in creating regenerative outcomes in you life, businesses and landscapes you inhabit. Our courses are broken up into individual topics (so you can explore particular areas of interest), focused upon design tasks (to create measurably beneficial impacts) and collectively themed upon 3 certificate programmes (to provide a comprehensive analysis, plan and implementation strategy).