103
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
P. B. Roös, Regenerative-Adaptive Design for Sustainable Development, Sustainable Development
Goals Series, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53234-5_8
Chapter 8
Regenerative Design, Ecology as Teacher
Abstract Regenerative design requires a change of our current processes of design and planning,
moving from the piecemeal, technological and mechanical approach to a model that better reflects the
understanding how the universe actually works as a whole. In this chapter we explore the importance
of this shift in thinking, and provide information on how to design and develop systems that actually
consider the whole system.
When considering the whole system, learnings from ecology need to be explored and these connections of the larger framework (scale linking) of the whole are dealt with in levels of scale and at a
certain local place- based scale (Lyle, 1991 [1985]). To work within the larger context, a set of hierarchical scales in a larger organised system gets applied. As part of design thinking, the context of scale
and order are fundamental in the process of ‘ecosystem design’, which considers hierarchies of scale
and represents in the midst of complexity, the nature of order. This chapter discuss the phenomenon
of order as suggested by Christopher Alexander (2001–2005a, 2001–2005b) and the three modes of
eco-systematic order described by John T. Lyle (1991 [1985]), encapsulating modes of structure in
structural order, function of materials and entities in functional order, and order in locational patterns. The chapter concludes with the Regenerative Ecosystems [8] pattern, representing the reasoning that an ecosystem thinking needs to be fundamentally embedded in the discourse of regenerative
design.
Keywords Regenerative ecosystems · Levels of scale · Eco-systematic order · Ecosystem design ·
Regenerative design · Generative processes · Sustainable systems · Sustainability
Upward links:
… along with Nature’s Design [7], which fundamentally informed us that everything is interconnected and
that we need to consider the eco-systematic order that is always present, are the workings of The Whole [1],
which are constantly in a state of regeneration. For more than 4 billion years of adaptation and regeneration, life
on Earth has calibrated itself through the process of Regenerative Ecosystems [8]. The regenerative ecosystems process can help inform us about how to move towards the implementation of a regenerative- adaptive
design paradigm that supports an Integral Sustainable Worldview [2].
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
P. B. Roös, Regenerative-Adaptive Design for Sustainable Development, Sustainable Development
Goals Series, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53234-5_8
Chapter 8
Regenerative Design, Ecology as Teacher
Abstract Regenerative design requires a change of our current processes of design and planning,
moving from the piecemeal, technological and mechanical approach to a model that better reflects the
understanding how the universe actually works as a whole. In this chapter we explore the importance
of this shift in thinking, and provide information on how to design and develop systems that actually
consider the whole system.
When considering the whole system, learnings from ecology need to be explored and these connections of the larger framework (scale linking) of the whole are dealt with in levels of scale and at a
certain local place- based scale (Lyle, 1991 [1985]). To work within the larger context, a set of hierarchical scales in a larger organised system gets applied. As part of design thinking, the context of scale
and order are fundamental in the process of ‘ecosystem design’, which considers hierarchies of scale
and represents in the midst of complexity, the nature of order. This chapter discuss the phenomenon
of order as suggested by Christopher Alexander (2001–2005a, 2001–2005b) and the three modes of
eco-systematic order described by John T. Lyle (1991 [1985]), encapsulating modes of structure in
structural order, function of materials and entities in functional order, and order in locational patterns. The chapter concludes with the Regenerative Ecosystems [8] pattern, representing the reasoning that an ecosystem thinking needs to be fundamentally embedded in the discourse of regenerative
design.
Keywords Regenerative ecosystems · Levels of scale · Eco-systematic order · Ecosystem design ·
Regenerative design · Generative processes · Sustainable systems · Sustainability
Upward links:
… along with Nature’s Design [7], which fundamentally informed us that everything is interconnected and
that we need to consider the eco-systematic order that is always present, are the workings of The Whole [1],
which are constantly in a state of regeneration. For more than 4 billion years of adaptation and regeneration, life
on Earth has calibrated itself through the process of Regenerative Ecosystems [8]. The regenerative ecosystems process can help inform us about how to move towards the implementation of a regenerative- adaptive
design paradigm that supports an Integral Sustainable Worldview [2].