189
The project team used the four-quadrant model of the Integral Sustainable Design framework as a
guide to explore the individual and collective (societal) aspects of potential rehabilitation and regeneration propositions, as well as quantitative performance criteria (both at building/infrastructure performance and regional/town mapping scale) to investigate integrated social, economic, cultural and
environmental sustainability outcomes for the chosen pilot study site (Roös, 2020). Guided by the
Integral Sustainable Design framework and the Regenerative-Adaptive Design Model, three scenarios
were developed (Potter, 2020):
1. Restorative – Reconnect the waterways by designing for the natural catchments and flows with
new nature-inspired constructed water courses and linear park trail. This provides the foundation
for the broader ecological corridors to connect through the site (adjacent to the mine area whilst it
is undergoing restoration) and to provide an opportunity for people to access the site from day one
via the waterway and to overlook the restoration of the mine.
2. Regenerative – Building from the baseline of restoration, the local community participates in the
enhancement of the place, supporting continual habitat improvement through applied knowledge
systems. The activities and uses on site are designed for deep research and learning, founded upon
giving back to and living in harmony with nature. The site establishes productive and abundant
sources of food, water and energy to serve the community who visits and sustains it.
3. Regenerative-Adaptive – Share the site’s vitality, productivity and learnings with broader city and
global networks. It becomes a ‘living lab’ and a place of continuous adaptation and advancement
of synergistic systems.
The results of this conceptual project indicated that indeed it is possible to go beyond the current practice of sustainability, moving toward regeneration and adaptation, as presented in Heal
the Scar – Regenerative Futures of Damaged Landscapes (Roös, 2020) (Fig. 12.3).
12.4 The Revenge or Celebration of Gaia
We have clearly identified in the early chapters of this book that the climate is rapidly changing and
we are experiencing impacts such as coastal erosion, flooding, extreme heat, and bushfires. The living
Earth is responding to the anthropogenic global warming; we have passed the tipping point, and as a
self-regulating system, the Earth will change its climate to bring back the equilibrium necessary to
maintain the conditions for life on this planet. In the Gaia Hypothesis, James Lovelock and Lynn
Margulis (1974) put forward that the Earth is a complex self-regulating system which, as a whole,
seeks a physical and chemical environment that is optimal for life (Lovelock, 2009; Lovelock &
Margulis, 1974).
This is indeed the case, and as human beings we need to acknowledge that we are part of this larger
natural system. Further, as argued by Wilson (2016), for the first time in the history of this planet the
human species has become the architect of the environment, creating the Anthropocene epoch, bringing consequences to the Earth that will affect all life (both human and of the natural world) far into the
geological future (Wilson, 2016, p. 2). According to Lovelock, our urban way of life demands more
and more built- up areas, encroaching upon the domain of the living Earth, taking from it more
resources than what it can sustain. Gaia is now changing according its own rules to regulate its intent
to provide conditions for life – potentially to a state where human beings are no longer welcome
(Lovelock, 2006, p. 9). However, if we return to our inherent deep connections to nature and embrace
biophilia, where we use our love for nature as the initiator for our decisions, maybe we can reestablish a symbiosis with Gaia. The question remains of whether we, as humans, can achieve this
symbiosis with the revenge or celebration of Gaia.
12.4 The Revenge or Celebration of Gaia
The project team used the four-quadrant model of the Integral Sustainable Design framework as a
guide to explore the individual and collective (societal) aspects of potential rehabilitation and regeneration propositions, as well as quantitative performance criteria (both at building/infrastructure performance and regional/town mapping scale) to investigate integrated social, economic, cultural and
environmental sustainability outcomes for the chosen pilot study site (Roös, 2020). Guided by the
Integral Sustainable Design framework and the Regenerative-Adaptive Design Model, three scenarios
were developed (Potter, 2020):
1. Restorative – Reconnect the waterways by designing for the natural catchments and flows with
new nature-inspired constructed water courses and linear park trail. This provides the foundation
for the broader ecological corridors to connect through the site (adjacent to the mine area whilst it
is undergoing restoration) and to provide an opportunity for people to access the site from day one
via the waterway and to overlook the restoration of the mine.
2. Regenerative – Building from the baseline of restoration, the local community participates in the
enhancement of the place, supporting continual habitat improvement through applied knowledge
systems. The activities and uses on site are designed for deep research and learning, founded upon
giving back to and living in harmony with nature. The site establishes productive and abundant
sources of food, water and energy to serve the community who visits and sustains it.
3. Regenerative-Adaptive – Share the site’s vitality, productivity and learnings with broader city and
global networks. It becomes a ‘living lab’ and a place of continuous adaptation and advancement
of synergistic systems.
The results of this conceptual project indicated that indeed it is possible to go beyond the current practice of sustainability, moving toward regeneration and adaptation, as presented in Heal
the Scar – Regenerative Futures of Damaged Landscapes (Roös, 2020) (Fig. 12.3).
12.4 The Revenge or Celebration of Gaia
We have clearly identified in the early chapters of this book that the climate is rapidly changing and
we are experiencing impacts such as coastal erosion, flooding, extreme heat, and bushfires. The living
Earth is responding to the anthropogenic global warming; we have passed the tipping point, and as a
self-regulating system, the Earth will change its climate to bring back the equilibrium necessary to
maintain the conditions for life on this planet. In the Gaia Hypothesis, James Lovelock and Lynn
Margulis (1974) put forward that the Earth is a complex self-regulating system which, as a whole,
seeks a physical and chemical environment that is optimal for life (Lovelock, 2009; Lovelock &
Margulis, 1974).
This is indeed the case, and as human beings we need to acknowledge that we are part of this larger
natural system. Further, as argued by Wilson (2016), for the first time in the history of this planet the
human species has become the architect of the environment, creating the Anthropocene epoch, bringing consequences to the Earth that will affect all life (both human and of the natural world) far into the
geological future (Wilson, 2016, p. 2). According to Lovelock, our urban way of life demands more
and more built- up areas, encroaching upon the domain of the living Earth, taking from it more
resources than what it can sustain. Gaia is now changing according its own rules to regulate its intent
to provide conditions for life – potentially to a state where human beings are no longer welcome
(Lovelock, 2006, p. 9). However, if we return to our inherent deep connections to nature and embrace
biophilia, where we use our love for nature as the initiator for our decisions, maybe we can reestablish a symbiosis with Gaia. The question remains of whether we, as humans, can achieve this
symbiosis with the revenge or celebration of Gaia.
12.4 The Revenge or Celebration of Gaia