Regenerative design is a design approach that goes beyond sustainability by actively restoring, renewing, and enhancing the social, ecological, and cultural systems in which a project is embedded.

Regenerative Design Lexicon

Agency
The capacity of individuals or communities to act intentionally and influence systems rather than passively respond to them.

Biomimicry
Design inspired by nature’s forms, processes, and strategies to create sustainable solutions.

Ecological Literacy
The ability to understand how natural systems function, including energy flows, nutrient cycles, and biodiversity.

Circular Economy
An economic system in which waste is designed out, and materials are kept in continuous cycles of use and regeneration.

Circular food systems
Sustainable and regenerative models that minimise waste and maximize resource efficiency. It is a closed-loop approach.

Circular foods
Foods produced in the context of circular food systems.

Co-creation
A collaborative process in which stakeholders (humans and nonhumans) actively participate in shaping solutions and decisions.

Degenerative System
A system that consumes resources faster than they can be renewed, leading to ecological or social degradation.

Ecological Health
The capacity of an ecosystem to function, regenerate, and adapt while maintaining biodiversity, ecological processes, and relationships that support life over time.

Future-making
A situated practice through which actors actively shape possible futures through decisions, designs, routines, infrastructures, and imaginaries in the present.

Holistic Design
An integrated approach that considers ecological, social, cultural, and economic dimensions simultaneously.

Place-Based Design
Design grounded in the unique ecological, cultural, social, and historical characteristics of a specific place.

Regeneration
The process through which living systems renew and develop toward greater vitality, resilience, and long-term viability.

Regenerative Futures
Futures in which human activities actively restore, renew, and enhance the social, ecological, and material systems they are part of.

Regenerative Indicators
Metrics that focus on system health, vitality, and capacity to evolve, rather than solely on efficiency or compliance.

Resilience
The capacity of a system to absorb disturbance, adapt to change, and continue functioning.

Systems Thinking
A perspective that focuses on wholes, relationships, and feedback loops rather than isolated components.