Abstract:
The concept of regenerative design and development is situated within the broader
theoretical context of sustainability. The emerging regenerative paradigm is contrasted with
the two current sustainability paradigms – internationally negotiated ‘idealistic’ public policy
and private sector ‘Ecological Modernization’ – that seek to maintain the status quo. Each of
these sustainability paradigms is explained though a brief historical narrative to illustrate
their response to broader social pressures, the main critiques of each and some
commonalities. It is argued that the dominant sustainability paradigms are reaching the
limitations of their usefulness due to their conceptual foundation in an inappropriate
mechanistic worldview and their tacit support of a modernization project that prevents
effective engagement with a complex, dynamic and living world. The regenerative paradigm
provides an alternative that is explicitly designed to engage with a living world through its
emphasis on a co-creative partnership with nature based on strategies of adaptation,
resilience and regeneration. It provides a foundation for a sustainability paradigm that is
relevant to an ecological worldview.
