Why Place? Why do we begin with Place? The challenge of changing global economic systems can sometimes seem overwhelming. But we can change our places. One by one. We are coming home and coming back to life when we reconnect to the places we inhabit. Reconnecting to the Power of Place can help us transform our extractive global economies, to regenerative thriving places where all life flourishes. The global pandemic has seen the green shoots of a new glo-cal economy emerging; a return to local where we can whilst still operating in a global economy. We study the different ways in which a regenerative economy diverges and creates the conditions conducive to life, and the tools that we have available to start that transition.

We need a new narrative on which to build a regenerative economy in each and every place we inhabit and work. We live amongst complex living systems that have adapted and evolved for 3.8 billion years. We will explore the key principles of living systems, and help you adopt them in your projects an programmes as the foundation of regenerative design to create living, thriving places. How does the intelligence of nature deal with waste? How does nature share resources equally, and where needed, among a community? What lessons can we learn or designing our own local strategies?

Regenerative practitioners work at three levels simultaneously. We work on our own development, the development of our teams, project and place, and on the role of that place in changing the systems that surround it. To be successful we need to learn to see and map the nested systems that surround us, so that we can become effective ecosystemic acupuncturists. We learn to identify the interconnected and inter-dependent systems that affect our place and find the nodes where change will be most effective. We help to surface the our own role and the role of our projects to lift up the purpose of the systems in which we work.

To allow our Places and the people who live and work within them to achieve their highest potential, we need to deeply understand the story that our places want to tell. We learn how to see the patterns and flows of energy and movement, to map the unique biology and culture that give rise to a new expression of the essence of our place and its role in the world. What is the gift to the world of each of our own places? What do the patterns of generations mean for how we should design? What is the unique bio-cultural essence of our story?

No place can thrive, evolve or activate systemic change unless its community comes together behind a co-created vision for the future. Creating and sustaining the energy needed for transformation comes from the heart and soul of the people within. We learn how to design and sustain collaborative community, and the deep engagement practices that support them. How do we make a shift to stewards and hosts the future? What qualities and practices do we need to develop?

Regenerative development is adaptive and ever-changing. To design strategies for our places and the communities within them, demands new and different qualities and practices. It asks us to step up and grow up as humans.

Whilst we need to learn to design adaptively, how to build in feedback loops that allow for agility, creativity and change, we also need to work on the qualities we need: courage, compassionate communications, patience and coherence, working within the rhythms of nature.