The era of the Anthropocene, the age of human dominance, is defined by the partly irreversible, global scale environmental and climate change damage that humans have inflicted on the planet. As our built environment and design thereof plays a central role, the desire to move on, to define and to forge a new era is evident—if not essential to our further existence. The design profession is working to change conventions, to incorporate circular design principals of reduce, reuse, and recycle and to use locally resourced, renewable building materials. The goal is not just to have a lesser negative impact, but to reverse damage and, ultimately, to initiate a new era of regeneration. The improvement of our relationship to the Earth (soil) is the key to an optimistic future that is defined by positive impact. This relationship, the ways in which we use the Earth, can define a new design paradigm of an ethical infrastructure.
In the last years, discoveries in the biosciences have gained recognition that focus on symbiotic relationships—that symbiosis plays a central role in the structure and function of life.[1] The Earth’s soils, for example, hold more life than all of the life above the surface of the Earth.[2] It is now known and accepted that this network of organisms, micro-organisms, mycorrhiza, and plant roots, etc. exist together in a symbiotic nature (in mutual benefit).[3] The health of the soil’s organisms is directly connected to the health of our environment. The better the quality of the soil, the more water it retains, the more carbon it sequesters and stores, and the more nutrients it has—meaning that food grown in healthy soil has a higher nutrient quality (nutrient density). [4] We can say, therefore, that the Earth’s soils are the basis for biodiversity, the source of food and materials, the mega-storage of carbon and water and thus the basis of life.
When looking at the design of our environment, Earth represents the ground for the common good. Spaces that are open and/or are public, cultivate a positive societal relationship as places where education, integration, relaxation, cooperation or caring can take place. With the knowledge that every bit of Earth that we cover and seal with roads and buildings is closing it away from the symbiosis of nature, we may ask how or in what way we could use that space to create something that contributes to society. Spaces and functions that serve society in an adequate way—that create a societal symbiosis comparable to that of nature contribute positively.
The idea of ‘Regenerative Design’ is to reach beyond sustainable by building in a way that restores, renews, and replenishes. Regenerative Design is defined as a holistic design process that develops solutions to create resilient and equitable systems that combine the needs of society with the integrity of nature. Regenerative Design requires that we see ourselves and our actions as part of larger processes that we co-create in a way that strengthens and replenishes natural cycles rather than depleting them.[5] This design attitude opens-up a wide spectrum of applications whose impact reaches far beyond current human-centered design practices. Technological advances will certainly correspondingly enhance our ability to find new and better solutions, and whose impact can be tested more accurately than ever before. In establishing a design paradigm that is based on regenerative principals, we first need to consider (symbiotic) relationships.
Every age has their own relationship to nature, to gardens and to built space. Ancient Roman architecture, as can be seen in examples from Pompeii, the house actually becomes the garden through a series of spaces and visual axises. (atrium – peristyle garden – hortus)[6] Through the use of illusionistic murals, interior walls often dissolved into the landscape. Gardens of all ages and backgrounds embody identities, possibilities and visions. A garden can be a romantic refuge, and place to nurture the spirit through contemplation and observation—paradise.[7] In 18th Century England, new plants from America inspired the design of ‘informal’, painted garden landscapes.[8] At the end of the 19th Century, the garden became a place of social justice, collective care, food production and self-empowerment. In Germany, the Schreber gardens started in Leipzig provided city dwellers with the possibility to grow their own food, and the idea was replicated in many other cities and places.[9] (In England, allotments) In New York City, in the 1970’s, rooftops were informally taken over as spaces to be used and utilized. In Cuba, in the 1990’s, every available space was utilized for food production in order to be independent from imports.[10] Gardens are places that support biodiversity and empower people to create a place of belonging in an otherwise autonomous city. [11]
In relationship to built space, nature can take many forms. Modernist urbanism of the early to mid-20th Century laid emphasis on light, fresh air and green spaces between large structures, while modernist architecture emphasized the visual and physical connection of interior and exterior spaces. Nature can be the conceptual starting point of an architectural act: A picnic under a tree (cherry blossom festival, Japan), a bench or a wall. The number of people looking to a space increases its value and meaning as a ‘shared visual facility’[12]. We can both visually and physically share a space, and it is these spaces in-between that can be the link to improving our environments. Since our cities are already 80% built, it will be these spaces that provide opportunities. Architects and designers, as the guardians of private-public and built-nature interfaces, must understand nature better in order to design holistically. Connectors and threshold spaces have currently lost former qualities. More often, today, we experience spaces of hypermobility, checkpoints, borders, or never-ending juxtapositions of specialized and exclusive environments where public space has disappeared[13]. The threshold space, the visually and physically shared space, can be (re-)taken over and improved.
Nature is intrinsically local and grounds us in space and time. Principals of permaculture and regenerative farming have established an expanded understanding of biological processes and synergetic relationships. Studying nature more closely will bring knowledge of local specificities, in order to create a delicate balance between the built and the natural. Our cities may no longer be defined by landmark buildings, but by the kind of and way that nature is possible there, and by the way living together in a community is possible. With the idea of the symbiotic relationships in nature that are the basis of life, and the emulation of these intrinsic relationships in our built environment, we may envision a new era.
[1] Albrecht, G. “After the Anthropocene” in The Ecologist, 27.02.2019 https://theecologist.org/2019/feb/27/after-anthropocene (last checked: 16.10.2023)
[2] Koumoundouros, T. “Most Life on Earth Actually Lives Below the Surface” in Environment, 17.08.2023. https://www.sciencealert.com/most-life-on-earth-actually-lives-below-the-surface (last checked: 16.10.2023)
[3] Ed.„Mycorrhiza: Symbiosis in the Soil“ https://www.ageold.com/mycorrhiza-symbiosis-in-the-soil/ (last checked: 16.10.2023)
[4] Montgomery, D., Biklé, A., “Healthy soils produce more nutrient dense food“ in The Organic Center, 22.11.2022. https://www.organic-center.org/research/healthy-soils-produce-more-nutrient-dense-food#:~:text=On%20each%20pair%20of%20farms,vitamins%2C%20minerals%2C%20and%20phytochemicals. (last checked: 16.10.2023)
[5] Ichioka, S., Pawlyn, M. “Flourish. Design Paradigms for Our Planetary Emergency” Triarchy Press ©Jan. 2022, England.
[6] Giesecke, A. “Outside In and Inside Out: Paradise in the Ancient Roman House” pp. 118 – 133 in Giesecke, A., Jacobs, N. Eds. “Earth Perfect? Nature, Utopia and the Garden” Black Dog Publishing, London, ©2012 ISBN 978 1 907317750
[7] “Garden Futures: Designing with Nature” Published by Vitra Design Museum, Wüstenrot Stiftung, Viviane Stappmanns, Mateo Kries. 1st edition (23 Mar. 2023), 228 ppg., ISBN 978-3945852521.
[8] Wulf, Andrea. “The Brother Gardeners, Botany, Empire and the Birth of an Obsession.” Windmill Books 2009, GB ©Andrea Wulf 2008. ISBN 9780099502371.
[9] Elke Krasny and Architekturzentrum Wien, eds. “HANDS-ON URBANISM 1850-2012. Vom Recht auf Grün”, Wien: turia+kant, 2012.
[10] Elke Krasny and Architekturzentrum Wien, eds. “HANDS-ON URBANISM 1850-2012. Vom Recht auf Grün”, Wien: turia+kant, 2012.
[11] Ring, Kristien ed. “SelfMade City, Berlin: Self-Initiated Urban Living and Architectural Interventions” jovis verlag, 2012, ISBN:978-3-86859-167-5.
[12] Elke Krasny and Architekturzentrum Wien, eds. “HANDS-ON URBANISM 1850-2012. Vom Recht auf Grün”, Wien: turia+kant, 2012.
[13] Sensual City Studio. A History of Thresholds. Life, Death and Rebirth – A Visual Narrative. Jovis Verlag 2018, Berlin. ISBN 978-3-86859-520.
