The evolution of sustainability, with a practical framework for integration
Regenerative Development and Design takes sustainability to the next level, and provides a framework for incorporating regenerative design principles into your current process. The Regenesis Group is a coalition of experienced design, land-use, planning, business, and development professionals who represent the forefront of the movement; in this book, they explain what regenerative development is, how and why it works, and how you can incorporate the fundamental principles into your practice. A clear, focused framework shows you how to merge regenerative concepts with your existing work, backed by numerous examples that guide practical application while illustrating regenerative design and development in action. As the most comprehensive and systemic approach to regenerative development, this book is a must-have resource for architects, planners, and designers seeking the next step in sustainability.
Regenerative design and development positions humans as co-creative and mutually-evolving participants in an ecosystem —not just a built environment. This book describes how to bring that focus to your design from the earliest stages.
Understand the fundamentals of regenerative design and development
Learn how regenerative development contributes to sustainability
Integrate regenerative development concepts into practice
Examine sample designs that embody the regenerative concept
To create a design with true sustainability, considerations must extend far beyond siting, materials, and efficiency. Designers must look at the place, it's inhabitants, and the purpose—the whole living ecosystem—and proceed with their work from that more humbling perspective. The finished product should itself be an ecosystem and sustainable economy, which is the root of the regenerative development approach. Sustainability has evolved, and the designer's responsibility has increased in kind. Regenerative Development and Design provides an authoritative resource for those ready to take the next step forward.
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Regenerative practitioners do not think about what they are designing as an end product. They think about it as the beginning of a process. Once they release it, it initiates its own process, continuing to design the world around it long after they have let it go. If designers are to contribute to a flourishing future, rather than one of diminishing prospects, how do they need to understand the world into which they unleash this unfolding process?
To do things differently, we need to see things differently.1
John Thackara
The Playa Viva sustainable resort and residential community is located on 200 acres adjacent to the village of Juluchuca, not far south of Zihuatanejo on the western coast of Mexico. The site includes pristine beaches, a private nature preserve, a turtle sanctuary, ancient ruins, and a natural estuary that is home to more than 200 bird species (Figure C.1).
Figure C.1 Private casita at Playa Viva Resort near Juluchuca, Guerrero, Mexico.
When the project began, Juluchuca was dying. The local ecosystem had been severely degraded by monocultural oil palm plantations, subsidized by government programs in the 1920s. In recent years the palm plantations had collapsed, businesses had folded, and young people were leaving to seek opportunities in the big cities.
In a time when eco-tourism was becoming more and more popular, eco-resort developments had begun to draw criticism. While focusing on positive ecological impacts, they were inadvertently harming local communities and villages. Playa Viva has avoided this pitfall by steadfast investment in the village and its people. This has regenerated not only the ecological health of the area but also the local culture and economy.
As noted by author Laura Valdez Kurl, “Among resort projects, Playa Viva is unique in that it’s focused on building relationships with the community, to learn from them, and use their knowledge to develop a better project. It’s a slow process but one that demonstrates a deep commitment to the sustainability of whole communities.”2
Grounded in Place
David Leventhal and Sandra Kahn, Playa Viva’s visionary developers and co-owners, had for a long time been committed to green building and positive community engagement. They knew that they wanted to go further with this project, to make it a regenerative force (Figure C.2). From the outset, it was apparent to them that in order to succeed, they would need to work on the vitality of the village of Juluchuca before they began building their resort.
One of their earliest efforts was to establish a training program in biodynamic growing for local farmers. This elicited a sense of cohesion, new purpose, and confidence among the participants. It also launched a partnership between the resort and the farmers, who would provide high-quality, local produce for use in its kitchen (Figure C.3).
Figure C.3 Local biodynamic growers treating manure to make organic soil amendments.
Similar programs established other partnerships among Playa Viva and a variety of small businesses and service providers in the village. The integration of resort and community was seamless by design, and visitors found it easy to establish friendships with villagers. Over time, the exchanges among resort guests and residents evolved from sharing information and ideas to actual financial investment in local businesses. The quality of life in Juluchuca was once again matched with opportunities for meaningful livelihood, and youth who had migrated away began to return (Figure C.4).
Figure C.4 A vibrant local marketplace in Juluchuca.
Access to the resort also reflected Leventhal and Kahn’s commitment to the village. Typically, a resort wants its guests to have a special arrival experience. When looking at the options for vehicle access, the developers made a conscious choice to route traffic through the village rather than build a bypass, even though this required fording a river.
At the time, Juluchuca was little more than a dispirited roadside hamlet, not a place where an eco-tourist would ordinarily choose to stop. By routing the entrance to Playa Viva through the village, Leventhal and Kahn expressed their faith in the capacity of the Juluchucans to evolve an increasingly vibrant and self-organizing community. They invested their resources and reputation in that evolution. Although recently they were forced to relocate the access road, the initial decision sent a powerful message to the village—one that Leventhal and Kahn have reinforced time and time again.
Continuing to Evolve
Playa Viva opened in November 2009, the nadir of the Great Recession. Patterning itself on the development of biological systems, the project has allowed itself the time to adapt and expand gradually. It has become a leader in the community, with an increasingly beneficial effect on the surrounding ecosystem and its inhabitants.
In addition to providing jobs and business opportunities, Playa Viva offers workshops and training in permaculture, along with organic and biodynamic agriculture for villagers, which has enabled them to diversify and increase the value of their products. For example, local people have been positioned to respond to growing interest in organically grown coconut-based products. The polycultural systems that they have introduced into their coconut plantations have expanded the overall yields to include fruits, vegetables, and tropical flowers.
The resort has also helped develop a turtle sanctuary, initially run by volunteers, that now employs local workers (Figure C.5). Poachers who had harvested turtle eggs for the black market have now been enlisted to collect and nurture them in a hatchery, and oversee the release of baby turtles into the wild. In return, they are paid a good income and provided with ATVs to do their work. This has earned them visibility and status within the community, and they have begun to view themselves as the defenders of indigenous turtles. They have been profoundly affected by this cause and have become preservation experts, as well as significant players in the community’s environmental renaissance.
Figure C.5 Newly hatched sea turtles find their way into the surf, with a little help from employees at the local turtle sanctuary.
