(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
With author Michael Pawlyn
What do you observe when you look out the window? If you read an article or watch a TV show about the sorry state of the planet Tellus and then look out, might you feel some kind of cognitive dissonance? If you live in a wealthy part of Northern Europe, you may use the air conditioning a little more from time to time. But the buildings outside will probably look normal and the streets will be tidy. Everything seems to work reasonably well and people are generally happy. And is what the journalist or presenter announces so urgent and alarming?
With such a harmonious view from the window, even the most conscious of us can be lulled into complacency. So, if we are to meet the challenges of complex crises – including climate destabilization and species loss – before they become too great existential threats to society, we must look beyond our own limited horizons both in time and distance. The threats are already there from many exploited sites that have left vulnerable. Many of the decisions we make today have an impact on landscapes, forms of life and livelihoods far away from where we sit and for all time to come. This is how the way we live will affect the lives of today's young and future generations. This necessitates an immediate and critical assessment.
Buildings
For us – an urban planner in Singapore and an architect in the UK – the launch of the UN climate panel's report in October 2018 was a wake-up call. It suddenly became necessary to take a broader, longer look back. The publication made it clear that thirty-five years of "sustainable development" – from of the Brundtland report launched in 1987 – has brought us no closer to repairing the damage or securing the future.
Many of the mistakes in the sustainability paradigm – for example reducing emissions when we design or build – are now coming into focus. How could we imagine that it would be enough to be a little "less bad" in everything we did? How much longer did we think we could continue to act as if we humans were somehow above the laws of physics and biology?
Materials that remove carbon from the atmosphere; and removing highways to give rivers and nature new life.
Some of the greatest opportunities we have to reduce negative impacts and transform them into positive ones are to be found in the way we plan and develop our built environments. Buildings – including materials, construction and operation – create almost 40 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. A further 25 per cent comes from transport. Moreover, since we live in the built environment, we all have an obligation with regard to its possible transformation.
Paradigm shifter
In our book Flourish: Design Paradigms for Our Planetary Emergency (1922) we argue that we must bring about a profound, collective shift from sustainability to regeneration. And that this requires far bolder actions than, for example, trying a little harder to promote corporate social responsibility (Corporate Social Responsibility) or improving the degree of recycling. By "paradigm" we mean a widespread idea that largely determines how a society functions. It is similar to what some refer to as ‹worldview› or ‹mindset›.
By compiling many different references from thinkers and actors who inspire us, we have set up five paradigm shifts for regenerative design and development:
Adopting a 'possibilist' mindset that transcends the dichotomous optimism/pessimism perspective and instead expands our capacity to both imagine and implement change.
To reconsider the dualistic view that is still dominant in the industrialized West. A perspective that sees people as separate from the rest of the living world. Which rather sees the importance of moving towards a new paradigm where people develop as a fully integrated part of nature.
Thinking and planning over longer periods of time so that we leave a legacy as "good ancestors" for all future generations, regardless of species.
Challenge the assumptions of humans' innate selfishness and instead choose to act according to biology's symbiogenesis idea that mutually beneficial interaction can be a source of social cohesion and renewal.
Define new goals for our economies so that they are aimed at optimizing the health of the planet rather than promoting fantasies of endless growth.
Planetary Consciousness
Now the most important joint task is to integrate everything we do into the fabric of life on which our survival depends. As with many of the historical evolutions of human consciousness, the shift to regenerative development does not have to involve abandoning all of our current approaches. It requires us to transcend and include much of the current paradigms in a broader planetary consciousness that sees everyone in a fundamental context, dependent on the health of the entire living world.
There are already many examples that demonstrate the potential of regenerative design: renewable energy installations that increase biodiversity; materials that remove carbon from the atmosphere; and removing highways to give rivers and nature new life. And not least buildings with generosity, which give far more than they take in the form of being improved haunts for a wide range of species – including humans.
Progress
In fact, many of the changes we need to manage and repair nature also have the potential to improve our own quality of life. In the cities, we can make it possible for everyone to thrive by living in a society without social divisions, with clean air, healthy food and the necessary common facilities.
Our view is that this shift is now beginning to gain momentum, and that any government, institution or company that still refers to "sustainability" will in a few years be considered – especially by the rising generations – to be lagging behind. We are cautiously optimistic that the term "regeneration" will not suffer the same degrading fate as the term "sustainable". A great many "quick fixes" referred to as sustainable improvements have not yielded progress. Only measures that produce net positive results deserve the term "regenerative".
This requires significant effort, but we are encouraged to see some city and smaller national authorities making real progress. As well as the fact that many business actors show regenerative leadership. Also by using advanced expertise to chart the way forward. When we get to the point where we have a net positive development embedded in all life on Earth, it will mean a turning point in the history of civilization.
An exciting prospect, isn't it?
