Moving Beyond Sustainability: A Regenerative Community Development Framework for Co-creating Thriving Living Systems and Its Application

Leah V Gibbons

doi:10.5539/jsd.v13n2p20

Abstract

Sustainable development and design have the potential to shift their aim from improving human well-being within environmental limits to catalyzing thriving social-ecological communities (i.e., living systems) across scales. Regenerative development (RD), a methodology that harnesses the potential of living systems, offers a way forward. RD integrates science and practice with essential but often neglected components of sustainability&mdash;ecological, social, cultural, spiritual, and geophysical&mdash;as well as their temporal and spatial dynamics. It also addresses the root causes of (un)sustainability&mdash;thinking and worldviews. This research creates and pilots the first community-scale RD framework (RCD Framework) in a developing intentional community. Findings indicate that the RCD Framework achieves its intended aim of facilitating shifts in thinking and development and design concepts toward holistic and regenerative. Factors that are conducive to or impede RCD are identified, and suggestions are made for advancing RCD science and practice. Implications for larger communities, cities, regions, and sustainable development and design are discussed.

Highlights

In western cultures, humans and nature have largely been treated as resources to exploit without limit, and, in many forms, this conceptualization has spread globally
Analyses of literature and participation in regenerative development and design trainings indicated that a Regenerative Community Development (RCD) framework and tools should fulfill several structural and functional aims
The results of this study suggest that thinking and development and design outcomes can shift toward holism and regeneration by implementing the RCD Framework

Summary

Introduction

Humans and nature have largely been treated as resources to exploit without limit, and, in many forms, this conceptualization has spread globally (duPlessis, 2012; Kopnina, 2015). Less progress has been made towards achieving sustainability goals (Kopnina, 2015; van der Leeuw et al, 2012; Wiek et al, 2015; Ziervogel et al, 2016). It is questionable whether commonly accepted sustainability goals (i.e. Sustainable Development Goals) are appropriate for promoting sustainability as a process that occurs throughout time (duPlessis, 2012; Kopnina, 2015; Luederitz et al, 2013). Some scholars and practitioners question whether anthropocentrically-centered goals are suitable for increasing the health of whole social-ecological systems jsd.ccsenet.org

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