Regenerative Principles Research Articles

Towards Regenerative Material Design and Innovation: Overcoming Multi-Level Barriers

The ecological impacts of industrial products are often locked in at the material design stage, requiring transformative changes to practices, mindsets and systems from the beginning of the innovation journey. This paper critically explores how such transformative shifts are being shaped by the application of regenerative principles to material design and innovation practices in the realm of entrepreneurship. It is based on a qualitative interview study with 12 material innovation companies. The study aims to understand the novel innovation practices they are fostering to catalyse regenerative and/or circular approaches that can address global plastic pollution – a major contributor to global GHG emissions. The analysis identifies seven perceived innovation barriers that complicate the full adoption of regenerative principles, including advocating for new product categories, educating B2B customers about novel materials and inventing appropriate scaling approaches. Overcoming these barriers requires mindset-related and systemic transformations, linking this research to broader innovation management, sustainability transitions and regeneration debates. The article concludes by articulating key insights and managerial implications for innovation leaders who are keen to further regenerative transitions through material innovations within (and beyond) their own organisations.

Regenerative soil management practices no‐till and sheep grazing induce significant but contrasting short‐term changes in the vineyard soil microbiome

Societal Impact StatementWinegrape production is an essential cultural heritage and economic engine of many regions of the world. Regenerative management, which is gaining traction with industry and consumers alike, relies on soil biodiversity for agroecosystem function, reducing external inputs and increasing ecosystem resilience to climate change. We evaluated the effects of no‐till and sheep integration on vineyard soil biodiversity and soil ecosystem function. No‐till had stronger effects on microbial diversity, while sheep grazing stimulated microbial functioning. By providing a better understanding of the practices, we provide fundamental information for growers that want to embrace regenerative principles, ultimately contributing to the sustainability and resilience of the winegrape industry.Summary Regenerative management aims to optimize soil microbial function and diversity for enhanced agroecosystem functionality. Understanding the effects of management practices on soil microorganisms is crucial in the context of growing societal interest in this type of management. This study evaluated the short‐term effects of two soil conservation practices: sheep grazing and no‐till, on abundance, diversity, activity, and network complexity of prokaryotes and fungi in a vineyard soil. Four treatments were applied for 3 years: (1) grazed and tilled, (2) grazed and non‐tilled, (3) non‐grazed and tilled, and (4) non‐grazed and non‐tilled. We hypothesized that stacking of conservation practices (grazing and no‐till) would increase microbial diversity, function, and network complexity. Grazing had strong effects on microbial function, increasing the α‐glucosidase, β‐glucosidase, cellulase, phosphatase, and β‐xylosidase enzymatic activity by 82%, 48%, 61%, 39%, and 55%, respectively, compared to non‐grazed soils, while not causing significant changes in soil microbial diversity. Tillage had strong effects on soil prokaryotic and fungal diversity. For prokaryotes, significant interactions in alpha diversity were found between tillage and grazing, and between tillage and sampling location (tractor row and under vine). Fungal Shannon diversity index was higher in the subsoil (15–30 cm) while a significant interaction between depth, location, tillage, and grazing was found for the Chao‐1 index. Microbial network properties were only significantly affected by sampling depth. This study shows that the lack of disturbance in non‐tilled and non‐grazed soils resulted in a more diverse soil community, while grazing stimulated microbial function, thus showing a decoupling between diversity and function in vineyard soil ecosystems.

Regenerative tourism as a post-disaster response: lessons from Cammino nelle Terre Mutate

Disasters, resulting from natural hazards, have a profound impact on communities and places, revealing vulnerabilities while shaping unique identities. Regenerative tourism offers promise in aiding recovery and revitalization, supporting local economies, and fostering a transition to alternative development approaches. Drawing on emerging conceptual frameworks in regenerative tourism, this paper proposes their application in post-disaster contexts. It explores walking itineraries as potential regenerative practices, embodying spiritual and political acts of re-signifying place. Using the Cammino nelle Terre Mutate case study, which traverses rural villages in central Italy struck by violent earthquakes in 2009 and 2016–2017, the study examines the application of regenerative thinking in post-disaster tourism practices. It illustrates how walking itineraries, when guided by regenerative principles, can facilitate the coexistence of humans and the environment, which includes natural hazards as intrinsic components of a dynamic living system. This study highlights the role of communities in enhancing system capacity, revealing the inherent potential of affected areas beyond recovery, and paving the way for tourism as part of a regenerative process. However, tourism’s effectiveness depends on nurturing a regenerative mindset and harnessing transformative capacities to stimulate local economies and imaginaries, prompting a re-evaluation of tourism’s role in local development.

Walking With/In Place: The Walking Turn In Socially Engaged Public Art From Aotearoa New Zealand

This article first suggests that there has been a “Walking Turn” in contemporary socially engaged public art and then considers critically how these practices might be best framed and understood in the context of Aotearoa. There has been a multitude of walking-based artworks in Aotearoa since the second half of the 2010s to the present. In the wake of the global pandemic and natural flooding and cyclone disasters in Aotearoa that soon followed, “going out for a walk” has been repeatedly problematized and reframed for most citizens. This article seeks to establish a theoretical framework that is responsive to Indigenous as well as posthumanist discourse, through which we might best consider walking art practices in Aotearoa. To do this, the concept of walking “with/in” place is employed as an entry point. Drawing on research interviews, a number of culturally informed concepts related to walking are examined alongside notions of countermapping and countermonument. The artwork analysis considers the decolonial, counterneoliberal, and regenerative principles underlining these practices. The artworks discussed engage in histories and contemporary politics of place and can be characterized by quietude, humility, and hyperlocality.

Research on Efficient Suspension Vibration Reduction Configuration for Effectively Reducing Energy Consumption

Reducing vehicle energy consumption is crucial for sustainable development, especially in the context of energy crises and environmental pollution. Energy regenerative suspension offers a promising solution, yet its practical implementation faces challenges like inertial mass issues, cost, and reliability concerns. This study introduces a novel suspension configuration, optimizing shock absorber technology with energy regenerative principles. The objective is to drastically cut energy consumption. Through a frequency domain analysis, this study identifies the root causes of increased energy consumption and worsened vibration in traditional suspensions. This study presents a comparative analysis of the frequency-domain characteristics between the novel suspension configuration and the traditional one. This study reveals that the new configuration exhibits a low-pass filtering effect on the shock absorber’s velocity, effectively minimizing vibrations in the low-frequency range, while mitigating their impact in the high-frequency range. This approach mitigates the trade-off between increased energy consumption and worsened vibration in the high-frequency range, making it a promising solution. Simulations show that this configuration significantly reduces acceleration by 7.04% and suspension power consumption by 10.47% at 60 km/h on the D-level road, while maintaining handling stability. This makes it a promising candidate for future energy-efficient suspension systems.

Aligning Net zero energy, carbon Neutrality, and regenerative concepts: An exemplary study of sustainable architectural practices

This paper introduces an innovative approach that combines Net Zero Energy (NZE), Net Zero Carbon (NZC), and Regenerative principles, redefining sustainable architecture in Iran. Focusing on a residential "attached house," the study employed strategies like thermal insulation, Low-E glass, shading, and renewable energy sources. Results show a 45 % improvement in thermal performance, reducing heating gas usage by over 42 % and electricity usage by 8 %. With shading, heating and cooling demands decreased by 51.7 % and 12.55 %, respectively. Swapping conventional walls for a thermal mass system led to a 74 % reduction in heating gas and a 17.2 % cut in cooling electricity. Additionally, PV systems supply up to 90 % of electricity needs. Environmental assessments revealed that the RM4 building achieved a 20 % reduction in environmental impacts, which increased to 65 % with PV systems and Solar Water heaters. All measures reduced the building's carbon offset by over 90 %, while greywater recycling and rainwater harvesting reduced water consumption emissions by 74 %. Using recycled materials, the Zero Carbon Buildings (ZCBs) model achieved a 68 % reduction in carbon emissions compared to the baseline and 27 % compared to the Zero Energy Building (ZEB) model, with a 67 % higher circularity.

Cell technologies as a basis for the development of regenerative principles for the treatment of lacrimal gland diseases

The lacrimal gland (LG) is a tubuloacinar exocrine gland composed of acinar, ductal, and myoepithelial cells. Three-dimensional distribution of acinar lobules, ducts, and myoepithelial cells is necessary for the effective functioning of the organ. LG is the main organ of immune surveillance of the ocular surface system. The embryogenesis of the gland is regulated by the interaction of genetic mechanisms, internal epigenetic (enzyme systems, hormones) and exogenous factors. There is no doubt that there is a clear genetic program for the implementation of the complex process of embryonic development. The mechanisms regulating LG organogenesis initiate the work of a huge number of structural oncogenes, transcription and growth factors, etc. Studying the expression and selective activity of regulatory genes during organ development, their participation in the differentiation of different cell types is a current trend at the nexus of clinical genetics, molecular biology, embryology and immunocytochemistry. Due to its relatively simple structure and accessibility, human LG is a suitable object for potential application in regenerative medicine. Development of a universal protocol for obtaining functional differentiated secretory epithelium of LG capable of expressing tissue-specific markers is an urgent task. Determining the nature and origin of stem cells and progenitor cells will allow the isolation and multiplication of these cells in culture. After obtaining a functionally active culture of LG cells, it is possible to create a model of autoimmune diseases.

Unchaining supply chains: Transformative leaps toward regenerating social–ecological systems

AbstractThe worsening climate, biodiversity, and inequity crises have existential implications. To help resolve these crises, supply chains must move beyond a minimal harm approach. Instead, supply chains must make positive contributions to and harmoniously integrate with the living systems around them. Despite agreement on this urgent need, supply chain management research still lacks a shared roadmap for establishing economically sustainable supply chains that actively regenerate social–ecological systems. This essay deepens the understanding of regenerative supply chains, inviting supply chain scholars and practitioners to rally around timely questions and codevelop new answers. We first scrutinize the paradigmatic assumptions that continue to anchor contemporary research and practice in supply chain management, showing how these once helpful assumptions now hold the community back from seeking much needed solutions. We then offer real‐world examples and synthesize emerging arguments from multiple disciplines to propose three new principles of regenerative organizing: proportionality, reciprocity, and poly‐rhythmicity. We also delve into the implications of pursuing these regenerative principles for supply chain coordination, governance, and resilience. Finally, we reflect on the fit of empirical research designs and methods for examining the creation of new regenerative supply chains and the conversion of existing supply chains.

Fulfilling the Regenerative Potential of Higher Education: A Collaborative Auto-Ethnography

Moving towards sustainable futures in which human and natural systems increasingly flourish together asks not only for technological innovation but also for social, cultural, psychological, and spiritual transformation. Regenerative education is an upcoming strand of theory and practice seeking to understand the enabling role educational systems can fulfill in this process. This paper aims to advance the notion of regenerative education from the perspective of two regenerative principles: (1) living the question of vocation and (2) embracing emergence. To do so, we—as a teacher–researcher and a student–researcher—engage in collaborative auto-ethnography against the background of a regenerative educational experiment we participated in together, which we refer to as “Graduate with Hope”. Our collaborative auto-ethnographic process was built around the practices of journaling and diffractive letter conversation. Through it, we meditate how (1) fostering a regenerative educational experience asks for the embrace of the pedagogical paradoxes of structure, shared agency, educational space, and transformation, (2) embracing these paradoxes can be confrontational and trigger inner development, and (3) sustaining commitment in this context asks for an ongoing practice of “talking the walk”. These perspectives can inspire educational professionals to design for, engage in, and study regenerative forms of education.

Applying circular economy principles to intensification of livestock production in Sub-Saharan Africa

In the context of sustainable agricultural development, much has been made of the need to apply agroecology or regenerative principles to improve rural livelihoods and to align the sector with critical planetary health boundaries. This movement is a reaction to the perceived private and social costs arising from both production and consumption associated with industrialised agriculture, mostly in upper-income countries, with several default assumptions being apparent about applicability elsewhere. The notion of circularity, or the circular economy, is frequently conflated with agro ecological rhetoric, often overlooking a longer tradition of circular resource use efficiency in traditional mixed crop–livestock farming in low-income settings. This paper examines the concept and origins of circularity and reviews some examples of historic circular economy research within the international agricultural research system as applied to smallholder agriculture. These include (i) studies focusing on the impact of crop residue retention, (ii) work on residue incorporation and/or mulching and their effects on crop yields and soil fertility, (iii) research on the effects of manure use on crop yields and soil fertility and (iv) work on the feeding of crop residues to livestock. We consider some promising innovations or practices adhering to circular economy principles. Candidate innovations focus on the improvement of livestock feeding practices including the breeding of dual-purpose crops to enhance livestock nutrition, conversion of cereal straw residues to high-quality feed, use of cassava waste as livestock feed and use of insects as livestock feed. We conclude by considering how circular bio-economy principles might be maintained in the future evolution of food systems in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Learning from living systems – regenerative principles in practice

In this article, Oliver Broadbent and James Norman explore the concept of regenerative design and its goal of ensuring that humans and living systems can survive, thrive and co-evolve. The authors explain how structural engineers can learn from the living world to inform the mindsets that should guide their designs. The article considers three characteristics of thriving living systems, and uses these to propose five ways in which structural engineers can start to change the way they design to shift the built environment system towards this new regenerative goal.

Regenerative design for building engineering: the role of the structural engineer

The principles of regenerative design take inspiration from the ways that living systems have evolved over time to thrive on our planet, creating net-positive outcomes for people and nature. This article will attempt to show how we, as structural engineers, can put some of these regenerative principles into practice today, by highlighting examples that demonstrate some of these attributes.

Rethinking Sustainability: Mapping Microclimatic Conditions on Buildings as a Regenerative Design Strategy

Once humankind became aware of environmental problems, more opportunities were open for research and discoveries, which expanded the boundaries, and gave force to sustainability in architecture. However, in sustainability, any damage caused by human development is not considered, and in numerous cases, the term is misused. Many interventions are underpinned 'green' and 'sustainable' but are unable to provide any benefit to the environment. This misconception reflects the individualistic attitude that human development has concerning the planet. Therefore, considering the built environment as part of the natural environment can be beneficial in developing different strategies for producing sustainable and regenerative projects. Combining nature with architecture can help to trigger empathy and respect, generating new relationships between humans and nature. This paper will critique the misappropriation of the term sustainability and exhibit concepts of regenerative design, which will scaffold a conceptual framework of treating the building as part of the landscape. The relevance of the presented framework is that the building is thought of as a feature in the landscape that creates microclimatic conditions for various plant habitats, and it has the potential to become a tool to include regenerative principles in the urban context.

Urban regenerative thinking and practice: a systematic literature review

ABSTRACT Regenerative approaches to the built environment represent a conceptual departure from reductionist sustainability fields. By utilizing the inherent interconnections between social-ecological systems as an informing foundation, regenerative fields have the potential to facilitate transformation towards sustainable cities. This paper provides a systematic review of publications on urban regenerative thinking and practice, including across urban development stages and sectors. Results indicate precincts as the optimum scale for regenerative intervention and provide insights into the worldviews underpinning regenerative approaches. The targets and aspirations of regenerative fields are well-documented, along with the practical challenges to effective implementation. Gaps in the literature are identified including paradigmatic and definitional inconsistencies across urban regenerative thinking and practice. Similarly, there is a lack of detail on the realization of planning aspirations at subsequent stages of building lifecycles. The sample also does not extensively outline the specific engagement mechanisms required to remove barriers to regenerative practice or encourage its uptake across geographic and legislative contexts. Whilst the operationalization of regenerative principles in high-density urban environments remains a challenge, these fields offer transformative frameworks to not only mitigate further harm but also achieve net-positive natural and social outcomes.

Drivers and Barriers Leading to a Successful Paradigm Shift toward Regenerative Neighborhoods

Regenerative sustainability is gaining great attention as an essential concept for a transformative process, a re-designed mindset shifting from the narrowed focus of considering particular aspects such as energy efficiency, renewable materials, or sustainable technology towards the creation of a self-regenerating social and ecological system. Apart from being a vision of the future, regenerative sustainability has already been implemented successfully in individual projects, plans, and extensive strategies. The goals of this research are (1) to set up the conceptual framework for regenerative sustainability principles in the built environment; (2) to investigate and identify the drivers and barriers faced during the implementation of regenerative principles in the built environment; and (3) to identify gaps in the paradigm shift towards regenerative districts and macro-level projects. A multi-stage methodology was implemented. First, an in-depth literature review was conducted aiming to understand regenerative sustainability state of the art and define the key principles. Then, quantitative data analysis was conducted aiming to identify drivers and barriers of regenerative implementation in buildings following by semi-structured interviews with the representatives of regenerative buildings or districts. The step-by-step methodology resulted in the identified drivers of applying the regenerative principles, which are available financial incentives; marketing and sales benefits; improved companies/investors market image and competitive market advantage; reduced building lifecycle costs/effective use of energy and resources; enhancement buildings’ users’ well-being; and receiving building certification. The main barriers identified were lack of knowledge and experience working with regenerative materials and technologies by employees, consultants, and construction companies and usage of the available tools that enable such constructions; overall stakeholders’ culture and their resistance to changing their mindset toward a regenerative approach; inadequacy of national and international standards and legislation to address regenerative policies; and increased construction cost and time and lack of financial incentives. Ultimately, during the broad examination of the case studies, regenerative qualities served as a valuable insight to understand barriers and drivers at neighborhood and macro levels.

The circular economy in tourism: transition perspectives for business and research

ABSTRACT Despite being classified as a service sector, producing immaterial services, tourism relies on huge quantities and flows of exhaustible natural resources and largely reflects a linear take-make-dispose production model. In recent years, the concept of the circular economy (CE) and its restorative and regenerative principles for production and consumption, has attracted growing attention among businesses, policy makers and researchers. While the concept of sustainability increasingly is applied in tourism research, the implications of CE in tourism have not received much attention. This paper argues that CE offers great potentials as an integrative and instructive framework for encouraging more sustainable tourism practices. It introduces, theoretically, CE in a broader socio-technical transition perspective, explores tourism as the specific context for application and provides an empirical example of a Danish hotel, inspired by a pragmatic circular business model. The paper also argues that tourism, due to its close host–guest relationships, potentially holds transformative potentials beyond how CE has been used in other fields. The paper thereby contributes to research debates about the transformative power of tourism.

316 Regenerative grazing: restoring ecosystem function to improve farm profits

Abstract I explore the hypothesis that managing grazing using regenerative grazing principles to improve soil health is a sustainable base to improve net farm profits. Carbon-rich soil is healthy soil and beneficial for the entire ecosystem. Changing current unsustainable high-input agricultural practices to low-input practices that regenerate ecosystem function will be necessary for sustainable, resilient agro-ecosystems. Current reductionist, small-scale, short-term research managed without goals to find what management framework will deliver positive outcomes for ranchers has produced very erroneous conclusions. Healthy ecosystems function by increasing soil carbon to improve water infiltration and retention; soil nutrient access and retention; and the diversity of fungi, microbes, plants, insects, and wildlife that contribute to both improved livestock nutrition and human nutrition. I will give an overview of our research endeavors using a systems-science, multi-discipline framework to find the best grazing management for regenerating: soil health and function; delivery of ecosystem goods and services; and farmer livelihoods and social resilience. To accomplish this, we partner with farmers who have improved the environment and excel financially to convert experimental results into sound environmental, social, and economic benefits regionally and globally.

A Comprehensive Review of Concentrated Growth Factors and Their Novel Applications in Facial Reconstructive and Regenerative Medicine.

Concentrated growth factors (CGFs) are the latest generation of platelet concentrates. The objective of developing CGF is to increase therapeutic efficacy. However, few studies have supported the superiority of CGF in composition and efficacy. The reconstruction and regeneration process is complicated and long term, whereas bioactivity of CGF is not durable. The purpose of this review is threefold. The first is to recommend more comparative studies between CGF and other platelet concentrates. The second is to constitute a continuous drug delivery system by combining CGF with other biomaterials. Finally, the novel use of CGF in facial regenerative and reconstructive medicine will be highlighted. A comprehensive review of literature regarding the use of CGF in facial regenerative and reconstructive medicine was performed. Based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria, a total of 135 articles were included. The use of CGF involving facial rejuvenation, cartilage grafting, facial bone defects, facial peripheral nerve injury and wounding is reviewed. The reconstructive and regenerative principles lie in firm fibrin scaffolds and continuous in situ delivery of multiple growth factors. CGF represents an advance in personalized medicine concept. However, the current scientific evidences about the use of CGF are limited. More basic and clinical studies should be conducted to understand the characteristics and clinical application of CGF. This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266.

Inventing Regenerative Sustainability

Despite growing engagement by business practitioners in regenerative sustainability, there is little research into what factors contribute to its successful implementation. This paper offers first steps to close that gap. It examines theoretical foundations of and proposes empirical research for studying such innovative business practices. Our literature review draws on research in natural sciences, organization and management studies, corporate sustainability, and business strategy to theoretically (1) define regenerative sustainability, (2) explore how adopting principles of regeneration can help firms achieve “true business sustainability” (Dyllick & Muff, 2016: 163), and (3) assess potential benefits, obstacles, and enablers of such radically different business models. We then propose an in-depth interpretive case study methodology to empirically investigate the phenomenon of interest, namely how proactive firms effectively enact regenerative sustainability principles. The paper closes with potential implications of the proposed study for management theory and practice and offers ideas for future research.

The Carbon Sequestration Potential of Regenerative Farming Practices in South Carolina, USA

Current production agriculture systems typically focus on yield outcomes at all costs. By shifting to best management practices based on regenerative farming principles, however, agricultural systems worldwide could maintain or even improve yields while sequestering atmospheric carbon (C) into soil organic matter (SOM). To demonstrate the effectiveness of regenerative principles at simultaneously benefiting agriculture and reducing greenhouse gasses, their C sequestration potential was examined through SOM data from 486 soil sampling locations from multiple farms throughout the coastal plains of South Carolina. These data were compared over varying multiple-year periods between 2013 and 2017 as their land management practices shifted from conventional methods to those based on the regenerative-based practice of cover cropping. The implementation of cover crops in crop rotations resulted in statistically significant mean SOM percentage increases of 0.11 (p ≤ 0.001), 0.11 (p ≤ 0.001), and 0.55 (p ≤ 0.001) for sampling sites converted into rotations utilizing cover crops for two, three, and four years, respectively. When averaged out per year for each sampling group, this results in an average of 622, 425, and 1584 lbs./acre/year of C fixed from the atmosphere and retained in the soil as organic matter. Increases were observed across all soil types sampled in the study with soil texture not significantly influencing a soils’ ability to increase soil OM or sequester atmospheric C through cover crop implementation. The calculations based on the coastal plains’ soils studied here demonstrate the promising potential of the application of regenerative farming principles to not only restore degraded biodiversity, recycle nutrients, improve farm profitability, and reduce chemical inputs, but also to sequester atmospheric C and simultaneously help reduce the effect of global climate change while creating healthy soils.