Shifting our Mental Model – “Sustainability” to Regeneration

Sustainability, as currently practiced, is primarily an exercise in efficiency. In other words, through the use of BREEAM, LEED, and other rating systems we are attempting to slow down the damage caused by excessive resource use. We must do better. Instead of doing less damage to the environment, it is necessary to learn how we can participate with the environment – using the health of ecological systems as a basis for design. However, changing the way we interact with the earth’s systems is difficult and is likely the greatest challenge we face. The shift from a fragmented worldview to a whole systems mental model is the significant leap our culture must make framing and understanding living system interrelationships in an integrated way. A place based approach is one way to achieve this understanding. The design process begins by attempting to understand how the systems of life work in each unique place. Our role, as designers and stakeholders is to shift our relationship to one that creates a whole system of mutually beneficial relationships. By doing so, the potential for green design moves us beyond sustaining the environment to one that can regenerate its health – as well as our own.