Regenerative Built Environments Add Positive Value

Regenerative design is often seen as a process of adding positive value or generating net-positive impacts. While this holds a powerful and pragmatic message, we must ensure that our understanding of positive is based on a holistic perspective of systems-wide transformations and place-based potential. This requires going beyond a sole focus on the physical outputs that are designed and constructed in the built environment and towards seeing how these structures can become catalysts for far broader positive change. This chapter presents three key strategies as practical entry points to embracing and implementing this understanding of positive value in the built environment. The first strategy explores the need to go beyond a sole focus on carbon emissions and understand a project’s impact over its whole lifespan and in the context of planetary limits. The second strategy emphasises that positive value is not a static achievement and requires ongoing monitoring to ensure a project sustains its contributive and positive impact. The third strategy highlights the importance of advocacy to ensure the scope of positive impact extends well beyond project boundaries. Innovative projects, frameworks and tools are presented throughout this chapter to demonstrate the feasibility of implementing these strategies.