Designing for the Flourishing of Life: An Introduction to Regenerative Practice (Yasuhiro Kobayashi, Founder of Ecological Memes)

In central Chile, the coastal city of Viña del Mar once housed a major petroleum distribution hub for COPEC SA, one of the nation’s largest energy companies. Decades of industrialization and motorization degraded both the quality of urban life and the surrounding ecosystems, leaving the site stripped of vitality. Today, however, the same ground has been transformed: residents and migratory birds alike find refuge among thriving vegetation, and the local community has rediscovered a sense of vibrancy.

This transformation is the Salinas Project, recipient of the 2018 Boston Society for Architecture (BSA) Urban Planning Award. The project demonstrates how urban development can be reimagined within a broader ecological framework. Rooftops, streets, and parks have been designed to serve as ecological nodes and corridors, linking fragmented habitats across the city. In doing so, the project not only enhances public health, livability, and community life, but also restores ecological connectivity from the surrounding hillsides down to the Pacific coast (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Restoring ecological connectivity from hillside habitats to coastal zones

Design that Regenerates Human and Natural Ecosystems

The approach embodied in projects like Salinas—one that supports human society while actively restoring natural systems—is known as regenerative design. Whereas conventional sustainability focuses on minimizing harm and conserving resources, regenerative design moves further: it seeks to revive ecosystems and biodiversity through deliberate human intervention. In this essay, I would like to define “design” as a series of interventions that transform activities or social systems into improved states. From this perspective, the key distinction between sustainable and regenerative approaches lies in their scale. While sustainability mainly focuses on reducing the negative impacts of products or services, regeneration treats all human activity as inseparable from ecological systems, including material cycles and interactions with surrounding habitats. In construction, for example, a project is not evaluated solely for its social utility, but for its role within a larger ecosystem: its relationship to local flora and fauna, the flow of water and materials, and the cycles of energy it influences. Critical questions include whether a building can generate energy, purify water, or enhance biodiversity.

In essence, regenerative design reabsorbs the “externalized” environmental costs of industrial modernity into the design process itself—redesigning cycles and systems so that human activity contributes to the revitalization, not the exploitation, of natural resources. As demonstrated by the Salinas Project, community development that is anchored in ecological context can restore natural energy flows and water cycles, reconnect fragmented habitats, and foster biodiversity. Just as importantly, it can reawaken the human connection to nature—severed by industrial civilization—bringing renewed health, well-being, and joy to local communities. In Viña del Mar, this ecological renewal is accompanied by diverse community programs that further reinforce social and environmental vitality.

The “Life-Affirming Approach” Required for Regenerative Design

What mindset and design process enable regenerative practice in architecture and urban planning? This paper introduces four key elements: the Life-Affirming Approach, the Ecological Approach to Place, Ecosystemic Facilitation, and the Liberation and Regeneration of People and Local Communities.

The first, the Life-Oriented Approach, is an attitude of continually asking whether a project advances the flourishing of life. Across centuries, humans have learned from the natural world: the Shinkansen’s streamlined nose modeled after the kingfisher’s beak, Velcro inspired by cocklebur seeds, the iridescent fibers of the Morpho butterfly translated into structural color, and termite mounds informing passive ventilation systems. Such examples of biomimicry illustrate how natural systems offer ingenious solutions for design. In regenerative practice, biomimicry is more than technical borrowing; it is a way to learn from nature’s inherent cycles of renewal and recovery.

Yet modern industrial civilization has too often applied this wisdom through a narrowly human-centered lens. When natural forms and mechanisms are extracted only for human convenience—while production, use, or disposal processes degrade ecosystems or harm other life—biomimicry slips into bio-hacking.

Regenerative design therefore requires a deeper orientation: at every stage, asking whether decisions foster conditions for life to thrive. Are activities contributing to the recovery of ecosystems and the diversity, interwoven activities of living systems? This life orientation is the essential mindset underpinning regenerative practice.

The Ecological Approach to Place: Understanding a Region in Layers and Observing Its Unique Connections

Faced with the intricate interdependence of natural ecosystems, how can we evaluate whether our efforts truly support biodiversity and the flourishing of life? The second key element—the Ecological Approach to Field—addresses this question. Here, place refers not to a fixed location, but to the dynamic web of ecological and social interactions that shape a region.This approach emphasizes deep observation of the land in its many layers and is also codified in the Ecology of Place requirement of the Living Building Challenge, an international standard for architecture that seeks a positive environmental and social impact.

In practice, it begins with ecological research: identifying baseline habitats, mapping community relationships, and designing strategies informed by these findings. Tools such as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), which evaluates impacts across a product’s entire life, and the Cradle to Cradle framework, which returns waste to natural systems as resources, support this process.

Ecological planning demands a multi-perspective inquiry—climate, topography, hydrology, soil microbiology, vegetation, wildlife, human land use, and ecosystem services—often extending to the scale of the watershed. It requires interdisciplinary collaboration, diverse expertise, and a commitment to strengthening the ecological literacy of all stakeholders. The Salinas Project, for example, employed such a multi-layered approach. Through holistic geo-ecological studies—examining water cycles, geology, soil organisms, and vegetation—it devised systems for water reuse (including blackwater and graywater) and landscape strategies enabling transitions of diverse vegetation from hillside to coast (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Multi-layered ecological planning creating green corridors

This approach has also informed my own work with Ecological Memes. At the Aida Exploration and Practice Lab (Aida Lab), we collaborate with researchers across disciplines,  explore interconnections among forests, villages, rivers, and seas through  fieldwork, and create open-source visual diagrams of ecosystem circulation (Figure 3). These efforts build ecological literacy that makes planning and collaboration more effective. Insights often emerge not only from natural science but also from ethnographic and cultural perspectives. Daisen Ryuiki(Literally means "watershed") project is a project with a local municipality around Mt. Daisen in Tottori prefecture, Japan. In this project, we conducted the multi-layered cross disciplinary research as I introduced above and integrated it into a visualized map and 13 cards, as well as designing experimental programs of regenerative tourism. Here, cultural, historical and even mythological lens such as ancient wisdom passed on generation by generation helped us reveal new deeper understandings of the region（Figure 4）.

Ultimately, regenerative design is inseparable from the ecological field in which it takes root. It seeks to unlock the latent potential of each landscape for life to thrive. Rooted in climate, culture, and local history, regenerative practice becomes a form of place-based activism—dynamic, layered, and resistant to homogenization.

Figure 3: Open-source ecosystem diagram from the Aida Lab—‘Tidal Flat Ecosystem Connecting Land and Sea,’ illustrated by Yusuke Watanabe

Figure4: The visualized map and cards of Daisen Ryuiki Dynamics as a tool for facilitating holistic understandings and dialogue of water circulation in a local community.

Ecosystemic Facilitation: Exploring the Triggers for Revitalization by Viewing the City as an Ecological Network

Unlike conventional sustainability frameworks, regenerative design does not begin with problem-solving. It does not start by listing deficits to fix, but by uncovering the unique characteristics and the latent potential for life to flourish that are inherent in the region. To realize this potential, we must understand cities, communities, organizations, and businesses as broader living systems—webs in which diverse actors, both human and non-human, interact and influence one another. Within these networks, the flows of energy and matter are crucial. By identifying and engaging the “acupuncture points” that smooth these flows or release blockages, design can catalyze systemic revitalization.

Complex systems science describes such points of convergence as nodes. In nature, beavers are consummate creators of nodes. By building dams from branches, stones, and mud, they slow river currents, form wetlands, and generate habitats for countless species. These dams also mitigate floods and fires, trap sediments that purify water, and create what ecologists call the “kidneys of the Earth.” As convergence points, beaver dams intensify the overlap of mammals, birds, amphibians, fish, insects, and plants—expanding both the quantity and quality of exchange within ecosystems.

The question, then, is: how can humans build cities and communities that, like beavers’ dams, nurture ecological networks while enriching human life? Pamela Mang, co-founder of Regenesis (the regenerative design firm that supported the Salinas Project), offers a guiding perspective in a book I have translated into Japanese; Regenerative Leadership (Hutchins&Storm, 2019) . She stresses the importance of designers perceiving and enhancing the flows of energy and materials that sustain life. Ecologists study cycles of matter and energy in ecosystems; by analogy, regenerative designers and leaders need to sense the flows in human communities—biological, psychological, social, and ecological—and to dynamically facilitate them so they do not stagnate. This practice is called ecosystemic facilitation and is considered a vital leadership skill for the coming era.

This mindset also shaped the work of Jaime Lerner, former mayor of Curitiba, Brazil, who pioneered “urban acupuncture.” Drawing inspiration from acupuncture’s meridians and pressure points, Lerner engaged citizens in dialogue, identified local needs, and introduced small but catalytic interventions—shops, markets, green spaces—into fragmented parts of the city. These seemingly modest actions generated ripples of renewal across entire districts. Rejecting an obsession with purely measurable outcomes, Lerner instead attuned himself to the latent potential of place, applying stimulus at critical nodes to restore the city’s vitality.

Regeneration as the Liberation and Renewal of People and Local Communities

The Salinas Project’s design process was anchored in nine guiding concepts derived through dialogue with residents and experts: habitat connectivity, coastal conservation, mobility, meaningful public spaces, cultural hubs, community centers, marketplaces, food networks, and youth education. These principles wove together socio-ecological and cultural perspectives, providing common ground for diverse stakeholders to collaborate.

Yet these cooperative relationships were not present at the outset, according to Regenesis. When the initiative began, at least 18 citizen groups opposed it, in large part due to longstanding distrust of COPEC SA, the oil company previously active on the site. With Regenesis facilitating the process, the project team engaged these groups in sustained dialogue, listening to the history of Viña del Mar and the lived experiences of its people. Over time, opponents became partners, and the project contributed not only to ecological restoration but also to the renewal of community ties. Regenerative design, therefore, extends beyond the natural environment: it is equally about healing fragmented social relationships and fostering collaboration.

Modern industrial civilization, grounded in a mechanistic worldview, has accelerated fragmentation—between humans and nature, and also among humans themselves. Philosopher Nobuo Kioka, in Opening Aida: The Horizon of the Lemma, observes that “the root of the global ecological crisis is not simply a matter of human domination over nature.” Since the scientific revolution, domination has operated in layered structures: humans dominating others as they dominate nature, and dominating nature as they dominate others. This dynamic, often hidden, intensifies ecological and social crises alike. It resonates with current debates on decolonialism and pluralism, which remind us that colonial power relations and systemic violence persist not only in institutions but also in unconscious assumptions and unacknowledged privileges.

Regeneration, then, is twofold: it restores natural ecosystems through an understanding of ecological cycles and services, and at the same time it is a process of freeing ourselves from the structures of domination and exploitation embedded in modern systems—reawakening our capacity for joy, health, and relationship as living beings within the web of life—by transforming our design mindset from one of mechanistic control to one rooted in vital connections and reciprocity.

To Pass On Stories of Hope in the Post-Anthropocene

So far, we have explored several key elements of regenerative design. Finally, I would like to situate these ideas within the broader context that makes them indispensable.

We live in the epoch of the Anthropocene. At the start of the 20th century, human-made matter accounted for just 3% of global biomass; by 2020, it had surpassed the total mass of all living things. Scientists warn that we have entered Earth’s sixth mass extinction—the first driven by human activity. The 2019 IPBES Global Assessment Report notes that species are now vanishing at rates tens to hundreds of times faster than historical norms.

Because everything in nature is intricately interconnected, the loss of even small organisms carries cascading consequences. Should insects—vital nodes in the web of life—disappear, the ripple effects would destabilize ecosystems far beyond their species. As Jason Hickel, economic anthropologist and author of Less Is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World, writes, an “ecological Armageddon” is already unfolding, largely unnoticed by many.

Yet the intention of this essay is not despair. Regeneration offers a counter-narrative: one that faces reality without denial, yet seeks glimmers of hope shining through the cracks of a crumbling world. Across disciplines, researchers and practitioners are developing methodologies that enable humans to contribute actively to ecosystem recovery and the flourishing of life. Environmental engineering practices are beginning to revive the Earth’s breath, long stifled by modern development. At the same time, initiatives such as the Task Force on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), Biodiversity Action Plans (BAPs), and Nature-based Solutions (NbS) are reshaping the expectations placed on corporations and communities alike. In the future, fostering biodiversity and reciprocal relationships with ecosystems will be not optional, but fundamental to legitimacy and viability.

In Japan, cultural traditions offer a deep well of wisdom for coexisting with nature. Architectural elements such as engawa verandas and tokonoma alcoves create aida—subtle spaces of mediation between humans and the natural world. Landscapes of secondary nature—satoyama, satoumi, and rice paddies—embody forms of green infrastructure. Techniques such as stone masonry and kasumi-tei embankments reveal knowledge for living with natural disasters. These practices can be understood as Japanese variations of NbS. They reflect a non-dualistic worldview, rooted in animistic reverence for beings beyond the human, that sees nature not as separate from people but as part of a shared continuum. Today, this worldview is gaining renewed significance.

Future community development and urban design can act as catalysts for systemic transformation. Such change will emerge through the interplay of local governments, intermediary organizations, and citizen-led initiatives. By reconnecting traditional knowledge, ecological practices, and cultural perspectives with contemporary innovation, communities and ecosystems alike can move toward regeneration.

Finally, I return to the principle articulated by Janine Benyus, co-founder of Biomimicry 3.8:

Life creates conditions conducive to life.

The question before us is whether we can restore this simple yet profound principle—sustained for 3.8 billion years—to the center of human activity and design.

References

(1) Gibbons, L. V., Cloutier, S. A., Coseo, P. J., & Barakat, A. (2018). Regenerative development as an integrative paradigm and methodology for landscape sustainability. Sustainability, 10(6), 1910. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10061910

(2) Hutchins, G., & Storm, L. (2019). Regenerative leadership: The DNA of life-affirming 21st century organizations. Wordzworth Publishing.

(3) Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). (2019). Global assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services. IPBES Secretariat. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3831673

(4) Lerner, J. (2005). Urban acupuncture. Island Press.

(5) Hickel, J. (2023). Less is more: How degrowth will save the world. Penguin Random House / Windmill Books.

(6) Kioka, N. (2014). 『あいだを〈ひらく〉―レンマの地平―』 [Opening aida: The horizon of the lemma]. Sekaishisosha.

Author: Yasuhiro Kobayashi

Yasuhiro Kobayashi is the founder of Ecological Memes, a cross-disciplinary collective of researchers and practitioners exploring human–nature interrelationality beyond dualistic, mechanistic, and siloed perspectives. He also works as an eco-systemic catalyst and a regenerative facilitator. After building a mission-driven community for social entrepreneurs, he went on to support new business creation, purpose design, leadership cultivation, and organizational transformation across industries, working toward a co-thriving future.He also operates a community farm practicing regenerative agriculture in urban Tokyo. Specializing in co-creative facilitation, the Art of Hosting, vision design, and authentic leadership approaches that integrate inner and outer living systems, he creates regenerative flow, nurtures conditions for emergence, and catalyzes transformation at individual, organizational, and ecosystemic levels. Yasuhiro is the Japanese translator of Regenerative Leadership (Hutchins & Storm, 2019) and co-founder of Regenerative Leadership Japan. Balaton Group Donnella Meadows Fellow 2025. His motto is “Like drifting clouds and flowing water” (行雲流水). He is also the proud father of one. www.linkedin.com/in/yasuhiro-kobayashi https://www.instagram.com/yasu_em/

− Translated into English by Tomomi Howe

(Originally Published in Japanese, JAN 2023)