A systems approach to regenerative futures

Locate yourself in your place

Use a felt sense to notice where the landscape changes. Begin with the intention to weave creativity and the arts into everything that you do in order to find the identity of your place, its essence and the sense of belonging and possibility that comes from that. To go deeper, make a "Story of Place", which enquires into ‘who’ a place is and how it functions, from the beginning of geological time to the present day. Local people are the experts in understanding how their place has shaped them, and vice versa. The outcomes are specific to each bounded place while the way of looking for layered patterns that repeat remains the same.

Reveal the systems within the region

Humans have always lived in webs of life support systems (ecosystems) that meet our basic needs. We also have human-created systems like transport or health that are typically managed by public utility companies and large-scale businesses, regulated by local authorities and the state. A project "container" can be an effective way to explore the systems at work in your place. By revealing our local systems, supporting innovators and connecting them up we can start to create systems of transformation in which we can all play a role.

Intervene and demonstrate

Look for creative ways to intervene in systems and sectors (such as the drinking water system) that bring in the voice of civil society, as well as experts, towards common pool resource management. This could take the form of co-designing framing or structures such as participatory governance, or a design intervention to bridge the gap between academia, policymakers and people on the ground. This is especially needed in this time of climate adaptation when many voices need to be heard. Make the process desirable with relevant messaging and great graphics. Keep experimenting, create a lab space to incubate new ideas.

Launch a multi-sector design process

Grasp the opportunity to start a big region-wide conversation. The process of making the Devon Doughnut showed us the power of action learning as we built many generative relationships online, during Covid. Together we created an ecological and economic baseline for Devon with indicators and metrics that can be used by many different sectors. We also developed twin track pathways for action for both policy-makers and civil society, and we continue to work the twin-track approach. Keep getting to know your bioregion, it's easy to get wrapped up in processes and projects.

Document and showcase your learning region

Continually convert practice into resources to support all the work, interpret and share it. Develop a presence on social media and educational channels. Produce case studies and collect stories of change from your bioregion. Invite change-leaders to bring their expertise into your work and become ambassadors for your region. This builds interest, support and commitment. Attention will start to shift from you as an organisation to the bioregion itself. Data, measuring and working with experts takes place in a ‘backroom’ for the bioregion. Governance grows out of building a network of generative relationships and trust. This results in shared strategies, ideally held by a distributed organisation.