Social regeneration and the fundamental principles toward activating regenerative communities
Gratitude: I wish to thank 5 human beings who have been my inspiration throughout this journey.
Marilyn Hamilton, Founder of Integral City Meshworks — Thank you for your editorial advice and our conversations over the past couple of months. I am so grateful for your friendly supervision and dedication to build a better world.
Jayne Engle — Thank you for our wonderful years working together to shift systems and enable meaningful collaborations for social change. Working with you has meant so much to me in so many ways and I would not have been able to be where I am without you. Thank you for always believing in me and for being my main inspiration in building equitable and inclusive futures.
Sarah Bradley — I am grateful for your brilliance and your patience in helping me communicate these ideas clearly. It’s been wonderful to reconnect with you.
Lhazin Nedup — Thank you for our late evening/early morning conversations and for elevating our reflections on social change. I can’t wait for us to meet in person again.
Mom — Thank you for being my rock in good and bad times. Your courage and optimism is what has always inspired me to aim to be the best version of myself.
Humanity finds itself once again at a crossroads. As we embark on the decade of action, we continue to witness the devastating effects of the pandemic and the climate crisis. How can communities develop caring systems and a renewed sense of belonging? And how can we design regenerative infrastructures that are adapted to the future? This article provides an introduction to social regeneration and its significance in enabling the transition toward more equitable, nature centered and future-forward communities.
The origins of this story
In Fall 2019 my mother was diagnosed with cancer for the second time. Within a couple of days, I took a flight from Montreal to Monterrey to spend time close to her during those moments of profound uncertainty and anxiety. My mother is the soul of our family. She is the one that keeps us together in good and bad times. She is also an enthusiastic leader who has dedicated her life to improving education as a teacher, union representative, and school principal.
Her years of service to advancing education in Mexico taught me about the importance of connectedness and the impact of places on people’s lives. My mother is a champion in developing strong relationships that are grounded in trust, mutual respect and empathy. In each relationship that she develops, she devotes time and attention to honor the other person’s existence. Her deep relationships to individuals are also linked to memories of the places in which those relationships were forged.
My mother’s battle against cancer made me more aware of how social connectedness can help us deal with moments of pain, and how connectedness can be fueled by a sense of belonging that is deeply rooted in places. During the treatment period, I witnessed incredibly beautiful acts of solidarity and compassion from people from all walks of life to help my mother heal through emotional, physical, spiritual and financial support. Our family friends and relatives helped us bridge access to resources that otherwise my siblings and I would not have been able to find.
When I returned to Montreal I could not stop thinking about cancer and our individual and collective capacity to respond in the face of a deadly threat. I searched for facts about cancer and I found this excerpt from the National Cancer Institute in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services:
“Cancer is caused by changes to genes that control the way our cells function, especially how they grow and divide. Genetic changes that cause cancer can happen because of errors that occur as cells divide, of damage to DNA caused by harmful substances in the environment, such as the chemicals in tobacco smoke and ultraviolet rays from the sun…”
When I reflect on my mother’s story, I think about the social support that she received in contrast to the pain experienced by others who are dealing with cancer while living alone, disconnected from networks of support and experiencing limited access to essential resources for recovery.
We live in a society that is increasingly isolated, divided and angry. Our current economic and social systems are extractive. We have developed systems that prioritize the depletion of tangible and intangible resources for individual benefits. This culture of extraction continues to contribute to exacerbating division, entitlement, apathy and individualism, eroding our social fabric and the environment.
We continue to operate under outdated institutions and systems that limit our capacity to imagine alternative futures. We have become used to the way things are that we replicate these mindsets across generations. Imagining an alternative future can be seen as too abstract, too complicated or nearly impossible to conceive. While I don’t agree with this thinking, I understand where it’s coming from.
“We are a depressed, lonely and alienated society because we live in an economic system that is organized around artificial scarcity, exploitation and extraction. It breaks us every day.”
For centuries we have developed systems of oppression that promote an extractive relationship with nature and with one another. Such practices have brought us apart and have contributed to widening social and economic inequalities, causing catastrophic effects on the environment. Floods and massive destruction of biodiversity and ecosystems are only two of many environmental tragedies that appear to result from our disconnection from the natural world. The impacts of these events on society are countless, from a growing number of people suffering from eco-anxiety to increasing concerns on the unequal impacts of extreme weather events on the housing market.
We have gotten so used to this extractive vision that we can see is not serving the world that it almost feels as if we have given up collectively on ourselves, our children and grandchildren. Perhaps we are suffering from a cancer of the imagination? This causes us to demoralize ourselves from trying to imagine an alternative future.
Humanity’s greatest mission
As we stand at a change in our direction for the next 10 years, we are called to serve a mission to build an equitable and regenerative future for all living beings. To do so, we need to give ourselves permission to imagine the unimaginable as we build bold new ways of collaborating across sectors, disciplines and communities.
Humanity has faced many threats in the past, from colonialism to racial segregation and war. However, climate change is undoubtedly the biggest threat to life as we know it. As Seth Klein has written, the climate crisis is more abstract as most of our lives still feel unchanged, yet the imperative for urgent action mounts daily.
Tackling the climate crisis in the midst of a pandemic cannot be solved by one individual nor a single community or organization. It requires all of us. I recently listened to an episode of The Climate Pod featuring Dr. Ed Hawkins, who is one of the lead authors of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report. During the episode, Dr. Hawkins reminded us about the positive message from this report, which is that climate change is caused by humans, meaning that our choices determine what happens next.
We can build our shared future now. To do this it is essential to develop more equitable ways of co-existing, putting nature at the centre of how we design our communities. Seizing this unique opportunity will also require bold leadership to help us integrate our collective efforts, navigate through uncertainty and build a common vision toward an economy that celebrates planetary life.
In building our shared future, we must design infrastructures, institutions and regulations that are future-fit in their capacity to recognize themselves as living systems and contribute to cultivating humanity’s brightest side. We must encourage the development of healing infrastructures that foster a renewed sense of trust, purpose, co-existence and coherence among individuals, communities and organizations.
“We need to create a new vision of thriving and well-being that takes us away from these endless expansions, which I think are deeply inherited from 20th century economics. And we need to create a new vision of what well-being and prosperity and success means in the 21st century.” Kate Raworth
Over the past 8 years, I have been reflecting on how society can develop caring systems and a renewed sense of belonging. I have also looked at how such systems can be supported by infrastructures that enable the healing process of individuals and communities. By healing infrastructures I am referring to the essential tangible and intangible structures that strengthen our individual and collective capacity to alleviate trauma and restore our wellbeing.
I have also looked closely at systems and institutions that enable transformative processes for communities. In particular, I looked at how these processes contribute to develop opportunities and capabilities, promote planetary wellbeing and reduce inequalities. In this context, a transformative process refers to a series of actions leading to changes at two dimensions:
- Changes in our individual and collective way of thinking and behaving.
- Changes in norms, values and assumptions under which society operates. These transformative processes are what some researchers and practitioners refer to as social regeneration.
These reflections on social regeneration have emerged from the experience collaborating with changemakers at the intersection of place, innovation and transformation in Canada and abroad. The lessons from this journey have taught me three things: social change is possible, place matters and imagination can be a powerful driver for social change.
Social change is possible: Communities around the world are engaging with public and private stakeholders to take bold actions to restore broken social systems and damaged ecosystems. These actions take place in multiple scales, from residents in Montreal envisioning what the socioecological transition would look like at the neighbourhood scale to cities adopting Voluntary Local Reviews to localize the Sustainable Development Goals.
Place matters: There is a growing recognition of the power of places in strengthening a renewed sense of belonging and social connectedness. Cultivating a sense of home that is deeply rooted in place is an initial step toward ensuring that neighbours and residents stay socially connected in an age of social distancing. Doing so requires a broader understanding of infrastructure and assets in order to integrate social infrastructure and civic assets in our city-making processes and our economic system.
We must tune in to our ability to see beyond the physical reality that surrounds us and awaken to the vast unseen world that exists. — Sherri Mitchell
Imagination can be a powerful driver for social change: Our ability to form new ideas and concepts to build an aspiration of a regenerative future is a critical element in informing the design of institutions, infrastructures and regulations that promote human and planetary flourishing alike. We rely on imagination to ensure that we are designing institutions, infrastructures and regulations that hold the multiple identities of our cities together. And in this process we acknowledge and celebrate the diversity of those identities and how they manifest through the roles that residents play in co-creating the city. There are multiple examples of communities that are integrating the power of imagination as a driver for social change in connection to places: from conducting resident-led interventions for space activation to developing a Canadian civic commons strategy.
These lessons, and many others, have become a starting point to dive deeper into social regeneration, its connection to place and transformation, and its potential for generating holistic actions toward building inclusive and equitable communities that are future-fit.
“We see new forms of leadership, like the growing cohort of business leaders who are doubling down on climate action and sustainable business practices because they know that it is the economy of the future, or the governors and mayors who are working to leverage their collective influence, as in the case of the U.S. Climate Alliance of bipartisan state governors committed to the Paris Agreement, which now encompasses more than half of the country’s population and more than half of its economy.
We see new forms of power, like the youth activists around the world mobilizing to hold older generations to account, and popular social movements that have brought millions into the streets worldwide in a common struggle against racial inequality and discrimination.
This is a glimmer of what solidarity looks like at scale and in ways we could never have conceived, and it should inspire us to bring similar determination to a whole host of other shared challenges. After all, the climate emergency, systemic racism, extreme poverty, and inequality should unify us no less than this virus.”
Regenerating our ecosystems
As I mentioned earlier, social regeneration consists of transformative processes to develop opportunities and capabilities among communities to strengthen community and ecological wellbeing. A transformative process refers to a series of actions leading to changes in two dimensions: changes in our individual and collective way of thinking and behaving; and changes in norms, values and assumptions under which society operates.
Social regeneration contributes toward developing a vision of the future in which our systems and infrastructures are adaptive and designed to enable planetary wellbeing for current and future generations. To ensure that our systems and infrastructures are future-forward it is critical for communities to adopt a leading role in stewarding a coherent alignment between a community’s built environment, its social fabric and ecological wellbeing.
A regenerative approach acknowledges the central role that nature occupies to ensure the survival of all living beings and enable residents to become agents of restoration and change.
The benefits of social regeneration occur at the individual, collective and planetary levels. Social regeneration integrates a notion of human healing through biophilia, the innate tendency that humans have to seek connections with nature and other forms of life. Social regeneration also takes into consideration the opportunities for individual and collective development through the activation of relationships and other forms of interactions supported by adaptive infrastructure. Lastly, the intrinsic connection between human healing and ecological wellbeing opens up possibilities for humanity to rebuild our relationships with all living beings in respectful, reciprocal and coherent ways.
Social regeneration is an invitation to move beyond resilience by making sense of the capacity of our communities to recover from a disaster and assessing what is needed for communities to move from a state of destruction toward healing, repairing and renewing our systems and infrastructures so that they can support more equitable ways of living together.
In the face of the climate crisis and a pandemic, social regeneration contributes to activate individual and collective capacity to develop approaches to support a just and equitable transition. As a starting point, I have identified five key mindsets that can contribute to activate social regeneration with examples of projects and stories that contribute to unpack them.
Curiosity: Building a culture of experimentation and collaboration in places to drive transformative change.
Empathy: Strengthening our ability to understand one another to advance community-driven solutions that promote holistic outcomes.
Accountability: Acknowledging our collective responsibility to our shared future, honouring our planetary boundaries and our atmospheric commons.
Deep listening: Promoting generative connections through listening that strengthen empathy and belonging.
Authenticity: Developing genuine relationships grounded in trust and guided by a shared sense of purpose.
To enable transformative change, we need to strengthen our individual and collective capacity to practice curiosity, empathy, deep listening and authenticity, while being mindful of our accountability toward ensuring a bright future. Strengthening these mindsets at an individual and collective level is fundamental to accelerating our capacity to build equitable transitions and developing the foundations for social regeneration.
Some principles to activate regenerative communities
We need to cultivate essential principles for social regeneration if we intend to activate transformative processes for communities to develop opportunities and capabilities for just and equitable transitions. In adopting both mindsets and principles, civic leadership at multiple levels is critical to support adaptive capacity in communities.
Nurturing trust
“Rivers flow towards truth
Mountains climb towards wisdom
Beings souls nurtured”
Trust represents a glue that binds social systems together. Trust is an essential component of social regeneration. It is also a very fragile element that can be easily lost. We cannot advance social change without establishing solid relationships grounded in trust. Trust requires commitment, reliability and agreement on shared values as we walk together. Trust is about engaging from a place of respect and appreciation for one another. Deep engagement and authentic listening can contribute to developing these relationships. When trust and listening are put together, they enable safe spaces for authentic conversations and constructive feedback. Having safe spaces that are grounded in trust and deep listening can be a powerful driver to address power disparities and build equity.
Designing future-fit institutions
Will we redesign systems to replicate the current structures of power and control, or will we reimagine our system to benefit those that are so often left out of discussions regarding systems design?
We need institutions and systems that are able to respond to the magnitude of the climate crisis and the pandemic. In assessing the state of our institutions and systems in place, we need to develop participatory approaches to engage everyone in building our shared future, particularly less heard voices. We also need to develop coherence between the width and depth of the level of transformation required to ensure just and equitable transitions and a future-fit socioeconomic recovery.
Designing future-fit institutions is also about giving ourselves permission to imagine the institutions, systems and infrastructures that are needed in order to accelerate a post-pandemic recovery without compromising ecological wellbeing. What would it look like to introduce a Ministry of Connectedness or perhaps a Ministry of Pandemics into our public institutions? What about a Ministry of Listening and Imagination that amplifies less heard voices and integrates listening as a subject that becomes as relevant as Math in school? Could the Ministry of Imagination collaborate with a Ministry of Connectedness and a Ministry of Wellness in keeping tech giants accountable for the impacts of social media platforms on mental health and belonging? Could we also upgrade the mandate of the Ministries of Infrastructure globally to include social and other types of infrastructure that are essential for a post-pandemic recovery?
“This scale of change demands that we recalibrate our ambitions for transformation to a level that we have rarely dreamed of. It requires that we unlearn many old ways of societal change. And we must decolonize them.”
Building ecosystemic infrastructure
“What are regenerative practitioners ultimately up to? Healing the story of separation between nature and humans; humans and humans; the feminine/masculine aspects of balance in our psychology; and our own inner/outer lives so that all life on earth can thrive.”
Social infrastructure refers to facilities, relationships and services to help individuals and communities meet their needs and strengthen community wellbeing. Communities across Canada and around the world have been exploring over time how the places where people gather can contribute to build a sense of belonging and resilience in times of stress. Ecosystemic infrastructure refers to the spaces and relationships that contribute to meet local and collective needs. In addition to the social hubs, their subsequent networks and platforms engage residents in advancing equitable transitions. Ecosystemic infrastructure functions as a unit with interdependent and adaptive parts which evolve over time. Each part is loosely connected, yet they share a common vision bridging across domain specificities. Ecosystemic infrastructure contributes to cultivating humanity’s brightest side through participatory processes that enable humans to become healing forces for regeneration.
Centering design principles around ecological wellbeing
“The rise of social isolation is not a personal choice or individual problem, but one that is rooted in community design, social norms, and long-standing system injustices.” Risa Wilkerson and Amanda O’Rourke
Human and planetary wellbeing are the ultimate goals of design for ecological wellbeing. In this context, design provides an invitation to redefine the purpose that our infrastructures and institutions intend to achieve, and ensure that such purpose is grounded in reciprocity and respect for ecological wellbeing. Centering design principles toward supporting the wellbeing of our planet also contributes to addressing the social and economic inequities embedded in our current systems and exacerbated by the pandemic and the climate crisis. Design also provides an invitation to deconstruct and sometimes unlearn the way we collectively develop tools and approaches to accomplish specific functions and purposes which are heavily influenced by power dynamics. A renewed and holistic vision of design is needed to shift away from outdated and colonial notions of progress and performance. Italy and Spain are examples of countries that are already formalizing principles of a just transition by developing institutions that address ecological wellbeing.
Rethinking our relationship to the land
“Knowing that you love the earth changes you, activates you to defend and protect and celebrate. But when you feel that the earth loves you in return, that feeling transforms the relationship from a one-way street into a sacred bond.” Robin Wall Kimmerer
Acknowledging our shared history of the land and our broken systems is central toward repairing our relationships with ourselves, with one another and with our communities. As we collectively continue our journey toward reconciliation, we must ensure that we are creating safe and welcoming spaces for meaningful dialogue. Enabling safe and welcoming spaces is also central to ensure that Indigenous worldviews are embedded into citymaking. The Calls to Action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples provide a starting point for communities to collectively engage in meaningful discussions to decolonize our understanding of land and the design of our institutions and systems, providing communities with clear principles and actions that can guide their efforts in repairing our relationships, supporting Indigenous self-governance and building economic models that shift away from consumption and competition, and are rooted in justice, reciprocity and ecological stewardship.
“The city is an Indigenous space needing to reclaim its Indigenous footprint to move towards sustainable futures.”
What’s next
“When a small change in a complex system produces an enormous shift, that new pathway gets reinforced by positive feedback loops, which lock in all that change. That’s why tipping points are irreversible. You can’t go back to where you were before. A tipping point that flips non-linearly could be the thing that does us in, but it could also be the thing that allows us to heal our broken systems and better sustain ourselves.”
In this first blog post we reflected on the planetary challenges that humanity is facing and explored social regeneration as a process to develop opportunities and capabilities for individual, collective and ecological wellbeing. Moving forward, we will be looking at stories of communities integrating key mindsets and principles for social regeneration to advance just and equitable transitions in transformative ways.
