Introduction to Regenerative Placemaking
How do we co-create cities that are sustainable, equitable, and inclusive so that 100% of humanity can thrive while remaining in harmony with nature?
Regenerative Placemaking is my mission…
The global pandemic revealed a tale of two worlds, the haves and have-nots. The social and racial inequality gap continues to dramatically widen, and people and governments around the world are reevaluating policies, searching for answers and figuring out what’s next…
1. How do we build back better, more sustainably, more equitably and more inclusively so 100% of humanity can thrive — while remaining in balance with nature?
This inquiry is at the core of our mission at Future of Cities, where we aspire to impact the lives of 1 billion people through innovations in the built environment. So, how do we do this and where do we begin? Over the past 5 years, we’ve studied and analyzed Systems-Thinking theories ranging from Buckminster Fuller to the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals and recognized a need to co-design a new systems-oriented framework for real estate development. This framework we aim to open-source and share widely, putting forward new standards that will be embodied in “demonstration projects” that serve as beacons for those interested in new, regenerative pathways for urban development and vitality.
2. Regenerative Placemaking contributes to a number of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - primarily SDG #11: Sustainable Cities and Communities.
Building on local learnings from creative placemaking derived over the past two decades developing Miami’s Wynwood Art’s District and Magic City Innovation District in Little Haiti, combined with Regenerative Development practices most notably proposed by Bill Reed and Pamela Mang’s team at Regenesis, we’ve set out to co-create and popularize a new framework, entitled Regenerative Placemaking, which aims to accelerate place-based sustainability into new, mainstream industry norms.
3. Honoring our roots and the work of Dr. Dominique Hes
In this process of discovery, we were quickly directed to Dr. Dominque Hes, one of the world’s foremost thinkers, theorists and practitioners of Regenerative Placemaking. Dr. Hes has been formulating the Regenerative Placemaking theory for several years and has authored multiple articles on the topic.
We are grateful and honored to welcome Dr. Hes to our global board of advisors for the Future of Cities, and excited to co-create, design and open-source our research on this critical advancement for our industry.
READ MORE FROM DR. DOMINIQUE HES HERE
4. Regenerative Development + Creative Placemaking
“The merging of these two practices delivers places designed for both humans and non-humans, shifting city-making from a largely anthropocentric practice to one aligned with living systems, by which people are empowered as cultural and environmental stewards.
The result is the creation of a way to interact with a geographical location that enables continual adaptation, health, and wellbeing. The aim is not to create utopia, but a realistic way to engage with the problems and potentials of a place and all its complexities.
The regenerative development component creates the ways to understand a place, to see its essence, its potential and the ways to understand what healthy, vital, viable and abundant looks like. The placemaking component ties these ideas to a specific place, with the local stakeholders, supporting them to be a critical part of the potential of the place and its capabilities.” - Dr. Dominique Hes
5. What’s next…
The time has never been more urgent for developers to reimagine their role as stewards who are responsible for the wellbeing of communities and cities. And so, I am excited to go on this journey with you all as we begin to synthesize all that has inspired me, learnings and teachings from the past 20 years in real-estate with this dynamic and still-emergent body of work, with hope you will be inspired to build the future with these values in motion, to evolve the role of placemaking, and urban development as we know it.
Because we’re in this together…
With love, gratitude & magic,
Tcho
@_tonycho_ | tony-cho.com | LinkedIn | YouTube
Love this history, thinking and setting up of your approach to Regen Placemaking, can't wait to see where this journey leads you and how this can ripple in the development world... we can do the development of places for people in a way that everyone including nature thrives and has the capacity to co-evolve into the future!