What is regeneration, and how can it be put into practice? How do we assess what is truly regenerative and what is not? Who and what do we need in the coming years to move toward more regenerative futures? These are some of the questions that 32 experts from academia and practice explored during an inspiring co-creation session held last Thursday 21 May at The Field in Leiden. The ideas, reflections and tensions that emerged during the afternoon event will now serve as input for a collaborative white paper to be released next fall.
Photo credits: Barbra Verbij
Bringing together voices on regeneration
On Thursday 21 May, researchers from Leiden University, TU Delft, Erasmus University Rotterdam and the Universities of Applied Sciences of The Hague and Inholland, representing together 17 faculties and lectorates, and an impressive diversity of disciplines and expertise, met together with practitioners at The Field in Leiden for a co-creation session exploring regeneration. They were joined by students from the LDE Thesis Lab Generation Regeneration who have just spent six months investigating how a regenerative future might look like for the South Holland Delta.
The afternoon, organized by our LDE Community on Regenerative Futures, aimed to bring together a diversity of perspectives and experiences to contribute to a collective white paper. Rather than attempting to come up with a single definition of regeneration and in doing so, closing off possibility for discussion, the session created space for dialogue, reflection, and collective imagination around what regenerative futures could mean across different fields and practices and how we, as a society, could move toward such futures. And after all, regeneration might simply be too broad, too alive, encompassing life itself probably, to fit into a single definition.
To encourage participants to think beyond human-centered perspectives and (re)connect to the outside world, everyone was invited to represent a non-human voice throughout the discussions. Rivers, fungi, bees, forests, soils, oceans, all found a place at the table, reminding us to not forget those voices and perspectives often missing from conversations about the future.
Engaging both senses and minds
Even before the discussions began, participants were invited to literally ‘taste’ their digital emissions in sodas from the Sensing CO2 installation. Different sodas were served containing varying levels of carbonation linked to the emissions generated by everyday digital activities, from sending a short “thank you” email to sharing large attachments. Sensing CO2 , as part of the E-missions project, explores the ecological footprint of digital behaviour, and connects senses to abstract numbers. The installation offered a playful but powerful reminder of how artistic interventions can help us feel, think, imagine differently, and inspire new pathways for change.
From inspiration to reflection
The event opened with an inspiring panel discussion featuring:
Amanda Brandellero (Professor of Culture and Sustainability at Erasmus University Rotterdam),
Marja Spierenburg (Professor of Anthropology of Sustainable Development and Livelihoods at Leiden University),
and Bregje van Wesenbeeck (Professor of Nature-Based Solutions for Flood Risk and Climate Adaptation at TU Delft).
Together, they explored regeneration through the lens of their own fields and reflected on how regenerative thinking differs from current sustainability approaches that, in some contexts, are focused on sustaining the status quo and limiting negative effects on the environment. Regeneration, by contrast, invites us to reconsider our relationship with nature, time and one another. However, one thing became clear very quickly: regeneration is less about finding the “perfect” definition and more about what we choose to put behind the word in practice, and how we commit to it if we want to truly transform current systems.
The panel also highlighted the mismatch between the short-term logic of many political and economic systems and the slower rhythms ecosystems need in order to regenerate. At the same time, participants stressed that transitions toward regenerative futures must remain socially just and inclusive and not be done at the cost of certain groups and communities. Education, imagination, cultural change, transformative value-sets, and reconnecting with nature emerged as crucial steps to move forward regeneration.
Five round tables, countless connections
Inspired by the opening panel, participants were invited to join interdisciplinary roundtable discussions around five themes:
Regenerative Design and Materials
Regenerative Agriculture and Food Systems
Regenerative Communities, Cities, and Landscapes
Regenerative Business Models and Economies
Transitioning Toward a Regenerative Society
The conversations were lively, critical, and deeply interdisciplinary. Throughout the afternoon, participants explored tensions between theory and practice, discussed barriers to implementation and scaling, and reflected on the importance of care, reciprocity, experimentation and long-term thinking.
The roundtables concluded with a collective plenary reflection session, where insights from the different groups were brought together and connections between themes began to emerge. And while many eyes naturally turned toward the tables on Business Models and Economies and Societal Transition when discussing large-scale change, participants agreed that the responsibility for a truly regenerative transformation is shared across all sectors, disciplines, and levels of society.
Towards a collective white paper
The insights gathered during the session will now contribute to the development of a collaborative white paper on regeneration. Rather than offering one final or rigid definition, the white paper aims to bring together a diversity of voices, disciplines, questions, and pathways that can inspire future research, education, policy, and practice. The white paper will be released in the fall, but preview articles will be published on our website and social media from the summer on.
Thank you!
We would like to warmly thank all participants for bringing their openness, curiosity, expertise and energy into the discussions. A special thanks as well to all moderators and journalists present during the session to guide and report the discussions and to our partners, Het Groene Brein and LDE Central, for their help in organizing the event.
This session marks not an endpoint, but another step in an ongoing collective exploration of what regenerative futures might look like, and how we can begin building them together.