Regenerative Futures
Cultivating Regenerative Futures through community, creativity, and action
Our community explores pathways towards a regenerative society —one that actively restores, replenishes, and enhances the systems it depends on.
Current sustainability approaches focus on minimizing harm: less pollution, lower emissions, and greater efficiency, while maintaining the status quo of ecosystems, economies, and communities. Yet many of these efforts remain driven by profit and perpetual growth, limiting real progress. Despite decades of action, planetary boundaries continue to be exceeded and the 1.5°C climate target is slipping out of reach.
A regenerative society values resilience and the self-healing capacity of nature. Rather than merely surviving or reducing harm, it actively creates the conditions for life to thrive — for humans and non-humans alike.
The shift from sustainability to regeneration requires not only innovation and policy change. It calls for a fundamental transformation in how we think, relate, and act. Our community is exploring practical, cultural, and systemic solutions to help enable this transition.
WORKING ON SOLUTIONS
Our community brings together researchers and practitioners to explore how regenerative principles can be applied across disciplines. While regeneration has long been practised in agriculture — for example through integrated systems that restore soil health and biodiversity — it is now gaining momentum in many other fields.
These include architecture (such as green façades, green roofs, and carbon-sequestering buildings), materials and design (including fungi- and algae-based materials and biomimicry), and fashion, with pioneers like Patagonia.
As a newly formed community, we are mapping key themes, opportunities, and challenges in the transition towards a regenerative society. The insights from this work will be brought together in a white paper, planned for release in the second half of 2026.
GET INSPIRED
Follow our Regenerative Dialogues
Follow our Regenerative Dialogues on regeneration and be part of an open conversation on how we can rethink systems, reconnect with nature, and shape regenerative futures together.
Relive our Talks
Watch the recaps of our past Talks on Regeneration and many other topics. Researchers from Leiden-Delft-Erasmus, entrepreneurs, and policymakers share experiences and fresh insights.
How Inge Schrijver brings regeneration to life with Fungi Farmers
Turn waste into the future. In this article, Inge Schrijver shows how regeneration goes beyond sustainability: from growing oyster mushrooms on coffee grounds to rethinking wellbeing, community, and the city of 2040. A concrete, hopeful story of what restoration looks like in practice — and why it’s needed now.
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Share your ideas
Have an idea for a regenerative project or event? Get in touch with us. Community manager: Elise Blondel e.h.m.blondel@cml.leidenuniv.nL
