REVIEWING "REGENERATIVE BUILDING" CONTRIBUTIONS TO LEARN FROM THE PAST AND SET DIRECTIONS FOR THE FUTURE

Christian Koch

Abstract:

A contemporary definition of regenerative building is "a built environment that strives to create positive environmental impacts that match or surpass those provided by ecosystems and native habitats". By 2025 this means using an understanding of the planetary boundaries of resource limits, when designing and constructing new buildings. And it means departing from a reduction approach to emissions. "Regenerative building" is entering Europeans legislation and building sectors. So on this background this contributions asks: "What are the main characteristics of regenerative building (RB) and what will be the future direction of RB?" The paper uses Watson & Websters thematic reviewing, to review the extant literature on RB emerging since the 1990ties. This is well suited for the RB literature and designed to construct foresight.The review distinguishes between an early and a contemporary version. The early had it's source in architectural design of landscape and buildings. A qualitative discourse outlining overall goals for regeneration, practicing it mainly through single projects, claiming to realize RB. The contemporary version can be understood as a consequence of the Stockholm Resilience center's introduction of planetary boundaries for human activity. This adds a quantitative metric to the qualitative goal of regeneration.which extends beyond the early RB approach. Looking into the future, two contributions with concrete proposals are reviewed. They both carry out a quantitative allocation of planetary boundaries into single projects. The review showed that "RB "is diverse - but that is a possible source of constructive development. There is a challenge of combining qualitative and quantitative elements. The allocation method is a latent political conflict. The need for national decision making involves creating a balance between sociopolitical and scientific methods. Another worry would be the connection of the ambitions of RB and the needed acceleration towards EUs 2030 and 2050 goals.