APA Webinar (FRI., Sept. 20, 2024, 9-10:30am PDT/12-1:30PM EDT; 1.5 CM1 S).

Sponsors: Climate & Sustainability Working group, International Division in collaboration with the Sustainable Communities Divsion, APA Ohio Webcast Service, Regenerative Sustainability 2030.

Regenerative City Symposium: 

Innovation Towards Sustainability Success

This Symposium introduced attendees to an emerging approach to urban sustainability planning and its potential to achieve climate and sustainability success. The Symposium’s purpose is to accelerate progress by:

  1. Highlighting the innovation underlying this emerging approach of the Regenerative City.  

  2. Understanding the organizations at the forefront of the innovation for urban sustainability.

  3. Identifying the operational characteristics of this new approach.

Resources produced include the following (as of 111524):

  1. A “Responses to Questions” document (Link)

  2. Symposium recording YouTube Link

  3. Symposium Slide Deck, 56MB, PDF Link.

Innovation in the planning and design professions over the past 20+ years has created the potential for the built environment to make essential contributions to reversing global warming, environmental degradation, and socioeconomic inequity, and move towards climate and sustainability success. In addition, comprehensive planning for the regenerative city is needed for project-level success. It may even be used to provide on-going stimulus for the necessary complete economic transition. 

This potential of a truly sustainable city is captured in the idea and vision of a regenerative city: a net-positive city whose built environment (buildings + landscape + infrastructure) is planned and designed to mimic nature’s economy. Doing so also creates a central part of the circular renewable energy economy, which in turn is the foundation for climate and sustainability success and basis for inclusive prosperity.  A city with these characteristics has the urban and economic metabolism (flow of energy and materials through a system) of true sustainability, or more precisely, systems sustainability that is required for success. Sustainability is a dynamic systems condition, not a static characteristic of a part. 

The challenge to us as planners is how to pursue it, how to create, maintain, and extend it; how to shift from the net negative degenerative approach of business as usual to the net positive regenerative approach of sustainability success?   To date, this vision is not widely recognized and therefore not pursued routinely or systematically. Fortunately, recent innovation has created the starting point:  green sustainability planning and design best practices. As planners, we simply need to recognize it, learn it, begin using it fully, and extend it with continuous innovation. In addition, we need to shift to producing systems sustainability, not parts sustainability, by shifting to a regenerative systems sustainability approach.

With the panelists listed below (in order of speaking), this symposium explored and deepened understanding of the Regenerative City potential and how to realize it.  Panelists were asked to draw upon their extensive experience to address practical and aspirational questions for the planning profession. They briefly discussed their contributions to reversing course by advancing this arc of planning innovation: that is the transition from net negative to net positive regenerative city approaches. They will reflect principally on their experience leading their innovations, including key challenges perceived and address, strategic insights that informed their responses, lessons learned, and key challenges ahead and the best likely approaches.  

Explore each panelists experience and work of their organizations as follows.

It is hoped that this symposium will be one step in quickening use and scaling this innovation – The Regenerative City -- domestically and internationally. Doing so will produce the needed performance of the built environment and the connected economy required for sustainability success and prosperity.  It is this result – the Regenerative City -- that we need to produce going forward with society’s huge and on-going expenditures and investment in the following key areas, including responding to the new dimensions of the climate and sustainability challenges:  

1.       formulating effective urban (and regional) planning and policy for sustainability success (resource: time, understanding)

2.      renovating the existing -- and constructing the new -- built environment (resource: dollars, skills)

3.      restoring natural capital (resource: sustainability biodiversity programs, taking a regenerative systems sustainability approach)

4.      hardening the built environment, economy, and society (resource: climate change defense,)

5.      and transforming the economy from linear to circular material use and process (resource: material basis for sustainability success).

This Regenerative City meta “work program” and associated investment applies to planning for the war-torn-and-damaged countries of the world such as Ukraine, who will be repairing and replacing their built environments (buildings + infrastructure) and their economies’ and productive capacities. It also applies to the developing and developed nations in their joint bid to reverse climate change while we attempt — in the same moment, simultaneously — to achieve sustainability, prosperity, and success for 2 billion more people by 2050, as well as the 7 billion we have now, while navigating the increasingly hostile environmental conditions for the period of climate recalibration from effective mitigation (creating a nearly 100% renewable energy economy well before 2050 because of mitigation delay).

Fortunately, this innovation of the Regenerative City has taken root in planning around the world, but it needs wider recognition, cultivation, and use to bloom and realize its potential.

The intended audience for the Symposium is urban planners and professionals involved in sustainability planning, policy, and design nationally and internationally. 

Certified AICP planning professionals will earn 1.5 CM credits and 1 SR credit.  

Go HERE to REGISTER (and explore APA Ohio’s other webinars here).

For questions and comments before or after the Symposium, email scott-e@sustainability2030.com, with a CC to Tim Van Epp, FAICP (tvanepp@gmail.com) and “Symposium” beginning the subject line. Also, please report any web page problems or comments to scott-e@sustaiability2030.com.

This Symposium is a joint production of the APA International Division’s (ID) Sustainability and Climate Working Group (WG), which the APA Sustainable Communities Division (SCD) chairs, and Regenerative Sustainability 2030. The APA Ohio’s APA Webcast Service is hosting the webinar.

Acknowledgements: The following volunteers directly contributed to the production of this Webinar: Bill Anderson, ID; Susannah Davidson, ID; Christine Dersi, APA Ohio Webcast; Karla Ebenbach, WG, SCD; Scott Edmondson, WG, ID; Margarita Saldana, ID; Tim Van Epp, ID; Jing Zhang, ID.

Additional pre/post Symposium resources follow below.

Resources

Resources produced include the following (as of 111524):

  1. A “Responses to Questions” document (Link)

  2. Symposium recording YouTube Link

  3. Symposium Slide Deck, 56MB, PDF Link.

A synthesis of the emerging approach: a white paper on REGENERATIVE URBANISM – A SYNOPSIS: Inventing the Platform for Sustainability Success, EcoCity World Summit, 2021-22 (Feb.), Proceedings (p. 805, Link).

Outlines of a regenerative city planning method: Planning the Regenerative City for Climate and Sustainability Success (2024; see PDF for footnotes to more explanation and resources; 20 min. summary YouTube recording), Part 2 of the Environmental Sustainability Planning Guidelines—Build Back Better with Sustainability in Mind, APA International Division, Ukraine Rebuilding Action Group (2024).

Formulating the systems dimension of regenerative cities more centrally: RESOURCES PAGE for Regenerative Urbanism & the Systems Thinking Panel, APA Sustainable Communities Division Climate Change Symposium 2023.

A recent research study for Regenerative Development & Design: it’s origin, essence, practice and potential as a meta-discipline to elevate governance, innovation, and planetary health, commissioned by the Belgian Federal Public Service for Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment, 2024.

Upcoming conference on: Planning New Regenerative Cities, ISOCARP’s 60th World Planning Congress Diamond Anniversary Series, 1st International Conference for New Cities, New Clark City, Tarlac Province, The Philippines, 10-13 September 2024.

Key books: Upcycle (2013), William McDonough. Biomimicry (2002) Janine Beynus. Natural Capitalism (1999), Amory and Hunter Lovins and Paul Hawken.

Two Regenerative Planning Research Studies, San Francisco Planning: (1) Living Community Patterns—Exploratory Strategies for a Sustainable San Francisco, 2015. (PDF Link); (2) Regenerative San Francisco—Phase 1: Explorations & Proposal for Action, 2018. (PDF Link).

Additional resources forthcoming: links to key documents, presenters/organizations, APA Divisions, other . . .