Regenerative Design: A Bioregion For Chichester

By Claire Paul

The event Regenerative Design: A Bioregion For Chichester was included in the Festival of Chichester this year, as part of The Metanoia Series, curated by Ben Williams. 

The vision for The Metanoia Series was to bring diverse artists and speakers together to create a gravitational pull, drawing people in, and sparking a collective energy in Chichester. The theory behind it was that when people gather, something shifts. They inspire one another, and from that inspiration come connections, creativity, and a ripple effect of positive change.

Ben was working with a community group to address some of the problems facing the city, when he heard that there was a world expert in regenerative design living nearby. This was how he came to meet Jenny Andersson, introducing the concept of bioregionalism to the area. The more Ben found out about Jenny’s work the more it seemed that an event about regeneration would fit perfectly into the vision for the Metanoia Series. In fact, the name of the Metanoia Series itself was inspired by an article that Jenny later showed to Ben as he began his own regenerative journey when participating in Power of Place, hosted by Jenny at The Really Regenerative Centre CIC. Jenny responded positively to Ben’s invitation to participate, and hence the event Regenerative Design: A Bioregion For Chichester started to take shape. It soon became clear that the event would provide attendees with insight into alternative, creative, and inclusive ways of addressing societal problems, emphasising the concept of pathways forward rather than black and white solutions.

Jenny’s community interest company, Really Regenerative, aims to support “glocalisation” of economies and industries that will create a regenerative and resilient future. Their work has four interconnected pillars: i) open learning journeys and development programmes for individuals and organisations; ii) in depth inquiry and publications that shine the light on the invisible dynamics holding current culture in place; iii) supporting place-based change projects in various places of the UK and around the world; and iv) local initiatives in the Sussex region.

The event was to focus on healing systemic separations between humans and nature through community-based approaches and act as a launch pad for the community of Chichester to discuss regeneration and its implications.

Journey to Transformational Leadership

To set the scene further, it’s important to explore Jenny’s background and how Really Regenerative CIC came to be. Her journey took her from international development to brand communications and corporate branding, where she worked with global consumer brands, including Patagonia, Nike and Timberland. After experiencing personal health challenges and a home flood, she pursued an informal PhD in regenerative systems and alternative ways to be in the future. This ultimately led to the formula of her current work.

Jenny explains that through the shock of her life crash, a window of opportunity for transformation opened, it was a stark reminder that personal and systemic shock is sometimes necessary, she points out,

“Systemic transformation often requires two types of shocks - a personal one followed by a systemic one, and these shocks can create windows for transformation if we're prepared to embrace them.”

What is Regenerative Design?

Jenny explains that regenerative design addresses misalignments between ecological, economic, and cultural systems, exploring how we can realign and redesign human systems with the living systems that have created the conditions conducive to life for 3.8 billion years, to restore and create more stability in our world. The goal is to heal the story of separation, which includes the separation between humans and nature, as well as hierarchical divisions among humans, such as sexism, racism, classism, organisational hierarchy and so on. These hierarchical divisions keep us held in a non-regenerative mindset, which is, of course, bad news for our planet. When systems are redesigned, the promotion of renewal and wholeness rather than division and decline, can emerge.

Regenerative Design Cultural Scaffolding

There are challenges to implement regenerative design, not least addressing people’s readiness for change. When working in specific areas to affect regenerative change, the local community has to be open to embracing the shifts required. Cultural scaffolding to build trust and offer education is important and can strengthen any existing infrastructure for regenerative work. This is where initiatives like The Metanoia Series and Really Regenerative CIC’s learning journeys come in, helping communities to understand and engage.

What is a Bioregion? Natural and Human Systems

A bioregion can be described as a naturally occurring landscape where a whole system functions, like a rainforest for example. Bioregions are geographical areas or landscapes that integrate both ecological and human systems, defined by natural features such as watersheds, climate, soils, landforms and native plants and animals. Political boundaries do not define a bioregion and often don’t align with the bioregion boundaries. It is a landscape-scale approach to classifying the environment that promotes a deep understanding and connection between human communities and their local ecological systems. Bioregional work is about reconnecting human systems with natural systems to create a harmonious future.

The Metanoia Series Regenerative Design Event

The evening integrated with a series of prior community workshops that had begun to explore the concept of a bioregion. The Metanoia Series event began with an interactive exhibition which set the scene for the participatory nature of the event, sparking curiosity among attendees. There was a risk of overwhelming or traumatising people with the realities of planetary boundaries and the idea of separation of life systems. For Jenny and Ben, it was a real consideration; how do they bring reality into the room without causing more trauma? 

As mentioned earlier, shock can open doorways to potentiality and transformation. Part of the experience and journey of the evening was to move through that pain and shock, explore the possibilities and challenges and leave with a sense of potential and hope.

As the evening unfolded, that initial shock evolved into something more constructive. People began fostering a sense of active hope and gained insight into their potential contributions. 

The event was set up to move away from the dynamic of a traditional speaker-audience format toward a more participatory approach, encouraging everyone’s involvement. This open style of discussion and group sharing created interaction, contribution, and a sense of “we can work together to affect change.”

Regenerative Design and Festival Insights

The main aspect of discussion and deep reflection centred around the planetary boundaries and doughnut economy. A doughnut diagram visualises this concept, which combines a social foundation (inner ring) with planetary boundaries (outer ring) to represent a safe and just space for humanity. The inner ring represents the minimum level of well-being that no one should fall below, for example, enough food, clean water, health and education. The outer ring represents the ecological ceiling, or the outer limit of the planet's capacity. Exceeding these boundaries risks destabilising the Earth's systems and causing irreversible environmental damage, such as, climate change, biodiversity loss and ocean acidification. The doughnut, the space between, is the sweet spot for sustainability, a space where everyone can thrive socially without exceeding the ecological limits.

This discussion was brought to the local level, with participants engaging in dialogue about Chichester's future.There is power in using visual tools and they can help facilitate difficult conversations in ways that leave participants with a sense of possibility and potential for action. So a visual mapping exercise using a traffic light system on a doughnut diagram, was introduced to help participants visualise challenges in their community and explore Chichester’s complexity. Participants responded positively to being invited to contribute to the conversation rather than simply listening, and Jenny emphasised the importance of collective intelligence over the ‘sage on the stage’ approach. Water issues in Chichester were unanimously flagged as red on the diagram. It was also noted that there was an underrepresentation of young people and their opinions at this event, highlighting the need for more inclusive representation in future pathways.

The Future of Regenerative Design in Chichester

The framework used during this exercise helped move people’s energy from concern toward action. There was positivity in the doing and perhaps a shift from hopelessness to the feeling of “we can do something about this”, with the emphasis on the “we”. Out of these discussions came greater connection and togetherness; a success in melting the hierarchical divisions. However, more cultural scaffolding is needed to reach diverse communities and encourage people to look at the truth of planetary boundaries, regenerative economies and alternative future perspectives.

Systemic change takes time, and no amount of urgency will cut through the red tape. One thing is for certain, regenerative design is imperative, not just an idea. Regeneration is both a practice and a process. The alternative of carrying on as usual and hoping everything will be okay, won’t heal the story of separation or save our planet. 

There’s an element of helping people embrace uncertainty rather than seeking false certainty in absolutes. Wherever we are in the world, we must embrace regenerative design and start thinking in new and better ways which is precisely what The Metanoia Series is all about. 

No concrete conclusions came from this event. This was to be expected within the time boundaries, yet people left with a sense of hope and a desire to know what comes next. There was excitement to explore the next best step. It’s still early days, though.

If you’re local to Chichester and interested in joining in the discussion, you can contact Jenny at jenny@reallyregenerative.org (www.reallyregenerative.org) or Ben at ben@williams-ip.com