Boston Flora

Tag: Regenerative Design

  • Monday, February 8, 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm – Regenerative Design: How Living in Agreement with Nature Helps Organizations Thrive Webinar

    Human impact on planet earth is at least three million years deep but it wasn’t until the advent of agriculture some 11,000 years ago that the ways we conduct our daily living began creating dramatic shifts in the biological functions that sustain us. This Ecological Landscape Alliance online program on February 8 from 1 – 2 will explore how adapting an ecological framework that acknowledges biological limits supports healthy design. By living in agreement with nature we can create better stories, more sustainable economies, and stronger community relationships. Those three things form the bedrock of thriving organizations and communities.

    Claude Stephens will explain how regenerative thinking relates to design goals for projects exploring LEED®, the Living Building Challenge, and other criteria based design challenges. The program also introduces how an ignorance-based approach to planning frames new ways of exploring traditional challenges. Claude Stephens is the Facilitator of Outreach and Regenerative Design at Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest in Clermont, Kentucky. He is also the director of the Children at Play Network which is an ongoing project of Bernheim focused on working regionally to reenvision the landscapes for children’s play. The CAPN values play as part of healthy child development and as a means to reconnect children with nature in order to foster the next generation of environmental stewards.
    Claude has more than 35 years of experience working in museums and environmentally focused organizations. He has been at Bernheim for 21 of those years. Claude’s academic background is in evolutionary ecology and biology which continues to frame his approach to how humans might build deeper and healthier relationships with the natural world.
    He has worked on numerous boards including the Food Literacy Project, Squallis Puppeteers and the Kentucky Chapter of the US Green Building Council.

    Free for ELA members, $10 for nonmembers. Register HERE.

  • Wednesday, May 5, 3:30 pm – Regenerative Design in the Public Realm

    Come to UMass Amherst’s Cape Cod Lounge in the Student Union on Wednesday, May 5 at 3:30 pm to hear Michael Singer speak on Regenerative Design in the Public Realm.  Free lecture is open to the public.

    Michael Singer’s perspective is that of an artist, a creative thinker and problem solver whose work has evolved around questioning assumptions and constantly looking at why things are the way they are and how they might benefit from different points of view. Michael Singer’s Studio uses an integrative design process as a way to recognize the systems of a place, respond specifically to that place, and gather information and direction from naturalists, biologists, engineers, scientists, social anthropologists, historians, economists, other professionals and communities about how a project can innovatively address environmental, social, political, and economic concerns, as well as provide solutions that promote regenerative outcomes.

    For the past twenty years Michael Singer has worked on large-scale infrastructure projects, parks and gardens, architectural design, urban planning and public art commissions. In 2007 Singer co-authored “Infrastructure and Community: How Can We Live With What Sustains Us” published by Environmental Defense, an advocacy organization. This booklet presents case studies from the Michael Singer Studio offering insight on how public officials, communities and developers can plan infrastructure that promotes environmental justice, generates ecological renewal, inspires civic responsibility and enhances quality of life without sacrificing function or economic viability.

    http://www.umass.edu/tei/TEI/images/Lecture%20Series/MichaelSinger_t346.jpg