What if …. we applied all the good thinking on regenerative sustainability, regenerative economics and regenerative environments to a city as a means of emerging from the Covid 19 lockdown?
Welcome to RESTORD 2030
RESTORD is a vibrant small to medium sea board city, at the foot of the Central Mountains with a Mid-European climate. It has a population of 102,000.
Addressing the challenges that the 2020 Novel Corona virus Covid19 presented, RESTORD embraced regenerative economic thinking to shape the current city. It is now an exemplar of human, nature and built environment synergy. It is a city that is socially just, ecologically robust and culturally rich.
The approach taken by the city politicians, planners and officials was inspired by the work of the EU Cost Action RESTORE and the publications from 5 working groups. It embraced regenerative principles and definitions, mandated regenerative design, construction, facility operation and technologies and successfully scale jumped into an exemplary regenerative city. It embraced, and adapted, regenerative programmes such as the Living Building Challenge, Well Build Standard and Building with Nature.
It has been and remains the subject of inspiration for research, student tours, business case studies, conferences and workshops.
RESTORD 2030 is founded on patterns that now govern development and infrastructure. The patterns, known as ‘leaves’ (as tree leaves), represent the growth and health of the city, they are system thinking based and fractal, each complementing and supporting the other patterns, never limiting or over shadowing other patterns and allowed to emerge organically. (As in natural canopy spacing)
RESTORD’s regenerative economic approaches and growth emerged from application and adoption of the late 2010’s SDG, Preston Model localism and Doughnut Economics, never exceeding the cities ‘planetary’ capacity ceiling, or falling below its social threshold. However such application was only possible with regenerative leadership and city-wide regenerative culture.
Seeking to develop a closer connectivity with nature, in a move to avoid pre-covid disconnected health, biodiversity and productivity issues, RESTORD’s relationship with nature can be described as SEVA, doing the right things because it is the right thing to do, and firmly based on the 4 Laws of Ecology, with a biophilic human-nature centric symbiosis driving much of the cities thinking.
Education and re-training for all was key in moving RESTORD rapidly out from the Covid19 shutdown. Climate, Ecology and importantly Eco-Economic literacy was a mandatory curriculum subject for schools, universities and business alike.
A JUST city, RESTORD is proud of its equity, its heritage, stories, memories and ‘Sense of Place’ that are reflected across the city’s buildings, infrastructure and public places through its RESTORIED programme.
RESTORD is a fit city. Coming out of the Covid19 period many streets and highways were redesigned and repurposed for human powered access, on foot and on cycle, to address both health and air quality. Public places and parks were re purposed as health and social gathering venues, respecting social distancing, a move that enabled café, restaurant and health business to re-open swiftly in 2020 and to thrive.
RESTORD has embraced the nexus and balance between the built environment, health and food production, with all buildings now mandatory urban agriculture producers.
Shaping the growth of RESTORD is the smart grid of interconnected building data, driving and in turn informing its digital twin.
RESTORD’s regenerative economic, social and in particular ecological robust approaches have allowed it to successful weather the two other novel corona virus pandemics of the 2020’s
This then, is RESTORD 2030
Martin Brown April 29th 2020 Written as part of a COST RESTORE Exercise
Fairsnape 