Reworlding Sessions

Across three international editions, Design Innovation Group has been exploring what it takes to reimagine future systems and design meaningful regenerative change.

About the sessions →

with Instituto Ecobairro São Paulo, Brazil

with Girls for Climate Action, Uganda

Designing a Living Lexicon for a Regenerative World

with MA Regenerative Design, UAL Central Saint Martins (UK)

Through October and November 2024, our collaboration withthe students and faculty of Central Saint Martins’ MA Regenerative Design program took shape as a unique, 6-week design sprint. This sprint aimed to develop a “Living Lexicon” for regenerative design—a dynamic resource capturing the insights, reflections, and shared knowledge developed through a deep exploration of regenerative principles.

During the sprint DIG participated in co-researching regenerative practices and sharing our experiences of applying regenerative principles in our own environments. This active learning and application was essential for the following Reworlding sessions in Brazil and Uganda. From this first experience, we have found that an active experience is essential for any designer to get a grip on regenerative design and how to apply it. It requires you to go on a journey. Therefore, we share our journey, as we hope it will inspire you to follow your own.

The sessions took place over Zoom with participants calling in from Canada, Hungary, Ireland, Japan, Netherlands, Russia, Spain and the UK.

The Invitation: Setting the Stage for Exploration

At the outset, we established an “invitation” rather than a mandate, positioning every participant as a co-researcher and contributor. This approach was essential to creating an open environment where we could bring in personal insights, cultural perspectives, and unique life experiences. The project was introduced as a collaborative journey, one where designers would have to think not only as creators but as participants in a larger ecosystem. This stage involved establishing a collective vision: How can regenerative design engage diverse perspectives and generate knowledge that grows and adapts?

As co-researchers, we began by mapping out personal connections to the environment, sharing their motivations and experiences. This phase allowed everyone to enter a mindset of discovery, ready to embrace the unexpected and uncover new ways of relating to design.

Participants iterated through weekly research prompts, gathering observations and insights in a collective Miro board. We continuously mapped connections between our contributions.

Discovery and Deepening Understanding: Broadening the Scope of Regenerative Design

The next phase involved deep, personal reflections guided by provocative prompts and discussions. We began with questions like, “Who is your neighbour?” and “What does it mean to be world, or in processes of ‘worlding’?” These prompts encouraged students to broaden their understanding of community, kinship, and reciprocity. Conversations expanded to consider not only human neighbours but also non-human entities like plants, animals, and even unseen elements of the environment, prompting students to question how design could consider and include all forms of life.

As students explored these ideas, they began to see design as an act of connecting—where designers become co-participants rather than observers. This stage built a relational foundation that would inform the project’s direction, encouraging students to recognise that design cannot exist in isolation but rather as part of a vibrant, interconnected web of life.

Pamphlet and viewing frame for participating in local, seasonal and functional exchanges.
When mapping all the apple trees in my neighbourhood I felt genuinely excited, it was like a treasure hunt. My design work is normally quite grounded and focused on problem solving so I used the living lexicon as an opportunity to find a sense of play through the lens of apple trees.
Lucy Mitchell, Industrial Designer
Cambridge, UK

Shifting Perspectives: Ethics and Inclusivity in Practice

Building on their expanding sense of relationality, students then shifted to an exploration of ethics. We explored the ethics of regenerative design as a system that embraces more-than-human perspectives, creating frameworks that respect the autonomy and well-being of non-human beings and environments.
As the students worked through these concepts, they began developing a shared understanding of “designing-with” rather than “designing-for.” They examined how their actions and choices could contribute to the long-term health of ecosystems. Through this ethical lens, regenerative design started to take on a new meaning for participants, who viewed it as a transformative practice that could foster inclusivity, accountability, and care for all participants—human and non-human alike.

Experimenting with Communication and Storytelling

Once the groundwork of relational ethics was established, students turned their attention to storytelling. Regenerative design can sometimes be difficult to convey, as it challenges many conventional ideas about purpose, ownership, and outcomes. Storytelling emerged as a valuable tool for creating understanding and empathy, as well as bridging knowledge gaps across communities, species, and cultures.
Participants experimented with storytelling by creating narratives that expressed regenerative concepts in a way that would resonate beyond academic or design communities. They explored how language, metaphors, and fables could help them communicate complex regenerative ideas more intuitively. Through these creative exercises, students recognised the power of storytelling to make regenerative design accessible, emotionally engaging, and relatable, helping to bridge divides across species and perspectives.

Survival of the Kindest—A toolkit to create an experience of playful care.
Soil, and all the matter that remains under the cities led me to a series of reflections on what we are constantly dispossessed of. Big trucks of debris were taking soil away from where it belongs, if it doesn’t belong to the place or the peoples, whose is it and where does it go? This triggered my first prompt, to be able to create one’s soil: a soil recipe.
Inés Quiñones. Fashion Accessories Designer
Madrid, Spain

From Individual Reflection to Collective Creation: Designing the Living Lexicon

With their perspectives broadened, ethical principles clarified, and storytelling skills honed, students embarked on the collaborative creation of the Living Lexicon. This stage represented a shift from introspection and exploration to integration and action. Each student brought their insights and reflections to create entries that embodied regenerative concepts, resulting in a collection that blended personal experience with collaborative purpose.

The Living Lexicon grew from these entries into a shared resource that reflects the multiplicity of perspectives and practices inherent in regenerative design. It became clear that each contribution was more than a definition—it was a “seed” of regenerative thought, ready to inspire future projects. This collaborative output is designed to be adaptable, serving as a dynamic resource that evolves with each new user and community.

Culmination and Presentation: A Vision for Regenerative Futures

In the final stage of our journey, students presented their entries, each piece a manifestation of what they had learned, experienced, and envisioned. Some crafted short films, others created interactive cards or audio recordings, all contributing to the Living Lexicon as a body of work. This session wasn’t just a showcase but a celebration of the collective journey and the seeds of future regeneration planted by each participant.

Each entry represented a unique pathway into regenerative thinking, offering a blueprint for how these principles can be applied in different contexts. The Lexicon reflects an approach to regenerative design that is both flexible and evolving, designed to grow with each new contribution and application. This living resource captures the core values and methods developed throughout the sprint, providing a foundation for future regenerative projects.

Relationality Tiktoc
Highlights were lexical investigations both complex/operational (never thought of words with qualia before) and also the profound and simple: say ‘them’ … not … ‘it’ when referring to your non-human neighbours. I very much enjoyed the parallel journeys we all went on and got a huge amount from my colleague’s work.
Charlie Whinney
Bio-artist, writer & designer-maker, UK

Reflections and Major Learnings: Toward a Regenerative Design Mindset

Reflecting on this journey, several guiding principles emerged that may serve as the foundation for a future regenerative design framework:

Relational Foundations in Design

Regenerative design starts with understanding and honouring relationships—between people, species, and places. This relational approach challenges designers to become active participants in the ecosystems they impact, fostering empathy and responsibility. Be aware and welcoming of the fact that following a regenerative design process will impact the you just as much as the other entities involved in the process.

Inclusive and Ethical Approaches

Regenerative design requires an ethical commitment to more-than-human perspectives. It extends beyond human needs, creating frameworks that respect and honour the integrity of all beings and ecosystems involved. This asks for a humble approach as well as a lot of self-confidence. In full transparency, you can share your own motivation and ideas behind the chosen directions. There are many choices to be made, none are wrong or right; just remember, they say a lot about you, your place and role as a regenerative designer.

Storytelling as a Regenerative Tool

Narrative is a powerful way to convey the abstract and sometimes challenging concepts of regenerative design. Storytelling can help bridge cultural and species divides, making the principles and values of regeneration accessible to a broader audience. In our process, we applied a wide range of storytelling formats, from visual to sound and smell and, of course, oral and written. Exploring the local knowledge keepers will bring you inspiration on place-based storytelling formats.

Collaborative Co-Creation

Designing with, rather than for, is essential in regenerative practices. Co-creation opens new avenues for inclusion, allowing the contributions and wisdom of all community members, human and non-human, to inform the design process. Of course, a co-creation with non-humans and even abiotic participants requires a different approach from the designer. You are not a facilitator but more a participant and sometimes a translator. It also requires a strong sense of both questioning and trusting your own intuition to interpret input.

A Living and Adaptable Framework

Finally, the flexibility of a living lexicon underscores the value of adaptability in regenerative design. Rather than a static guide, a living framework supports ongoing learning, growth, and responsiveness, evolving with each new interaction and insight.

Neighbourhood Jamming
I was glad to find a way to share this experience with the neighbouring community. I hope it was well-received—although I often felt a sense of unease when taking pictures of their bushes, picking berries, or placing the jars of jam in their doorways - I was keeping noticing the gazes of drivers and passersby, at some places even surveillance cameras were recording me.

The biggest challenge for me was to interpret my exploration and primal findings into abstract and theoretic thinking, trying to build connections and new meanings.
Marcell Csillag, Textile and Fashion Designer,
Budapest, Hungary

Toward a Future of Regenerative Design

The Living Lexicon we created in partnership with these students serves as a testament to the potential of regenerative design to transcend traditional boundaries, building connections that inspire and support sustainable futures. In the upcoming posts, we’ll explore how these regenerative principles were applied in Brazil and Uganda, documenting how community settings bring new perspectives and unique challenges to the process.

We invite you to continue following our journey in the next blog, where we’ll delve into the experience of applying regenerative design within a vibrant Brazilian community, exploring the power of co-creation in building resilient, inclusive practices for a shared future.

Navigational guide to expanding out human-to-non-human neighbouring, Judith van den Boom

Primary Knowledge Research Network, Quoi Alexander

Grow Scouts, Kristen Robb

Interactive Regenerative Journal, Sherry Perrault

Regenerative Design Field Kit, Mark Hester

Deck of MARDS, Bonnie Carr

Wanderings & Wonderings, Susanna-Mei Casuncad

With thanks to all our co-researchers:

MARD Students Year 2
Quoi Alexander
Bonnie Carr
Susanna-Mei Casuncad
Mark Hester
Lucy Mitchell
Sherry Perrault
Ines Quinones Fabregas
Kristen Robb
Marcell Csillag
Olga Glagoleva
Charlie Whinney

MARD Team
Judith van den Boom
Delfina Fantini van Ditmar

Design Innovation Group
Merel van der Woude
Dan Eames
Thais Costa
Poorvi Garag (guest speaker)

Het Nieuwe Instituut
Nadia Troeman
Klaas Kuitenbrouwer
Frank Verkade

Planting Seeds to Cultivate Regenerative Futures