INTEGRATED REGENERATIVE
DESIGN
Jan Wurm
KULEUVEN – 2025/2026
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Bio Regions, Jan Boelen
Chapter 3: Urban Systems, Bart Bisschops
Chapter 4: Buildings, Carlo Battisti
Chapter 5: Circular Design, Mieke Van de Broecke
Chapter 6: Living Architecture, Bart Bisschops
Chapter 7: Bio-Based Materials, Jan Wurm
Chapter 8: Geo-Based Materials, BC Materials
Chapter 9: Structure, Kenny Verbeeck
Chapter 10: The Skin, Johan Cordonnier
Chapter 11: The Services, Bruno Deraedt
Chapter 12: Indoor Spaces, Rachel Armstrong
P.E. 1
,Chapter 1: Introduction
What is regeneration?
1. a living organism: full renewal or restoration of a body, bodily part, or
biological system after injury or as a normal process
2. a place - the act of improving a place or urban system, especially by making it
more active, inclusive and thriving
3. an ecosystem - full renewal or restoration of the ecological health of an
ecosystem such as a forest, marsh etc
Sustainable ó regenerative
“Less bad” ó “doing good”
Regenerative design is an approach in which human systems are designed to co-
exist and co-evolve with natural systems, ensuring planetary and social health.
The nine planetary boundaries
- Climate Change: Increased greenhouse gases raise global temperatures and
alter climate patterns. CO2 concentrations are rising, surpassing the boundary.
- Novel Entities: Technological advancements release synthetic chemicals into
the environment, changing Earth’s systems. The release of untested
substances places this boundary in a high-risk zone.
- Stratospheric Ozone Depletion: Thinning of the ozone layer, due to human-
made chemicals, increases harmful UV radiation. However, it is recovering
due to international efforts.
- Atmospheric Aerosol Loading: Airborne particles alter temperature and
precipitation patterns, with air pollution affecting ecosystems. It’s within the
Safe Operating Space.
- Ocean Acidification: Increased CO2 in oceans lowers pH, harming marine life.
It is within the Safe Operating Space but close to crossing the boundary.
- Modification of Biogeochemical Flows: Disruptions in nitrogen and phosphorus
cycles through human activity have exceeded safe levels.
- Freshwater Change: Alteration of freshwater cycles affects ecosystems and
precipitation, surpassing the planetary boundary.
- Land System Change: Deforestation and urbanization disrupt habitats,
impacting biodiversity and ecological functions. Forest areas are below safe
levels.
- Biosphere Integrity: Loss of biodiversity and ecosystem health threatens
Earth’s systems, with genetic diversity and functional integrity outside safe
levels.
P.E. 2
,Designing with and for Nature:
Designing with Nature
- Learn from life's unique adaptations
- Utilize living organisms and biological materials
- Partner with nature as infrastructure (nature-based solutions) - Design for
decomposition
Designing for Nature
- Understand our place of the living system
- Reconnect natural cycles where disrupted
- Support the web of life, design for clean air, soil and water health - Design for
more-than-human
Designing with and for Places:
Designing with Places
- Be locally attuned and responsive
- Integrate rather than segregate
- Capture and grow surpluses in the system
Designing for Places
- Give land back to nature
- Bioremediate waste and pollution
- Integrate place-making with land stewardship
Designing with and for People
Designing with People
- Co-create healthy and resilient communities
- Embed participatory and inclusive democracy
- Partner with indigenous and traditional ecological stewardship
Designing for People
- Value planetary and societal health
- Cultivate public luxury and the commons
- Address historical inequalities with environmental justice
Systemic Design
- Focus on regenerative outcomes
- Create relations between people, places and nature
- Design for positive change over time
- View the built environment as entangled with natural ecosystems
- Capture benefits at every exchange
P.E. 3
, Chapter 2: Bio Regens, Jan Boelen
1. Atelier Luma
Atelier Luma is presented as a Bio Design Lab
- Bio as a target (life-centred focus)
- Design as specific (contextual, not generic)
- Lab as resource (testing, research, prototyping)
Why this matters for bioregions
- The lab is not positioned as a “studio that designs objects”
- It is positioned as a regional transformation practice
- It works by connecting:
o place-based resources
o knowledge systems (craft + science)
o production networks
o social and ecological goals
Atelier Luma = bio-design lab
1.1. Bioregional Design Method
1. Find – investigation
- Research is the most underrated term
- What is there? What do we start with? What do we find?
2. Connect – design
- Science/knowledge/systems/molecules/…
- Prototypes
- Using design as a tool to make something tangible
- Its design that brings people together
3. Engage – implementation
4. Share – transmission `
1.2. Undisciplined
The team is organized around different scales: people looking through microscopes,
people looking at the world, …
Developing visual tools to connect. Where are the possibilities?
Relating systems to each other => mapping
P.E. 4
DESIGN
Jan Wurm
KULEUVEN – 2025/2026
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Bio Regions, Jan Boelen
Chapter 3: Urban Systems, Bart Bisschops
Chapter 4: Buildings, Carlo Battisti
Chapter 5: Circular Design, Mieke Van de Broecke
Chapter 6: Living Architecture, Bart Bisschops
Chapter 7: Bio-Based Materials, Jan Wurm
Chapter 8: Geo-Based Materials, BC Materials
Chapter 9: Structure, Kenny Verbeeck
Chapter 10: The Skin, Johan Cordonnier
Chapter 11: The Services, Bruno Deraedt
Chapter 12: Indoor Spaces, Rachel Armstrong
P.E. 1
,Chapter 1: Introduction
What is regeneration?
1. a living organism: full renewal or restoration of a body, bodily part, or
biological system after injury or as a normal process
2. a place - the act of improving a place or urban system, especially by making it
more active, inclusive and thriving
3. an ecosystem - full renewal or restoration of the ecological health of an
ecosystem such as a forest, marsh etc
Sustainable ó regenerative
“Less bad” ó “doing good”
Regenerative design is an approach in which human systems are designed to co-
exist and co-evolve with natural systems, ensuring planetary and social health.
The nine planetary boundaries
- Climate Change: Increased greenhouse gases raise global temperatures and
alter climate patterns. CO2 concentrations are rising, surpassing the boundary.
- Novel Entities: Technological advancements release synthetic chemicals into
the environment, changing Earth’s systems. The release of untested
substances places this boundary in a high-risk zone.
- Stratospheric Ozone Depletion: Thinning of the ozone layer, due to human-
made chemicals, increases harmful UV radiation. However, it is recovering
due to international efforts.
- Atmospheric Aerosol Loading: Airborne particles alter temperature and
precipitation patterns, with air pollution affecting ecosystems. It’s within the
Safe Operating Space.
- Ocean Acidification: Increased CO2 in oceans lowers pH, harming marine life.
It is within the Safe Operating Space but close to crossing the boundary.
- Modification of Biogeochemical Flows: Disruptions in nitrogen and phosphorus
cycles through human activity have exceeded safe levels.
- Freshwater Change: Alteration of freshwater cycles affects ecosystems and
precipitation, surpassing the planetary boundary.
- Land System Change: Deforestation and urbanization disrupt habitats,
impacting biodiversity and ecological functions. Forest areas are below safe
levels.
- Biosphere Integrity: Loss of biodiversity and ecosystem health threatens
Earth’s systems, with genetic diversity and functional integrity outside safe
levels.
P.E. 2
,Designing with and for Nature:
Designing with Nature
- Learn from life's unique adaptations
- Utilize living organisms and biological materials
- Partner with nature as infrastructure (nature-based solutions) - Design for
decomposition
Designing for Nature
- Understand our place of the living system
- Reconnect natural cycles where disrupted
- Support the web of life, design for clean air, soil and water health - Design for
more-than-human
Designing with and for Places:
Designing with Places
- Be locally attuned and responsive
- Integrate rather than segregate
- Capture and grow surpluses in the system
Designing for Places
- Give land back to nature
- Bioremediate waste and pollution
- Integrate place-making with land stewardship
Designing with and for People
Designing with People
- Co-create healthy and resilient communities
- Embed participatory and inclusive democracy
- Partner with indigenous and traditional ecological stewardship
Designing for People
- Value planetary and societal health
- Cultivate public luxury and the commons
- Address historical inequalities with environmental justice
Systemic Design
- Focus on regenerative outcomes
- Create relations between people, places and nature
- Design for positive change over time
- View the built environment as entangled with natural ecosystems
- Capture benefits at every exchange
P.E. 3
, Chapter 2: Bio Regens, Jan Boelen
1. Atelier Luma
Atelier Luma is presented as a Bio Design Lab
- Bio as a target (life-centred focus)
- Design as specific (contextual, not generic)
- Lab as resource (testing, research, prototyping)
Why this matters for bioregions
- The lab is not positioned as a “studio that designs objects”
- It is positioned as a regional transformation practice
- It works by connecting:
o place-based resources
o knowledge systems (craft + science)
o production networks
o social and ecological goals
Atelier Luma = bio-design lab
1.1. Bioregional Design Method
1. Find – investigation
- Research is the most underrated term
- What is there? What do we start with? What do we find?
2. Connect – design
- Science/knowledge/systems/molecules/…
- Prototypes
- Using design as a tool to make something tangible
- Its design that brings people together
3. Engage – implementation
4. Share – transmission `
1.2. Undisciplined
The team is organized around different scales: people looking through microscopes,
people looking at the world, …
Developing visual tools to connect. Where are the possibilities?
Relating systems to each other => mapping
P.E. 4
