What if Women Designed the city?
Bioregioning in Practice
Bioregioning in Practice
Learn directly from pioneering practitioners from ten different bioregions around the world how to get started and regenerate your own place.
with THE BIOREGIONAL LEARNING ALLIANCE
Bioregioning in Practice
The Bioregional Learning Alliance is an international network of practitioners dedicated to growing the field of bioregioning. After two years of collaboration, we have designed a learning program that provides multiple entry points based on your experience and interests.
This course will guide you through the foundational concepts and practical applications of bioregioning, equipping you with the tools to start your own journey. Whether you’re looking to explore case studies, connect with mentors, or engage in deeper learning pathways, this program offers the opportunity to take your next steps.
One course. Four dimensions. Unlimited impact.
This Spring 2025, we invite you to join our 10-week online series that introduces the full spectrum of bioregional practice.
Learn directly from experienced leaders in the field how to work with whole systems and landscapes
Join an international learning community working at bioregional scale
Discover the many pathways and practices that together make up bioregioning
Explore how to work regeneratively, drawing on place-sourced and indigenous wisdom
Participate in interactive discussions and networking opportunities
Learn about upcoming opportunities to deepen your practice through residentials, learning labs and mentorship offered by members of the Bioregional Learning Alliance
Key Benefits
Gain a comprehensive understanding of sustainability.
Be part of a global network of changemakers.
Earn a certificate upon completion from a curriculum recognised by UNESCO.
Opportunity to upgrade your GEDS into a Masters/PhD degree with Ubiquity University.
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Skills Gained
Address complex challenges holistically.
Foster inclusion, equity, and social justice.
Economic perspectives and tools to align work, life, and finances.
Enhance projects and restore ecosystems.
Communicate effectively across diverse cultures and communities.
Sustainable project management and strategic planning.
Strategies that enhance resilience and flexibility.
Impact assessment using sustainability indicators.
Course Details
By participating in this course, you will:
Develop a deep understanding of the principles of bioregioning and their real-world applications
Learn how work with both ecologies and economies through nurturing a shared bioregional narrative and love of place
Explore governance models that empower communities in place-based stewardship
Understand how art, culture, and indigenous knowledge contribute to regenerative bioregions
Gain hands-on tools for engaging communities and facilitating bioregional projects
Key course information
Course type:
Online
Date:
Starts on April 21st, 2025
Duration:
10 weeks
Live sessions
Every Tuesday from 22 April at 6 PM UK / 7 PM CET (90-minute sessions). All sessions are recorded.
Price:
Options based on what's best for you: £300, £350 or £400.
There's a limited number of scholarships for participants from the Global South. Apply here
Workload:
Weekly 90 min. live session (recorded and avaiable afterwards)
Facilitation:
Led by 10 experts
Interaction:
Optional discussion groups hosted by Gaia Education to deepen engagement
Certificate:
Provided upon successful completion
Course Facilitators
Our course is taught by leading bioregional practitioners from diverse global contexts, including:
Isabel Carlisle
Bioregional Learning Centre, UK
Isabel is the founder of the Bioregional Learning Centre in Devon, UK, and a leading advocate for place-based education and regenerative design. With a background in storytelling, systems thinking, and community engagement, she works to empower local actors to restore ecological and social resilience. Isabel’s work focuses on bioregioning as a practice of deep transformation, fostering connections between people, landscapes, and regenerative economies.
Jane Brady will co-facilitate with Isabel. Jane is a Bioregional Learning Centre co-founder and co-presenter, Jane Brady brings design into the heart of BLC’s practices and projects as a way to try things ou, give form to ideas, spark conversation, and inspire action. Her understanding of ecological complexity and large-scale restoration projects comes from living alongside the redwoods and rivers of Northern California whilst working with environmental NGO California Trout.
Isabel is the founder of the Bioregional Learning Centre in Devon, UK, and a leading advocate for place-based education and regenerative design. With a background in storytelling, systems thinking, and community engagement, she works to empower local actors to restore ecological and social resilience. Isabel’s work focuses on bioregioning as a practice of deep transformation, fostering connections between people, landscapes, and regenerative economies.
Jane Brady will co-facilitate with Isabel. Jane is a Bioregional Learning Centre co-founder and co-presenter, Jane Brady brings design into the heart of BLC’s practices and projects as a way to try things ou, give form to ideas, spark conversation, and inspire action. Her understanding of ecological complexity and large-scale restoration projects comes from living alongside the redwoods and rivers of Northern California whilst working with environmental NGO California Trout.
Erika Zarate & Oscar Gussinyer
Resilience.Earth, Catalonia, Spain
As co-founder of Resilience Earth, Erika works with communities and organizations to develop distributed decision-making tools, place-based economic models, and governance structures that evolve with both the land and the people. Her approach is based on a decolonial and intersectional perspective and the belief in the ability of human groups to co-create more resilient, adaptive, and regenerative systems.
Also as co-founder of Resilience Earth, Oscar works on the ecosystemic articulation of the social and solidarity economy, the development of adaptive governance systems, and the creation of social infrastructures that balance autonomy and interdependence. His expertise in bioregioning and territorial regeneration enables him to design governance and economic models that center the ecological, social, and cultural specificities of each rural context.
As co-founder of Resilience Earth, Erika works with communities and organizations to develop distributed decision-making tools, place-based economic models, and governance structures that evolve with both the land and the people. Her approach is based on a decolonial and intersectional perspective and the belief in the ability of human groups to co-create more resilient, adaptive, and regenerative systems.
Also as co-founder of Resilience Earth, Oscar works on the ecosystemic articulation of the social and solidarity economy, the development of adaptive governance systems, and the creation of social infrastructures that balance autonomy and interdependence. His expertise in bioregioning and territorial regeneration enables him to design governance and economic models that center the ecological, social, and cultural specificities of each rural context.
Melina Angel
Colombia Regenerativa, Colombia
Melina is the founder of Colombia Regenerativa and a leader in bioregional identity-building, biomimicry, and systemic design. She specializes in creating bio-inspired, culturally rooted frameworks that help communities recognize their ecological interconnections and collaborate effectively. Her work integrates indigenous knowledge, regenerative economics, and ecological design to support resilient and thriving bioregions. Melina has been instrumental in shaping bioregional initiatives across Latin America, emphasizing local innovation and community-led change.
Melina is the founder of Colombia Regenerativa and a leader in bioregional identity-building, biomimicry, and systemic design. She specializes in creating bio-inspired, culturally rooted frameworks that help communities recognize their ecological interconnections and collaborate effectively. Her work integrates indigenous knowledge, regenerative economics, and ecological design to support resilient and thriving bioregions. Melina has been instrumental in shaping bioregional initiatives across Latin America, emphasizing local innovation and community-led change.
Joel Glanzberg
Pattern Mind, USA
Joel is the founder of Pattern Mind, a renowned permaculture designer, educator, and ecological thinker with decades of experience in regenerative design. His work focuses on tracking and understanding the living patterns of landscapes, helping individuals and communities reconnect with natural systems, deep observation, and ecological consciousness. By integrating permaculture, living systems thinking, and indigenous tracking techniques, he supports the creation of resilient and regenerative human settlements.
Joel is the founder of Pattern Mind, a renowned permaculture designer, educator, and ecological thinker with decades of experience in regenerative design. His work focuses on tracking and understanding the living patterns of landscapes, helping individuals and communities reconnect with natural systems, deep observation, and ecological consciousness. By integrating permaculture, living systems thinking, and indigenous tracking techniques, he supports the creation of resilient and regenerative human settlements.
John Thackara
Doors of Perception, France
John is an internationally recognized author, speaker, and curator exploring the intersection of design, sustainability, and bioregional economies. As the founder of Doors of Perception, he has worked with communities, policymakers, and organizations to develop regenerative economies, livelihoods, and place-based solutions. His research and writing emphasize how bioregions can become the foundation for sustainable living, focusing on food, water, and social well-being.
John is an internationally recognized author, speaker, and curator exploring the intersection of design, sustainability, and bioregional economies. As the founder of Doors of Perception, he has worked with communities, policymakers, and organizations to develop regenerative economies, livelihoods, and place-based solutions. His research and writing emphasize how bioregions can become the foundation for sustainable living, focusing on food, water, and social well-being.
Stuart Cowan
Buckminster Fuller Institute, USA
Stuart is a leading systems change strategist, regenerative finance expert, and ecological designer. Co-author of Ecological Design, he has worked extensively on developing bioregional infrastructure, governance, and finance models to support resilience and regeneration. His expertise lies in integrating mapping, visualization, and systemic transformation tools to enable communities to govern their own regenerative pathways. Stuart has advised municipalities, businesses, and NGOs on designing place-based, self-sustaining economic systems that support ecological and social well-being.
Stuart is a leading systems change strategist, regenerative finance expert, and ecological designer. Co-author of Ecological Design, he has worked extensively on developing bioregional infrastructure, governance, and finance models to support resilience and regeneration. His expertise lies in integrating mapping, visualization, and systemic transformation tools to enable communities to govern their own regenerative pathways. Stuart has advised municipalities, businesses, and NGOs on designing place-based, self-sustaining economic systems that support ecological and social well-being.
Udi Mandel
Enlivened Cooperative, Hawaii, USA
Udi is a researcher, educator, and filmmaker specializing in cosmopolitical learning and the relationship between humans and the more-than-human world. Co-founder of Enlivened Cooperative and Ecoversities Alliance, his work explores how learning with key species and ecosystems can foster biocultural resilience and planetary health. Through deep engagement with indigenous wisdom, artistic practices, and ecological sciences, he helps communities reimagine their place within the web of life. Udi’s projects integrate storytelling, land-based education, and transdisciplinary collaboration to support regenerative futures.
Kelly Teamey has been active in the fields of international/sustainable development and education for the past 25 years as an activist, academic and facilitator. She has long been passionate about co-designing participatory and transformative pedagogies and research methodologies, especially those that engage directly with local ecologies and communities. She co-founded with others the Enlivened Cooperative and the Ecoversities Alliance that works to collaborate and co-learn for hopeful and ecological futures.
Kū Kahakalau is an award-winning native Hawaiian educator, researcher, cultural practitioner, grassroots activist, songwriter and expert in Hawaiian language and culture. Over the past 40 years Kū has been involved in Indigenous, particularly Hawaiian, Education and Research, advancing the Hawaiian-focused education movement through the establishment of diverse, highly successful culture-based programs and schools, promoting hands-on learning in the environment, community sustainability and Hawaiian self-determination.
Udi is a researcher, educator, and filmmaker specializing in cosmopolitical learning and the relationship between humans and the more-than-human world. Co-founder of Enlivened Cooperative and Ecoversities Alliance, his work explores how learning with key species and ecosystems can foster biocultural resilience and planetary health. Through deep engagement with indigenous wisdom, artistic practices, and ecological sciences, he helps communities reimagine their place within the web of life. Udi’s projects integrate storytelling, land-based education, and transdisciplinary collaboration to support regenerative futures.
Kelly Teamey has been active in the fields of international/sustainable development and education for the past 25 years as an activist, academic and facilitator. She has long been passionate about co-designing participatory and transformative pedagogies and research methodologies, especially those that engage directly with local ecologies and communities. She co-founded with others the Enlivened Cooperative and the Ecoversities Alliance that works to collaborate and co-learn for hopeful and ecological futures.
Kū Kahakalau is an award-winning native Hawaiian educator, researcher, cultural practitioner, grassroots activist, songwriter and expert in Hawaiian language and culture. Over the past 40 years Kū has been involved in Indigenous, particularly Hawaiian, Education and Research, advancing the Hawaiian-focused education movement through the establishment of diverse, highly successful culture-based programs and schools, promoting hands-on learning in the environment, community sustainability and Hawaiian self-determination.
Daniel Wahl, Joe Holles de Peyer & Brad Robertson
Mallorca, Balearic Islands Spain
Daniel is an internationally recognized author, educator, and regenerative design consultant, best known for his book Designing Regenerative Cultures. Through his long-standing collaboration with Gaia Education Daniel helped to introduce bioregional whole system design thinking and community design practice to activists and community organisers around the world. Daniel was awarded the 2021 RSA Bicentenary Medal for applying design in service to society and received a two year Volans-Fellowship in 2022. Since 2010 his bioregioning work on Mallorca lead to collaborations with Save the Med, Fundació Iniciatvias Mediterrani, Permacultura Mediterranea, and the Mediterranean Wildlife Foundation and many others.
Joe Holles de Peyer is a philosophy graduate, entrepreneur, and activist who sits on the board of several think-tanks and companies working in the fields of sustainability, technology, and ethics. He is a critical-thinker with a holistic approach to business and activism that gives depth to his work in driving meaningful, sustainable change.
Originally from Australia, Brad Robertson brings over 33 years of SCUBA diving experience, both recreational and professional. His diving journeys inspired him to establish Asociación Ondine in 2011 and the Save the Med Foundation in 2018, where he now serves as President. Brad is dedicated to fostering a responsible relationship with the sea and championing marine regeneration for future generations.
Daniel is an internationally recognized author, educator, and regenerative design consultant, best known for his book Designing Regenerative Cultures. Through his long-standing collaboration with Gaia Education Daniel helped to introduce bioregional whole system design thinking and community design practice to activists and community organisers around the world. Daniel was awarded the 2021 RSA Bicentenary Medal for applying design in service to society and received a two year Volans-Fellowship in 2022. Since 2010 his bioregioning work on Mallorca lead to collaborations with Save the Med, Fundació Iniciatvias Mediterrani, Permacultura Mediterranea, and the Mediterranean Wildlife Foundation and many others.
Joe Holles de Peyer is a philosophy graduate, entrepreneur, and activist who sits on the board of several think-tanks and companies working in the fields of sustainability, technology, and ethics. He is a critical-thinker with a holistic approach to business and activism that gives depth to his work in driving meaningful, sustainable change.
Originally from Australia, Brad Robertson brings over 33 years of SCUBA diving experience, both recreational and professional. His diving journeys inspired him to establish Asociación Ondine in 2011 and the Save the Med Foundation in 2018, where he now serves as President. Brad is dedicated to fostering a responsible relationship with the sea and championing marine regeneration for future generations.
Eileen Hutton
Burren College of Art, Ireland
Eileen is an artist, researcher, and educator at Burren College of Art, specializing in ecologically engaged artistic practice. Her work fosters deep relationality with landscapes and communities, using art as a tool to explore bioregional identity and ecological resilience. Through collaborative and site-responsive methodologies, she helps people reconnect with their local environments in meaningful ways. Eileen’s projects bridge the arts, ecology, and participatory learning, contributing to creative approaches to regenerative place-making.
Dr. Brendan Dunford has worked on inputting, guiding and advising Farming For Nature on a voluntary basis since its inception. He is heavily involved in all aspects of the organisation. From a farming background in Co. Waterford, Brendan has spent the past 25 years living and working in the Burren region where he led the award-winning BurrenLIFE Project and its successor, the pioneering ‘Burren Programme’ between 2010-2022. Brendan is founding member the Burrenbeo Trust, a landscape-based charity which delivers an extensive range of place-based learning and community stewardship initiatives nationally. He is an Ashoka Fellow for Ireland and was awarded an honorary doctorate by NUI Galway in 2018 for his work in championing farmland biodiversity. He is a regular contributor to the Irish Farmers Journal covering ‘sustainability’ themes.
Maeve Stone (she/her) is a director and writer for film and theatre. Her work responds to issues of climate breakdown, and revisits the canon with a feminist lens. Searching for endangered local knowledge to support a reframing of our understanding of systems, biodiversity and social justice, her work seeks out hopeful futures.
Katerina Gribkoff is a visual artist based in western Ireland. In 2017, she received a BFA in Drawing from the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. Her work includes foraging and growing to make dyes and inks, biodegradable soft sculptures, photography, and plant support systems. Her research moves through contemporary eco-critical themes, systems thinking (permaculture) and new materialist studies.
Eileen is an artist, researcher, and educator at Burren College of Art, specializing in ecologically engaged artistic practice. Her work fosters deep relationality with landscapes and communities, using art as a tool to explore bioregional identity and ecological resilience. Through collaborative and site-responsive methodologies, she helps people reconnect with their local environments in meaningful ways. Eileen’s projects bridge the arts, ecology, and participatory learning, contributing to creative approaches to regenerative place-making.
Dr. Brendan Dunford has worked on inputting, guiding and advising Farming For Nature on a voluntary basis since its inception. He is heavily involved in all aspects of the organisation. From a farming background in Co. Waterford, Brendan has spent the past 25 years living and working in the Burren region where he led the award-winning BurrenLIFE Project and its successor, the pioneering ‘Burren Programme’ between 2010-2022. Brendan is founding member the Burrenbeo Trust, a landscape-based charity which delivers an extensive range of place-based learning and community stewardship initiatives nationally. He is an Ashoka Fellow for Ireland and was awarded an honorary doctorate by NUI Galway in 2018 for his work in championing farmland biodiversity. He is a regular contributor to the Irish Farmers Journal covering ‘sustainability’ themes.
Maeve Stone (she/her) is a director and writer for film and theatre. Her work responds to issues of climate breakdown, and revisits the canon with a feminist lens. Searching for endangered local knowledge to support a reframing of our understanding of systems, biodiversity and social justice, her work seeks out hopeful futures.
Katerina Gribkoff is a visual artist based in western Ireland. In 2017, she received a BFA in Drawing from the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. Her work includes foraging and growing to make dyes and inks, biodegradable soft sculptures, photography, and plant support systems. Her research moves through contemporary eco-critical themes, systems thinking (permaculture) and new materialist studies.
Eduard Muller
Costa Rica Regenerativa & UCI, Costa Rica
Founder of the University for International Cooperation (Costa Rica), Eduard Müller is a globally recognized leader in regenerative development and planetary health. As a member of the UN’s International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and an advisor to multiple international organizations, he champions holistic, nature-based solutions to address the world’s most pressing ecological challenges. Through his work at Costa Rica Regenerativa, Eduard has been instrumental in developing innovative bioregional strategies that seamlessly integrate indigenous wisdom, scientific research, and participatory governance, fostering resilient communities and thriving ecosystems.
Founder of the University for International Cooperation (Costa Rica), Eduard Müller is a globally recognized leader in regenerative development and planetary health. As a member of the UN’s International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and an advisor to multiple international organizations, he champions holistic, nature-based solutions to address the world’s most pressing ecological challenges. Through his work at Costa Rica Regenerativa, Eduard has been instrumental in developing innovative bioregional strategies that seamlessly integrate indigenous wisdom, scientific research, and participatory governance, fostering resilient communities and thriving ecosystems.
Sessions Schedule and Subjects
The Social Dimension is one part of Gaia's unique 4D Model, which integrates social, ecological, economic and worldview dimensions to create lasting change.
Tuesday, April 22
Bioregioning 101: Introduction to the series and the South Devon story
Facilitators: Isabel Carlisle & Jane Brady
This opening session will provide background on bioregioning, its current context, and an overview of the webinar series. Jane and Isabel, co-founders of the Bioregional Learning Centre, will guide you through the steps for activating a bioregion—from creating a Story of Place to mapping bioregional systems through a Learning Journey, intervening in those systems to drive change through project work, launching a multi-sector and multi-actor design process to build collective will, and documenting the actions along the way. They will also discuss bioregional governance, data, and finance.
The programme opens with a reflection on the intersection between three megatrends informing the world we live in: women’s repositioning in society, the accelerated pace of urbanisation and the imperative of decarbonisation of our lifestyles. It draws on recent reports and documents from international ‘agenda holders’ and ‘knowledge brokers’ that reaffirm the historical fact that cities have predominantly been planned and built by using men’s experience as a reference. We then discuss the implications of cities tending to function better for men than for women, children, older people, all levels of ableness, and gender identities and how cities are bridging this gap in urban planning.
Participants will be invited to:
• Examine how these megatrends influence the bio-cultural-spatial uniqueness of their place.
• Explore the ongoing impact of Modernism and Fordism on the continuities and discontinuities of cities, towns and neighbourhoods.
• Reflect on unique gender-sensitive policies and practices from cities such as Vienna, Lyon, Glasgow and Rio de Janeiro, which aim to bridge the historic gender gap in urban planning.
Tuesday, April 29
Bioregioning and Regenerative Governance
Facilitators: Erika Zárate & Oscar Gussinyer
Erika and Oscar will share their years of experience working with municipalities in and beyond the Garrotxa bioregion in Catalonia. You will learn how to activate the critical yeast, engage the critical mass, and enable the community to take ownership and responsibility for the stewardship of their place. They will present a framework with a regenerative perspective, empowering you to start your own bioregional process while ensuring all voices in your community are included through a decolonizing and intersectional approach.
This module examines the theories of change shaping feminist cities and introduces the concept of co-evolving mutualism and its application across scales. It engages in practices like ‘mapping with your feet’ and ‘exposing mental models in the open air’ to uncover overlooked narratives from those who have been largely absent from urban planning. The module also introduces the concept of leverage points, emphasizing how targeted interventions can create lasting systemic impacts.
Participants will be invited to:
• Consider how to move beyond a zero-sum perspective while reflecting on how cities that work for women and girls can ultimately benefit everyone;
• Develop and apply an investigative regenerative framework tailored to their own contexts;
• Critically evaluate the impact of tokenistic consultations versus practices of deep listening;
• Identify effective ways to intervene in urban systems, organising leverage points in main analytical categories.
Tuesday, May 6
Tracking the Living Landscape / Embodying Ecological Consciousness
Facilitator: Joel Glanzberg (Pattern Mind)
Through movement and storytelling, we will use a pattern perspective to reconnect with our original human art of tracking and wayfinding within the patterns of the living world. Building on the disciplines of Tracking (pattern seeing), Living Systems Thinking (pattern thinking), and Permaculture (pattern design), we will explore how developing our pattern mind can help us see, plan, and act regeneratively in our lives, communities, and bioregions.
This week explores how to design to increase rather than limit women, girls and children’s options in green spaces such as parks, gardens, woods, nature reserves, playing fields, and community allotments. The emphasis is on design that supports less confident groups – young girls, people with health conditions or impairments, and the elderly – to stake a claim to their green areas. This module also explores the need to increase the proportion of land given over to a wilder, less cultivated and the acceptance of wildlife’s right to evolve and diversify within urban environments.
Participants will be able to evaluate the importance and applicability of the following leverage points:
• Cultivating biophilia;
• Redistributing land use and budget allocation for equality and gendered landscapes;
• Creating conditions for wildness;
• Growing and foraging for health and wellbeing;
• Designing adventurous playgrounds for children and carers;
• Maximising use of available local resources in urban interventions.
Tuesday, May 13
Bioregional regeneration as a pathway to community resilience and planetary health
Facilitators: Daniel Wahl, with Brad Robertson, Joe Holles
Daniel Wahl will briefly reflect on the significance of bioregioning in the context of regional community resilience-building through the regeneration of social cohesion, local economies, and local ecosystems. He will also discuss the significance of the bioregional scale as the most effective approach for contributing to planetary health before introducing the ongoing work in Mallorca. Brad Robertson will share insights into the community-led marine stewardship and regeneration efforts of Save the Med. Joe Holles will highlight critical aspects of the work of Fundació Iniciativas Mediterrani in creating three place-sourced and context-serving associations focused on Palma, the Tramuntana mountain range, and the ‘Pla’ (the plains/rest of the island) over the last 8 years. He will also share his experience in the recovery of 250 hectares of ancient olive groves in the Tramuntana and how our collective collaboration contributes to the ‘Regenerative Renaissance Project’. Together, we will reflect on how the groundwork of building networks of trust and relationships based on shared care, love, and attention to place over the last decade and longer is now slowly coalescing into a bioregional approach for the Soller Valley, the Tramuntana Mountain Range, the island of Mallorca, and the Balearic archipelago.
Since fostering gender equality is a fundamental trend of the 21st century and an essential aspect of good urbanism, this week is an invitation for the participants, to embrace the exciting, liberating and unprecedented prospects that come from designing cities that work for all. Thus, together we will weave the insights of the previous weeks and focus on developing a mosaic of visions that could be leveraged by the participants themselves. If we cannot imagine the future we want to create we will never get there!
Tuesday, May 20
Good Work: Where are the Jobs and Livelihoods in Bioregioning?
Facilitator: John Thackara
This "follow-the-money" session asks: Who is doing this work—and getting paid for it? What can we learn from them? One starting point: many funded activities already align with bioregional principles, even if they go by different names—such as regional or rural development, ecological restoration, natural farming, food system transformation, or landscape design. We will hear from practitioners engaged in bioregional work, even if they don’t all use that term.
This week examines the practice of active travel – traveling with purpose using one’s own energy – through modes such as walking, cycling, wheeling, and scooting as a way of life. The discussion focuses on policies and practices worldwide that support the transition from car-centric to people-centric cities where traffic is evaporated, and people work with nature to create places that function at a speed conducive to living well.
Participants will be able to reflect on the importance and applicability of the following leverage points:
• Devising a library of women-tailored bike saddles;
• Making practical cycle awareness training mandatory for drivers;
• Designing ‘fresh air routes’ and low emissions zones from the perspective of women and infants;
• Rethinking the bus fare system for ‘trip-chaining’, and redesigning buses for encumbered travel;
• Delineating and flowing through cycling infrastructure.
Tuesday, May 27
Building Infrastructure for Bioregional Resilience and Regeneration
Facilitator: Stuart Cowan
The Buckminster Fuller Institute is working to support commons-based, shared infrastructure for bioregional resilience and regeneration. In this session, we will explore existing and emerging tools and processes that can support bioregional initiatives in sensing, mapping, knowledge systems, planning, governance, and finance.
This week explores the nuanced distinction between perceived safety—a subjective fear based on judgments about the possibility of harm—and the direct experience of feeling unsafe due to actual harm or threat. The focus is on strategies to expand the use of public spaces in the evenings and the role of natural surveillance, ‘the eyes on the street’ and ‘the guardians who belong’ in enhancing safety perceptions and deterring criminal behaviour.
Participants will be able to evaluate the importance and applicability of the following leverage points:
• Building confidence thorough easy-to-access self-defence training, and seminars on rights of women and domestic violence.
• Working with men to redistribute power, balance representation and transform legal and planning systems.
• Improving natural surveillance by design.
• Scheduling regular patrol walks by ‘wardens who belong’.
• Expanding the use of public space in the evenings by creating favourable bio-cultural-spatial conditions.
• Co-creating transitional safeguarding public spaces for young women.
• Co-designing places with (not only for) teenage girls.
Tuesday, June 3
Biosystemic Bioregioning
Facilitator: Melina Angel
Learn how to create a collective identity from a bioinspired systemic perspective, fostering connection and collaboration among all bioregional actors. The internal indicators of a bioregion differ from the external outcomes we seek in the world, making it essential to incorporate an internal biomimetic perspective into bioregioning. This session will showcase examples from Colombia, highlighting innovation and the wisdom of connectivity from the Global South.
This week focuses on sense of place that speaks about meaningful relationships between people and specific locations and its three manifestations as place identity, where individuals define themselves through deep interactions with a particular locality; place attachment, an emotional bond that fosters a sense of belonging and connection to the environment; or place dependence, where attachment arises from functional reliance on a specific location. By exploring these dimensions, participants will gain insights into how to enable sense of place to evolve in communities everywhere.
Participants will be able to evaluate the importance and applicability of the following leverage points:
• Developing spaces for gathering and belonging;
• Designing urban extensions while evolving the whole;
• Shifting from a mentality of maintenance to an attitude of care;
• Co-developing sympathetic infrastructure enabling a sense of co-ownership and care;
• Practising a culture of deep listening in the design and development of local plans;
• Infusing beauty into cities’ form and function;
• Developing inter-generational housing for a maturing humanity.
Tuesday, June 10
Bringing together ancient and modern knowledge and practice in Hawaii
Facilitator: Udi Mandel, Kelly Teamey and Kū Kahakalau
This session brings together indigenous Hawaiian and other multidisciplinary systems of knowledge and practice, featuring examples from Hawaiʻi Island. We will explore how learning with and through a key species in the bioregion—such as the hala tree (Pandanus tectorius in Hawaii)—can serve as a bridge between indigenous knowledge, scientific disciplines, the arts, and land stewardship, fostering mutual flourishing. Additionally, we will share insights on how supporting traditional stewards of culture and land helps regenerate Hawaiian foodways while promoting the flourishing of aloha ʻāina—a deep, reciprocal love and care for the land and sea, which sustains all life.
Since fostering gender equality is a fundamental trend of the 21st century and an essential aspect of good urbanism, this week is an invitation for the participants, to embrace the exciting, liberating and unprecedented prospects that come from designing cities that work for all. Thus, together we will weave the insights of the previous weeks and focus on developing a mosaic of visions that could be leveraged by the participants themselves. If we cannot imagine the future we want to create we will never get there!
Tuesday, June 17
Artistic practice, the Story of Place & Community Resilience
Facilitator: Eileen Hutton, Dr. Brendan Dunford, Maeve Stone & Katerina Gribkoff
As creative practitioners, artists have honed capacities for storytelling, for making the invisible visible, for understanding the language of cultural values, and for being adept at systems thinking and fostering connectivity. These are essential methodologies for enquiring into the story of place and how it functions. With contributions from Burrenbeo, this webinar will introduce the Burren region as the context for three socially and ecologically engaged case studies: the MFA in Art & Ecology programmes at Burren College of Art, along with PhD candidate Katerina Gribkoff, and the Creative Climate Action project The Time Machine, as presented by Maeve Stone of Cracking Light Production.
Since fostering gender equality is a fundamental trend of the 21st century and an essential aspect of good urbanism, this week is an invitation for the participants, to embrace the exciting, liberating and unprecedented prospects that come from designing cities that work for all. Thus, together we will weave the insights of the previous weeks and focus on developing a mosaic of visions that could be leveraged by the participants themselves. If we cannot imagine the future we want to create we will never get there!
Tuesday, June 24
Bioregional development: putting life at the center
Facilitator: Eduard Muller
Based on many years of working with bioregional development in Costa Rica and many places, Eduard Muller will walk through the diverse strategies for defining the limits of a bioregion, based on social, political, and geographical-ecological characteristics. In addition to discussing culture, identity, and the formation of governance structures (from the viewpoint of the Global South), the session will explore how to establish regenerative economies for inclusive development. Examples of regenerating conditions for life through land management practices, including regenerative agriculture and holistic grazing, will also be presented. Lastly, the session will explore how to build capacities across bioregions to co-create solutions.
Since fostering gender equality is a fundamental trend of the 21st century and an essential aspect of good urbanism, this week is an invitation for the participants, to embrace the exciting, liberating and unprecedented prospects that come from designing cities that work for all. Thus, together we will weave the insights of the previous weeks and focus on developing a mosaic of visions that could be leveraged by the participants themselves. If we cannot imagine the future we want to create we will never get there!
