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Circular economy

In a linear economy waste is a design feature, operating hand in hand with planned obsolescence. In a circular economy, waste is a design flaw, and a zero-waste economy is the goal. When applied to the built environment, the emphasis is on developing a closed-loop system where resources are used efficiently, waste is minimized, and materials are reused, repurposed, or recovered instead of being discarded. This pattern happens at every scale, from individual materials to  buildings, campuses and municipalities. The result is a triple bottom line of ROI, customer/user advantages and environmental benefits.

Regenerative economy

A regenerative economy operates in service to life, strengthening the vitality of the natural and social systems that the economy is also ultimately dependent on. This is achieved by applying the same patterns and principles to economic activity that promote the systemic health of all living systems, including nature and humanity. Foundational to a regenerative economy is the need to address both the root causes of complex problems and symptomatic problems, improving our resilience to unanticipated external events and creating long term alignment between natural, built and maufactured systems.

Systems thinking

Systems thinking is an approach for navigating complex problems by looking at relationships and wholes, rather than focusing on the parts. In systems thinking, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts where relationships are more important than the parts themselves. In a systems thinking approach, each part is nested in the context of the whole, which functions as a set of interconnected systems that are further embedded in larger socio-economic, local environmental and global planetary systems. Designing these relationships with intention is the foundation of systems thinking.