The built environment plays a pivotal role in our global ecosystem. As we grapple with the challenges of climate change, urbanisation, and resource depletion, it's imperative to rethink our approach to design, construct and operate our buildings. At RegenBuild, we believe in reimagining our industry with a radical approach rather than just incremental changes.

"If we were totally serious about climate change, then actually we would be looking at something much more systemic. We would actually be seeing climate change as a symptom of the way that we run the world. The systems that we all live within currently are setup to cause climate change and a range of other problems.”

Donella Meadows' 12 leverage points provide a profound framework for understanding systems and driving transformative change. Donella Meadows - a renowned environmental scientist and systems thinker, introduced the concept of "12 Leverage Points" to describe places within a complex system where a small shift in one thing can produce significant changes in everything. Meadows' insights are crucial to fostering change, as they highlight the potential for impactful intervention even in seemingly rigid or entrenched systems reminiscent of the construction industry.

The iceberg model helps to look beyond the obvious and delve into the deeper, often less apparent, dynamics at play within systemic challenges. The image below shows the deeper layers that govern the built environment and the leverage points that can be addressed to affect its transition to a regenerative paradigm.

"Any sustainability challenges we are dealing with, they are actually a result of a fragmented way of thinking... we take our thinking one level up so that we can defragment the thinking and we can defragment the actions”

Let’s explore in depth how these points relate to the built environment and the innovative approach of RegenBuild.

1. Parameters

Parameters are the specific numerical values or settings that dictate a system's operation. They're often the most visible and straightforward to adjust but may not always yield significant systemic change. The parameters are akin to the knobs that regulate how fast a faucet turns on or off. They can represent the force with which a faucet operates, the level of water in a tank, or the intensity of water flow, and they are often points where interventions are feasible. While some parameters are fixed and immutable, many serve as intervention points that can be adjusted to influence system behaviour.

• Current System: Price of green building certification, energy efficiency of electrical equipment or appliances, water usage per capita, embodied carbon of the materials used or the amount of waste generated in a project are some examples of parameters that determine how sustainable a building is.

• RegenBuild: Instead of merely setting consumption limits, RegenBuild might advocate for buildings to generate surplus energy, change parameters based on local resource constraints, encourage recycling of all wastewater and advocate turning buildings into net-positive entities.

2. Buffers

Buffers are components that help stabilise a system by absorbing fluctuations. Their size and capacity can determine how resilient a system is to shocks or changes. Generally the greater the buffer the more stable the system is. Adjusting the size of a buffer can often enhance system stability, but excessive buffer capacity can lead to inflexibility and slow responses.

Consider a massive urban park versus a small green space in a bustling city. The large park, with its extensive vegetation, acts like a sponge absorbing rainwater, thus mitigating flood risks during heavy rainfalls. Its size and capacity allow it to handle a larger volume of water. On the other hand, the smaller green space may get overwhelmed quickly. This scenario underscores the concept of buffers in the built environment, where a larger buffer, like the big park, brings stability by mitigating the adverse effects of heavy rains. The environmental buffers enable healthy ecosystems, contribute to better human health and protect against floods, stormwater, pollution, noise and other adverse effects of climate change.

• Current System: Stocks of natural resources such as tree cover, biodiversity zones, native plant species and water cycle are critical elements of ecological cycles which are often not prioritised in the built environment. Sustainable urban designs might include rain gardens and permeable pavements to manage stormwater, minimising the run-off into local waterways and reducing the strain on sewer systems. These measures act as buffers, mitigating the immediate negative impacts of heavy rainfall events, akin to the small green space in a city.

• RegenBuild: Regenerative systems favour and value the existence of buffers. Buffers not only contribute to system resilience but also improve the possibility of positive outcomes overall. With an emphasis on creating larger biodiversity zones or urban wetlands within projects and enhancing local ecosystems, they act as significant buffers against urban environmental challenges. The buffer concept might involve managing stormwater as well as regenerating urban water cycles. They might advocate for creating wetlands within urban areas that can handle stormwater, enhance biodiversity, and improve the water quality, acting like a large park that absorbs rainwater and contributes to the local ecosystem's health and resilience.

3. Stock and Flow Structures

The physical structure of material stocks and flows within a system is fundamental in determining a system's behaviour and performance over time. Understanding and optimising the structure of material stocks and flows can significantly impact the effectiveness and efficiency of a system.

The material components within the built environment, like the building envelope, significantly affect their operational efficiency. A building envelope and ventilation play a crucial role in energy conservation and the comfort of occupants. A well-designed building envelope with proper insulation, low-e windows, and effective sealing can significantly reduce energy consumption by minimising heat loss in winter and heat gain in summer. However, if the envelope is poorly designed or constructed with subpar materials, it may lead to higher energy costs, discomfort for occupants, and a larger carbon footprint for the building. Thereafter, the leverage shifts to understanding its limitations and working within those constraints to optimise performance.

• Current System: In a sustainable building, the focus might be on reducing embodied carbon by selecting materials with lower carbon footprints, such as recycled steel, recycled-content concrete, or sustainably harvested timber. The stock in this case refers to the inventory of building materials used, while the flow refers to the lifecycle stages of these materials including production, transportation to the site, installation, and eventual disposal or recycling. By optimising the selection and management of materials, the sustainable building aims to minimise the flow of carbon emissions associated with its construction and maintenance.

• RegenBuild: In a regenerative building, the ambition goes beyond merely reducing embodied carbon to potentially achieving a net-negative carbon footprint over the building's lifecycle. This might be accomplished through the use of carbon-sequestering materials like bio-based materials or carbon-absorbing concrete. The stock here again refers to the inventory of building materials but with a notable focus on materials that either have a negative carbon footprint or contribute to carbon sequestration. The flow would encompass not only the lifecycle stages of these materials but also the continuous process of carbon sequestration occurring during the building's lifespan. Additionally, a regenerative building may have a design that facilitates easy deconstruction and material reuse at the end of its life, thereby creating a positive loop of material flow that contributes to carbon reduction in future building projects.

4. Delays

Delays in feedback loops are fundamental aspects that significantly shape system behaviour, often leading to oscillations as exemplified in the built environment. Consider a scenario in a city grappling with housing shortages. To address this, a plan to construct new residential buildings is initiated. However, due to bureaucratic red tape, long approval processes, and construction time, there's a significant delay before the new housing is available. During this delay, the city's population continues to grow, exacerbating the housing shortage. By the time the new buildings are ready, the demand has far outstripped the initial supply, causing a spike in housing prices. This delay between recognising a problem, acting on it, and seeing the results can lead to overshooting or undershooting the intended goals, creating a cycle of boom and bust in housing availability and affordability.

The length of delays relative to the rate of system changes is a critical consideration. While it's often challenging to alter delay lengths, slowing down the rate of change in stocks and being proactive in addressing anticipated issues in advance can help mitigate the adverse effects of these inevitable delays, leading to a more balanced and stable system behaviour over time.

• Current System: Suppose a sustainable building is designed with a rainwater harvesting system to collect water for non-potable uses like flushing toilets or irrigation. However, the storage capacity of the rainwater tank is limited. During heavy rainfall, the tank quickly fills up, and the excess rainwater is diverted to the storm drain. Here, the physical delay is the time it takes to empty the tank through usage and make room for new rainwater. If heavy rainfall occurs before the tank has been sufficiently emptied, a portion of the rainwater is lost to the storm drain, reducing the efficiency of the harvesting system.

• RegenBuild: On the other hand, a regenerative building might have a larger rainwater storage tank and an additional on-site constructed wetland to further treat and store rainwater. In this setup, even during heavy rainfall, there's a higher capacity to capture and store rainwater. The constructed wetland also acts as a buffer, allowing for a slower release of treated water back into the environment or for reuse within the building, thus addressing the physical delay in the system more effectively.

5. Negative Feedback Loops

Negative feedback loops are counteractive mechanisms in systems to maintain equilibrium within desired ranges. For example, a thermostat loop in a building aims to keep room temperature within a comfortable range. It requires a set goal (the thermostat setting), a monitoring device to detect deviations from the goal (the thermostat), and a response mechanism (heating or cooling systems) to adjust accordingly. This simple feedback loop ensures a self-correcting mechanism to maintain desired temperature levels, showcasing a basic yet effective control system.

In more complex systems, multiple negative feedback loops might exist to self-correct under varying conditions. However, the efficiency of these loops heavily relies on the accuracy and speed of monitoring and response mechanisms. Just as the government employs regulations to steer the industry’s climate efforts towards national climate goals, the industry too can bolster its own internal feedback loops to address escalating challenges. The effectiveness of feedback loops, whether internal or external, is crucial in navigating the dynamic nature of impacts within the built environment, ensuring that as challenges intensify, the corrective measures are fortified accordingly to maintain a sustainable trajectory.

• Current System: The construction industry is often subjected to governmental regulations aimed at reducing environmental impacts, like emissions and resource depletion. These regulations act as external feedback loops, helping to realign the industry with broader societal or environmental goals. However, if these regulatory feedback loops are weak or slow to respond to the escalating impacts of a growing construction industry, they may fall short of achieving the intended outcomes.

• RegenBuild: RegenBuild promotes proactive self-regulation within the industry, such as adopting stricter internal standards for environmental performance which acts as a stronger, more immediate feedback loop to address challenges head-on. By setting its own rigorous standards, the industry can more effectively manage its environmental footprint, rather than waiting for external regulations to prompt action.

6. Positive Feedback Loops

Positive feedback loops are self-reinforcing loops, where the system gains increasing power as more work gets done towards an objective, allowing it to do more. The dynamics of these loops hold significant implications. Unchecked positive feedback loops can lead to rapid growth and eventual self-destruction. For example, polar ice melting and desertification due to global warming lead to an inflection point with severe consequences which become increasingly worse.

Usually, positive feedback loops are met with interventions to contain the growth through negative feedback loops. When a city grows in population and attracts more opportunities, which in turn attracts more people ultimately resulting in water scarcity. This negative feedback loop serves as a counterweight to curtail the city’s growth and maintain equilibrium. However, interventions focused on reducing the gain around a positive loop, i.e. slowing down the growth prove to be a more powerful leverage point as opposed to installing negative feedback loops into the system.

• Current System: It is primarily focused on setting certain sustainability standards that buildings need to meet for certification. They provide a framework for building design, construction, and operation to minimise negative environmental impacts. However, these certifications often have weak positive feedback loops as they usually do not provide ongoing incentives for continuous improvement beyond the initial certification requirements. Once a building achieves a certain certification level, there might be little motivation for further enhancement in sustainability practices.

• RegenBuild: It integrates positive feedback loops for all AECO stakeholders at each phase of a project’s lifecycle to encourage resource conservation. Through a well-designed incentive mechanism, stakeholders and occupants are motivated to reduce their usage of water, energy, and waste generation while promoting clean air and ecosystem restoration within the confines of the project. As architects, builders and occupants engage in resource-saving practices, they are rewarded proportionately, creating a positive reinforcement cycle that encourages continual conservation efforts.

7. Information Flows

Information flows deal with how and where information is shared and accessed within a system. Enhancing or restricting information flow can significantly influence system behaviour. In a neighbourhood of identical houses, a simple change in the location of electric meters demonstrated a powerful impact on electricity consumption. Homes with meters installed in visible areas, like the front hall, showed a 30% reduction in electricity use compared to those with meters hidden in basements. This scenario illustrates a high leverage point within the system's information structure, creating a new feedback loop that was absent before. This new loop of real-time electricity usage feedback, prompted residents to adjust their consumption behaviours, proving the potency of well-placed information in modifying system behaviour.

Missing feedback is one of the most common causes of system malfunction. Adding or restoring information can be a powerful intervention, usually much easier and cheaper than rebuilding physical infrastructure.

• Current System: It often lacks robust mechanisms for real-time feedback to the occupants about the operational performance. The certification process is often seen as the final goal rather than a step in an ongoing journey towards sustainability. The information flow in such systems is typically one-way; once the criteria are met, there's little feedback to building managers or occupants on how the building's sustainability performance could be further enhanced or how their behaviours impact this performance.

• RegenBuild: It takes a different approach by fostering a continuous loop of feedback and improvement. It incorporates real-time monitoring and information flows that keep building occupants informed and engaged in sustainability practices. The savings or usage patterns are quantified and communicated back to stakeholders thoughtfully at the right place. This two-way information flow creates a dynamic system where occupants see the impact of their actions and are motivated to continue improving as opposed to the static nature of the current systems.

8. Rules

The rules of a system are pivotal as they outline the scope, boundaries, and degrees of freedom within which the system operates. They create the structure and dictate what's permissible, thereby forming the environment in which the system exists. Rules, varying in their formality, can range from established laws to informal social agreements. They hold significant sway over the behaviour and outcomes within a system, making them high leverage points for effecting change.

When altered, rules have the potential to significantly impact the system's behaviour and outcomes. Their power as leverage points highlights the importance of who controls and sets these rules. Moreover, the design of rules and who has the authority over them can lead to varying levels of feedback within the system, which is crucial for its stability and adaptability. Understanding the rules of a system, the dynamics they create, and who holds power over them is essential for comprehending systemic issues and identifying potential points of intervention.

• Current System: It often adopts a top-down approach where a centralised authority like a government body or an industry consortium sets the standards that buildings must achieve to earn certification. The authority might set energy efficiency targets, water conservation goals, and material sustainability standards among others that apply universally to all projects seeking certification. The projects often pursue the certifications for financial gains like tax breaks or higher premiums on rent and sometimes these rules can be bent for vested interests, thus leading to some dilution of rules or even corruption in some cases.

• RegenBuild: It adopts a bottom-up approach, where rules are developed with input from a wide range of stakeholders, reflecting the specific needs and contexts of the community and the environment. Here the emphasis is on optimising for efficiency rather than just growth and financial gains. When the rules are enforced in a decentralised way, the system is more resilient and the scope of infringement is reduced to a large extent.

"Solving climate problems involves deep shifts in mental models, relationships, and taken-for-granted ways of operating as much as it involves shifts in organizational roles and formal structures, metrics and performance management, and goals and policies”

9. Self Organisation

The essence of self-organisation within systems showcases the ability to undergo transformative change by creating new structures and behaviours. It encompasses the modification of various system aspects, such as introducing new physical structures, altering feedback loops, or establishing new rules. A system capable of self-organisation can navigate through almost any change by modifying itself. This transformative power is the core of system resilience.

The process of self-organisation is driven by set rules that dictate how a system can modify itself under certain conditions. It's an interplay of a diverse stock of information and a mechanism for testing new patterns derived from this information. The intervention point, though clear, is often unpopular as it entails relinquishing control to foster variability, experimentation, and diversity, which is essential for the long-term survival and evolution of systems in a constantly changing environment.

• Current System: They are often slow to adapt and self-organise due to their bureaucratic nature. Introducing a new sustainability standard or updating an existing one could involve a lengthy process of committee reviews, public comments, and multiple levels of approvals. This process can take a significant amount of time, often years, to reflect the industry's current best practices or technological advancements. Moreover, the top-down approach can sometimes overlook the local or community-specific sustainability needs, making it less responsive to individual project requirements.

• RegenBuild: Being a Decentralised Autonomous Organisation (DAO), it has a structure that allows for quicker self-organisation and adaptation to changing circumstances. In a DAO, decision-making is decentralised and often driven by the consensus of its members, which can include professionals, stakeholders, and even building occupants. If there's a new water conservation technology in the market, the community could quickly vote on its adoption and update the certification standards accordingly. This decentralised and democratic process fosters a more dynamic and responsive system, enabling it to quickly adapt to new challenges or technological innovations. Moreover, the transparent and open nature of DAOs can also foster a more collaborative environment, where different stakeholders can contribute to the continuous improvement of the certification standards, making it more adaptable and quicker to self-organise in response to the evolving needs of the built environment.

10. Goals of the System

The goal of a system is a leverage point superior to the self-organising ability because it defines the direction and purpose of a system. Based on the goal everything further down the list - physical stocks and flows, feedback loops, information flows, and even self-organising behaviour, will be reshaped to align with that overarching goal. In every system, there are sub-goals that may be in negative feedback loops with the primary goal. For example, ‘Green Certification X’ has a goal to make more buildings sustainable, be a profitable organisation and increase market share. In pursuit of those goals, they grow quickly and reach a point where they cannot sustain that growth for long. They might lower the standard or the barrier of entry to projects and change the rules of what a sustainable building means, in order to keep growing and remaining profitable. Whereas if the goal was to be a sustainable organisation while upholding a high standard for the industry, the behaviours and decisions of the organisation would be entirely different.

• Current System: The prevalent goals primarily revolve around sustainability and reducing the carbon footprint of construction projects. These objectives drive initiatives such as designing energy-efficient buildings, implementing renewable energy sources, using eco-friendly materials and minimising waste & water use. However, the focus often centres on mitigating harm to the environment rather than actively rejuvenating it.

• RegenBuild: In this emerging system, construction projects are not merely about reducing harm but actively revitalising the built environment. RegenBuild projects might involve constructing buildings with integrated green spaces and biodiversity enhancements, regenerating brownfield sites into thriving natural habitats, or creating urban environments that promote not only sustainability but the flourishing of local ecosystems and communities.

"Wholeness, at a large scale, is our ability to look at things from a distance and to take into account a larger perspective because if we don't do this we do not only act in isolation, we may act in naivety that the positive intention that we have will have a positive impact and it may not necessarily be the case, because we have not taken into account a larger context”

11. The Paradigm or Mindset out of which the System arises

The paradigm is the fundamental set of beliefs about how the world functions. These ingrained assumptions shape our culture's systems, from their objectives to information flows and feedback mechanisms. Paradigms are the architects of material reality, and changing them can radically transform entire systems. While paradigms are notoriously resistant to change, the process itself is not inherently slow or costly. It merely necessitates a shift in individual thinking, but altering societal paradigms proves far more challenging as they withstand challenges vehemently.

How does one alter paradigms? The key lies in highlighting discrepancies and failures within the existing paradigm, confidently introducing the new one, and placing advocates of the fresh perspective in influential positions. The focus should be on proactive change agents and open-minded individuals in the vast middle ground of people instead of the reactionaries. Another approach, favoured by systems thinkers is modelling the system and viewing it from an outsider’s perspective which leads to a holistic understanding, leading to a paradigm change.

• Current System: In today's urban planning and architecture, the prevailing paradigm is sustainability. Cities worldwide prioritise sustainable building materials, energy-efficient structures, and eco-friendly designs to reduce their environmental impact. This paradigm gave rise to the current generation of building certification systems for buildings where the emphasis is on renewable energy integration, resource conservation and minimising harm to ecosystems. However, it often focuses on mitigating damage rather than actively rejuvenating the environment.

• RegenBuild: Consider the evolving paradigm of regeneration in the built environment. This emerging perspective seeks to go beyond sustainability by actively revitalising urban areas and ecosystems. It involves projects that restore and enhance natural habitats within cities, such as converting abandoned industrial sites into thriving green spaces or constructing buildings that purify the air and water while producing more energy than they consume. One notable example of this shift can be seen in the transformation of formerly polluted urban waterfronts into vibrant, biodiverse ecosystems that also serve as recreational areas for residents. In this paradigm, the focus is not merely on minimising harm but on proactively healing and nurturing the environment, leading to a more resilient and thriving built environment.

"The scale of change, if we want to survive as a global civilization, will be of an order that is unimagined, let us start the conversation from that perspective”

12. Transcending Paradigms

There exists a leverage point even superior to altering a paradigm: maintaining detachment from paradigms, staying adaptable, and recognising that no value or belief system is absolute truth. Every paradigm, including the one shaping your worldview, offers a significantly limited understanding of a vast, incredible universe that far exceeds human comprehension. This involves a deep, intuitive understanding of the existence of multiple paradigms, recognising this as a paradigm in itself, and finding this realisation profoundly amusing. It entails embracing uncertainty, akin to what Buddhists refer to as enlightenment.

Most individuals, attached to their paradigms, withdraw at the expansive notion that all their beliefs could be baseless and retreat swiftly. It seems there is no power, control, understanding, or even a reason for existence, let alone action, in the idea or experience that no worldview offers certainty. However, anyone who has entertained this thought, momentarily or throughout their life, has discovered it to be a foundation for profound empowerment. If no paradigm is correct, you are free to choose any that aids in fulfilling your objective. If you are uncertain of your purpose, you can attune to the universe and follow its will.

• Current System: It has a fixed definition of what constitutes a "green" building. Oftentimes the paradigm projected by authority is perceived to be the truth and no questions are raised about those judgements while going about everyday work. The current paradigm is set by green building certification bodies, industry coalitions or governments via a top-down approach with minimal consultations from wide representation from the industry.

• RegenBuild: It recognises the need to be fluid and evolve with the requirements of the present situation and local context. This means understanding the environment, staying adaptable and being open to new insights, research, market opportunities and indigenous wisdom. It allows us to reimagine the paradigm we are prescribed and provides a way for industry to coordinate on the collective future we want to create in a bottoms-up way, only if we believe we have the power to do so.

In conclusion, Meadows' 12 leverage points offer a profound lens to view the challenges and opportunities in the built environment industry. RegenBuild, with its radical approach, aligns with these points and presents a promising future where our built environment doesn't just coexist but thrives in harmony with nature.

References

• Systems Innovation - Systems Change

• Donella Meadows Leverage Points: Places to Intervene in a System

• Pioneering a New Paradigm

• New Approaches to Leverage Points

Credits

Una Wang for reviewing, editing and collaborating on this post.

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