Page 7 - JCAU-6-1

Journal of Chinese

Architecture and Urbanism

Editorial
Introducing Regenerative Architecture

Rachel Armstrong*
Department of Architecture, KU Leuven, Ghent, Flanders, Belgium
(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Regenerative Architecture)

Abstract
The global-scale impacts of the Anthropocene have reached tipping points of
order, resulting in the climate emergency. We are no longer able to carefully adjust
our industrial practices to put this titan back into its box, and we must enter a new
era of human development to meet our present needs. This involves restoring
the living realm through bioremediating environments, enlivening communities,
enriching soils, and rebuilding ecosystems as we live and work. The conservative
net zero ambitions of “sustainability” cannot reverse our negative planetary-scale
impact. A new approach to designing and engineering our habitats is needed. This
introduction to the special issue on Regenerative Architecture takes a design-led
approach to discuss how the practice of the built environment, through its imaginaries,
materials, spaces, bodies, and technologies, can make a positive impact on the living
world. Since we cannot solve the ongoing crises from within our present thinking,
which has initiated and compounded our predicament, this special issue explores the
work of regenerative architects who are urgently developing diverse and inclusive
practices. These practices aim to transcend the habits, expectations, and blind spots
*Corresponding author: that frame contemporary practices. Taking a radically experimental and inclusive
Rachel Armstrong
(Rachel.armstrong@kuleuven.be) interdisciplinary design approach, the emerging field of regenerative architecture
is actively developing a range of new tools, technologies, models, experimental
Citation: Armstrong, R. (2024). platforms, theories, buildable systems, and critiques for environmentally beneficial
Introducing regenerative architecture.
Journal of Chinese Architecture and practices. The nature of this ongoing research is diverse and interdisciplinary,
Urbanism, 6(1), 1882. invoking new concepts and formats that search for ways of working with nature,
https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.1882 both as a co-creator of places and as a net beneficiary of architectural interventions.
Received: September 21, 2023
Accepted: October 27, 2023 Keywords: Regenerative architecture; Anthropocene; Climate emergency;
Published Online: December 14, Bioremediating; Architectural cyborg; Biodiversity
2023
Copyright: © 2023 Author(s).
This is an open-access article
distributed under the terms of the 1. Introduction
Creative Commons Attribution-
Non-Commercial 4.0 International “…I think that you can objectively say that the climate crisis is not being treated
(CC BY-NC 4.0), which permits all as an emergency, especially when you compare it with COVID-19 in many
non-commercial use, distribution,
and reproduction in any medium, parts of the world. The climate crisis is not being treated as an emergency, and
provided the original work is it never has.” (Thunberg, 2021)
properly cited. The extraordinary power unleashed by fossil fuels, deployed through massive
Publisher’s Note: AccScience machines, has empowered humanity to view itself as no longer bound by the laws of
Publishing remains neutral with nature. Consequently, Western society has become estranged and detached from the
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional living world. By instrumentalizing the living realm as mere resources, industrial
affiliations. machines have extracted nature’s vital riches, leading to resource depletion, pollution,

Volume 6 Issue 1 (2024) 1 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.1882