2023
Lucy Hardcastle and others
The report "The Regenerative Home" explores innovative ways to design residential spaces that positively impact both people and the planet. As homes are significant contributors to energy-related carbon emissions and food waste, the report emphasizes the need for sustainable practices. It advocates for building homes that not only minimize consumption but also generate resources. Key strategies include retrofitting existing structures for improved energy efficiency, reusing materials, and integrating renewable energy systems. The report outlines ten insights focused on principles like composting, waste management, local sourcing, and community sharing. By combining traditional knowledge with modern technology, the future regenerative home aims to transform daily living, enhance community vitality, and promote environmental stewardship, ultimately contributing to a more sustainable future.
The Regenerative Home: A Restorative Way of Living | SPACE10
Photo — Lucy Hardcastle
Home is where many of us rest and restore. But what if we could extend the home’s regenerating qualities to the rest of the planet? Our latest report explores the building blocks of future homes that give back.
How can we design and build future homes that are better for people and the planet?
At a time when residential homes are responsible for between 17-21 percent of energy-related carbon emissions globally, and 11 percent of global food waste comes directly from households, we must think differently about how our homes impact wider environmental systems.
Our new report, The Regenerative Home, takes a closer look at how we can collectively design dwellings that close the loop, give back, and produce more than they consume.
We share how tomorrow’s home will transform daily routines — and why the future regenerative home will be built on a combination of traditional knowledge and new technologies.
With guidance from leading experts, the report explores four components of the typical home:
- Building
- Energy
- Food
- Belongings
10 insights from the report
Alongside global case studies and key statistics powering the movement towards regenerative living, the report reveals insights such as:
- Retrofit for vitality: Restore and upgrade buildings to prolong their life, enhance energy efficiency, and create and uplift local communities.
- Re-construct: Reuse old building materials, furniture, and components to save costs, reduce demolition waste, and demand for new materials.
- Build naturally: Use locally-sourced natural materials such as straw and clay for new building work and insulation — abundant materials that can be safely returned to nature.
- In-built energy: Integrate solar, green hydrogen, and other renewable energy systems into the exterior and interior design of the home to capture and provide off-grid power.
- Harness heat: Redirect thermal heat from sources such as data centres and city sewer systems to power local buildings, reduce reliance on fossil fuels, and boost local grids.
- Compost kitchens: Move nature’s regenerative systems into kitchens: compost food scraps from home-grown produce using countertop wormeries.
- Waste with benefits: Redesign sanitary systems so residents can turn human waste into fertiliser for plants and gardens, and support biodiversity.
- Place-based production: From furniture to food, local sourcing of the items that make your home can create jobs, preserve skills, and inspire regenerative business models.
- Care and share: Share household objects through joint ownership, as-a-service models, or community libraries to extend their life and use, and promote recycling.
- Activate data: Create neighbourhood data networks to actively encourage regenerative behaviours that respond to environmental shifts, and the availability of resources and energy.