Regenerative Design – five takeaways from my interview with Daniel Christian Wahl

By Pooran Desai, Founder OnePlanet

Here are five key takeaways I have compiled from my interview with the world’s foremost regenerative design expert, Daniel Christian Wahl.

Daniel is an author, advisor in regenerative design and winner of the Royal Society of Arts Bicentenary Medal 2021. As part of the Design Council’s COP27 activities, I had the pleasure of interviewing Daniel.

I have extracted what I think are the five most important takeaways:

1. Do not fall into a trap of carbon tunnel vision (see Climate Museum).  Climate change is a symptom of the deeper underlying problem of our relationship with the rest of nature.
2. Design for health at all scales. Design for the health of people, communities and the planet. This must be mantra for all designers. It is the basis of wisdom of indigenous cultures which we must learn to cherish.
3. Given likely cascades of ecological, economic and political collapses due to the climate and ecological emergency in the near future, the challenge for designers is not so much to design objects but to build the capacity of people, communities and ecosystems to journey into an uncertain future (i.e. to build ‘resilience’ through health).
4. Solutions must arise from the potential of both people and place. Become local and think in bioregions. Fall in love with place again.
5. Remember, we are not separate from nature. Don’t Design for Planet. Design as Planet.

Want to know more? Then do listen to the whole 30 minute interview, follow Daniel on Linkedin, and read ‘Designing Regenerative Cultures’.

If you want to explore these issues in more depth with me then don’t hesitate to reach out and connect with me, Pooran Desai on Linkedin.