Why we must apply a regenerative approach to infrastructure

In this article, our experts suggest a regenerative approach to infrastructure. One that brings multiple benefits to both people and planet.

Ramboll participated in the design of Baana with a strong team: our professionals in regional and municipal engineering, bridge design, environmental and lighting design, and geo- and rock-reinforcement technology were involved.

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The United Nations defines sustainability as ‘meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’ (United Nations, 1987)¹. This can be understood that sustainability maintains what we already have and does not necessarily repair or recreate the systems we have already degraded, damaged, or lost.

The built environment is essential for shaping society and the world around us. For years, the design and engineering field has been optimising the conventional practices of achieving minimum standards to implementing procedures that ensure a reduced impact on the natural environment through performance improvements and sustainable ratings. As the climate and biodiversity crisis near an irreversible tipping point, we are adopting sustainable solutions to move towards achieving carbon neutrality and causing no further harm to the natural environment.

Will this be enough? Unfortunately not. We need carbon-negative and nature-positive solutions with positive impacts on communities to close the gap to a sustainable future. In this article, we aim to build our case for doing less harm and more good. We need to reimagine the built environment to succeed.

A fundamental shift is required to ensure a good quality of life for generations to come. We need to understand that like humans, our planet is a system with subsystems that are linked together. Since we depend on nature for our whole planet and communities’ health, liveability, and vitality, we must ensure that we protect, restore and regenerate our ecosystems. We need to focus on positively impacting these natural and social environments. This will require solutions that support and create systems that are resilient and revitalise communities, natural resources, and even entire ecosystems. We can do this by adopting restorative solutions to reverse pre-development environmental conditions and regenerative principles where human and natural systems actively evolve in symbiosis and where people and nature flourish.

Applying a regenerative approach within infrastructure

Figure 1: Moving from doing less harm to more good with regenerative approach (based on Reed, 2007 in Craft et al., 2017)2

At Ramboll, we believe that now is the time to raise the bar on how we design infrastructure in and with the industry at large. We need to identify new, innovative ways of approaching our infrastructure's design and construction process.

This regenerative approach is about creating a mutually beneficial relationship between nature and communities. Adopting a regenerative approach principle ensures that the infrastructure positively impacts socio-ecological systems. Regenerative design moves beyond basic high-performance design towards a change in our mindset from metric-driven targets to a holistic and process-oriented approach with systems thinking.

Key principles for decision making frameworks

Transport infrastructure, such as roads, railways, ports, etc., has an environmental impact on the planet associated with greenhouse gas emissions, the transformation of ecosystems and the loss of biodiversity. Additionally, infrastructure has a social impact by enabling the transportation of goods, increasing mobility and access, and providing a greater choice of travel modes and community connectivity. In short, transportation infrastructure has a great impact on life quality.

Regenerative infrastructure can restore damage caused and aid a natural recovery of the environment and its natural systems. An example of this could be an ambitious place-based nature design, which supports and creates local water cycles and ecological systems that benefit the wider interconnected systems. For infrastructure to be considered regenerative, it must be built or renewed in a net-positive way using and upscaling existing resources and creating practices, cultures, and procedures which have positive environmental and social impacts.

In‘‘Developing a decision-making framework for regenerative precinct development’’, Craft et al., (2021)³ explore the core needs of regenerative infrastructure. They developed a set of interconnected principles to provide a context for developing decision-making frameworks:

Living systems thinking – Developing holistic thinking and understanding of a project through the interactions and relationships between projects that form one complex and dynamic social-ecological system.
Place-specific regeneration – Understanding the project’s unique place, including how a place sustains and self-organises within its existing network. It can be understood as the regenerative approach opposite to one-size-fits-all solutions. In nature, each place is different. Hence our solutions and processes should be different on each site.
New collective processes – Engaging with traditional and non-traditional stakeholders and working together to realise the full potential of a project.
Co-evolutionary and transformative - Understanding that the end of a project marks the beginning of regeneration and the start of an ongoing co-evolutionary partnership with nature.
Adding positive value – Understanding and redefining value in terms of benefitting stakeholders and enabling new potential for the entire socio-ecological system.

Bringing a regenerative approach to a practical level

In order to facilitate change, we need to escalate and co-develop this approach with decision makers and designers, considering the entirety of each phase of the lifecycle. The Key Performance Indicators for projects, relevant stakeholders, diversity of experts, and collaborative design processes must be revised from this perspective. Examples and clear guidance empower and courage the different stakeholders to be part of the change. At Ramboll, we are working with academic institutions and our clients to identify ways to raise the bar within our existing projects and identify potential new pilot projects to implement the principles of the regenerative approach.

In June 2023, Ramboll arranged a co-learning and co-creating event with representatives from Ramboll Transport’s global Sustainability team, international contractor ACCIONA and Aalto University. We shared approaches, ambitions, and case studies in regenerative design and started co-creating guiding principles to enable and enhance regenerative design across all project phases. The main reflections from the workshops were that even though there are some variations in the terminology used, the goal and understanding of the concept remain the same. It will be a long and challenging journey but we need to start to bring this approach stronger down to concrete actions on all project levels. The main challenge and enabler is a mindset change, which is crucial to identify the next steps and align on a roadmap ahead.

When we start seeing our surroundings, including stakeholders and interfaces, through systems and synergies, we find new ways and possibilities to tackle our challenges.

Elina Kalliala

Head of Sustainability, Ramboll Transport

“Now that we know the damage we have caused, regeneration is a commitment to reconcile with nature and work with it to restore its balance. For Acciona, regeneration and positive impact are at the core of our activities, stating this vision through our Strategy developed in our Sustainability Master Plan 2025”, Miguel Portilla Bullido, Senior Sustainability Manager, Acciona

Familiarising ourselves with this concept and shifting the current paradigms towards a net positive and regenerative approach will promote the development of infrastructure projects that generate resilience, benefit communities and biodiversity, and reverse the damage we have caused. The change will not happen without a new level of collaboration and courage. Let’s be the change we want to see.

For further information, read our recent publication on regenerative design or browse this article on the National Highways' new environmental sustainability strategy.

About the authors

Wojciech Szewczak: Wojciech is an Associate at Ramboll Management Consulting working mainly with clients in the Transport and Infrastructure sector.

Wojciech has recently been shortlisted for the FIDIC Global Future Leaders Award 2023 for his efforts towards influencing the UK's infrastructure sector and outstanding work in strategic sustainability consulting.

Elina Kalliala: As a Global Sustainability Director, Elina leads the sustainability strategy across the global Transport Market with 3500 employees.

With a background in landscape architecture, Elina is experienced in driving holistic sustainability agenda across markets in over 100 projects with public and private clients in various cities and regions.

¹ United Nations, 1987. Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our common future. pp.1-300.

² Craft, W., Ding, L., Prasad, D., Partridge, L. and Else, D., 2017. Development of a regenerative design model for building retrofits. Procedia engineering, 180, pp.658-668.

³ Craft, W., Ding, L. and Prasad, D., 2021. Developing a decision-making framework for regenerative precinct development. Sustainability, 13(22), p.12604.

Want to know more?

Wojciech Szewczak
Associate Strategic Sustainability Consulting
+44 7535 991851
Elina Kalliala
Sustainability Director, Transport
+358 50 5111866

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