Theme

The theme of the fall 2023 Nils Erik Wickberg symposium is regenerative design, where the goal is to enable structures and systems that are self-sufficient and produce positive effects. The approach is systemic and humans and social systems are seen strongly as part of nature and related to ecological systems, not separate from them.

Regenerative design emphasizes connectedness and interactions on many different scales and questions the prevailing relationship with nature. It demands from designers a vision of processes or architecture that ”does good” and not just ”less bad”. What needs to be considered is how we produce places or spaces that are not only sustainably built, but also produce an understanding of mutual belonging in relation to each other, non-human actors, and the rest of nature, and at the same time offer opportunities for increasing human and planetary well-being.

In the NEW symposium, there will be a discussion about what kind of openings the regenerative design approach enables in architecture. Regenerative design is approached through researchers in the field, representatives of related disciplines and practitioners.