Abstract
This study explores how design researchers in Europe understand and enact nature-centred biodesign for regeneration: an emerging approach that bridges design, biology, and ecology to foster regenerative futures. It proposes an evolutionary framework of design agency, mapping the transition from imitation to co-evolution and from instrumental ethics to ecological justice. The framework highlights four paradigmatic quadrants: Anthropocentric Planning, Emerging Bioeconomy, Socio-Ecology, and Regenerative Biodesign that capture how ethical, ecological, and material orientations shape practice. In parallel, it employs a qualitative analysis of a questionnaire with 32 researchers from COST Action DESIGNAE (2025), which investigates how design operates between scientific, material, and social domains in biodesign. Findings reveal that while cross-disciplinary collaboration and material experimentation are flourishing, current approaches remain mechanistic, rooted in optimisation, scalability, and urban-technological paradigms. However, emerging translational and participatory practices indicate a gradual shift from design as problem-solving towards design as a mediator of ecological relationships.
Keywords
nature-centred biodesign, design agency, regenerative, qualitative interdisciplinary research
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.1387
Citation
Costa, N., Oskam, P., Charoupia, H., and Pombo, F. (2026) Nature-centred Biodesign for Regeneration. Design understandings in Europe., in Simeone, L., Gray, C. M., Verhoeven, A., de Götzen, A., Bakırlıoğlu, Y., Zohar, H., Stead, M., and Buwert, P. (eds.), DRS2026: Edinburgh, 8–12 June, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.1387
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Included in
Nature-centred Biodesign for Regeneration. Design understandings in Europe.
This study explores how design researchers in Europe understand and enact nature-centred biodesign for regeneration: an emerging approach that bridges design, biology, and ecology to foster regenerative futures. It proposes an evolutionary framework of design agency, mapping the transition from imitation to co-evolution and from instrumental ethics to ecological justice. The framework highlights four paradigmatic quadrants: Anthropocentric Planning, Emerging Bioeconomy, Socio-Ecology, and Regenerative Biodesign that capture how ethical, ecological, and material orientations shape practice. In parallel, it employs a qualitative analysis of a questionnaire with 32 researchers from COST Action DESIGNAE (2025), which investigates how design operates between scientific, material, and social domains in biodesign. Findings reveal that while cross-disciplinary collaboration and material experimentation are flourishing, current approaches remain mechanistic, rooted in optimisation, scalability, and urban-technological paradigms. However, emerging translational and participatory practices indicate a gradual shift from design as problem-solving towards design as a mediator of ecological relationships.