EXPLORING POSSIBILITIES OF REGENERATIVE DESIGN IN CHINA AND TAIWAN

Abstract

China faces problems with rapid urbanisation and misuse of resources while Taiwan faces challenges in water and energy self-sufficiency. Prevailing notions of sustainable design would not make much impact in tackling these issues, as current paradigm of sustainable building focuses on the notion of doing less harm or at best achieving net- zero resource use. The paper will challenge prevailing notions of sustainable design by introducing the concept of “regenerative design”, which posits that a design can produce multiple net-positive outcomes in economic, social and environmental realms (specifically in the case of China and Taiwan). To illustrate the concept of regenerative design, the paper examines on three case studies in China Ningbo Eco- Corridor, Shanghai Houtan Park and Taipei Flora Expo Pavilions. These case studies illustrate the applicability of regenerative design at building and infrastructural scale, while critically highlighting the differences in thinking of regenerative design at varying scales. The paper will also critically analyse current frameworks of regenerative design and for its applicability in China.