WHAT

Regenerative Materials and Construction are building materials and technologies that can support a positive sustainable development, thanks to their low (or negative) impacts on environment and well-being, and instead contributing to the local economy, supporting environmental remediation and providing for safe and comfortable solutions for the users and workers.

Regenerative materials include bio-based materials as bamboo, straw and hemp-based technologies, as well as wood or earth-based solutions. In addition, the Regenerative approach applied to the construction sector includes the use of recycled and up-cycled building elements, waste from construction or leftovers from other processes (as plastic, or demolition waste) thanks to a set of strategies contributing to their transformation and implementation.

WHY

The construction industry is responsible for almost 50% of the worldwide annual resource consumption, putting the environment, its natural resources, and ecosystems under high pressure. At the same time, it can provide us for healthy and secure dwellings and support our well-being while mobilizing the economy.

Sustainability is needed to reduce its impact, but conventional sustainability is not enough, and the urge to act due to the Climate Change emergency is immediate! That’s why it’s time to go beyond sustainability and adopt a regenerative approach, which can transform the construction sector into an agent of holistic positive change for all.

HOW

The platform works as an open-source knowledge center, aiming to support the understanding and diffusion of Regenerative Materials in the context of Sustainable Construction for all. The platform is organized around three components: REGENERATIVE MAP, providing for a geo-localized data collection of regenerative materials use in the built environment, availability, and professionals, REGENERATIVE LIBRARY, consisting is an open-source archive of documents supporting learning on the topic, MOOC IN REGENERATIVE MATERIALS, the open-access short course “MOOC in Regenerative Materials” developed by the Chair of Sustainable Construction can be accessed globally anytime, and provides for self-managed learning on the topic of Regenerative Materials, with a specific focus on the Global South.