All Hands on Deck Symposium 2023, UTS, Sydney.
Day 2: Generative Practices, 20 July 2023

Dr Kate Scardifield (UTS): "Brick by brick, shell by shell: (Bio)material practices for regeneration, repair and resilience"

Vanessa Conrad (Kind Humankind), Professor Krishna
K. Shrestha (UNSW) & Professor Daniel Robinson (UNSW): "Follow the hemp: Ethical and sustainable manifestations of ‘Made in Nepal’: An investigation of the global value chain the production of hemp apparel"

Chair: Associate Professor Alexandra Crosby (UTS)

All Hands on Deck was convened by Jesse Adams Stein and Chantel Carr. This symposium was supported by the Australian Research Council, UTS School of Design, Faculty of Design, Architecture & Building, and Australian Centre for Culture, Environment, Society & Space (ACCESS) at the University of Wollongong. allhandsondeck2023.com/

Symposium convenors: Jesse Adams Stein, Chantel Carr
Audio production: Jennifer Macey, Emily Perkins
Graphic Design: Thea Kable
Graphic illustration: Sam Wallman

Special thank you to D'harawal eora Knowledge Keeper and Sydney Registered Traditional Owner Shannon Foster, who opened this session with a powerful Welcome to Country. Shannon and Jo Paterson Kinniburgh shared an incredible panel discussion with Alexandra Crosby - release of the audio for this discussion may occur at a later date, subject to Shannon and Jo's wishes.

Generative Practices: Katherine Scardifield, Vanessa Conrad, Alexandra Crosby

Kara Pecknold, VP of Regenerative Design at Frog and a leading voice in sustainable innovation, joined us for a conversation on what it truly means to design for regeneration.
She breaks down the challenges and opportunities of embedding regenerative thinking into organisations, helping us explore how brands can move beyond green checklists toward a deeper, systemic approach that lies at the intersection of nature, culture, and business goals.
Highlighting that “Regenerative design can help businesses localise,” she also discusses a potential direction to navigate today’s global crises, thus requiring a reframing of business as we know it.
This episode invites us to imagine futures where businesses give back more than they take, offering a hopeful push we all need.

In this episode, Kara draws from her experience of guiding regenerative design with clients across diverse local contexts, helping us imagine the power of viewing business like nature. 
She speaks on how regenerative design cannot be siloed into CSR activities, and why it's important that it be tied to all parts of the organisation.
She also touches upon several frameworks tackling this problem, like biomimicry, the doughnut economy etc. - helping us put a practical approach to regeneration, rather than viewing it as an idealistic utopian future.
Tune in to discover how this future-focused approach can guide you through the complexities within the boundaries of today’s world.

Key Highlights
👉 Regenerative design encourages businesses to rethink growth by focusing on giving back more than they take from natural and social systems.
👉 Embedding regenerative thinking requires breaking silos - making it a company-wide commitment, not just a CSR initiative.
👉 Localising parts of your business can build resilience amid global disruptions like supply chain challenges and geopolitical shifts.
👉 Regeneration blends nature, culture, and business goals into an integrated systemic approach.
👉 Leadership buy-in at the top and empowerment at the grassroots are both essential for regeneration to take root.
👉 Limits and boundaries are vital concepts, challenging the endless-growth mindset and inspiring new business models.
👉 Biomimicry offers design inspiration by learning from nature’s time-tested strategies and cycles.
👉 Designing for regeneration means fostering creative disruption rather than clinging to business as usual.

Topics /chapters
(00:00) Regenerative Business: What 
Does It Mean? - Intro
(01:24) Introducing Kara Pecknold
(03:10) The Personal Side of Transformation
(05:20) Tactical Implementation of Regenerative Design
(09:30) Defining the Natural Element
(12:23) Do customers seek a regenerative future?
(16:49) Navigating the Tension in Regenerative Indicators
(19:40) Does Regenerative Design Apply to Digital Companies?
(24:31) Bio-regionalism and Relocalization of Business
(28:15) Regenerative and Localized Organizational Design
(31:09) Impact on Organizational Operating Models
(33:27) Role of External Stakeholders
(35:22) Defining Regeneration
(36:04) Constraints and Limits within Regeneration
(41:09) Reimaging Design beyond the Classics
(45:27) Breadcrumbs and Suggestions


Remember that you can always find transcripts and key highlights of the episode on our website: https://www.boundaryless.io/podcast/pecknold-kara

Episode recorded on Apr 24, 2025

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Music
Music from Liosound / Walter Mobilio. Find his portfolio here: https://blss.io/Podcast-Music

#122 - Regenerative Business: What  Does It Mean? - with Kara Pecknold

A cross-disciplinary symposium. Work, skill and material production at a time of human and environmental calamity. 19-21 July 2023. University of Technology Sydney and the University of Wollongong. 

Supported by the Australian Research Council, UTS School of Design, Faculty of Design, Architecture & Building, and Australian Centre for Culture, Environment, Society & Space (ACCESS) at the University of Wollongong.

Convenors: Jesse Adams Stein, Chantel Carr
Keynote speakers: Alice Twemlow, Tim Ingold
Audio production: Jennifer Macey, Emily Perkins
Live Drawn Illustration: Sam Wallman
Graphic Design: Thea Kable
Symposium assistance: Michelle Montgomery, Michael Fisher, Jack Sawyer
UTS AV assistance: Jayden Nowatka, Aaron Clarke
Speakers: As indicated in each track description.

More information: https://allhandsondeck2023.com

Acknowledgement
This project acknowledges the Gadigal of the Eora Nation upon whose ancestral Country the UTS campus now stands, and the Dharawal, Yuin and Wadi Wadi peoples as the Custodians of Country in the Illawarra, where the UOW campuses are situated. We pay respects to the Elders, past and present, acknowledging them as the traditional Custodians of knowledge for these lands.

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New tracks tagged #regenerative design