Place Ecologies

Where place meets context and we sit in the mess

OUR PRACTICE GROUNDS & PROJECTS

SOME OF OUR PRACTICE GROUNDS:
WORKING THROUGH COMMUNITY

We adopt living systems principles as our guide for working with places, communities and nature.

A regenerative approach understands that nature is organised into nested systems. This is true for places, communities as well as our ecological systems. Everything and everyone has a purpose. Significant change can happen from small actions. When we work holistically, understanding the dynamics of local contexts and our own agency, we can create conditions where everyone flourishes.

HOLISTIC SYSTEMS

RESPECT & RECIPROCITY

Regenerative approaches shift focus from visitor numbers, growth and profit to the well-being of places. Deep respect is shown for the social and ecological ecosystems that sustain us. By actively respecting nature, we can move beyond 'business as usual' to become genuine caretakers, and build more resilient livelihoods less reliant on crisis and recovery payments.

POTENTIAL OF PLACE

We work with the natural potential that exists in every person, place and community. Through deep engagement and genuine connection, we help unlock the regenerative power that lives within both people and places. As these connections strengthen, people discover their own capacity to create positive change—not just locally, but as part of a larger global transformation.

Regenerative development mirrors nature's flows. Like all living systems, tourism patterns move through cycles of birth, growth, decline and renewal. Rather than trying to preserve outdated models, we work with these natural rhythms to create future-fit approaches. By monitoring flows, we help places innovate and adapt, creating positive change that benefits both community and nature.

EVOLUTIONARY

ALWAYS LEARNING

Like all living systems, we evolve through reflection, sense-making and adaptation. Our strength comes from sharing and co-creating understanding—from lived experience to traditional wisdom and new insights. By deep listening and embracing different ways of knowing, we create pathways for genuine change.

CONNECTED IN FLOWS

In living systems, everything connects—creating intricate webs through which information, energy and resources flow freely. Like ripples in a pond, every action we take creates waves of change that move through communities and places, often in unexpected ways. Instead of a fixed plan, the power lies in a process of diversity, inclusion, co-creation and connectivity.

TOURISM AS A LIVING LENS

Tourism isn't just about visitors—it's a window into how places live and breathe. Tourism is a lens for understanding how and why places change. While human mobility is innate, tourism reveals the complex interplay between society, economics, environment, politics, and cultural systems. Moving beyond marketing-centric views, tourism illuminates how places evolve through interconnected systems. By observing these dynamics, we gain insight into how thriving communities naturally become compelling places to visit.

The future requires us to let go of old boundaries and to think in systems. It also requires that we develop literacies beyond marketing and policy responses that go beyond industry frames. By reintegrating tourism into the wider context of living places, we create space for something more meaningful to emerge. That's why we work concretely in four key areas:

REGENERATIVE PLACES

Uncover potential

Design with nature

Defining resilience in place

Experimental actions

CONNECTED COMMUNITIES

Connecting & communing

Networked governance

Social licence

Storytelling

COMMUNITY WEALTH BUILDING

Regenerative business

Community capacity building

Regenerative ecosystems

Learning journeys

REGENERATIVE LEADERSHIP

Regenerative leadership

Collective activation

Speaking & workshops

Research & sense-making journeys

Regenerative tourism
by design