Nothing we do is sustainable. Can everything we do be regenerative?
Architect Francesco Allaix argues that in a world where six of nine planetary boundaries are already exceeded, sustainability alone is no longer enough – and even leading pioneers like Patagonia admit that “nothing we do is sustainable.” Drawing on regenerative principles, Doughnut Economics, and Studio Puisto projects in Lapland and Cyprus, he shows how adaptive reuse, ecosystem restoration, and data-driven design can nudge hospitality away...
First came sustainability, and slowly but steadily everyone jumped on the bandwagon. Now that this word has become a blanket of good intentions covering every project and product, we move on to the next one: regeneration. But are we merely changing words, paying lip service to these vague concepts or are we grasping with the true paradigm shift they entail?
A meta-study from Royal Swedish Academy of Science can help us to find some common treads in over 300 cross-disciplinary publications on regeneration and establish some shared tenets. The analysis identifies a few core principles of the regenerative paradigm. The one cited the most in the articles (86%) underscores the need for “inner world” changes, meaning complementing external solutions with inner transformation, for example changes in worldviews and business goals, frameworks and measurements. The second most common one calls for systems approaches, recognizing the need to break silos and adopt holistic ways of thinking. In third place comes the need to move beyond growth-oriented systems to promote long-term human and ecological wellbeing. The fourth most mentioned principle (63%) identifies as crucial prioritizing local knowledge, local communities and their well-being above the interests of external actors and short-term economic gains.
The Hotel Yearbook 2026 - Sustainability Edition
The HYB 2026 The Regenerative Question: What Hospitality Must Become tackles regenerative hospitality's fundamental tensions. Moving beyond sustainability buzzwords, contributors will explore three perspectives: purists advocating holistic living-systems approaches; realists demanding measurable frameworks for accountability and scalability; and strategists seeking pragmatic balance between transformation and implementation. This edition serves as a critical forum to interrogate the divides, identify synergies, and define actionable pathways forward. By convening industry experts, researchers, and entrepreneurs, we transform contested concepts into constructive dialogue and, ultimately, clarifying what regenerative hospitality authentically is and isn't.