Place-Based Systems Change for Regeneration

Place-based ways of living are needed to effectively confront our interrelated environmental, social, and economic crises. This shift in how we live is entirely possible but requires systems change to reorient our lives around the places where we live.

When critical levers— shifting power, transforming land use, resetting culture, and leveraging other systems— are applied to systems, conditions arise that enable living connected to place and make the regeneration of community, nature, and local economies possible. Strategic Collaboration, systems-oriented government, place-based education, and personal change are need to catalyze systems change.

Place-Based Systems emerge, collectively shape how we live, and support collective well-being (personal, community, and environmental well-being together):

  • Housing is available and affordable in mixed-income, mixed-use communities.

  • Work: local businesses, government, and organizations provide livelihoods and meaningful work for people where they live.

  • Transportation: active, community-oriented, and pollution-free modes are easily accessed and safe.

  • Community Space is safe, car-free, and vibrant.

  • Nature Space is abundant, accessible, and nearby.

  • Food: regional, healthy, and seasonal food is available and affordable.

  • Building Energy is regionally harvested from renewable sources, and conservation and efficiency are default choices.

  • Consumer Goods are available in local stores, shared, repaired, and regionally made and recirculated with minimal waste.

Guiding Principles

  • CONNECTION: Enable everyday connections to place, community, and nature.

  • PLACE-BASED LIVING: Provide what people need to meet their basic and higher-level needs in the place where they live.

  • INCLUSIVE COMMUNITIES: Ensure all people feel welcome and belong in communities that thrive with diversity.

  • RESILIENCE: Promote regional and local self-reliance across systems, especially through community networks and nature-based solutions to climate threats.

© Matt Biggar, Ph.D., Connected to Place (2019; revised 2020, 2021, 2023)