Sustainable & Regenerative Design

Design for Community Regeneration (D4CR)

D4CR partners with communities in a process of imagining and planning their resilient future addressing food, water, and energy security while increasing economic opportunities, social cohesion, and finding low cost housing options. Communities participate in a ground-up "Geodesign" process assisted by geographic data, and a dashboard for community goals. Regional clusters of rural, peri-urban, and urban communities will explore how to identify their assets of land such as underutilized golf courses, school properties, and industrial sites and participate in an inclusive decision process about future regenerative land use yielding initiatives ready for implementation.

The project is led by led by Tim Griffin, Jonee Kulman Brigham, and Dewey Thorbeck, at the Minnesota Design Center.

D4CR web site

Funding:
Initial Seed Grant: Minnesota Design Center
D4CR Warren (Phase 1 and 2) Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships and City of Warren, and additional in-kind support by organizations listed at the website.

Solar Commons Project

The Solar Commons Project is a multi-disciplinary research project. We apply the Solar Commons Model of low-income community trust ownership in Living Labs with community partners. Our trust ownership model gathers the sun’s common wealth through rightly-sized solar panels, monetizes solar savings in a social wealth fund, and distributes the common wealth over two decades through local, transparent, peer-governed community trusts that support regenerative local livelihoods. Solar Commons researchers share the tested legal and digital tools and standards we co-create.

The Solar Commons Research team is led by Dr. Kathryn Milun, MDC Affiliate and Associate Professor & Director of the Center for Social Research in the Anthropology department at University of Minnesota, Duluth and Jonee Kulman Brigham, Senior Research Fellow at Minnesota Design Center, with a team of researchers in law, art, architecture, engineering, economics, and computer science.

Link: Learn more about Solar Commons.

Funding: Multiple

Blooming Energy: Engaging with students and the community on the dual-benefits of solar plus pollinator habitat

A solar array on West Bank Campus of the University of Minnesota will be transformed with a focus on regenerative design to serve as a model of university research and thought leadership in regards to solar energy landscapes. Where there are currently weeds and turf grass, pollinator habitat will be planted to increase biodiversity, reduce storm water runoff, and improve soil quality. This solar array sits on a prime location near the hub of campus, where it’s easily accessible and can be transformed to integrate design for a sense of place. The project will include design charrettes where university students, faculty, community members, and external experts will collaborate to formulate creative ideas through which to enhance and interpret this site to educate the public and explore regenerative solar innovations for greater Minnesota. The project story map documentation will show how regenerative design approaches to our expanding solar landscape can be pragmatic, participatory, equitable, and beautiful.

The project is led by Aaron Hanson, Program Specialist for Leadership and Education at the Institute on the Environment, and Jonee Kulman Brigham, Senior Research Fellow at Minnesota Design Center, with an interdisciplinary project advisory team.

Funding: Institute on the Environment Mini-grant and Minnesota Design Center.

Minnesota GreenStep Schools

Minnesota GreenStep Schools helps schools and district improve the environmental, economic, and health performance of their facilities while supporting environmental education.

See this project listing under "Green Schools and Environmental Education" for more information or visit the website at www.mngreenstepschools.org