Approved by the COST Committee of Senior Officials on 24 October 2016, REthinking Sustainability TOwards a Regenerative Economy (RESTORE) is one out of the 25 new Actions that were selected out of 478 eligible proposals collected earlier in April.
RESTORE: ‘to return something or someone to an earlier good condition or position’.
Sustainable buildings and facilities are critical to a future that is socially just, ecologically restorative, culturally rich and economically viable within the climate change context.
Despite over a decade of strategies and programmes, progress on built environment sustainability fails to address these key issues. Consequently the built environment sector no longer has the luxury of being incrementally less bad, but, with urgency, needs to adopt net-positive, restorative sustainability thinking to incrementally do ‘more good’.
Within the built environment sustainability agenda a shift is occurring, from a narrow focus on building energy performance, mitigation strategies, and minimisation of environmental impacts to a broader framework that enriches places, people, ecology, culture, and climate at the core of the design task, with particular emphasis on the benefits towards health.
Sustainability in buildings, as understood today, is an inadequate measure for current and future architectural design, for it aims no higher than trying to make buildings ‘less bad’. Building on current European Standards restorative sustainability approaches will raise aspirations and deliver restorative outcomes.
The RESTORE Action will affect a paradigm shift towards restorative sustainability for new and existing buildings, promoting forward thinking and multidisciplinary knowledge, leading to solutions that celebrate the richness of design creativity while enhancing users’ experience, health and wellbeing inside and outside buildings, in harmony with urban ecosystems, reconnecting users to nature.
The COST proposal will advocate, mentor and influence for a restorative built environment sustainability through work groups, training schools (including learning design competitions) and Short Term Scientific Missions (STSMs).
General information:
CA COST Action CA16114 | REthinking Sustainability TOwards a Regenerative Economy
Start of Action: 09.03.2017 End of Action: 08.03.2021
Proposers: Carlo Battisti w/ Martin Brown, Sue Clark, Emanuele Naboni
Science Officer: Estelle Emeriau
Administrative Officer: Aranzazu Sanchez
For further information: carlo.battisti@eurac.edu
COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) is the longest-running European framework supporting trans-national cooperation among researchers, engineers and scholars across Europe. It is a unique means for them to jointly develop their own ideas and new initiatives across all fields in science and technology, including social sciences and humanities, through pan-European networking of nationally funded research activities. Based on a European intergovernmental framework for cooperation in science and technology, COST has been contributing – since its creation in 1971 – to closing the gap between science, policy makers and society throughout Europe and beyond.
carlobattisti 