Regen Sydney
🌐Regen Sydney is taking a systemic view to help transition Sydney as a city and bioregion toward a life-affirming economy, moving from anthropocentrism to ecocentrism through neighborhood-scale programs and regenerative action.
Bioregional Context
Regen Sydney operates in the Sydney Basin Bioregion, on the lands of the Gadigal people. Sydney is a metropolitan city facing challenges of transgressing biophysical boundaries while not meeting social thresholds, needing to move into the safe space of the doughnut.
- Network Affiliation
- r3.0
Background
Regen Sydney works in the Sydney Basin Bioregion on the lands of the Gadigal people. Like many wealthy cities, Sydney overshoots ecological limits while still falling short on social foundations—the “doughnut” gap between planetary boundaries and fair social outcomes.
The bioregion mixes neighborhoods, catchments such as the Cooks River, and the wider metro area. Regen Sydney treats bioregions as open and changing—especially under climate stress—and edges between bioregions as seams of connection, not walls. Everyday rhythms—tides, seasonal bird movements, trees turning—offer handles for reconnection at neighborhood scale.
Origins and Network
Regen Sydney takes a systemic view: help shift toward a life-affirming economy by linking people already pursuing that shift, and—across generations—move Sydney as city and bioregion into the doughnut’s safe space.
It acts mainly as convenor: creating conditions for those conversations and engagements. The neighborhood scale matters because people can feel community and living systems there in concrete ways.
Activities
Sydney Doughnut Economy
They use the doughnut model with eyes open to both its strengths and limits. Adapted to Sydney, it captures place-specific ecological and social dimensions. For them it works as bridge and compass—supporting systems thinking that turns into action, speaking enough of the language of current institutions while holding a relational ethos. Across activities, it functions as a shared tool to grow systemic leadership and see past silos.
Waverley Community of Practice
In Waverley they are midway through a three-phase program. Phase one—community of practice. They invited groups already active locally—Transition Bondi, Bondi Innovation, beach cleanups, and others—and asked what regeneration in this neighborhood could mean. Over four months they balanced rigor (so institutions would take outcomes seriously) with convivial process—picnics, film nights, and similar gatherings. A community of practice of about 160 people formed; visioning held social and ecological dimensions together. Mapping exercises helped people attune to the place’s particular rhythms. Phase two—cornerstone indicators. Guided by Katherine Trebeck, they use “cornerstone” measures as a counterpoint to indicators that read as technical or illegible to the public. The idea: a small set of metrics the public can stand behind—living at the interface between institutions and communities. Cornerstone indicators braid social and ecological dimensions. One example: families who are glad not to need a car in a given area—touching transport, services, autonomy, and emissions in one indicator. Midway through phase two, they compare the neighborhood vision (informed by memory of pre-colonial conditions and honest about structural barriers) with what council is already doing, surface gaps, and ask how to measure progress toward the vision. Phase three—transition pathways. They will help people find roles in the transition. With vision and indicator-backed targets, the question becomes how the community can act together in ways that complement council and raise ambition. Methods will include live modeling games and “warm data” sessions to weave diverse knowledges. Participants have already offered sharp reflections—for instance, that connection to place can rest in a deeper spiritual bond with nature. There is no single fix; some see Waverley’s doughnut work as carrying wider significance.
Regenerative Action in Thematic Areas
A middle layer focuses on thematic work across the Sydney bioregion and metro—food systems, river restoration, and related themes. Specialists have labored in these areas for decades but are not always woven into one strategy. Regen Sydney aims to convene unlikely alliances, align intentions, and apply upward pressure on existing government layers. They are beginning with the Cooks River Alliance in a southwest catchment and are watching where that collaboration leads.
Deep Economic Code Work
The deepest layer addresses the “economic code” of the place—alliances among academia, institutions, and government to move beyond GDP toward more holistic metrics that shape decisions and finance. The tension is to pair a bold horizon with practical next steps.
Vision and Legacy
Regen Sydney works across three layers—neighborhood programs, thematic regenerative action, and deep economic code—toward civic infrastructure of interdependence.
The shift they seek is from passive consumption to active citizenship: not a vote every few years but ongoing responsibility as custodians of place and community. Through that work they hope to surface agency, connect allies, grow a movement, and clarify complementary roles.
The through-line remains: transition toward a life-affirming economy, linking people already on that path, and—over generations—moving Sydney as city and bioregion into the doughnut’s safe space, meeting social needs without breaching ecological limits.