What are we transforming towards? The importance of having an ambitious regenerative vision

Efforts directed at social and environmental challenges over the last four decades have generally aimed to reduce harm to sustainable levels, such as to make systems less damaging, more efficient, or less wasteful. This is necessary but insufficient to address the burgeoning health and environmental crises facing people and planet. If the goal is only to slow deterioration, the underlying dynamics generating harm remain intact, and patterns driving deterioration will continue.

When working to support transformational change that seeks to address these underlying dynamics, a different kind of ambition and goal is needed. This article introduces the importance of having a transformational vision, including what it means, why it matters, and what a genuinely transformative direction might look like.

The problem with insufficient vision

Without a clear and ambitious vision of what a transformed system would actually look like, efforts at change tend to produce improved versions of what already exists. Think of the difference between a caterpillar and a butterfly. Butterflies are not a better version of caterpillars, faster or more resilient, but a different kind of creature entirely: one that flies, reproduces, and feeds in ways the caterpillar never could. That is the distinction between optimisation and transformation. Importantly, if a vision is not visionary enough and equates to a fatter, fitter, faster caterpillar rather than a butterfly – then actions to address underlying causes will likely not sufficiently focus on the depth of change that is required.

The Sustainable Development Goals offer one widely used example. They are a significant achievement in building global consensus around shared challenges, which is a respectable feat given the scale of international coordination involved. Yet critics argue that by remaining framed within existing economic assumptions, they fall short of providing a genuinely transformational direction that is capable of addressing the deep underlying dynamics that generate the problems the goals are designed to solve.

Regenerative systems as a guide

A more demanding concept, and one gaining traction across multiple fields, is that of regenerative systems – systems that do not simply cause less harm, but are designed to actively produce wellbeing for people and wider nature. The aim is not just to reduce harm to sustainable levels or slow down damage being made, but rather to build systems that reinforce social and ecological benefit.

A regenerative system is one that sustains both itself and the wider system of which it is part. It does not extract from its environment without replenishing it, and is what Janine Benyus describes as a system where life is conducive to generating more life. Applied to food systems, for example, this means asking not only whether production is sustainable, but whether it actively rebuilds soil health, biodiversity and community resilience and whether the people within the system are themselves supported to flourish. In this case, while moving towards regenerative practices on farms is important, we also need to be thinking about how regenerative dynamics are needed within connections of multiple farms, communities and food systems as a whole and where producers, consumers, and ecological conditions continue to reinforce each other in beneficial ways.

Such a vision is in contrast with current arrangements. A food system can appear functional – feeding people, generating economic activity, and so on – while simultaneously degrading the ecological and social conditions it depends on. Regenerative thinking insists instead we need something very different where the dynamics of an envisioned future actively reinforce the conditions conducive to life.

Vision as a political act

Choosing a direction for transformation is not a technical decision. It reflects values, and it has consequences for whose interests are served. The International Land Coalition's vision of people-centred land governance illustrates this clearly. Recognising that equitable land rights are foundational to healthy societies, sustainable food systems and democratic governance, their vision places those who live and work on the land – women, Indigenous communities, smallholder farmers – at the centre of decision-making. This is a vision that redistributes power, not just resources, and lends itself to reshaping the dynamics that underpin people's relationship with the land and each other.

Three implications for practice

What these examples share, including visions of regenerative food systems and the International Land Coalition, is a commitment to imagining futures that are fundamentally different in their dynamics, not just in their outcomes. A specific, grounded and normatively clear imaginative act is what gives transformation its direction. Without it, efforts to change systems risk reproducing the very arrangements they set out to transform: more efficient, perhaps, but not fundamentally different.

The argument that transformation requires an ambitious, regenerative vision has direct consequences for change initiatives. When designing or pursuing transformation:

1. Be explicit about the future being sought. Vague commitments to sustainability or resilience are insufficient as guides for transformational change. A useful vision specifies what the dynamics of a transformed system will look like. This might include not just its intended outcomes, but also the relationships, flows and patterns that generate them.

2. Test whether your vision is genuinely transformational. Ask whether it changes the underlying logic of the system or simply improves its performance. A food system oriented around regenerative dynamics would look structurally different. For example, it would not just be cleaner or more efficient, but also look different in terms of how land is managed, how value is distributed and how communities relate to the food they produce and consume.

3. Recognise that your vision will be contested. Different actors will hold different views of what a transformed future should look like, and those differences reflect real differences in values and power. Engaging with that honestly rather than defaulting to the least contentious common ground is part of what makes a vision genuinely transformational.

Vision, in this sense, is not a preliminary step to be agreed quickly before the real work begins. It is itself a form of transformational practice and one that requires sustained attention, honest dialogue and a willingness to imagine something genuinely different from what currently exists.

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Prof Ioan Fazey | Department of Environment and Geography, University of York

Want to explore this further? The concepts introduced here are drawn from our guide Transformation: An introductory guide to fundamental change for researchers and change makers in a world of crises. The full guide covers what to transform towards, through what means, and whose perspectives shape the process.

For a deeper dive into regenerative systems and dynamics, see our guide An introduction to regenerative dynamics.

AI use statement: this article was developed from the source report by the authors. AI tools were used to support editing and to suggest structure. The analysis, framing and content are drawn directly from the report and reflect the authors' own judgement throughout.