The design and functioning of cities is the key to sustainable development. As the international community turns increasingly towards cities and calls upon them to find effective solutions to the world ́s most pressing issues, cities remain at the center of where the improvements can be achieved. Therefore it is important to engage with a role model for cities that aids regenerative urban space, helping to regenerate the resources that are absorbed and that improves the quality of life of cities. The concept of a regenerative city was dveloped by an international group of urban planers, architects, climate scientists and energy experts between 2009 and 2012. The term builds on the concept of sustainable development but goes beyond that. It puts emphasis on the need for cities not only to sustain but to actively regenerate the ressources they absorb.

Regenerative cities strive not only to stop consuming natural resources at a rate which is faster than ecosystems can recover, but reverse the trend by actively improving the regenerative capacity of ecosystems they rely on. And it adresses the need to also regenerate public space in cities in favour of urban life and people rather than individual car use.