Charlotte Binder, Dennis Posthumus, Karolien Dekkers and Sara Simões

Community market ‘Buurtmarkt Goed Volk’

Lichtenvoorde, the Netherlands

Community market for local (and organic) food and produce.

It was originally designed with sustainability aspirations. It lends itself well to exploring the “what if (the designers had applied regenerative thinking)” question, as it, unfortunately, was not continued after just over a year. There will be plenty of opportunities to explore the regenerative framework and its potentials. It allows us to touch different realms of regenerative thinking, e.g. social, ecological and economical. It is well defined, we have great access to the resources necessary and some of the people involved thanks to Karolien. The project clearly nests within multiple systems, is highly place-based and has a strong social aspect, but wasn't able to engage enough people to sustain and grow the project. It will be interesting to examine this with a regenerative mindset and to regenerative frameworks. The fact that it didn’t “succeed” could make for deeper enquiry. It has huge potential, and it can change a system, but why did it not work? What was missing in the design? What if….? Even though it ran for just a year, the project has sufficient elements (social, economic, ecological) for us to reflect on using a regenerative framework. The project is multi-faceted yet not too complex. There seems to be a clear 'whole' that it aimed to affect. There's lots of potential in the commitment and dedication to changing the way the community works, as well as the intention it brings to change the awareness of the whole community regarding food issues and how the land is treated.

- http://www.buurtmarktgoedvolk.nl (dutch only)

- https://pgsnederland.nl/updates/boer-burger-dialoog-in-de-achterhoek/ (report in Dutch on field lab Participatory Guarantee Systems)