An Overview of Village Well's Regenerative Placemaking Model

Regenerative practitioners, placemakers and people who work in shaping places can help them thrive economically, honour local culture and heritage, foster inclusion and wellbeing, and restore balance with nature; however, it can sometimes be hard to know where to begin or what to address first.

At Village Well, our Regenerative Placemaking Model helps turn awareness into action and can help prioritise actions for your place. With over 35 years of experience and strong roots in research, this model provides a clear framework to revitalise places from overlooked to loved, embraced by the community, and thriving.

The Regenerative Placemaking Model (below) is a values-led framework that ensures we take the time to understand places holistically and help every place we work with become vibrant, resilient, and deeply connected to all five pillars. 

Village Well’s Regenerative Model (above) consists of five regenerative pillars, all set as an aspiration to ensure we keep pushing to build better places:

• Healthy Planet  

• Flourishing Cultures

• Joyful People

• Loveable Places

• Thriving Economies

Together, they create a systems approach that can build life-nourishing places. This model forms the foundation of a diagnostic tool that helps track progress and guide placemaking transformation.

The Regenerative Place Code: A Nested Framework

The Regenerative Placemaking Model may appear simple at first glance, but beneath its design lies a depth of insight and experience, which we call the Regenerative Place Code. The visual below unpacks the Regenerative Place Code, which explains how we use the Regenerative Placemaking Model to measure place performance. The granularity of the Place Code enables us to assess an area's Place Pulse: its overall score, its strengths, and its opportunities for meaningful intervention and improvement. It’s a guide for understanding not just what a place is, but what it could become.

As illustrated in the figure above, the Regenerative Placemaking Model is built around five key pillars, each divided into four layers and further into 90 increasingly specific patterns, progressing from broad values to measurable outcomes. Drawing inspiration from Kate Raworth’s ‘Doughnut Economics’, this Place Doughnut underpinning the Code reminds us that places can fall into two traps, too much (overdeveloped, over-resourced, extractive) or too little (under-resourced, neglected). The goal? To stay within a “just right” zone, where all five pillars are actively supported and contribute to a healthier system of place.

From Current State to a Regenerative Future

Many places today sit in a difficult space, rich with potential but held back by outdated systems or disconnected approaches. That is where our holistic and transformative model comes in, ensuring that all key areas are cared for, and we can identify the space between the current reality and a regenerative future. 

Regenerative Placemaking is more than a methodology; it's a way of working and living. Our model offers a way to not only see places differently, but to change them with intention, evidence-based practices and deep care and thought. 

Our work isn't about surface-level beautification or short-term fixes. It's about understanding how a place can best serve those who use it, weaving together culture, climate, economy and human wellbeing in ways that have a lasting impact. 

As important as it is to have a clear and actionable model, the process of our placemaking work: engaging stakeholders and communities, building relationships and buy-in, and increasing placemaking capacity, is the work that shifts the stories and systems of place and makes projects with Village Well successful. 

You might ask - Why does all of this matter?

Village Well's Five Regenerative Pillars help us ask and answer the hard-hitting questions around place, such as:

• Are we restoring the planet or taking from it?

• Are people simply surviving here, or thriving?

• Does this place invite joy, culture, and connection?

By answering these, we start to transform not just the built environment but the very systems that support and improve life.

Every place holds the potential to be regenerative. Our model is grounded in extensive research, ensuring that each pattern is evidence-based, coherent, and measurable. With the right tools, anchored in pattern, pulse, and purpose, we can work together to regenerate places, one step at a time.