The deed is done!
Thank you to all who supported my thesis work these last few years!
My primary research—user testing the REGEN Nest card deck in digital formats—showed great promise in terms of this tool’s potential for teaching regenerative design and for furthering the goals of sustainability in higher eduction. Students and recent alumni from all over the United States reacted positively to the graphics, the content, and flow of the activities even despite some technical difficulties and the low-fi nature of these early prototypes. Mini Decks for Self Development, Restoration, and Co-evolution were demonstrated in live zoom workshops or via a video-facilitated, interactive website. In total 27 participants interacted with one or more of the decks, providing actionable feedback for future development of The Nest. Each Mini Deck has the following components to make for a versatile, replayable, and adaptable tool for higher education.
I hope to continue refining the existing Mini Decks and develop the remaining decks, using the learning outcomes in this Nester’s Journey diagram below. In the next phase of development, I believe there is enough substance to show professionals (who focus on regenerative or sustainability work), as well as put it to the true test of applying the framework to a real, practical design project that can be evaluated for effectiveness at creating the conditions for regeneration of ecological and social systems. The Nest is ready to regenerate.
If you are interesting in sponsoring the refinement of the activities, graphic design, and video content of The Nest, please reach out, using the contact form on the REGEN Nest Website.
At risk of being very cliche and meta–this is where my thesis journey ends and my career path regenerates. This has been an incredible experience of self development. It has shifted my worldview, gave me a sense of how to intervene in systems for positive change, and has grown my network. Though these folks for donated their time and expertise, I realized that regeneration is not up to me alone but relies heavily on collective effort and knowledge. They further helped me deepen my knowledge of cultural and ecological degradation, enabling me to see the path to restoration and future co-evolution with nature. My own journey mirrors the Nest itself.
As I return to the professional world full time—with all of these newly nested skills, relationships, and capabilities—I will also be constantly in the feedback loop of starting again with self development and self care, which will shift my worldview, as learn new ways of systems intervention, while building new cooperative community links and discovering cultural and ecological place literacy, all leading to restoring and furthering co-evolving with nature. This work will consistently bring me back to self development as I learn how to better build equitable and ecologically life-giving systems.
Thanks for following my thesis Journey! Take care!
If you’d like to see more of my work, please check out the rest of my portfolio website.
LARA ISAACSON 