Category: BlogPage 1 of 8

The joy of the ‘train classique’

France is well-known for its TGVs. But there is a place in my heart for the ‘trains classiques’, the older, long-distance trains that still trundle round the older…

Using ChatGPT to generate ideas

In this post I share some initial thoughts on how using ChatGPT to generate ideas changes creative thinking for engineers, and other humans.  My simple model for idea…

Vision for a regenerative programme of forestry and building maintenance at Hazel Hill Wood

This afternoon I met with two trustees of Hazel Hill Wood to develop some ideas for a funding bid to support more regenerative use of timber to maintain…

Experiments in limiting modal shift

I’m enjoying listening to ‘World without Email‘ by Cal Newport. I’ve been an aficionado of inbox-management techniques for many years, but this book adds in new layers of…

Reading the patterns from the regenerative design lab

This week I am delving into the data we gathered from cohort one of the regenerative design lab. As I struggle to process reams of text my first…

Downhill to the weekend – time for writing

I’m just noticing that I’m entering that perfect groove of Friday afternoon. I’ve stopped travelling for the week and I’m back at my desk. My head is buzzing…

An experiment in foundational capital

Last year I read about foundational capital in Lean Logic. It’s the idea of the capital that systems depend upon to live. For us Earthlings it’s clean air…

Regenerative Design Tetris Blocks

There’s lots of regenerative design thoughts bubbling around between my ears. I often get to a point in my creative process where I feel I can’t write something…

Patterns versus words

In my exploration of regenerative design I’m often struck by how language is a barrier to exploring regenerative thinking. I can see two things at play here. The…

Workshop: things to think and feel about a design brief

I was in Cambridge again yesterday to deliver the second workshop in a new cycle of material on conceptual design for the Interdisciplinary Design for the Built Environment…

A myriad of questions about regenerative design

In my post earlier last week I made the case for regenerative design as a response to the range of systemic ecological, social and climatic challenges that we…

Regenerative design as a response to the systemic challenges we face

In the construction industry we are focused on tackling anthropogenic carbon emissions. But this focus misses two wider points.  Firstly, that the climate crisis is just one of…

Targets for regenerative design

Rather than look at a design process and ask ‘is that regenerative’, I find it more insightful to look for where a design process is enabling a living…

Notes from the Île de Ré

Our summer tour continues. From Batz-sur-Mer we took a TER train to Nantes. No cycle reservation necessary. And then from Nantes, an Intercité train to La Rochelle. This…

The Great Elephant – Les Machines de L’Île

The highlight of our visit to Nantes was standing next to the Great Elephant as it set off for one its walks around the former dock yards. The…

Salt harvesting in Brittany – engineering and commoning

Salt has been harvested in the bay between Le Croisic and Guérance on the edge of Brittany for centuries. The industry had been in decline but in more…

Champtoceaux to Nantes – reflections on Loire à vélo

The last leg of our journey along the Loire à Vélo cycle route, à 35km flat run into Nantes. It was misty as we covered the early morning…

Ponts de Cé to Champtoceaux

A day for integrated travel! 70km from Ponts de Cé to Ancenis, and then 10km by kayak, our bikes carried to the downstream dock in a van, then…

Saumur to Ponts de Cé

The next leg of our cycle trip along the Loire took us from Saumur to Ponts de Cé, a town a little south of Angers. Again the river…

Cher-Loire confluence to Saumur

The one night we decided to sleep with out a tent and it rained. Only a few spots at around 5am, but enough to wake me and wonder…

Amboise to the Cher Loire confluence

We left Amboise, climbed the out of the valley of the Loire and over into the Cher, which runs parallel to the Loire and would be what we…

Muides sur Loire – Blois – Amboise

The second day of cycling along the Loire. A relatively flat 70km that would get steadily heavier going as the day heated up. The cycle path along the…

Paris – Orleans – Muides-sur-Loire

Today our trip shifted gear, away from the city and on the road again. We left paris from the Gare Austerlitz, which feels like it has been under…

Provins – Tour de Femmes stage 2

From stage one of the Tour de Femmes in Paris to a very different stage two finish in Provins. The stage in Paris was of ceremonial importance, but…

Women and men’s Tour de France

One of the anchor points for our trip this summer is to catch the start of the Tour de Femmes, which coincides with the end of the Tour…

Paris – towers, boats and beaches

Today we had a proper tourist day in Paris. We’ve been numerous times with our daughter but now she’s old enough to remember we decided to take in…

Ouistreham to Paris

The port of Ouistreham is about 15km from the city of Caen. Journey today began with a cycle along the canal de Caen à la Mer. The canal…

Caen to Santander

Today we begin our summer #surfacetravel continental adventure: from Caen in Normandy to Santander in Northern Spain. We are travelling via mixture of bicycle and train. The adventure…

If you want to save the planet… have dancing lessons

Serendipitously, as I was preparing for my first dance teaching workshop this morning at the Idler Festival, I spotted a quote in one of my other open browser…

A shout out to the dancing crowd at the Idler Festival

This post is a message to all the lovely people who joined one my dancing lessons at the Idler Festival. You were such a lovely crowd. I had…