The RegenGIS-method

A practical way to move from site analysis to design choice in regenerative landscape projects.

The RegenGIS method helps designers use spatial analysis before layout, planting, or earthworks are fixed.

It is built for projects where water, terrain, soil, microclimate, access, and long-term management all affect what makes sense.

The method does not automate design. It helps make design reasoning clearer, more testable, and easier to explain.

What the method is

The RegenGIS method is an early-stage decision-support framework for regenerative design.

It connects three things:

  • landscape analysis

  • design questions

  • explicit design decisions

Its role is not to generate the answer for you. Its role is to help you read the land, compare options, and document why one strategy makes more sense than another.

What the method helps with

The method is useful when a project needs more than inspiration or pattern language.

It helps with questions like:

  • where water should be retained, redirected, or left alone

  • which parts of a site should be restored, protected, planted, accessed, or phased later

  • where exposure, slope, and moisture create opportunity or constraint

  • how different design strategies compare once landscape structure becomes visible

  • how to explain a design choice to collaborators, landowners, funders, or implementation partners

The RegenGIS Method

The 4 stages of the RegenGIS method

1. Read the landscape
Map the patterns that shape opportunity and constraint: slope, water flow, wet and dry zones, solar exposure, and microclimate.

2. Formulate design questions
Turn those patterns into site-specific questions about water, planting, restoration, access, and use.

3. Explore design scenarios
Compare different ways of working with the site, including different interventions, layouts, and phasing choices.

4. Justify design decisions
Document why one strategy made more sense than the alternatives in this specific context.

What makes it different

Many projects move too quickly from site visit to preferred concept.

The RegenGIS method creates a middle layer between observation and final design. That is where assumptions become visible, trade-offs become discussable, and alternatives can be tested before implementation.

What the method does not do

The method does not replace field observation, local knowledge, or management judgement.

It does not promise a universal best solution, and it does not remove uncertainty where the data is weak.

Its job is narrower and more useful: help teams make better early-stage decisions with a clearer view of the land.

In plain language

The RegenGIS method helps designers move from seeing landscape patterns to asking better questions, comparing options, and making design decisions they can explain and defend.

Get Early Access

RegenGIS tools and courses are currently being developed. If you want to explore how spatial analysis can support regenerative design, join the waiting list.

You will get early access to

  • the RegenGIS QGIS plugin

  • new learning resources

  • online courses about GIS in regenerative design

  • community discussions and experiments

Join the early access list now!

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