Beyond Sustainability: Innovation, Regenerative Design, and Affection at Blue Hill

The Blue Hill case follows the journey of Dan Barber, one of the world's leading chefs. Having understood the limitations of the "substitution" model of sustainability, he redesigns his restaurant as an innovation lab for the food industry, seeking to win stakeholders' hearts and minds and embed it in the local ecosystem. The case provides an inside view of the innovation process and how, in collaboration with the local ecosystem, Dan reimagines the architecture of the food industry - its economics and operational activities - to create a "regenerative system", i.e., one that replenishes rather than depletes resources. The principles of regenerative design include (i) redesigning the system from beginning to end, (ii) giving as much, or more, than it takes, (iii) paying attention to interconnectedness, (iv) creating change through awareness, agency, and affection. Although set in the food industry, the lessons apply to all sectors of business.