An exploration into the value of ‘gap system’ within regenerative design

This paper explores the possible contribution of ‘gap system’ within the context of regenerative design, highlighting how ‘gaps’, as overlooked, unexplored, and unrecalled dimensions of creative practice, can provide critical opportunities for regeneration. Drawing on ongoing research into weave structures conceptualised through the holes in between yarns, and by presenting the outcomes of a workshop, we illustrate the potential of thinking through ‘gaps’ as a nuanced perspective for regenerative design. Here, ‘gaps’ become sites of reflection, emergence, and transition. We show how this approach reshaped participants’ ways of mapping systems by focusing on ‘gaps’ rather than existing linear knowledge, enabling them to rethink disciplinary futures and, through a regenerative lens, reshape both the boundaries of their own practices and their reflection on those practices. Drawing on participants’ reflections, we argue that such spaces, often overlooked and unnoticed, constitute an unstructured generative site for rethinking design as a regenerative practice.