Bioregional Sensing: new elective for the DRRS MAS ETH in Regenerative Systems

Bioregional Sensing
Designing Resilient Regenerative Future

Building Bridges to Resilient Futures
April 2025, Venice Lagoon, Italy

The Bioregional Sensing event – discover the new initiative organized by Designing Resilient Regenerative Systems (DRRS), and the DRRS MAS program core partner MonViso Institute in partnership with Camping Ca’Savio.

The event explores the interplay between natural ecosystems and human systems in fostering resilience, for the broader Venice Lagoon and its hydro-geographical relation with up- and downstream flows with the neighbouring Alps.

This two-part event immerses participants in a transformative experience designed to inspire, educate, co-design and mobilize for designing toward regenerative futures.

That worldviews exist and that we argue from our own worldviews, that the dominance of Western worldviews shape how we try to deal with crises, is a next entry door to expand our awareness of different ways of knowing and reasoning.

Part 1
Systemic Cycles

The event begins with a Systemic Cycles tour, a guided multi-day bicycle trip following the three major Alpine rivers of this bioregion — Brenta, Sile, and Piave. These rivers, once vital suppliers of fresh water, nutrients, and sediments to the Venice Lagoon, are central to understanding the lagoon’s ecological and socio-economic dynamics. Participants will cycle downstream from the Alps to Camping Ca’Savio on Venice’s offshore coast, engaging in “insight-seeing” rather than mainstream sightseeing, contributing to long-term bioregional mapping and sensing.

The SC tour combines regional exploration with systemic learning, allowing participants to:

— understand more about the complex ecosystem of the Venice Lagoon and the challenges it faces in achieving resilience and regeneration,

— experience a moving social adventure that shifts the perspective from passive observation to active engagement,

— explore bio-regional supply chain systems and their potential for circularity and regeneration by mapping flows, and getting in direct contact with people we meet.

The Systemic Cycles tour blends active learning with a practical understanding of systemic design, offering an innovative approach to fostering ecological awareness and sustainable tourism. This SC tour counts as well as a module of the SC guide training program.

Part 2
Unconference: Building Bridges to Resilient Futures

The event’s second half takes place at Camping Ca’Savio, in and around the innovative Experience Lab. This physical space is a hub for bioregional learning, exchange, and collaboration, setting the stage for two days of dynamic interaction with physical hands-on experiences and a lagoon kayak tour.

The Experience Lab is a creative meeting space with a new multimedia VR exhibition and a physical, dialogic space for multi-sensual interaction.

Under the theme Building Bridges to Resilience Futures, the unconference invites participants to actively exchange ideas and co-create pathways for developing resilient regenerative regional futures. The character of the unconference focuses on the dialogic and direct project-specific co-creative exchange, rather than classic presentation formats.

Key objectives

— Collaborative Learning: facilitating dialogue among systems thinkers, designers, local experts, and industry professionals.

— Actionable Insights: generating strategies for
fostering regeneration in resurgent regions.

— Cross-Sector Synergy: connecting the DRRS community with stakeholders from tourism and other sectors to build partnerships for systemic impact.

The Experience Lab encourages open dialogue, creative experimentation, and shared learning, becoming a springboard for future regional initiatives. Local host Camping Ca’Savio offers a wide variety of accommodations and has a great restaurant catering for all.