- Beyond Sustainability - The Case for Regenerative Design
- Understanding Place - Climate, Site, and Solar Geometry
- The Six Integrated Systems - An Overview
- Building with the Earth—Natural Materials
- Passive Solar Design - Heating and Cooling Without Machines
- Off-Grid Energy Systems - Power from the Sun
- Water - Catching, Storing, and Cycling
- Liquid Waste Treatment - Botanical Systems
- Food Systems—Buildings That Feed
- Community Design - Scaling Up
- The Integrated Design Process
- Appendix A: Glossary of Key Terms
- Appendix B: The Pangea Textbook Series
- Appendix C: Key Design Principles at a Glance
- The Regenerative Community Vision
- Site Assessment and Land Reading
- Land Use Law and Legal Frameworks
- Master Planning for Regenerative Communities
- Infrastructure Systems Integration
- Housing Typologies and Density Design
- Community Governance Structures
- Economic Models for Community Development
- Phased Development Strategy
- Community Resilience and Long-Term Stewardship
- Appendix A: Legal Entity Comparison Chart
- Appendix B: Community Design Checklist
- Appendix C: Glossary of Community Development Terms
The transition from individual buildings to community-scale design involves identifying which systems are most efficient when shared and designing the infrastructure to support sharing. Energy, water, and food production are the three systems most amenable to community-scale sharing.
A community microgrid connects the solar PV arrays and battery banks of multiple buildings into a shared network. Total battery storage can be reduced because not all buildings experience peak demand simultaneously; surplus generation from one building can serve another that is in deficit. Community-scale energy infrastructure — larger battery banks, shared charge controllers, community-level monitoring and management — is simpler and more cost-effective per household than individual off-grid systems, while providing greater reliability.
Shared water systems can serve multiple buildings from a larger combined cistern with a greater total catchment area. A larger cistern provides greater buffer capacity for dry periods; a larger catchment area harvests more water per unit of infrastructure cost. Where individual household catchment is insufficient for water independence, community-scale water systems can make off-grid water supply viable in climates that would be marginal for individual households.