Regenerating Learning: Permaculture for Sustainability Learning at Business Schools and Beyond

Permaculture gardens are hands-on holistic regenerative opportunities for more life-centred business education. Community gardening is a growing movement worldwide, offering multiple environmental and social benefits, including greater energy efficiency in buildings, enhanced biodiversity in cities, production of locally grown, organic vegetables, integration of local community both as producers and consumers, enhanced wellbeing, and learning opportunities.

Regenerating Learning offers a fascinating exploration of the challenges and opportunities of hands-on sustainability learning in a business school context through the development of a permaculture garden on the campus. Blasco and Fróes chart the process of ideating and creating ’Permahaven’ - a permaculture garden designed to function as a hub for learning and disseminating knowledge about regenerative social and environmental practices inspired by permaculture principles and as a restorative space within the campus.

Exploring the opportunities and challenges of undertaking such a project at a business school, Regenerating Learning provides a template for other schools to follow.

Maribel Blasco is Associate Professor in the Department of Management, Society and Communication at Copenhagen Business School, Denmark.

Isabel Fróes is Assistant Professor in the Department of Management, Society and Communication at Copenhagen Business School, Denmark.