A collaborative research publication and resource base
BioHubs: A Pathway to Regional Resilience
A paper about physical hubs designed to catalyze social, ecological, and economic transformation in the regions around them, generating value across scales.
152
Initiatives Mapped
44
Countries
30+
Practitioner Interviews
What this paper offers
A Common Language and Three Contributions
Juntos Farm, Spain
What is a BioHub?
An Infrastructure for Regeneration and Resilience
We use the term BioHub to refer specifically to projects with physical infrastructures — such as farms, campuses, or community centers — that have been developed to support broader regional transformation efforts.
Three filtering criteria
We have used the following filtering criteria in our research for screening projects that best fit this description:
A physical site that acts as an anchor for broader regeneration efforts — a farm, campus, community space, or innovation hub.
An outward-facing and systemic orientation — aiming to influence activities and actors beyond itself, with awareness of its role in the broader (bio)region.
A role as a node or connector — aligning actors across sectors and maintaining coherence in a long-term collaborative regeneration effort.
1 — Pattern Analysis
A Pattern Analysis of an Established Body of Practice
Nearly a third of the 152 initiatives we mapped predate 2000. Across very different geographies, the patterns of success are consistent: a five-year threshold before results attract sustained support; founders absorbing early risk; community trust built slowly through deep listening; a strategic entry point that broadens over time; cultural identity revival as connective tissue; governance as an ongoing practice; inner development as an explicit investment. The frictions are equally consistent — finance as the most-cited obstacle, legal frameworks that fail to fit hybrid models, and measurement systems that cannot hold multi-domain, holistic outcomes.
2 — Design Framework
A BioHub Design Framework Built Around a Cooking Metaphor
The framework offers a vocabulary for improvisation rather than a fixed template. Seven ingredients recur across BioHubs in the research — Land and Ecology, Food and Material Flows, Knowledge and Learning, Culture and Social Fabric, Governance and Stewardship, Finance and Enterprise, and Human Health and Inner Development.
Three ways of working any of them: Build (physical infrastructure and productive systems), Cultivate (people, relationships, and capacity), and Connect (links outward into wider systems). Together they compose toward four outcomes: healthy provisioning systems, social cohesion, ecological regeneration, and economic resilience.
3 — Value Model
A Three-Layer Business Model Architecture Aligned with Spatial Scale
Layer 1 — Site
What the physical site itself can offer: hospitality, education, housing, material streams, renewable energy, research hosting.
Layer 2 — Landscape
Value chain anchoring, corporate offtake, regenerative placemaking, real estate value uplift, community wealth-building structures.
Layer 3 — Bioregion
Ecosystem service payments, outcomes-based finance, rights-based land finance, bioregional bonds, Bioregional Financing Facility partnership. Each layer builds the foundation the next requires.
The Paper
Download the Full Whitepaper
Citation Eva Gladek, Serena Joury, Amy Beilharz, Analise Roland, and Nico Branas Michaelsen. BioHubs: A Pathway to Regional Resilience. Metabolic, Anura Capital, Artistree, and Basin Collective, May 2026, biohubs.earth.
BioHub Examples
Case Studies
A subset of initiatives selected from our global research for their illustration of different aspects of BioHub model in action. These examples are intentionally diverse to show the many ways BioHubs can be realized. Full repository of initiatives below.
Global Overview
152 Initiatives Across 44 Countries
Featured case study
Repository initiative
Scroll to zoom · Click and drag to pan · Double-click to zoom in · Hover markers for details
Full Repository
Explore All 152 Initiatives
Our research database spans 44 countries and includes initiatives at various stages — from emerging experiments to mature multi-decade institutions. Use the search and filters to find initiatives relevant to your context.
A Note on Terminology
Throughout this paper, we use the term BioHub to refer specifically to projects with physical infrastructures — such as farms, campuses, or community centers — that have been developed to support broader regional transformation efforts.
This is distinct, but not entirely separate, from the broader use of the term bioregional hub, which can be physical, virtual, or both, and often refers to community-led efforts that facilitate regeneration-related activities and networks within a bioregion. Our use of "BioHub" is a practical choice to clearly identify the specific subset of initiatives that are the focus of this research and provocation, building on the use of the term we have used and observed among practitio
Resources
Resources
The following frameworks, guides, networks, and online communities surfaced during the research process. They are offered as potential starting points for practitioners looking to engage with bioregional and place-based regeneration work.
Frameworks
Story of Place
Regenesis Group's foundational framework for understanding the unique character and ecological identity of a place as the basis for regenerative design.
A structured approach to thinking about transformation at different timescales — useful for navigating between sustaining current systems and pioneering new ones.
Four Modern Paradigms Framework
Carol Sanford's framework for understanding the developmental assumptions embedded in different models of organizational and societal change.
Donella Meadows Leverage Points Framework
Meadows' foundational work identifying places to intervene in a system — from parameters to paradigm shifts — essential reading for systems change practitioners.
The Long Run 4Cs Framework
A practical framework for regenerative tourism operators and land stewards, integrating Conservation, Community, Culture, and Commerce.
A conceptual model for understanding how cultural change propagates through communities and organizations — useful for the cultural stewardship work central to BioHubs.
Three Lines of Work
A framework for understanding the parallel tracks of relationship-building, structural development, and knowledge generation in place-based transition work.
Elinor Ostrom's 8 Design Principles for Managing the Commons
Ostrom's evidence-based principles for governing shared resources through community institutions — foundational to commons-based governance design in BioHubs.
Community Weaving
A body of practice and frameworks for the relational, connective work of building coherence across a bioregional network of actors.
To note, this list is just a snapshot. Many of the initiatives in our repository also have a wealth of open-access guidebooks and resources on their websites.
Communities of Wellbeing
Community-led Assessment and Activation of Regenerative Values and Mindsets — a participatory guide for facilitating community transformation processes.
A Guide to Bioregional Mapping and Planning
A practical guide to bioregional mapping and planning developed by the BioFi Project, designed to help practitioners define and navigate their bioregional context.
A training guide for practitioners working on bioregional governance, developed by ECOLISE, the European network of community-led initiatives on climate change.
Resources and guidance for structuring community land trusts — a key legal and governance tool for mission-aligned land stewardship and anti-speculation protection.
Networks, Collectives & Online Spaces
Bioregional Weaving Labs Collective
A global community of practice for bioregional weavers — people doing the connective tissue work within living landscapes. Active online spaces and regular convenings.
Founded by Joe Brewer, the Design School hosts an active global community of practitioners working on applied bioregional regeneration with courses and research labs.
The active online community of the Bioregional Financing Facilities project — bringing together practitioners, funders, and researchers working on place-based capital mobilization.
The world's largest platform for integrated landscape management, convening practitioners, policymakers, and researchers working on sustainable land use.
The Fellowship for Intentional Community — a comprehensive directory and network connecting ecovillages, cohousing projects, and other intentional community models.
A global alliance of learning places rooted in local communities and ecosystems, working to reimagine higher education in service of ecological and social healing.
We are excited to be launching this paper at Katapult Future Fest 2026 in Amsterdam and will be sharing events — both live and virtual — where we would love to connect with the growing community of practitioners in this field.
Conference — Paper Launch
Katapult Future Fest 2026
📍 Amsterdam, Netherlands · 📅 27–29 May 2026
We are proud to be launching the BioHubs paper at Katapult Future Fest 2026. Katapult brings together impact investors, founders, and systems thinkers working on solutions to the world's most pressing challenges — a key venue for connecting the BioHub movement with values-aligned investors and global changemakers. Three days of ideas, art, and action for a thriving planet.
r3.0 Bioregional Open Dialogue 12: BioHubs Nourish Bioregional Metabolism
📅 Tuesday, 16 June 2026 · 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM Eastern · Online (Zoom)
We're delighted to have the opportunity to share more about the BioHubs paper and this work at the upcoming r3.0 dialogue. The r3.0 Bioregional Open Dialogue series brings together researchers, practitioners, and systems thinkers to explore the frontiers of regenerative economics and bioregional transition. Dialogue 12 focuses specifically on the BioHubs research — examining how place-based physical infrastructure can nourish bioregional metabolism and support the conditions for lasting systems change.
TierraMor's residency program offers an immersive experience at the intersection of regenerative land stewardship, place-based enterprise, and bioregional community-building. Set in Costa Rica, it brings together practitioners, designers, and founders working to develop the next generation of BioHub models. An opportunity to learn, prototype, and connect in a living demonstration context.
This paper was collaboratively developed between several organizations and individuals who deeply care about regional resilience — and who see the necessity for more capital and capability to flow into this space.
Writing Team
Eva Gladek
Author
Metabolic
Serena Joury
Author
Metabolic
Amy Beilharz
Author
Artistree
Analise Roland
Author
Anura Capital
Nico Branas Michaelsen
Author
Basin Collective
Research Team — Metabolic
Serena Joury
Lead Researcher
Eva Gladek
Researcher
Nikita Joshi
Research Intern
Laura Martinez
Research Intern
Designers
Marta Sierra García
Anna Mishchenko
Cassie Björck
Emma Dietz
Partner Organizations
This publication was developed collaboratively across four organizations.
Metabolic is a systems change organization supporting the transition to a circular, regenerative economy. We work across consulting, data science, and venture building to help governments, communities, and institutions design circular strategies, unlock blended finance, and deploy systemic capital into place-based solutions. Our focus is on building the infrastructure — strategic, institutional, and financial — needed to catalyze and scale (bio)regional transformation. www.metabolic.nl
A real estate investment and advisory firm built on the principles of regenerative design. Operating at the confluence of financial, social and environmental returns, Anura invests and develops within growing market sectors — offering returns across people, planet and profit through eco-luxury hospitality, educational campuses, and Bioregional Hub centers. anura.earth
A design-build studio specializing in innovative, sustainable treehouse architecture. Winner of the 2024 CODA Design Award for Residential Buildings, Artistree brings craft, creativity, and a deep connection to natural materials and living systems to its work. artistreehome.com
