New StoreNew Store

This glossary supports the development of this new shared vocabulary. Over time, we add to it, revise definitions and examples, while we test our notions in practice and discover how our work can benefit human and other-than-human life. So the glossary is a work-in-progress that is expanding and improving in constant collaboration. As of spring 2022, Nieuwe Instituut is a Zoöperation, an organization in which the interests of nonhuman life are part of organisational decision making. With the introduction of the New Store, an alternative concept for “regenerative retail,” the institute is exploring, through a series of successive branches – starting with a pop-up store in Eindhoven in the fall of 2023 and a subsequent one in Milan in April 2024 – how to realize stores that contribute to the wellbeing of the planet.

Also see: doughnut economy.

A circular economy is an economy in which all material flows remain in the system, and no ‘waste’ is produced. The waste of one process is the resource for the next process. But there are different practical understandings of this general definition.

In an earlier and more traditional understanding, the aim is to isolate economic processes from the ecosystems in which they are embedded. Materials remain inside economic processes and do not enter the living world. This implies that this version of the circular economy is seen as a (perfect) and 100% efficient system, that exists inside but in isolation from its surrounding ecosystems. As 100% efficiency is physically impossible, this ideal version of the circular economy cannot be fully realised.

In a later and more expanded understanding, a circular economy is also biobased, which integrates it in the living world. A regenerative economy and a circular economy are then more identical, but a nuanced difference in perspective remains: in a regenerative economy, the difference between ‘economy’ and ‘ecology’ ceases to exist, whereas in this regenerative version of circularity, there is still a human economy as distinguished from more-then-human economy (more commonly known as: ‘ecology’)

The term commons refers to cultural and environmental goods that are accessible to all members of a community or society. Commons are neither privately owned, nor managed by public institutions. Commons are only those goods or resources that are managed as a commons. A key researcher was Elinor Ostrom, who received the Noble Prize in Economic Sciences for her research into the management of commons, identifying eight priniples) for effective managing of commons. In a capitalist economy, many goods or resources that were managed as commons in earlier days, have been privatised. This is known as the process of ‘enclosure’. The enclosure of common land and its resources goes hand-in-hand with the growth of a capitalist economy.

Also see: Commons

Commoning, or to common, is the reintroduction of a practice of managing a resource as a commons. It involves the reversal of privatisation or enclosure of a resource — seeing a change in ownership and the way a resource is managed for example.
New Store acknowledges that the resources it works with should be understood as a commons (even if they are not carefully managed as such). New Store aims to be a member of commons driven community, acknowledging that we cannot do this alone. And in doing so, New Store embodies a commons based ethics.

Also see: Currency

Commodity money is a type of currency that carries intrinsic value — coins made of precious metal, for instance. Here the exchange value is identical to the market value of the currency token.

A consumer may traditionally be understood as a person who purchases goods or services for personal use. Within a capitalist economy people are understood and treated as consumers. The focus lies on their act of consumption as the key necessity for capitalist growth.

In a regenerative economy, however, people's processes of consumption are isolated from the other things they do as participants in exchange. Nobody is exclusively a ‘consumer’.

Participants in regenerative economy do consume, of course — all bodies need to eat, but they also engage in other sorts of interactions. They may contribute time, attention, knowledge, or work. They also always produce 'waste', as all living beings do, and this waste should be of value for other bodies. All bodies that participate in a regenerative economy are understood as consuming, producing and exchanging value.

A currency in general is a system of money in common use within a specific environment over a period of time. A currency circulates as a medium of exchange value — like the euro is euro (€) is the official currency of the European Union. There are three general ways by which the values of currencies are supported: fiat money, commodity money and representative money.

The Cradle-to-cradle) design approach was a foundational principle for the circular economy. The concept created by Professor Dr. Michael Braungart sees the design of products or systems mimicking ecological processes, where specifically all materials within production processes are seen as the ‘nutrients’ in a healthy metabolism. All materials used in human industry are either recycled, upcycled or returned to the earth at the end of a product's life.

The Doughnut Economy is an alternative economic ideal that includes the interests of ecology and non-human life. Described as a “playfully serious approach”, or a compass of sorts, the concept developed by Kate Raworth uses the shape of a doughnut to visualise a strategy to ensure life’s essentials are accessible to all. Here a ‘social foundation’ (inner ring), and an ‘ecological ceiling’ (outer ring) create a doughnut. Within the inner ring lie 12 dimensions of social foundations, and beyond the outer most ring lie 9 planetary boundaries. A doughnut, or ‘green zone’ is formed between the two rings. Outside this zone is considered either a shortfall or an overshot.

Compared to the notion of a regenerative economy, the doughnut economy is more human-centric. The doughnut image depicts a human economy that aims to isolate itself from ecosystems. Both a doughnut economy and a regenerative economy will not exceed planetary boundaries, but the doughnut economy does not consdider how it may contribute to the health of ecosystems, other than staying away from them. In the doughnut model the notions of ecology and economy are not integrated. If a doughnut image would be drawn of a regenerative economy, both the social foundations and the planetary boundaries would be indicated for human and more-than-human life.

Also see: Regeneration

For the New Store, when thinking about regenerative practices, social regeneration and ecological regeneration need to go hand-in-hand. One cannot happen at the expense of the other. and they should be approached as integrated processes. Using these separate terms leaves open the possibility that they distinguish between the human and non-human, when in fact a regenerative practice does not approach these as separate. However they offer an entry point, and can be used to help make clear what we mean by regeneration.

Ecological regeneration refers to the ongoing repair, renewal or rebuilding of relationships between non-human living entities and or between non-human entities and their physical environments. Social regeneration refers to the ongoing repair, renewal or rebuilding of communities and networks of humans.

Both ecological and social regeneration involve developing relationships that support all parties involved; where all bodies that participate are thriving. The same principles apply to all forms of life, and relationships become mutual and reciprocal (regenerative)

For the New Store, not all products or processes may achieve the same level of regenerative quality. That is, some may be more socially regenerative or ecologically regenerative. For a more detailed explanation on the different levels of regeneration, see the regenerative label here.

Exchange is a process between two or more bodies giving and receiving forms of energy, matter or meaning. Generally, a store is a place where goods or services are exchanged for money. New Store is interested in alternative forms of exchange that expand beyond monetary transactions. This might include the swap of one’s time for the use of a space or one’s work or special attention in exchange for using materials or other objects, for example.

Also see: Currency

Fiat money generally does not have intrinsic value or use value. It has value only because the individuals who use it as a unit of account — or, in the case of currency, a medium of exchange agree on its value. They trust that it will be accepted by people as a means of payment for liabilities.

Common examples of fiat money are the currencies that are backed by states or groups of states. The value of this money is guaranteed by the states that use it in their economies.

Different communities have accepted wildly different tokens as fiat currency — for example in prisons, cigarettes or canned foods can be the fiat currency of use. In the alternative sysem of time banking, the currency is 'time'.

Also see: Exchange

Gifting is a form of exchange where one gives forms of matter, energy or meaning, without a formally calculated expectation of anything in return. First and foremost, gifting establishes a relation between giver and receiver, but the nature of this relation is not fully established through the act of the gift. Gifting can be seen as a more an open ended form exchange. With sincere intentions, gifting can establish and maintain a relationship between two individuals or parties. Gratitude in the form of commitment to a relationship can create social regeneration. However, gifting tends to produce a kind of obligation on the part of the receiver of the gift. An unacknowledged gifting relationship may lead to tensions.

Generally, a museum store is a place where a visitor can purchase gifts. New Store aims to stock and sell products that in themselves give rise to new relationships. That is, the product should create relationships through its use, or at its end of life. The New Store aims to enrich the act of gifting, whereby visitors can gift new relationships.

In a regenerative economy*, a product is never only a material object. A product service is a human artifact of which a set of services, experiences and relationships are inseparable parts, and that are co-designed in the realization of the product service. It may include, for example, a local repair service, or the ability for users to provide feedback on the design, or, for example, the support by the creators of a user group in which knowledge about possible applications is shared. In a regenerative economy*, product services maintain and large number of regenerative relationships with the social-ecological networks in which they operate.

This definition is contributed by Giulia Cantaluppi and Isabella Inti of Temporiuso.

Model based on the revitalisation of the local economic fabric through neighborhood relations and social and environmental relationships, which also revolve around small businesses and local products. In Milan, the proximity economy is also a collaborative economy when it also includes hybrid socio-cultural spaces, managed by associations and cultural entrepreneurs that provide self-organised services to the neighbourhoods, subsidiary but not substitutes for municipal services.

Regeneration is an ongoing repair, renewal or rebuilding process. It implies that a system or entity recovers, renews or rebuilds itself after damage, loss or some other form of deterioration. It can be a biological process in an individual animal, for instance, a broken leg of a stick insect that gives way to a new one, a wound in your human skin that heals, or a lobster’s scissors that regrow fully when it loses them. The word can also refer to how a clearing in a forest grows back with successive generations of different plants and trees, or how a pond comes back to life after winter.

In ecosystems, regeneration occurs when balance and reciprocity return to the system when they have been disrupted. Technologically, regeneration would mean that materials or systems renew themselves when they are degraded.

For zoöperations [see Zoöp*] and for the New Store, regeneration is always about both ecological and social aspects of ongoing repair and renewal. For social regeneration, one can think of the development of equal living and working conditions, the creation and maintenance of communities, and a shared commitment to social justice.

The adjectival, descriptive derivative of the phenomenon or process of regeneration*. When we call a process or system “regenerative,” in short, it means that it contributes to the restoration, renewal or ongoing reconstruction of (human-inclusive) ecosystems and appropriate living conditions. Examples:

• Regenerative agriculture is a form of agriculture that not only provides people with food, but also provides for other-than-human life. Such agriculture improves soil quality and provides other life forms with opportunities for habitat, feeding and forming relationships.
• A regenerative building chain is a way of realising buildings in which all stages in the process, from the design of the building to the production of building materials and the construction itself, are undertaken in such a way as to enhance the life-supporting capacity of the planet. A regenerative building chain uses regenerative materials in a nature-inclusive design, realized with consideration for the life cycles of local ecosystems.
• Regenerative design is a design process that for all aspects of the design of a product service* (material use, required transportation, production, sale, use and end-of-life) ensures that realisation contributes to opportunities for habitat, food and reciprocal relationships for all stakeholders.
• A regenerative economy is an economy that provides for the needs of all life, not just some people. Thus, this is the same as a human-inclusive ecosystem. Economy is the combined production, exchange and consumption of goods and services. The word also indicates the science that studies this. According to the Dutch dictionary Dikke van Dale, the definition is “the study of ‘the human [sic] pursuit of prosperity,’ The field of regenerative* economics, then, is the study of the common pursuit of prosperity (and well-being) of all life."

These are different terms for the same concept. These different terms are necessary to make the concept recognizable in different contexts. Regenerative economics as a term connects to the living world of economists. Human-inclusive ecosystem is more recognisable for ecologists. Zoönomy is the term used by Zoöps*, who want to think and work beyond the separation between nature and culture (or ecology and economics). Zoönomy means something like the (household) rules for all life. As long as humans talk of an ecology alongside an economy, they think from a separation of the world of humans and that of other-than-human life, which is one of the root problems of the current ecological degradation.

Also see: Currency

Representative money is any medium of exchange printed or digital, that represents something of value, but has little or no value of its own (it has no intrinsic value). Unlike some forms of fiat money (which may have no commodity backing), genuine representative money must have something of intrinsic value supporting the face value.

In the broadest sense of the term, sustainability might be understood as a societal goal for “people to co-exist on the planet over a long time”. Or in other words, simply the ability to sustain human life on earth. Despite it’s numerous variations, the concept of sustainability always works with three key dimensions: environment, society and the economy. Sustainable development refers to the ability to meet the needs of the present without comprising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. A regenerative economy goes beyond the linear notion of a sustainable approach, in that it aims to not only sustain life, but also repair and renew it.

Also see: Exchange

A transaction is a calculated form of exchange, in which one good or service is exchanged for something else of value. In transactions among equal parties, to which both agree, the exchanged values are also equal. If one party is more powerful than the other, the less powerful party may be forced to accept less than equal value than the other party. (this would constitute a degenerative relationship)

Value webs are networks of human and other-than-human participants in the creation and maintenance of product services*. All participants in value webs provide and derive value from their participation. Value webs are an effect of applying the patterns of ecological modes of exchange to what we are used to seeing as economic forms of exchange. In value webs, multiple types (chemical, aesthetic, social, financial, etc.) of value carriers (currencies) are always exchanged simultaneously, without being reducible to a single standard unit of value.

Zoöp is short for Zoöperation (cooperative with zoë, the Greek word for 'life'). Zoöp is an organisational model in which the interests of other-than-human life are actively represented and included in decision-making. A Zoöp is aimed at a transformative learning process with which the organisation (that has introduced the Zoöp model) learns to contribute to social-ecological regeneration. Nieuwe Instituut is the first Zoöp in the world, since April 2022. Three more Zoöps were founded in November 2023.

This glossary is a work in progress that, as the New Store project advances, is continually updated, improved and expanded. Latest update: 5-6-2024.