Abundant Futures Design Lab
![The Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund. © Iwan Baan](/sites/default/files/styles/hero/public/2024-04/1811_N137_indd.jpg?itok=O-cjKv5K)
![The Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund. © Iwan Baan](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/primarycarousel/1811_N53_indd.jpg?itok=2QZkRk6G)
![Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture Masterplan](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/primarycarousel/21107_N23_indd.jpg?itok=EliR2FKd)
![Northside Hub at 58 Parker Avenue](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/primarycarousel/1929_N3_indd.jpg?itok=65gm5SwF)
![Rwanda Institute for Conservation Agriculture. © Iwan Baan](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/primarycarousel/1813_N593_indd.jpg?itok=CVRSahEf)
Fostering a just and regenerative future that promotes health and healing for all species.
The Abundant Futures Design Lab will leverage the best of what MASS has learned over 15 years, contributing cutting-edge research and experimentation to push policy and practice. With nature facing unprecedented challenges, it is crucial to take action and restore our planet. MASS offers a unique perspective and experience that can drive change over the next five years, producing lighthouse projects and transforming behavior. The Lab will be a beacon of optimism – showing how we can all exist inside the safe operating space of our shared planetary boundaries.
Our challenge is global. MASS has the experience to push boundaries in the most critical geographies, beginning in the United States and Sub-Saharan Africa. In the United States, there are resources aplenty, but implementation is scarce – especially in smaller cities and in larger landscapes. Progress here, against the odds, can provide a roadmap for other major emitters. In Africa, where 1 in 4 people will live by 2050, and where humanity faces some of its gravest climate threats to come, progress here will be essential for both collective survival and global justice. We have developed a multi-year strategy to shift policy and practice toward regenerative futures.
Abundant Futures will support work across the portfolio of MASS projects, including The Rwanda Institute for Conservation Agriculture and The Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, to advance the climate action agenda and uncover opportunities for transformational impact that can demonstrate to others what is possible. Abundant Futures will also seek new projects that have at their core an agenda to combat climate change and restore ecological health, showing how climate action can happen in population centers as well as rural landscapes.
If we can show what is possible in these places, we will establish processes that can be replicated across huge parts of the world:
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Lighthouse Projects: Design and deliver real projects that advance transformative, regenerative principles.
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Research and Dissemination: Prove, document, and broadcast what’s possible.
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Convening: Convene and cultivate networks to share emerging best-practices.
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Policy Change: Influence policy by partnering with cities and industry groups.
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Training: Train designers to serve people and planet on every project.