Beyond PropTech: How Regeneration Will Redefine the Future of Real Estate

For years, I believed that technology could positively influence the real estate sector. This belief was reflected in the rise of global PropTech (the merger of the two industries, property and technology) that began in 2016. This development promised rapid progress: 1 + 1 = 11 (the network effect of digital transformation). Digital change would bring efficiency, transparency, and innovation to an industry traditionally characterised by inertia. Billions were invested. Digital technological solutions flooded the market. However, despite this progress, the results were mixed. Urban areas remain vulnerable to climate shocks. Housing has become less affordable. Communities are becoming more fragmented, and health issues are arising. Technology has streamlined operations and optimised the industry, but it hasn't fundamentally changed the core paradigm.

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

– Albert Einstein

From digital progress to living potential

As environmental, social, and governance (ESG) risks grew, one realisation became clear: the problem isn't a lack of technology, but a lack of a living perspective. Real estate doesn't exist in isolation. Every development impacts watersheds, microclimates, the local economy, and the community. Yet, we treat these systems as isolated assets to be managed, not as parts of a living whole. What if innovation weren't about disruption but about regeneration? What if our urban environments could become ecosystems that restore vitality (source) rather than deplete it (resource)? That question marked a shift from digital transformation to systemic transformation. The transition wasn't easy. For about a decade, I helped build the global PropTech movement – connecting technology and real estate, and later sustainability (ESG/ SDG-related topics). It was exciting and purposeful. But over time, I recognised its limitations and realised it wasn't enough; we truly needed something else.

When PropTech (for Good) is not enough

PropTech has been beneficial, but inherently limited. Technology tends to reinforce outdated ways of thinking. Dashboards track efficiency but seldom foster empathy or restore topsoil. Blockchain creates a single source of truth, but does not restore urban wetlands. LLMs learn from what has been, but not from what is happening. Let alone build trust in the community. In other words, technology can be a tool but not a guiding paradigm. Sustainability has become a performance and exposes the logic of extraction. Sustainability reports measure harm reduction instead of health creation. I wrote about this turning point in "The End of PropTech for Good and a New Beginning." That reflection also emphasises that you cannot build a new business with an old mindset. Digital tools cannot regenerate systems founded on extraction. Adding more apps will not restore the operational logic. Without a regenerative mindset, technology risks becoming just another layer of optimisation on a fundamentally degenerative system that extracts more than it gives back. When current real estate organisations adopt new technologies, it creates an outdated, expensive industry.

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” – Buckminster Fuller

From Technology to Life-Centred Paradigms

It became clear that the next frontier isn't technological and about sustainability, but paradigmatic. The tools of one era can't support the vision of the next. PropTech, as we define it today, improved processes within the same model, but regeneration redefines the model itself. Carol Sanford describes this evolution as four paradigm levels, from extraction to regeneration:

1.     Extract Value (Level 1) – The dominant logic of the industrial era: optimise performance, maximise efficiency, and extract resources without concern for replenishment. This is where much of PropTech still operates, improving the machine's performance rather than the system’s vitality.

2.     Arrest Disorder (Level 2) – The paradigm of control and correction. Here, technology measures and manages deviations from standards. ESG, certifications, and digital twins often live here, seeking to “fix” imperfections rather than redesign the system.

3.     Do Good (Level 3) – The moral stage of innovation. Decisions are guided by intentions to “do good” and to meet standardised ideals of responsibility or impact. Yet this still imposes external ideals on living systems, often flattening their uniqueness into compliance metrics.

4.     Evolve Capacity / Regenerate Life (Level 4) – The regenerative paradigm. It shifts from imposing ideals to cultivating potential. Real estate becomes a living participant in its environment, evolving capacity within and around it.

Technology, finance, and design serve life's ongoing evolution, not its optimisation. This is the point we must cross – shifting from extraction and control to regeneration and co-evolution. Real estate doesn't need to be managed; it needs to be remembered – recognised as part of an interconnected living system. Where PropTech asked: "How can we optimise the property, increase financial returns, and reduce the carbon footprint?", regeneration asks: "How can this place enhance the health and life of its surroundings?"

Digitalise → From 0 (analogue) to 1 (digital)

Digitalisation → 1 + 1 = 3 (processes)

Digital Transformation → 1 + 1 = 11 (network effect)

Regeneration → 1 + 1 = ∞ (creating life to thrive)

This shift isn’t ideological; it’s strategic. Because resilience, reputation, and long-term value now depend on the systemic health of our planet as a whole.

Relearning What Makes Systems Alive

This shift required unlearning. Digital transformation has taught us to seek predictability, scalability, and speed. But living systems thrive on flexibility, diversity, and feedback. The very qualities considered "inefficient" in technology – redundancy, local variation, slower cycles –are precisely what make ecosystems resilient. It wasn't about abandoning technology, but about using it to serve life, not the other way around. In rethinking systems, we must also recalibrate ourselves. Regenerative design and development require a different kind of leadership —one that values context over control, collaboration over compliance, and curiosity over certainty. When real estate leaders begin to view their projects as living systems, everything changes: decisions become relational, risk becomes shared responsibility, and success is measured in vitality rather than yield. Regeneration begins with the understanding that we are part of a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.

Integrating Technology, Ecology, and Purpose

The gap between technology and ecology, between profit and purpose, and between value and values has existed for decades in the real estate and technology sectors. PropTech and ESG have made progress, but only partially. They operated within a mechanistic worldview, measuring impact without addressing the system that produces it. The regenerative paradigm incorporates what came before. It uses technology as a tool, not a master, finance as a circulatory system, not an extractive engine. When these domains intersect, the question arises: how do we design urban environments that evolve, adapt, and give back more than they take?

Next Era is Regenerative

Today, I approach real estate as a nature. It shapes how people connect, how communities form, and how ecosystems are maintained. A regenerative urban environment isn't a trend. It's a strategic response to systemic change. It builds resilience through design: projects that restore ecosystems reduce long-term climate vulnerabilities. Communities that share ownership lessen social risks. Developments driven by purpose outperform those focused on short-term profit. This isn't about rejecting technology; it's about redirecting it. Digital tools can model energy, water, and value flows; AI can forecast ecological impact; blockchain can make shared (re)sources transparent. But only when guided by a living purpose. The next era of innovation in the built environment won't be driven by efficiency and control, but by evolution and regeneration. Regeneration isn't just a theme; it's a (180-degree) paradigm shift. The future of growth lies in our ability to innovate, not just expand. Thriving in this new era requires evolving the system from within and, as "outsiders," approaching things differently than we have for centuries.

“What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.” – Jane Goodall

Forget PropTech as we define it today. The future of the real estate sector is regenerative. It begins when we design with a set of living principles and design and develop for life. “The regenerative era is already unfolding. The question is not whether we join it but how courageously we choose to participate.

Author:

Menno Lammers