URBAN ACUPUNCTURE
to catalyse regenerative places.
Madison is a designer-researcher, PhD student at the University of Dundee. Her research explores methods for catalysing regenerative places through design and interconnected networks of people and place. She has a particular interest in the mutually-enabling duality of social and ecological activations to reactivate places' potentials.
Urban Acupuncture is a design-led process to diagnose and activate latent potential in cities through spatially specific leverage points within urban socio-spatial networks, prioritising social and ecological interventions as civic infrastructures that mobilise local capacities to catalyse cumulative and systemic processes towards regeneration.
A metaphor (inspired by medicinal acupuncture) for treating the city as a multilayered living system.
Diagnosis before treatment, only intervening with a deep understanding of a place.
Mutually enabling the wellbeing of communities and environments.
Maintaining place identity by working within the capacity of local skills, knowledge and resources.
Utilising minimal interventions for maximal impact by identifying precise points in a system to leverage incremental actions in relational, actor-based and physical structures.
The interconnection of physical, cultural, social and ecologcal systems to support urban life.
Precise points of action which trigger ripple effects across a wider network.
Amplifying networks for long-term resillience & fostering a recipricol relationship between humans and nature
Urban Acupuncture as Social-Ecological Catalysts for Regenerative Places
This research is funded by the Leverhulme Trust (UK) as a part of an interdisciplinary cohort of researchers at the University of Dundee.
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The research engages regenerative innovation across three key themes...
Place-based
Futuring
Nature-based
Regnr8-i embraces regenerative innovation as the successor to established sustainability (no additional harm) and restorative (humans doing things to nature) activities. This nature- and climate-positive approach is consistent with the just transition, enabling humans to exist in biophilic ways and to thrive rather than simply survive.
Inquiry
Ways of seeing places beyond function
This photo essay is a provication to consider how components of places have meaning beyond their function. In urban acupuncture an indivdual intervention is not the solution, instead it is the collective influence to the system in which it exists.
Mapping as a practice for identifying leverage points
This research explores the interconnection of social and physical networks and their mutually enabling potential for resillient, vibrant places. The idea that regenerative narratives are spatially produced is explored through various mapping methods, such as participatory mapping and counter mapping which capture meaning, memory and identity - contexts which are often missed by planning documents.
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Participatory Research
Eden project collaboration
Co-organised Dundee's first Stobbie Jammin' with the Eden Project Scotland Click here to find out more
Academic CV
2024-2028
PhD Student
University of Dundee
My research explores how regenerative innovation and place-based interventions can catalyse lasting social and ecological transformation in cities. I am developing methods to understand, map, and amplify positive change within complex urban systems.
{Thesis} Urban Acupuncture: A Design Process to catalyse regenerative places by activating local capacity through socio-ecological networks.
2020-2021
MSc Advanced Sustainable Design
University of Edinburgh
My master's studies expanded my understanding of sustainability through systems thinking, interdisciplinary design, and research-led practice. This experience strengthened my ability to navigate complex environmental and social challenges through design.
2016-2020
BFA Interior Design
The Savannah College of Art and Design
My undergraduate studies established the foundations of my design practice, focusing on the relationship between people, place, and the built environment. The programme developed my skills in spatial design, creative problem-solving, and designing for human experience.
Conferences & Talks
Placemaking Week EU | Workshop Presenter. Facilitator | Wrocławl, PL | 2026
World Planning School Congress, Aalto University, Helsinki, FI | 2026
Pint of Science | Presenter, Dundee, Scotland, UK | 2026
Anthropy Emerging Leader | Eden Project, Cornwall, UK | 2026
Beyond Sustainability, Towards Regeneration | UNESCO Water, V&A Dundee | 2026
Scottish Government Mental Health & Wellbeing Policy | SGSSS, Edinburgh | 2025
Additional Training
4D Regenerative Design Framework with Daniel Wahl | Gaia Education, 2025
The Nature of Leadership, Hothouse Education | Eden Project, 2025
Permaculture Design Certification | Terra Alta Portugal, 2023