The Regenerative Real Estate Podcast

The most important parts of a place are often the ones you never see. Beneath every building, streetscape, farm, neighborhood, and public space are the systems that decide whether a project can actually work: water supply, wastewater, stormwater, grading, energy, soils, roads, and the hidden infrastructure that either limits or enables what a place can become. In this episode, Neal sits down with...

Most real estate projects begin with a neat answer: a program, a typology, a unit count, a pitch deck that already “knows” what a site should become. In this conversation, we take the opposite approach and ask what happens when development begins with inquiry. Joel Fariss , founder of Sysoma Partners , joins me to explore how systems thinking, human experience design, and community relationships c...

We're joined by Alix Lebec, Founder and CEO, and Julie Wilkinson, Managing Partner and CIO, of LEBEC , a woman-owned global impact investment and advisory firm. They share the capital allocator perspective on what actually makes a project investable, why “capital fluency” is often the missing ingredient, and how developers can better align with the realities of institutional capital. We dive...

We sit down with Carmen and Tripp Eldridge of Convivial Foodscapes to unpack what it really takes to design, launch, and sustain farms embedded inside large scale residential agrihoods. We dig into distribution models, staffing realities, and why a neighborhood farm succeeds only when it is treated like essential infrastructure instead of a pretty backdrop.  • Carmen’s route from family gardens to...

In this episode, I’m joined by Mara Mintzer of Growing Up Boulder for a deep dive into youth-led placemaking and what it reveals about how cities can look, feel, and function differently—often at a fraction of the expected cost. From five-minute neighborhoods and safe routes to school to water play, native habitat, and spaces that invite lingering, kids consistently point to choices that make plac...

Modern life offers speed and convenience, but often at the cost of connection to the systems that sustain us. In this episode, regenerative rancher and developer Thomas Patton joins us from just outside Panama City, Panama to explore what happens when land, food, and daily life are brought back into relationship. Thomas shares the evolution of his family’s 7,000 hectare property from conventional...

Gardening is often portrayed as a pastime, an optional extra woven around daily life. Yet across history and across cultures, people have shaped land for reasons that reach far beyond necessity. Jennifer Jewell , host of the acclaimed show Cultivating Place , has spent decades listening closely to gardeners and land tenders. Through those stories, she uncovers a pattern: cultivation is one of the...

What if we could build with trees without milling them into straight, uniform boards? On this episode, Neal Collins is joined by Amelia Baxter, co-founder and CEO of WholeTrees Structures , a company reimagining timber construction by using unmilled, round timber as structural elements in buildings. Together, they explore how WholeTrees transforms the often overlooked “cull trees,” trees that woul...

Across every continent, degraded landscapes tell a sobering story: wetlands drained, forests cleared, tidal flats diminished. The tragedy isn’t that humanity lacks the knowledge to restore them—we know how to bring these ecosystems back. The real challenge lies in how to finance restoration at scale. In this episode we sit down with Adam Davis, co-founder of Ecosystem Investment Partners , a firm...

Jasper van Brakel is on a mission to regenerate the world with the power of finance and business  As CEO of RSF Social Finance , he leads one of the most innovative financial institutions redefining how capital can serve life—not just profit. In this episode, Jasper shares how his journey through the early days of finance and impact investing led him to the frontlines of the regenerative finance m...

Rob Avis —designer, educator, and founder of 5th World —is using cutting-edge technology to transform how we design resilient and abundant landscapes. In this episode, Rob shares how his journey from petroleum engineer to permaculture leader inspired the creation of 5th World, a company that merges data intelligence with ecological design. After working with thousands of students and designing hun...

What if the future of real estate was rooted in regeneration, not extraction? In this episode of The Regenerative Real Estate Podcast , Neal sits down with legendary permaculture designer Penny Livingston , whose work has spanned continents and inspired a generation of land stewards, builders, and community weavers. Penny shares her journey from conventional landscape design to studying under perm...

For years, we’ve seen the rising demand: people looking for more than just a home. They want community. They want connection. They want to live where food, farming, and stewardship are part of daily life. But while the vision for agrihoods has gained attention, real-world examples that fully integrate regenerative agriculture, diverse housing, and a true sense of place are still few and far betwee...

What if the future of housing isn’t high-rises or cul-de-sacs—but homesteads, gardens, and walkable villages where food is grown just steps from your door? In this episode Neal sits down with Judith Horvath of Fair Hill Farm —a former corporate professional turned agroecologist who’s helping reimagine how we live, grow, and build community. Judith’s journey began humbly with a few backyard chicken...

In this episode, Neal sits down with Micha Mikailian , CEO of Geoship , to explore a bold attempt to reimagine housing at a time when affordability, resilience, and ecological design are more urgent than ever. Geoship is reviving Buckminster Fuller’s iconic geodesic dome—not as a nostalgic throwback, but as a scalable, bioceramic solution to today's housing and climate crises. But this episod...

When we talk about housing innovation, our minds usually go to big cities buzzing with new ideas. But in this episode of The Regenerative Real Estate Podcast , host Neal Collins sits down with Wendy Reid Fairhurst of Reclaim CDO to explore a groundbreaking approach taking root far from the usual hotspots—in St. John’s, Newfoundland. An architect-turned-community-builder, Wendy shares how her own c...

In this episode, we explore the inspiring story of Rooted Northwest , an agrivillage in Arlington, Washington that is transforming a former dairy farm into a thriving co-housing community. With over 85% of the land conserved as pastures and forests, Rooted Northwest weaves together two villages and a collectively managed regenerative farm. Join us for a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to b...

The construction industry is at a turning point. Pre-manufactured housing seeks to disrupt conventional building methods due to labor shortages, weather delays, and material waste, as a faster, more efficient alternative. But efficiency shouldn’t come at the cost of health or sustainability. In this episode, Neal Collins sits down with Evan Ryan, a founding member of Croft , a company pioneering a...

This episode is a front-row seat at a masterclass in regenerative development. Mazyar Mortazavi, CEO of TAS Impact , joins us to share how his Toronto-based firm is redefining urban development by weaving community, sustainability, and impact into every project. Mazyar’s journey is deeply personal—the organization’s strategic plan is following his old master's thesis on anti-gentrification st...

Tre' Cates is an entrepreneur and regenerative thought leader with over 25 years of experience. His work focuses on the importance of building healthy, regenerative organizational environments that support long-term goals without compromising the integrity of society or the environment. As the former COO of the Savory Institute, Tre' played a key role in shaping regenerative agriculture...

Blake Jones is a founder of several cooperative enterprises, including Namaste Solar and Kachuwa Impact Fund. He’s a pioneer in his marrying of the cooperative model and impact investing. Kachuwa Impact Fund is democratically owned and operated by its members. They invest in companies that have a positive impact on the environment and society, and real estate that does the same—such as organic far...

Kris Maher is an architect and developer. For over 20 years, she’s worked for the Rancho Mission Viejo community in Orange County, California, where she is currently senior vice president of community development. The master planned community lies on a former cattle ranch, and currently they are developing a 23,000 acre entitlement that will have 14,000 homes in six non-contiguous villages. Almost...

Jenny Andersson is a regenerative strategist and educator, and the founder of the Really Regenerative Centre in the UK. With over 30 years of experience working alongside brands, organizations, and communities to inspire sustainable and regenerative initiatives, Jenny believes in "harnessing the power of the collective intelligence of organizations and communities to create visions for the fu...

Emily Niehaus is a former mayor and a leader in both affordable housing and education. She is the founder of Community Rebuilds, a nonprofit that constructs affordable straw bale homes, and more recently, she’s also the founder of Heron School, a micro-school for gifted neurodiverse students. In between those ventures, she found the time to be the mayor of Moab, Utah, where she was able to advocat...

Jacob Deva Racusin is a natural building designer, builder, and educator. He is a longtime leader in the field of sustainable building and the co-founder of New Frameworks, a worker-owned cooperative committed to a “kinder sort of building.” Using natural materials such as native hardwood, clay, and stone, they are developing data-driven and scalable solutions for cost-effective, non-toxic, plant...