Explaining Positive Building Definition: A Review and Revision

The escalating climate crisis, along with the built environment’s substantial envi ronmental impact, highlights the urgent need to transform architectural design prin ciples. Traditional approaches emphasizing efficiency and harm reduction are insufficient to address the scale of ecological degradation. In this era of rapid tech nological change, embracing a transformative paradigm with radical implications demands a strong sense of responsibility to cultivate a disruptive, visionary shift—especially in realms where such change may face resistance [ 1]. In response, the concept of Positive Buildings (PBs) offers a compelling alternative, aiming for structures that actively contribute to the restoration and regeneration of ecosystems and communities [ 2]. While the potential of PBs is clear, architects and designers seeking to implement this paradigm face the challenge of a lack of a universally accepted definition. This article explores the theoretical underpinnings of PBs, ana lyzing their philosophical foundations and connections to broader concepts like regenerative design. A critical examination of diverse definitions and parameters within the literature will contribute to a unified understanding of the key character istics of PBs, providing a robust conceptual basis for architects and designers.