The opening paper of the series defines the Coherence Economy as a systems framework for regenerative human settlement built on two distinct layers. The structural layer consists of seven Regenerative Pillars: food systems and agriculture, energy and climate transition, housing and spatial development, infrastructure and mobility, finance and capital systems, technology and intelligence, and culture and human development. The outcome layer consists of six Domains of Human Coherence: biological, cognitive, psychological, relational, financial, and cosmological.
The paper establishes why coherence, rather than growth or efficiency, is the appropriate organizing variable for economic design, and why the two layers must be specified together. A structural framework without a measurable outcome layer cannot be checked. An outcome framework without structure cannot be built.