Overcoming learning myopia in community governance: regenerative unlearning as a governance process

Purpose This paper explores how temporal, spatial, and procedural forms of learning myopia manifest in micro-governance and examines how regenerative unlearning can support adaptive conflict resolution, conceptualising residential communities as emergent communities of learning and practice in which disruptions signal breakdowns in collective sensemaking. Design/methodology/approach An in-depth case study was conducted on a rooftop garden intervention in a Spanish residential community. Data included independent technical reports, legal documentation, and meeting minutes, allowing triangulation and longitudinal analysis. The analysis adopts an interpretive stance focused on governance practices and learning dynamics rather than on individual intentions or personal involvement. Findings Learning myopia emerged through short-term responses, fragmented interpretations and rigid governance procedures, creating a blurred collective understanding of the situation. Over time, community records challenged entrenched assumptions, enabling regenerative unlearning through the revision of shared understandings, the reconfiguration of routines and the institutionalisation of preventive practices. Practical implications The findings suggest that communities can reduce learning myopia by recognising weak signals early and creating opportunities to discuss and connect them. In the case analysed, technical reports, formal records and structured deliberation helped turn fragmented concerns into shared understanding and coordinated action, strengthening feedback, coordination and adaptive governance. Originality/value Learning myopia reflects the tendency to prioritise short-term responses and rigid routines over adaptive reflection. While prior research has focused mainly on corporate and hierarchical settings, little is known about how learning myopia shapes learning failures in community governance, where learning is distributed across practices, routines, and shared artefacts rather than formal authority structures. This study reframes learning myopia as a governance challenge and positions regenerative unlearning as a collective capability for restoring feedback and adaptive learning in micro-governance systems.