What can an indigenous Egyptian paradigm for social evolution that represents the composite of bio-cultural diversities of Egypt and multiple bio-regions within it look like? With such exploratory inquiry in mind, this dissertation research focuses on analyzing the practice of development in Egypt through the lens of place, critiquing its performance from a biocultural perspective, and exploring a pathway to social evolution that focuses on the uniqueness and diversity of places. In conversation with local development community members on both ends of the development equation, the sending and receiving ends, the research elicits place-based and locally inspired responses for bio-cultural regeneration as a possibility for a more realistic, possible, and emergent pathway for social change. While acknowledging there are multiple bio-cultural diversities in Egypt, the study focuses on the rural, Nubian and Bedouin bio-cultures as an entry point to assessing and exploring the bio-cultural regeneration perspective on social evolution in the Egyptian context. A multiple case study design that employs an eclectic data collection strategy is utilized, drawing information from semi-structured in-depth interviews, observation, focus groups, group discussions, and conversations. The multiple narratives assembled in this dissertation also include perspectives from Egyptian development thinkers and practitioners. As a place-based study, it is concerned with how local communities with different environmental identities and affiliations with nature, different sets of local knowledge, and different bio-cultural specifics negotiate their options to sustain themselves and their communities in the context of the dominant development paradigm. It is also concerned with redefining development and unraveling its inherent, but largely overlooked aspect, what the researcher calls the "eco-logic" based on the diverse bio-cultural elements of different places. The study situates the inquiry within a critique of modernity as a passing paradigm, and the promise of sustainability for the future as an overarching context that accommodates pluralism and diversity and nurtures coexistence. It builds on the linkages between development theories, practices and critiques on the one hand; and the interdisciplinary field of sustainability on the other. In this way, it gauges how local embeddedness influences actions and decisions people make to sustain their life ways and livelihoods. The learning synthesized from this research greatly enhances and informs our understanding by adding local perspectives on education, creativity, environmental identity, regenerative capacity, the meaning and practice of development, and locally inspired future visions. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]