For many islands, the answer to the question “Why a locally, self-sustaining, and regenerative economy is needed?” is clear. The struggle often lies in the “how”.

In this article, it is argued that tools from regenerative economics, which follow an island economy-as-an-organism analogy, offer valuable and complementary insights to socio-metabolic research.

Indicators from flow-based and information-based ecological network analysis can quantify properties of an island's socio-economic metabolism (SEM) which are related to cycling, resilience, and degree of mutualism, among others.

To illustrate the applicability of these methods, Samothraki in Greece has been selected as a case study.