Belief
IntegreatPlus values excellent practice and seeks to build and learn from success all round the world but also locally such as the now defunct Yorkshire Forward’s Renaissance Programme. Much is still valuable and we should seek to sustain the best elements and grow a ‘practice’ driven legacy.
Places as Ecosystems
Jane Jacobs (1916-2006) was an urban writer and activist who championed new, community-based approaches to planning for over 40 years. Her 1961 treatise, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, became perhaps the most influential American text about the inner workings and failings of cities, inspiring generations of urban planners and activists.
Jane Jacobs approached places as living beings and ecosystems. She suggested that over time, buildings, streets and neighbourhoods function as dynamic organisms, changing in response to how people interact with them. She explained how each element of a place – streets, parks, neighbourhoods, government, economy – functions together synergistically, in the same manner as the natural ecosystem. This understanding underpins how we discern how places work, how they break down, and how they could be better structured. This perspective has informed our values.
