By Barrett Brown

Keywords: quadrants, Integral Theory, UNDP, HIV/AIDS, introduction, sustainability, sustainable development

The Integral Framework is a comprehensive map of systems, culture, psychology, and behavior. It is used worldwide in some of the highest levels of business, government, and civil society. Quadrants are one of the five major elements of the Integral Framework. Each quadrant is a lens, or perspective, on a different, but important, dimension of reality. By looking at a sustainability initiative through all of the quadrants, we are able to identify most, if not all, of the major forces which will influence the success or failure of that initiative. The quadrants can thus be used as a comprehensive map to help understand the terrain in which the initiative must succeed. This piece gives a general introduction to the quadrants, including examples of tools for transformation that are used to address dynamics in each quadrant, and a basic approach for using the quadrants to better understand any sustainability initiative. It ends with an example of use of the quadrants by a United Nations Development Programme training group in Swaziland to help address HIV/AIDS. [Co-Director’s note: this document addresses one of the elements of Integral Theory: quadrants.]