What we stand for

  • Orientation towards the common good

    Probably our central principle. We base our work on the good of the community, always trying to determine this first, reflect on it and ultimately serve it. For us, the common good means a good life for all people. In concrete terms, this means that all people can live in dignified and secure conditions, participate in society and realize their full potential in their diversity. We are committed to this principle in our own projects and those that we implement on behalf of others.

  • Social and ecological justice

    Our projects, campaigns and programs all follow the same compass: the decisive orientation is always the promotion of greater social and ecological justice. We see this as one of the most pressing challenges of our time. This is why all our activities are based on this goal.

  • Non-Profit

    A focus on the common good and the individual pursuit of profit maximization? In our eyes, that is a contradiction. That is why we consistently pursue the principle of non-profit in all our collaborations with all projects.

  • Democracy

    We are committed to ensuring the maximum degree of democratic strength in all our urban development activities. That is, the opportunity for all to participate in the formal and informal political and social dynamics of society, taking into account different needs and thus reflecting social diversity.

  • Respect at eye level

    Regardless of whether it is the mayor, the head of a cooperating planning office or participants from civil society - we treat everyone with the same respect at eye level, listen to them and value their ideas equally. We make no distinctions in the value of positions. With one decisive exception: misanthropic and discriminatory positions - i.e. racist and sexist behavior - have no place with us! Apart from that, we are firmly convinced that the wealth of ideas of all population groups and respectful interaction with one another can only enrich every project.

  • Governance structures

    We are certain that we can only shape and change our living space collectively. This requires all spheres of social life, including civil society as well as state and private actors. Constructive cooperation is therefore essential. The solution: governance structures of alternative governance for joint negotiation and decision-making processes.

  • Transparency

    We attach great importance to maximum transparency of all internal processes, as well as those on which we work together with our project partners. And expect the same from our accomplices. We also strive for good external communication in order to share our experiences and findings and promote the transfer of knowledge to society.

  • Inclusion

    In order to cover and reflect the entire spectrum of our diverse society, we make every effort to keep access to our offers as low-threshold as possible and to take different needs into account. This starts with easy language for an event announcement on social media, and extends to barrier-free access to the event venue and any translations that we try to provide.

  • Resilience

    We make sure that we don't lose our way, even in crisis or stressful situations, and therefore design our structures to be as resilient and flexible as possible from the ground up. We achieve this, for example, through consistent documentation of our work processes, the use of digital tools and careful and sensitive social interaction - both within the team and with our partners. We try to deal constructively with problems and see our work as a continuous learning process.