Patrick Geddes on planning ideals

    Our whole life is governed by ideals, good and bad, whether we know it or not. North, south, east and west are only ideals of direction: you will never absolutely get there; yet you can never get anywhere, save indeed straight down into a hole, without them. Patrick Geddes.

Through his own work and through Lewis Mumford, the influence of Patrick Geddes on twentieth century town and country planning has been profound. He is remembered as an advocate of Survey-Analysis-Plan scientific planning but, as the above quotation reveals, Geddes also had a full appreciation of the importance of ideals and imagination in guiding the planning process.