| layout | plain |
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| title | What is a developmental space? |
| description | A place dedicated to growth, where a community practises inner development across several domains at once. |
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| image | https://screenshotit.app/https://developmentalspaces.org/what@social |
Retreats, courses and workshops help people grow for a weekend or a week. A developmental space is something more: a community that takes inner growth as its shared work, for years, for the sake of a wider change.
Here is the definition, and what each part of it means.
The definition
A developmental space is a dedicated, growth-oriented space where communities engage in sustained, multi-domain inner development in the service of socio-cultural transformation.
Read it as a centre, not a boundary. Why
- DedicatedSet aside for this purpose, not a side effect of something else. Multi-domain inner development needs containment, community and continuity, and a dedicated space provides them: a place to turn peak experiences into lasting change.
- Growth-orientedNurturing personal and collective development is an explicit goal and a central part of how the space is designed and run.
- CommunitiesThe unit is a group, not an individual practice. We have tended to reduce the emphasis on physical colocation and emphasise the intensity of engagement and commitment: a group meeting very regularly online over a year could offer more than a group together for one week in person.
- Sustained“More than a weekend, or a week.” These spaces are about going from states to traits, looking for lasting developmental shifts, so they often require sustained engagement: months rather than days.
- Multi-domain inner developmentNot one skill or one practice but several at once. Just as we distinguish biology from chemistry, we can distinguish several domains of inner growth, each with its own dynamics, maps and practices. The five we use are below.
- In the service of socio-cultural transformationNot development for its own sake or for personal thriving alone, but in service of wider society: more than general amelioration, a profound shift in the basic worldviews and institutions of modern societies.
The classification is adapted from Integral Theory.
- 1Waking up · spiritual developmentConcerned with awareness and consciousness, this domain draws from spiritual traditions and neuroscience. Development involves tuning awareness and loosening unconscious mental ‘fabrication’ (assumptions, self-identity), cultivating less ego-bound modes of perception and a greater sense of interbeing.
- 2Cognitive developmentProgressive complexity in thinking, from basic concepts to abstract, systemic and meta-systemic reasoning. Supports ethics, creativity, logic and learning.
- 3Growing up · worldview developmentProgressive shifts in fundamental ways of conceiving world and self, from egocentric and ethnocentric to world-centric. Often linked to ego development and expanding circles of care.
- 4Cleaning upHealing trauma and integrating shadow material. Rooted in somatic psychology and trauma theory, processing unconscious wounds and defence mechanisms supports growth in emotional regulation and relational capacity.
- 5Showing upDeepening active, ethical engagement with the world: aligning insight and capacity with skilful action for positive change. Requires relational intelligence, moral imagination and courage.
While separable for the sake of clarity, the domains are deeply interdependent. Development in one often supports growth in others: cognitive insight aiding shadow work, or spiritual insight enhancing ethical care.
A caution about hierarchies
Not all domains are clearly hierarchical; some, like awakening, may involve lateral shifts. The “growth-to-goodness” fallacy warns against assuming moral superiority from advanced development. Stage models are useful but must be held lightly, especially across cultures.
Maps and rafts
Within a domain, maps help orient us (Spiral Dynamics, phases of awakening). Rafts are the practices that support inner shifts (meditation, shadow work, community dialogue).
In talking about the “what” of developmental spaces we prefer the metaphor of centres rather than boundaries. That is, we offer definitions as outlines of the centre of a conceptual field, which a given concrete example is more or less close to. We are not aiming for rigid boundaries that allow precise determinations of what “is” and “is not” a developmental space.
These spaces relate to, build on and are an evolution of existing environments, ranging from executive MBAs to retreat centres to 12-step programmes to intentional communities such as ecovillages. Each sits nearer or further from the centre.
The core characteristics of spaces near the centre.
Multi-domain developmentIntentional work across several domains.
Ecologies of practiceA dynamic, integrated blend of methods.Safe-brave spacesCombining challenge with emotional support.
Group coherenceConsistency, continuity and trust in the group field.
Appropriate guidanceSkilled facilitators with advanced personal practice are crucial for safe and successful teaching and transmission.
IntentionalityNot just inner growth, but inner growth in service of cultural transformation.Flexible characteristics, which vary from space to space
- FlexibleCo-livingAllowing everyday life to become the field of practice.
- FlexibleAlternative formatsAccess can be expanded through, for example, online formats.
- FlexibleMeasurementSome useful tools can track development, but care is needed to avoid distortion.
From the whitepaper, Developmental Spaces: cultural incubators for a time of transformation (Rosie Bell, Boaz Feldman and Rufus Pollock, 2025). Read it in full.
The whitepaper grew out of a series of working definitions from 2020, 2021 and 2024, and a preface on why we prefer centres to boundaries. They are kept as a record.
Developmental spaces where people grow.