The Green Plot Ratio is part of a number of related ideas that began when I started to think about architecture as an ecosystem. At the time when I first started working on this, ecologists know little about architecture and architects know nothing about ecology. Yet, it was clear, when you think about it, that the built environment is an ecosystem no less than any other natural ecosystem. It may not be a very beneficial ecosystem but, precisely because it is an ecosystem and part of the earth's ecosystem, we are reaping the results of our narrow mindedness. Over the years, I worked on a number of concepts that have helped me understand better what this central theme (that the built environment is an ecosystem) means.