Patterns of Growth

Christopher Alexander was often characterized—and sometimes seemed to characterize himself—as “sui generis,” a radical and perhaps even eccentric thinker on architecture, technology, culture, and nature. That perception in turn has led many to dismiss Alexander’s work as too idiosyncratic to be operationalized in the pragmatic world of planning and building. Here we show, however, that Alexander’s core ideas have strong parallels in contemporary network science, mathematics, physics, and philosophy, and in the pragmatic world of technological design (including computer software). We highlight a remaining gap in translating Alexander’s work into practical tools and strategies for implementation—a gap that is tantalizingly near to being bridged

Art · Cognitive science · Epistemology · Operationalization · Parallels · Perception · Sociology · Visual arts · Architecture and Computational Design · Engineering · Philosophy · Psychology · Urban Design and Spatial Analysis · Urban Planning and Landscape Design · Architecture

• Introduction

  Open Access•Michael W Mehaffy, Tigran Haas•Urban Planning•2023

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• Artificial intelligence assessments of façade similarity

  Open Access•Michael J Dawes, Michael J Ostwald et al.•Environment and Planning B Urban…•2026

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• Symmetry in architecture

  Michael W Mehaffy, Nikos Angelos Salingaros•Symmetry: Culture and Science•2021

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• Assessing Alexander’s Later Contributions to a Science of Cities

  Open Access•Michael W Mehaffy•Urban Science•2019

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