I have a sneaking intuition that I'm going to be revisiting this piece often. Timeless wisdom in complex systems & cities.
> A City is Not a Tree by Chris Alexander (1965)
*cc @context_ing - if you haven't already, this may be right up your alley.
patternlanguage.com/archive/cityis…
2/ Artificial vs. ancient cities
"When compared with ancient cities that have acquired the patina of life, our modern attempts to create cities artificially are, from a human point of view, entirely unsuccessful."
Trees & semilattices are ways of thinking about complex systems.
3/ "This enormously greater variety is an index of the great structural complexity a semilattice can have when compared with the structural simplicity of a tree. It is this lack of structural complexity, characteristic of trees, which is crippling our conceptions of the city.
4/ This is spectacular.
Reminded me of @BlasMoros & @LTCWRK - you chose your name wisely ✌️
5/ Applicable to school, fitness, health, & twitter (e.g., @visakanv)
"The playground, asphalted and fenced in, is nothing but a pictorial acknowledgment of the fact that 'play' exists as an isolated concept in our minds. It has nothing to do with the life of play itself."
6/ Lastly, to bring it full circle & something that @wrathofgnon often hints at 🙏
"For the human mind, the tree is the easiest vehicle for complex thoughts. But the city is not, cannot and must not be a tree. The city is a receptacle for life."
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