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…
> 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.
"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.
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."
"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."
"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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