Notes on the genesis of wholes: Christopher Alexander and his continuing influence

Mehaffy, Michael W.

doi:10.1057/palgrave.udi.9000182

Cited by 22 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 1 publication

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…A pattern describes the properties of a generic solution to a recurring problem (Alexander 1979, Gabriel 1996, Mehaffy 2007. It allows reuse of ideas without concern for implementation details.…”

Section: Alexander's Patterns Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As epitomized in Alexander's (1966) article "A City is not a Tree", seemingly unrecognized in the technology and innovation literature, patterns on lower and higher levels in the Alexandrian frame are related in many-to-many relationships in network architectures (Alexander et al 1977, Mehaffy 2007.…”

Section: The Network-of-patterns Framementioning

confidence: 99%

“…v It is somewhat ironic that the network-of-patterns frame has had more impact in software engineering than in architecture (Alexander 1999, Gabriel 1999, Mehaffy 2007. The software engineering community's interest in Alexander's work has boomed since Gamma et al (1995) outlined a language consisting of 23 patterns for recurring problems in object-oriented software design.…”

Section: Referencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Managing Technological Change in the Digital Age: The Role of Architectural Frames

Henfridsson

Mathiassen

Svahn

2014

Journal of Information Technology

212

170

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. Inspired by Herbert Simon's notion of nearly decomposable systems, researchers have examined modularity as a powerful approach to manage technological change in product innovation. We articulate this approach as the hierarchy-of-parts architecture and explain how it emphasizes decomposition of a design into loosely coupled parts and subsequent aggregation of these into an industrial product. To realize the scale benefits of modularity, firms successively freeze design specifications before production and therefore only allow limited windows of functionality design and redesign. This makes it difficult to take advantage of the increased speed by which digitized products can be developed and modified.To address this problem, we draw on Christopher Alexander's notion of design patterns to introduce a complementary approach to manage technological change that is resilient to digital technology. We articulate this approach as the network-of-patterns architecture and explain how it emphasizes generalization of ideas into patterns and subsequent specialization of patterns for different design purposes. In response to the increased digitization of industrial products, we demonstrate the value of complementing hierarchy-of-parts thinking with network-of-patterns thinking through a case study of infotainment architecture at an automaker.As a result, we contribute to the literature on managing products in the digital age: we highlight the properties of digital technology that increase the speed by which digitized products can be redesigned; we offer the notion of architectural frames and propose hierarchy-of-parts and networkof-patterns as frames to support innovation of digitized products; and, we outline an agenda for future research that reconsiders the work of Simon and Alexander as well as their followers to address key challenges in innovating digitized products.

show abstract

Section: Alexander's Patterns Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Network-of-patterns Framementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Referencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Managing Technological Change in the Digital Age: The Role of Architectural Frames

Henfridsson

Mathiassen

Svahn

2014

Journal of Information Technology

212

170

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…His book, A Pattern Language (Alexander et al 1977), is one the most frequently cited books in the field of architecture (Mehaffy 2007). Alexander's ideas provide some of the conceptual foundations for generative planning theory (Alexander 1987;Alexander et al 1977).…”

Section: Generative Planning Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Empirical Urban Theory for Archaeologists

Smith

2010

J Archaeol Method Theory

152

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

I review several bodies of empirical urban theory relevant to the archaeological analysis of ancient cities. Empirical theory is a type of "middlerange theory" (following Robert Merton): sets of concepts and methods that are less abstract, and have greater empirical content, than high-level social theory. The categories of theory reviewed here include environment-behavior theory, architectural communication theory, space syntax, urban morphology, reception theory, generative planning theory, normative theory, and city size theory. Most of these approaches originated in the fields of architecture, planning, and geography, and they directly link the urban-built environment to the actions of people within cities.Keywords Urbanism . Theory . Planning . Middle-range theory . Built environment Archaeological research on ancient cities and urbanism exhibits a wide range of perspectives on the use of theory. Some archaeologists pursue descriptive research with little explicit use of theory, while others embrace high-level social theory. Still others chart a course between these poles by using lower-level concepts. Work in this latter category is more abstract than empirical description but more grounded and less abstract than high-level social theory. I call this body of work "empirical urban theory," and in this paper I argue that this is an especially productive explanatory approach for understanding ancient cities and urban life. In defining "theory" I follow anthropologist Roy Ellen, who states that theories, provide us with a framework through which we can explain and interpret data, and they should do so parsimoniously. So, we might define theory as 'A supposition or body of suppositions designed to explain phenomena or data' (Ellen 2010: 390).

show abstract

“…The second group of problems [23,24] focus on the flaws and contradictions in individual patterns resulting from ideologically driven testing [13] and which become particularly problematic when patterns override (Broadbent 1980;Protzen 1980;Davis 1983;Dovey 1990;Salingaros 2000;Kohn 2002;Saunders 2002a;Messina 2003;Mehaffy 2007;Bhatt 2010;Montgomery 1970) 21 Restricting 3, 15…”

Section: Implementation and Outcome Criticismsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Christopher Alexander’s A Pattern Language: analysing, mapping and classifying the critical response

Dawes

Ostwald

2017

City Territ Archit

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander is renowned for providing simple, conveniently formatted, humanist solutions to complex design problems ranging in scale from urban planning through to interior design. This text is also believed to be the most widely read architectural treatise ever published. Despite this, there is also little acknowledgement in its popular reception that it is only one part of a trilogy of works documenting Alexander's 'second theory' of architecture. Thus, while A Pattern Language is widely referenced in architectural scholarship, most of these references simply acknowledge its existence and fail to engage with its content. Furthermore, the literature that does critically engage with Alexander's theory, challenging its ideas and assumptions, is often difficult to find, and the criticisms are diverse and complex. The intent of this paper is to facilitate a deeper understanding of these criticisms and the relationships between them. The 28 criticisms identified in past research are organised hierarchically in this paper into three tiers representing those associated with the: (i) conceptualisation, (ii) development and documentation and, (iii) implementation and outcomes of Alexander's theory. The relationships between these criticisms are then mapped diagrammatically thereby forming the basis for thematic groupings within each hierarchical tier. This organisation reveals that only two criticisms relate to the concept of pattern languages in isolation, while the remainder arise, directly or indirectly, from Alexander's idiosyncratic ontological and epistemological positions. The conclusion analyses the relationships between the criticisms to develop a holistic and understanding of where the problems in Alexander's theory might lie.

show abstract

Notes on the genesis of wholes: Christopher Alexander and his continuing influence

Cited by 22 publications

References 1 publication

Managing Technological Change in the Digital Age: The Role of Architectural Frames

Managing Technological Change in the Digital Age: The Role of Architectural Frames

Empirical Urban Theory for Archaeologists

Christopher Alexander’s A Pattern Language: analysing, mapping and classifying the critical response

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About