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| - | # Pattern language | + | This topic is part of [[gt: |
| + | ====== | ||
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| - | ## What is pattern language? | + | ===== What is pattern language? |
| It’s a design tool for complex systems, with enough simplicity to allow people to solve small design problems, without losing the connection to the whole. We have to be able to deal with complexity without collapsing it into simplistic notions. Pattern language is an excellent tool for that. From a low-impact perspective, | It’s a design tool for complex systems, with enough simplicity to allow people to solve small design problems, without losing the connection to the whole. We have to be able to deal with complexity without collapsing it into simplistic notions. Pattern language is an excellent tool for that. From a low-impact perspective, | ||
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| </ | </ | ||
| - | ### History | + | ==== History |
| Christopher Alexander was a professor of architecture who came up with the pattern language idea in the 1960s. He’d been taking apart complex design problems, solving the simple constituent problems, and figuring out how to arrange the simple solutions as a ‘tree’. He used computers to do it - quite futuristic at the time. His reputation spread, yet he wasn’t driven by a desire for fame or money, but by a desire to make beautiful things. But this method he’d been using didn’t do it. | Christopher Alexander was a professor of architecture who came up with the pattern language idea in the 1960s. He’d been taking apart complex design problems, solving the simple constituent problems, and figuring out how to arrange the simple solutions as a ‘tree’. He used computers to do it - quite futuristic at the time. His reputation spread, yet he wasn’t driven by a desire for fame or money, but by a desire to make beautiful things. But this method he’d been using didn’t do it. | ||
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| - | ## What are the benefits of pattern language? | + | ===== What are the benefits of pattern language? |
| Design can happen in various ways: with a reductivist focus - like minimising costs and maximising profits, or on maximising the number of vehicles past a certain point in the shortest time possible; with a top-down, centrally-planned approach; or with an artistic approach, relying on creative people to come up with solutions. Often, it’s people using this creative approach who tweak things so that they get better, in an evolutionary way. Another approach is to let things grow organically from the grassroots – the way most towns were originally built. This grassroots approach has been suppressed by modernity and capitalism, even though medieval Italian towns (say) are among the most beautiful, walkable, sustainable and vibrant places to live, in ways that centrally-planned cities can never be. Pattern language can help recreate the grassroots, organic approach that has served us so well in the past, but now including things like good sanitation, internet etc. | Design can happen in various ways: with a reductivist focus - like minimising costs and maximising profits, or on maximising the number of vehicles past a certain point in the shortest time possible; with a top-down, centrally-planned approach; or with an artistic approach, relying on creative people to come up with solutions. Often, it’s people using this creative approach who tweak things so that they get better, in an evolutionary way. Another approach is to let things grow organically from the grassroots – the way most towns were originally built. This grassroots approach has been suppressed by modernity and capitalism, even though medieval Italian towns (say) are among the most beautiful, walkable, sustainable and vibrant places to live, in ways that centrally-planned cities can never be. Pattern language can help recreate the grassroots, organic approach that has served us so well in the past, but now including things like good sanitation, internet etc. | ||
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| </ | </ | ||
| - | Alexander’s book, _A Pattern Language_, doesn’t have to be read from front to back. It can be dipped into, and different sections link to others, like a [wiki](/wiki/wikis). In fact, wikis probably wouldn’t exist if not for Alexander. Ward Cunningham, inventor of the wiki concept, cited him as a major influence. | + | Alexander’s book, _A Pattern Language_, doesn’t have to be read from front to back. It can be dipped into, and different sections link to others, like a [wiki](/wiks/wikis). In fact, wikis probably wouldn’t exist if not for Alexander. Ward Cunningham, inventor of the wiki concept, cited him as a major influence. |
| - | ## What can I do? | + | ===== What can I do? ===== |
| Read _[A Pattern Language](https:// | Read _[A Pattern Language](https:// | ||
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| - | ## Further resources | + | ===== Forum ===== |
| + | This topic belongs to the section [[gt: | ||
| + | It is also in the section [[gt: | ||
| - | ## Specialist curators of this topic | + | ===== Further resources ===== |
| + | |||
| + | - [Christopher Alexander' | ||
| + | - [Christopher Alexander](https:// | ||
| + | - [Group Works](https:// | ||
| + | - [Hillside Group](https:// | ||
| + | - [PatternLanguage.com](https:// | ||
| + | - [Pattern Language Institute](https:// | ||
| + | - [Rain Magazine](https:// | ||
| + | - [Wise Democracy Project](https:// | ||
| + | |||
| + | |||
| + | ===== Related topics ===== | ||
| + | |||
| + | - [[buil: | ||
| + | - [[retf: | ||
| + | - [[wiks: | ||
| + | - [[syst: | ||
| + | - [[comy: | ||
| + | - [[smal: | ||
| + | - [[coec: | ||
| + | |||
| + | ===== Specialist curators of this topic ===== | ||