The production of cities : Christopher Alexander and the problem of "System A" at large scale

This paper sets out to respond to the question of whether, and how, can Alexander's system A of generating beauty and life in the world be implemented at the large scale. We show that the generation of beauty in cities is a question of time not scale, and that it is a product of morphological evolution, typified by what we call: informal participation. The mechanistic system codified and developed in the last 70 years for building the environment (system B) is not able to accommodate informal participation, and thus incapable of creating beauty or life. It is not planning per se that is the problem, but knowing what needs and can be planned, and what needs to be allowed to evolve. Thus, planning's role can be redefined as creating the structures, both physical and regulatory that will allow informal participation to occur freely and create life, beauty and wholeness in the built environment

Evaluating crash risk in urban areas based on vehicle and pedestrian modeling.

This article presents a method for investigating the spatial distribution of vehicle and pedestrian traffic crashes relative to the volume of vehicle and pedestrian movement in urban areas. This method consists of two phases. First, vehicle and pedestrian traffic volumes on the street network are modeled using a space syntax configurational analysis of the network, land use data, and observed traffic data. Second, crash prediction models are fitted to the traffic crash data, using negative binomial regression models and based on traffic volume estimates and street segment lengths. The method was applied in two areas in Tel Aviv, Israel, which differ in their morphological and traffic characteristics. The case-studies illustrated the method's capability in identifying hazardous locations on the network and examining relative crash risks. The analysis shows that an increase in vehicle or pedestrian traffic volume tends to be associated with a decrease in relative crash risk. Moreover, the spatial patterns of relative crash risks are associated with the design characteristics of urban space: areas characterized by dense street networks encourage more walking, and are generally safer for pedestrians, while those with longer street segments encourage more driving, are less safe for pedestrians, but safer for vehicles. (Author/publisher

Building beauty : a new program teaching students to help heal the world

The beauty of buildings and places is not a luxury, it is a necessity if buildings are to be cared for over generations and therefore sustainable in the long term. Building Beauty is a new one-year postgraduate program teaching an integrated process of design and making. Its ultimate goal is learning to create wholeness, beauty, and life in the world. This program, based on Christopher Alexander's theoretical and practical work, explores the new convergence of sciences and the arts in the direct practice of making. Its syllabus revolves around three major axes of learning experience: cultivation and construction, theoretical seminars, and the exploration of self. Gaining knowledge is continuously activated across the cognitive-intellectual, the affective, and the embodied— and occurs mostly on the building site. The program, now in its second year, is homed at the Sant'Anna Institute in Sorrento (IT). The curriculum offers direct working with the community, engaging in crafts, and construction on-site. It terminates with a "Summer School" set up every year in a different location in Italy, for 10 days of intensive direct practice of different building traditions. This presentation will describe the theoretical foundations of the course, combining Alexander's theories with recent advances in systems thinking, network analysis, ecological awareness, and body-mind experience. It will describe the curriculum, combining seminars, design, and physical making at various scales: from an ornament to small building projects. It will conclude with assessing the achievements and challenges of the program, its relevance to a deeply sustainable building future for the twenty-first century, and our vision for creating a worldwide network of universities that will together develop its themes

Urban nuclei and the geometry of streets : the 'emergent neighborhoods' model

A controversy remains among planners and urban designers about the proper location of the non-residential core (nucleus) of a neighborhood in relation to thoroughfares. One school of thought suggests that the nucleus should be located along the busiest thoroughfares; a second school holds that it must be some distance away from them - which, because of their disruptiveness, should form the edge of the neighborhood; and a third school proposes that it should be somewhere between the two as an 'eccentric nucleus'. The three schools may be overlooking the underlying variables that govern this problem under different conditions, and so we propose a model for establishing the best location and distribution of urban nuclei as these conditions vary. This requires firstly, a redefinition of the 'neighborhood' as distinguished from a 'pedestrian shed'. We argue that a 'neighborhood' can either emerge within a 'sanctuary area' between thoroughfares, or span across both 'sanctuary areas' and thoroughfares, if the latter are properly designed; a 'pedestrian shed', by contrast, can overlap with neighborhoods and with other pedestrian sheds. We propose a '400 meter rule', a surprisingly small maximum spacing of main thoroughfares that empirical observation shows that traditional, pedestrian-governed urban fabric has always tended to obey, for reasons that are likely to have to do with the self-organizing logic of pedestrian movement and social activity. In so doing, we advance a more fine-grained, permeable, potentially lower-carbon model and illustrate its advantages with several historic and modern examples

Exploring First Grade Medical Students’ Professional Identity Using Metaphors: Implications For Medical Curricula

Background Although professional identity development is an important concept in medical education, the process has not been well-investigated from a student perspective. Purpose This study examines the metaphorical images formulated by first grade medical students in Turkey to describe physicians in the context of establishing a professional identity, along with its limitations. Method Participants (N=148) completed the prompt: A physician is like _____ because _____ to indicate their conceptualizations of physician. The data were analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively. Results Altogether, 71 well-articulated metaphorical images were identified – comprising six conceptual themes. Conclusions While subject to some limitations, the use of metaphors to formulate and describe professional identities can be helpful in reflecting the personal beliefs and values of matriculants to medical school, as well as providing some guidance and feedback to curriculum development efforts.PubMedWoSScopu