MICHAEL W. MEHAFFY - Cities Alive. Jane Jacobs, Christopher Alexander, and the Roots of Urban Renaissance

Urban density after Jane Jacobs: the crucial role of diversity and emergence

Background: In the early part of the twentieth century, planning theory and practice always voiced strong opposition to density. The error of this insistence was persuasively argued by Jane Jacobs in the 1960s. Subsequently, planning theory and practice came to recognise the importance of density, but this return to favour requires remaining constantly alert to the possible dangers and pitfalls...

Christopher Alexander and a Phenomenology of Wholeness

This chapter focuses on Christopher Alexander's contribution to a phenomenology of wholeness, by which is meant finding conceptual and practical ways for understanding how things belong together so that they can indeed belong, whether one speaks of the parts of a well made building, the steps in an effective construction process, or the elements of a helpful theory. Throughout his professional ...

The chemical work of Alexander and Jane Marcet.

Alexander Marcet was an authority on urinary calculi and their analysis when few medical practitioners appreciated the usefulness of chemistry in the explanation and treatment of disease. In An Essay on The Chemical History and Medical Treatment of Calculous Disorders, he described the discovery of an xanthine stone. He drew line illustrations of simple chemical apparatus useful for bedside ana...

A Review of the Contextual Adaptability of Three Contemporary Urban Paradigms: New Urbanism, Urban Village and Urban Renaissance

Reply to Christopher M . Jones and Michael Niederweis