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1984

5-fold Pattern Language

Proposed for inclusion in Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential

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Also published in modified form in Statistics, Visualizations and Patterns (Vol 5 of the Yearbook of International Organizations, K G Saur Verlag, 6th edition, 2006/2007, as section 10.3) [searchable PDF version]

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Experimental draft of 4-fold "translation" of selected patterns from Christopher Alexander's A Pattern Language (1977). The individual texts (referenced here) were subsequently included in "Patterns of Concepts" -- an experimental part of the Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential (1986). A variant is available in the online version of the associated databases.

Selected Patterns

Independent domains Distribution of organization Interpretation of complementary modes of organization Regenerative resource cultivation areas Network of inter-relationships Intermediate scale organization Non-linear organization Variety of forms and processes Decentralized formal processes Access to intensity Local interrelationship domains Individuality in multiplicity Sub-domain boundary Identifiable context Context boundary Web of general interrelationships Encirclement Network of redefinitions Web of selective interchange User-determined specialized communications Four-level structural limit Occupiable temporary site limit Compensating relationships in parallel Positions enabling transcendence Relationship to indeterminacy Functional cycle Complementarity Coherent pattern of relationship densities Stable density gradient of local relationships Activity nodes Cycle of relationship reinforcement Selective interchange axis Underdefined processes Interchange Adequate variety of cyclic elements Differentiation by relationship density Cluster of frameworks Standard frameworks Integrating a new dimension Integrating the historical dimension Informal context for formal processes Chain of fundamental transformation zones Presentation of new dimensions Local focal points Local action network Diversified interchange environment Functionality enhancement Adaptive  interstices Local relationship loops Three-way relationship entrainment Linear relationships enhanced by non-linear processes Interfacing vehicles of communication and networks of unmediated relationships Principal points of entry Intersection of differently paced communications Protected low intensity relationships Special modes of relationship Protection of emerging foci Context for disorder Low-intensity communication pathways Accessible non-linearity Bounded common small-scale interaction domains Points of wider perspective Appropriate conditions for perspective nourishment Partially exposed perspective context Appropriate configuration for input processing Appropriate configuration for perspective interaction Appropriate configuration for perspective inactivity Appropriate configuration for interaction of complementary perspectives Occupiable sites for perspective inactivity

Context for forms of perspective presentation Variation in size of perspective contexts Appropriate proportions of perspective contexts Overview of external contexts Partially enclosed internal domains Internal connectedness between domains Framework for transition between structural levels Eccentric access to perspective contexts Substantive distinctions separating domains Inter-domain contexts for perspective adjuncts Exposure of input processing context to external insight Facilities for perspective adjuncts Accessible facilities for perspective adjuncts Structure-enfolded occupiable sites Exclusive spaces for emergent perspectives Exclusive contexts Congruence between spaces defined by the framework and spaces defined by the processes within it Efficient enclosure of spaces with minimal structural distinctions Appropriate construction elements Progressive framework definition Organization of integrative superstructure Harmonizing space distribution between levels Boundary expansion permitting new level generation Primary inter-level connections at transitions in boundary orientation Distribution of secondary inter-level connections Integrative infrastructure Initial level formation Inter-level connections Perimeter continuity Distortion resistant boundaries Level generation of minimum tension Integration superstructure Aperture compatibility Ground-level visibility Zones of intermediate insight Emphasizing transitions across boundaries Inter-level zone Inter-level integrity Appropriate superstructure to contain transitions between levels Provision for pathways for automatic communications Unmediated supportive emotion Overview sites from integrative superstructure Symbolic connection to encompassing domains Zoning internal domains Maintainable, multi-element external boundaries Unalienating internal boundaries Displaceable frameworks Connectedness in isolation Filtered insights Multi-faceted frameworks Tolerance at level interfaces Attractive temporary positions Intermediate position Ambiguous boundaries Flexible interfaces Protecting variability to enhance fixity Integration within context Embedding fixity within variability Time binding Symbols of integration Encouraging emphases Different settings Domains of insight Meaningful symbols of self-transformation

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Introductory notes

1. In a 3 volume work, designer-architect Christopher Alexander has elaborated and tested a "pattern language" for building and planning at both the macro and the micro level. The titles of the volumes are:

• Volume 1: The Timeless Way of Building (1979)
• Volume 2: A Pattern Language (1977)
• Volume 3: The Oregon Experiment (1975).

2. The value and purpose of such an exercise is to provide people with a kind of vocabulary, a phrase book, a large and accessible store of metaphors, images and elements that are formed into the patterns of our various environments.

Enriching vocabulary enriches the structure of choice. A person with a limited vocabulary has a limited field of consciousness. Pattern languages provide this enriching vocabulary of semantically meaningful concepts -- each a pattern of elements in themselves and yet each combinable with the others in the definition and design of the environments in which people choose to live.

Certain patterns are intuitively recognised and predictable, they appear wholesome, they' have a quality, impossible to define, yet experienced and understood deep in the collective consciousness of the human race. Emphasis is placed on these concepts, these patterns which help to define a qualitatively superior environment.

3. Alexander (and his team) have clarified 254 interlinked patterns as providing one such language. They stress that other languages are possible and other patterns may be added to the language they have elaborated. Nevertheless, their language can be viewed as a very useful coherent structure.

4. Alexander's language focuses on the physical environment of towns, buildings, and construction. It has been used here as a form of template from which 4 corresponding sets of patterns have been generated. The numbered patterns [on the referenced pages] are therefore split into 5 sub-paragraphs:

Template: This endeavours to describe the pattern in content-free terms as pure relationship. As such it is a guideline for the elaboration of patterns for other arenas.

Physical environment: This is an adaptation of Alexander's own pattern description

Socio-organizational environment: This describes the pattern as it applies to the organization of social groups, organizations and networks.

Conceptual environment: This describes the pattern as it applies to the organization of a conceptual framework or a body of knowledge.

Intra-personal environment: This describes the pattern as it applies to the organization of modes of awareness adopted by a person.

5. The procedure of "translating" or transposing the original physical pattern to other domains obviously raises difficulties. These include:

• problem of adequacy of terminology;
• stilted phrasing.

These are normal problems encountered in translation. These difficulties can however be reduced by further editing. Clearly it would be an advantage to get feedback from those more familiar with the terminology used in each domain.

6. This draft is being circulated to a few people at this stage to get some feedback on the strengths or weaknesses of the approach. Any comments, specific or general, would therefore be appreciated.

7. The basic reason for attempting to complete this exercise is that as a set of physical patterns it provides one of the very few coherent, yet precise, efforts to organize the environment in a manner which is qualitatively sensitive. If it is possible to learn from this by adapting the patterns to other realms in which humanity is faced with incoherence and problems of quality, then the exercise has merit.

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