ABSTRACT
Echoing the sentiments of other critics who were discontented with the bankrupt results of twentieth-century city-making, Christopher Alexander provides both a critique of practice and a corrective way of thinking about cities. Throughout his early work (including this selection) Christopher Alexander combined his background in architecture, mathematics, and physics to suggest new ways of thinking about design and cities. In his practice and writing, he rejects conventional design processes of the mainstream built environment professions – which are perceived to be overly reductionist and lacking the complexity that allows life, beauty, and place-based harmonies to emerge. He is highly critical of the profit-driven construction and development industries, which are understood to be responsible for the tragedy of late-twentieth-century urban form and aesthetics. Like other urban critics of the time, he is interested in human desires for comfort, the spirituality of place, and other subjective values (often disregarded in the professional design studio).
