In a special agreement, Sustasis Press has given Architexturez the rights to present twenty of the eighty new patterns from this book, for the exclusive use of architecture students in Asia. These patterns are relevant to a new era of urban challenges, meant to complement the classic 1977 book "A Pattern Language" by Christopher Alexander et al. The new book "A Pattern Language for Growing Regions" implements the New Urban Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals, including the need for urban resilience, sustainability, and quality of life. The publication of this volume also launches an online pattern language "repository", developed in collaboration with Ward Cunningham, the original wiki developer and pioneer of pattern languages of programming. 

A New Pattern Language for Growing Regions: Places, Networks, Processes

A Collection of 80 New Patterns for a New Generation of Urban Challenges

A further contribution guided by the book A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction

Michael W. Mehaffy,
and Yulia Kryazheva * Andrew Rudd * Nikos A. Salingaros

With Contributions By
Ana Gren * Steve Mouzon * Laura Petrella * Sergio Porta * Laurence Qamar * Yodan Rofé
And Other Collaborators and Reviewers

Sustasis Press
In Association With
Centre for the Future of Places
KTH Royal Institute of Technology
2019

Design Patterns are easy-to-understand, easy-to-apply rules for creating human buildings and cities. They provide the long-term antidote to recent trends such as cutting down urban trees, creating heat islands, and erecting glass-and-steel high-rises. Rising temperatures in such urban environments threaten the population catastrophically. Violating patterns makes a city highly fragile, establishing a dangerous reliance upon imported energy. Systemic problems cannot be saved by industrial-technological fixes, but by efficient and climate-appropriate design that implements smart thermal planning (shading devices, earth-sheltering designs, etc.). Our cities will survive only if their structure follows patterns.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

    Acknowledgements 3
    Introduction: Who is this book for? 9
   

SECTION I:
PATTERNS OF SCALE

 21
1.   REGIONAL PATTERNS 22
  1.1. POLYCENTRIC REGION 23
  1.2. BLUE-GREEN NETWORK 27
  1.3. MOBILITY CORRIDOR 31
  1.4. 400M THROUGH STREET NETWORK 35
2.   URBAN PATTERNS 39
  2.1. WALKABLE MULTI-MOBILITY 40
  2.2. LEVEL CITY 43
  2.3. PUBLIC SPACE SYSTEM 48
  2.4. BIOPHILIC URBANISM 52
3.   STREET PATTERNS 56
  3.1. URBAN GREENWAY 57
  3.2. MULTI-WAY BOULEVARD 60
  3.3. AVENUE 63
  3.4. SHARED SPACE LANE 66
4.   NEIGHBORHOOD PATTERNS 70
  4.1. STREET AS CENTER 71
  4.2. SANCTUARY 74
  4.3. NEIGHBORHOOD SQUARE 77
  4.4. NEIGHBORHOOD PARK 80
5.   SPECIAL USE PATTERNS 83
  5.1. SCHOOL CAMPUS 84
  5.2. MARKET CENTER 87
  5.3. INDUSTRIAL AREA 90
  5.4. HOSPITAL 93
6.   PUBLIC SPACE PATTERNS 96
  6.1. PLACE NETWORK 97
  6.2. WALKABLE STREETSCAPE 101
  6.3. MOVABLE SEATING 104
  6.4. CAPILLARY PATHWAY 107
7.   BLOCK AND PLOT PATTERNS 111
  7.1. SMALL BLOCKS 112
  7.2. PERIMETER BLOCK 116
  7.3. SMALL PLOTS 120
  7.4. MID-BLOCK ALLEY 123
8.   STREETSCAPE PATTERNS 126
  8.1. STREET AS ROOM 127
  8.2. TERMINATED VISTA 130
  8.3. STREET TREES 134
  8.4. STREET FURNISHINGS 137
9.   BUILDING PATTERNS 140
  9.1. PERIMETER BUILDING 141
  9.2. ARCADE BUILDING 144
  9.3. COURTYARD BUILDING 147
  9.4. ROW BUILDING 150
10.   BUILDING EDGE PATTERNS 154
  10.1. INDOOR-OUTDOOR AMBIGUITY 155
  10.2. CIRCULATION NETWORK 158
  10.3. LAYERED ZONES 161
  10.4. PASSAGEWAY VIEW 165
   

SECTION II:
PATTERNS OF MULTIPLE SCALE

 168
11.   GEOMETRIC PATTERNS 169
  11.1. LOCAL SYMMETRY 170
  11.2. SMALL GROUPS OF ELEMENTS 174
  11.3. FRACTAL PATTERN 177
  11.4. FRAMING 181
12.   AFFORDANCE PATTERNS 184
  12.1. HANDLES 185
  12.2. CO-PRODUCTION 188
  12.3. FRIENDLY SURFACES 192
  12.4. MALLEABILITY 195
13.   RETROFIT PATTERNS 198
  13.1. SLUM UPGRADE 199
  13.2. SPRAWL RETROFIT 202
  13.3. URBAN REGENERATION 205
  13.4. URBAN CONSOLIDATION 208
14.   INFORMAL GROWTH PATTERNS 211
  14.1. LAND TENURE 212
  14.2. UTILITIES FIRST 215
  14.3. DATA WITH THE PEOPLE 219
  14.4. INCREMENTAL SELF-BUILD 222
15.   CONSTRUCTION PATTERNS 225
  15.1. DESIGN-BUILD ADAPTATION 226
  15.2. HUMAN-SCALE DETAIL 229
  15.3. CONSTRUCTION ORNAMENT 232
  15.4. COMPLEX MATERIALS 235
   

SECTION III:
PATTERNS OF PROCESS

 237
16.   IMPLEMENTATION TOOL PATTERNS 238
  16.1. FORM-BASED CODE 239
  16.2. ENTITLEMENT STREAMLINING  242
  16.3. NEIGHBORHOOD PLANNING CENTER 245
  16.4. COMMUNITY MOCKUP 248
17.   PROJECT ECONOMICS PATTERNS 251
  17.1. TAX-INCREMENT FINANCING 252
  17.2. LAND VALUE CAPTURE 255
  17.3. EXTERNALITY VALUATION 259
  17.4. ECONOMIES OF PLACE AND DIFFERENTIATION 262
18.   PLACE GOVERNANCE PATTERNS 265
  18.1. SUBSIDIARITY 266
  18.2. POLYCENTRIC GOVERNANCE 269
  18.3. PUBLIC-PRIVATE PLACE MANAGEMENT 272
  18.4. PUBLIC-PRIVATE PLACE MANAGEMENT 275
19.   AFFORDABILITY PATTERNS 278
  19.1. INTEGRATED AFFORDABILITY 279
  19.2. COMMUNITY LAND TRUST 282
  19.3. MULTI-FAMILY INFILL 284
  19.4. SPECULATION TAX 287
20.   NEW TECHNOLOGY PATTERNS 290
  20.1. SMART AV SYSTEM 291
  20.2. RESPONSIVE TRANSPORTATION NETWORK COMPANY 294
  20.3. AUGMENTED REALITY DESIGN  
  20.4. CITIZEN DATA 300
    CASE STUDIES 303
    CHINA: A National Shift Toward “Planning Cities for People” 306
    MEDELLÍN, COLOMBIA: Urban Networks and “Cities For All” 313
    PORTLAND, OREGON: The “Continuous Carpet” of Walkable Urbanism 324

The 1977 book A Pattern Language was a landmark in the design world, introducing a methodology that has since become remarkably widespread and effective across many fields. Among them is software, where “design patterns” have since become an industry standard. Important spinoffs include peer-to-peer collaboration technologies like wiki — the basis of Wikipedia and related innovations — as well as Agile Methodology.

Yet curiously, the one field where pattern methodology has lagged most conspicuously is the one where it began, the built environment. In part, the very success of the 1977 book served to “freeze” the initial set of patterns, greatly slowing further development. As one remedy, we present here — in the first of many more hoped-for future companion volumes to the original classic book — a new collection of 80 patterns for a new era of urban challenges, including rapid urbanization, slum upgrading, sustainable urbanism, new urban technologies, and new tools and strategies to meet these and other challenges.

This new collection comes as a contribution to a five-year collaboration with UN-Habitat on implementation of the “New Urban Agenda,” a framework document adopted by consensus by all 193 countries of the United Nations. However, there remains an urgent need to implement its humane aspirations, using tools and strategies grounded in research evidence, but also subject to revision, addition and refinement with new findings from new collaborators.

This volume aims to meet that need — together with the launch of an online companion pattern “repository”, available at npl.wiki. Both initiatives were developed in collaboration with Ward Cunningham, wiki inventor, and pioneer of pattern languages of programming as well as Agile Methodology. Both are meant to expand the capacity of pattern languages in support of a hopeful new era of open- source, human-centred, life-enriching technology.

“The technology of ‘A Pattern Language’ launched Wikipedia and the other programming methods we advanced. We are pleased to be a part of the cyber life of this work, returning again to have an impact on the built world.”
— Ward Cunningham, inventor of wiki, and co-developer of pattern languages of programming

“This is really exciting work... it is just what is needed.”
— Setha Low, Professor of Anthropology, City University of New York

Creative Commons License: Share Alike by Attribution https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode

In a special agreement, Sustasis Press has given Architexturez the rights to present twenty of the eighty new patterns from this book, for the exclusive use of architecture students in Asia. These patterns are relevant to a new era of urban challenges, meant to complement the classic 1977 book "A Pattern Language" by Christopher Alexander et al. The new book "A Pattern Language for Growing Regions" implements the New Urban Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals, including the need for urban resilience, sustainability, and quality of life. The publication of this volume also launches an online pattern language "repository", developed in collaboration with Ward Cunningham, the original wiki developer and pioneer of pattern languages of programming. 

This book was launched at the Tenth World Urban Forum, Abu Dhabi on 12 February 2020. The Sustasis Foundation website offers a pdf free reviewer's copy of the entire book. Furthermore, the Federated Wiki site npl.wiki has all the patterns available free online. The International Edition of the book can be ordered from Book Depository. Printed in the USA by Levellers Press, which supplies Amazon.com (buy HERE).