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TEXTS

THE PROCEDURES THAT APPEAR ON THIS WEBSITE HAVE BEEN DEVELOPED FROM THE FINDINGS OF RIGOROUS INVESTIGATIONS IN MANY FIELDS. For those who wish to look into the source material, we provide access to books and papers and newly written monographs.

Manuals, papers, and draft texts by Christopher Alexander and his colleagues are provided to show how the concepts laid out in The Nature of Order can be implemented in neighborhoods, under a huge variety of circumstances, in many different parts of the world. In addition, there are papers below that show how these concepts relate to other fields of endeavor, including computer science, biology, anthropology, complexity theory, mathematics, and ecology.

Listing of Materials Available On Line

Dozens of drawings, photographs, papers, monographs, articles, essays, DVDs, and CDs from Christopher Alexander will be made available here. By clicking the broad topics below, you can see lists of the materials currently available, and access these materials. Some of these are current works in progress, manuscripts shown as they are being developed.

THE NATURE OF ORDER	The capacity to generate life in a neighborhood, comes from issues that are discussed in the four volumes of The Nature of Order. We strongly suggest that you make yourself familiar with the materials in these books, in order to get a solid foundation for the use of generative code, and for the ability to make buildings which please people.
BOOK 1: THE PHENOMENON OF LIFE	GEOMETRY. This book sets out the geometric structure of wholeness in the physical world. It shows what physical qualities things -- buildings, streets, gardens -- need in order to interact successfully with one another, and in order to form successful wholes.
BOOK 2: THE PROCESS OF CREATING LIFE	UNFOLDING. This book sets out an outline theory of unfolding: the necessary processes which allow living geometry to be formed. It defines the background of the processes needed to make healthy buildings, outdoor space, and neighborhoods.
BOOK 3: A VISION OF A LIVING WORLD	PHYSICAL AND ARCHITECTURAL EXAMPLES. This book sets out examples at almost every scale, of actual cases where one can trace the use of living processes, first implemented, and then leading to buildings and neighborhoods which are whole, and habitable.
BOOK 4: THE LUMINOUS GROUND	HUMAN AND EMOTIONAL UNDERPINNING. This book describes the deep structure in things and processes, which is responsible for the human connection to the world that successful, living neighborhoods have. It describes the origin of the spiritual dimension in our built neighborhoods.
BOOKSHOP	To buy any of the four books, visit our online bookstore. . Discounts are available. A Vision of a Living World is possibly the best starting point for practical work in building successful neighborhoods. The Nature of Order provides much of the intellectual background for this website. Published by Center of Environmental Structure Publishing, Berkeley, California, four volumes, 2001 to 2005.

STRESS IN THE ENVIRONMENT	Martin Luther King on Stress

THEORY: EXTENSION OF CONCEPTS FROM The Nature of Order	Harmony-Seeking Computations New Concepts in Complexity Theory Annotated Guide to The Nature of Order This paper (not yet available) gives a detailed annotated listing of case-studies, discussions of implementation, and examples of neighborhood building, in the four books of The Nature of Order. They will help you to understand how the implementation process works.

APPLICATIONS OF THEORY TO PRACTICE	Generative Codes for Neighborhoods Practical Implementation of Generative Codes (in progress) Sustainabilty and Morphogenesis The Heart of the City Pedestrian London

PREPARING THE GROUND FOR THESE CHANGES TO OCCUR	Interview: The Battle for Ordinary Human Existence in our Time Personal Conversations dealing with deeper subjects beyond the written word

Please note: in order to allow us to make new results available as quickly as possible, many of the available papers are in draft form; others are in final form. If you need further information, please contact us by e-mail at CES