Contents

Introduction:Why cities are the problem, but cities are the answer too

# Section I:

# Jane Jacobs on “the Kind of Problem a City Is”

5. Toward an “Age of Human Capital

# Section II:

# Christopher Alexander on why “A City is Not a Tree”

3. Learning from “the nature of order

4. The untapped power of “adaptive morphogenesis” in modern design

# Section III:

# Philosophical Roots

3. Christopher Alexander: Mereology in practice

4. Jane Jacobs: The kind of problem design is

# Section IV:

# Opportunities and Threats

3. “Artistic sprawl” and the barrier of architecture

5. Beware of “voodoo urbanism

# Section V:

# Key Lessons and Hopeful Examples

1. Connectivity: Cities need a continuous fabric of walkable, multi-modal streets and public spaces — and structures that support it.

2. Diverse opportunity: “Cities for all” are necessary not only for justice — they are necessary to how well a city actually performs.

3. Adaptation:We need to harness the power of evolution and adaptive morphogenesis, using it to generate forms that can more successfully accommodate human needs, activities and experiences.

4. Environmental sustainability: Cities offer us very powerful ecological and resource benefits — but we need to understand and empower their network dynamics.

5. Systems Reform: If we want better cities and towns, we need to change the “operating system for growth.”

Conclusion: Two Urban Futures

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