claim

active

claim:according-to-present-day-biological-terminology-a-city-is-not-a-living-system

According to present-day biological terminology, a city is not a living system.

A statement of current orthodoxy used to highlight the need for a broader definition.

Neighborhood — ranked by edge-count

Questions (1)

question

How can we try to make a living system out of a region, or a city, or a building—even out of a garden—when, according to current scientific orthodoxy, these things are not living systems?
gates
Rhetorical question highlighting the intellectual obstacle the book must overcome.

Related by similarity (8)

cosine ≥ 0.65 · no typed edge

Entities in the same semantic neighborhood but without a typed relation to this one — candidates for new edges or unrecognized duplicates.

"the city is not, cannot, and must not be a tree. The city is a receptacle for life."concept0.794
Alexander's foundational argument from 'A City Is Not a Tree'; articulates his vision of overlapping, non-hierarchical structure.
"[T]he city is not, cannot, and must not be a tree. The city is a receptacle for life."concept0.791
The aliveness structure appears in both biological and artificial systems in recognizable form.claim0.789
Cities today are not coherent beautiful structures; a city today is more like a rambling incoherent structure loosely placed on the surface of the Earth.claim0.781
Fundamental diagnosis of contemporary urban form.
"The city is a receptacle for life. If the receptacle severs the overlap of the strands of life within it, because it is a tree, it will be like a bowl full of razor blades on edge."concept0.779
Alexander, 'A City Is Not a Tree' (1965); vivid articulation of why hierarchical structures harm urban life and relationships.
A living system is software reprogrammable to the extent that stimuli can be used to alter its behavior and functionality, as opposed to needing physical rewiring.claim0.778
Proposed continuous redefinition of software/hardware distinction applicable to biological adaptation
the city is not, cannot, and must not be a tree.quote0.772
Core anti-hierarchical proclamation from Alexander's 1965 article, frequently cited to show his shift to semilattice thinking.
I believe such a system of living processes can be described precisely, can be made practical, and can be implemented.claim0.772
Alexander's optimistic programmatic statement for a worldwide generative system.