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claim:the-setback-regulation-in-the-lighty-house-would-have-destroyed-the-living-space-around-the-great-oak-tree-illustrating-how-rigid-rules-damage-wholeness

The setback regulation in the Lighty house would have destroyed the living space around the great oak tree, illustrating how rigid rules damage wholeness.

Specific example used as evidence that standard zoning rules are insensitive to local wholes.

Neighborhood — ranked by edge-count

Events (1)

event

Lighty house project (Berryessa, California)
supports
A house project where a rigid 10-foot setback regulation threatened a magnificent old white oak; violated by confusing the inspector.

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.

Rules, laws, restrictions, are too exact, too restrictive to create living space; a shared vision is needed instead.claim0.775
Argument that abstract codes cannot guarantee the emergence of shaped space with deep feeling.
Human beings can violate the tendency to preserve wholeness either by acting disrespectfully toward it or by failing to perceive it accurately, which explains why modern buildings often lack living structure.claim0.769
Alexander's explanation for the 'temperamental' nature of the principle: it can be overridden by human agency
In nature the principle of unfolding wholeness creates living structure nearly all the time. Human designers, who are not constrained by this unfolding, can violate the wholeness if they wish to, and can therefore create non-living structure as often as they choose.quote0.765
Encapsulates the distinction between natural and human-made order, central to Alexander's critique of contemporary architecture.
The existence of structure-destroying transformations as a social norm is linked to a breakdown in the perception of wholeness itself.claim0.763
Causal link between perception and destruction.
Cars do not dominate, they are the low man on the totem pole, and are squeezed in where they can be fitted, but are not allowed to destroy the neighborhood or its communal, living structure.quote0.755
Vividly captures the reversal of conventional car-pedestrian priority.
In modern human society, building actions are not guaranteed to be wholeness preserving because they are governed by mental images and schemata.claim0.753
Central premise of the chapter.
Rules are wrongly formulated and processes are too rigid to allow adaptation; they cannot allow life to occur.claim0.752
General statement that current rules and processes are fundamentally incompatible with living structure.
Understaffed planning departments forced to follow rigid rules were strongly biased toward large-scale projects because they reduced workload, leading to destruction of urban fabric.claim0.751
Institutional analysis of planning.