Coherence

A property that makes a segment of space stand out as a center; determined by symmetry, connectedness, convexity, etc.

Neighborhood — ranked by edge-count

Concepts (3)

concept

long-range coherence
related_to
Ability to maintain structural consistency over extended sequences
strategic coherence
related_to
The ability to integrate spending efficiency, resource discipline, and adaptive phase play under competitive pressure.
Wholeness
associated_with
Alexander's core concept rejecting the idea that a whole consists of parts; instead, a whole makes its parts (called 'centers').

Questions (1)

question

What is the origin of the 'strength' that makes a few special segments stand out as coherent entities to create wholeness?
answered_by
Early question driving the investigation into the features that make centers form.

Chapters (1)

chapter

Wholeness And The Theory Of Centers
introduces
The chapter that introduces the fundamental concepts of wholeness and centers, laying the groundwork for understanding life in buildings.

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.

Coherence Definition of Consciousnessframework0.852
Von der Malsburg's concept, adopted by the paper, that consciousness is a coherence-maximizing pattern minimizing constraint violations between simultaneous partial models
Coherence Maximizationconcept0.844
The functional role consciousness plays: minimizing constraint violations between simultaneously active partial models of reality
Perceived coherence of patterns is an objective measure, not idiosyncratic or subjective—people agree on relative coherence regardless of experimental taskfinding0.813
Finding that relative coherence rankings remain constant across different people and across different cognitive processing tasks (description, memorization, tachistoscopic recognition), establishing coherence as an objective feature of cognitive processing
Internal Geometrical Coherenceconcept0.812
The property of a building's structural order having its own laws and beauty independent of surroundings; the source of the brutal moment's necessity
Long-range coherence in sequencesconcept0.793
Ability to maintain organized behavior over extended scales; shown limited in flat autoregressive models, enabled in hierarchical/biological systems.
Coherence Criterion for Theory Evaluationconcept0.786
Alexander's argument that alongside empirical predictive force, the coherence of a theory's parts is a primary scientific criterion for truth.
Four Propositions for Coherence of the Theoryframework0.786
The Mid-Book Appendix organizes the theory's underpinnings into four propositions linking centers, self, unfolding, and deliberate I-directed creation.
Configuration coherence can be measured by counting locally symmetric sub-configurations; this measure shows strong agreement with cognition and perception experiments.finding0.776
Quantifiable measure linking structural properties of configurations to human perception, supporting the mathematical reality of wholeness.