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Bin, I think you misunderstand Yodan's point: He's suggesting that "levels of scale, echoes, and not-separateness DO NOT tend to tie up all other local properties together." This is because there is ultimately no holistic structure in the 15 properties that allow an actual whole to unfold. The great irony of the 15 properties is that they are all piecemeal parts of any whole. They may say something about artifacts, art works, and buildings as static object, but they say very little about buildings and places as lifeworlds. Again, this is why space syntax is so remarkable: because it recognizes the global (holistic or synergistic) dimension of places and provides a simple means-space as axiality and degree of integration-to make that globality visible. Incorporating a space-syntax understanding into Alexander's work could move it far along because the synergism of the whole (very, very difficult to get at-see Henri Bortoft's WHOLENESS OF NATURE) is revealed. Amazing! As far as Alexander's mirror-of-the-self test, I have always distrusted it. It may say something about two building or objects or places that are obviously different in their constitution, and one is more beautiful or handsome or robust than the other. But when one uses the test for objects of similar quality, the test is useless. Sadly, Alexander does not address this flaw anywhere in NATURE OF ORDER. D Dr. David Seamon Professor of Environment-Behavior & Place Studies Department of Architecture 211 Seaton Hall Kansas State University Manhattan, KS 66506-2901 785-532-5953 [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> www.arch.ksu.edu/seamon/<http://www.arch.ksu.edu/seamon/> http://ksu.academia.edu/DavidSeamon