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Alan, there are surely some social or human aspects of beauty, which account for only a minority, say, 10%. A majority of part of beauty - say, 90% - is structural, so called structural beauty. To paraphrase Alexander, 90% of our feelings are shared, so there is a shared notion of quality (or beauty) on goodness of space. This is very much like how space syntax is able to capture human movement. A majority of human movement (e.g. 70%) is captured by the underlying living structure, for which humans movement and random walkers' are with little difference. Of course, other minority of human movement (e.g., 30%) has to be accounted for by human factors such as ages, genders, and purposes etc.. It is in this context that space syntax by which I meant axial lines, or natural streets rather than segment analysis is able to capture the underlying scaling or fractal or living structure of far more less-connected than well-connected: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325848238_Why_Topology_Matters_in_Predicting_Human_Activities Thanks and cheers. Bin On 7/22/2018 10:07 PM, Penn, Alan wrote: Ah. Thanks Yodan, what threw me was Bin saying: Alexander's configuration theory is NOT a social theory, but part of complexity theory, which aims not only for understanding complexity, but also for making and remaking complex or living structures... That seemed to me to imply the use of the term ‘beauty’ in a way abstracted from its social meaning. The notion that what people find beautiful is a single objectively defined thing seems both arrogant and palpably incorrect. My mother, brought up in the 1930’s, abhorred the Victorian architecture of the previous generation. Alexander apparently feels equally strongly about modernism. Clearly, they would have had a great discussion but eventually would have had to agree to disagree. If disagreeing is possible that surely casts doubt on the dogma that beauty is a universal. Alan Sent from my iPhone On 22 Jul 2018, at 19:40, Yodan Rofe <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote: Actually Alan it's not at all like physicists using words with a specific changed meaning. Alexander means Beauty in the sense of that quality which we can all identify, and tends to last beyond changes of taste and style. It's also connected to what he calls "wholeness" and the quality of "life". This is a later formualtion to what he called in Timeless Way of Building the quality without a name. The hypothesis is that contrary to common belief, this quality is discernable by people, and that there is a large degree of agreement across cultures in evaluating it. It's good that Bin is finally testing out this hypothesis. Yodan On Sun, Jul 22, 2018 at 9:36 PM Yodan Rofe <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote: Actually Alan it's not at all like physicists using words with a specific changed meaning. Alexander means Beauty in the sense of that quality which we can all identify, and tends to last beyond changes of taste and style. It's also connected to what he calls "wholeness" and the quality of "life". This is a later formualtion to what he called in Timeless Way of Building the quality without a name. The hypothesis is that contrary to common belief, this quality is discernable by people, and that there is a large degree of agreement across cultures in evaluating it. It's good that Bin is finally testing out this hypothesis. Yodan On Sun, Jul 22, 2018 at 9:06 PM Penn, Alan <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote: Ok that must be a bit like physicists using words like ‘charm’ and ‘beauty’ to mean something quite specific about quarks, and never intended to be thought to be related to their everyday meaning. I had not heard understood this is what Alexander was doing. That is fine, just slightly confusing. Alan Sent from my iPhone > On 22 Jul 2018, at 18:12, Bin Jiang <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote: > > Alexander's configuration theory is NOT a social theory, but part of > complexity theory, which aims not only for understanding complexity, but > also for making and remaking complex or living structures: > http://www.katarxis3.com/SCIENTIFIC%20INTRODUCTION.pdf > > More beautiful or better is in terms of not only how it looks, but also > how it works. This is the uniqueness of Alexander's theory, based on > which a new Master program was established: https://buildingbeauty.org/ > > Thanks and cheers. > > Bin >> On 7/22/2018 6:58 PM, Penn, Alan wrote: >> I really worry about any social theory that says some artefact is objectively ‘better’ or ‘more beautiful’ than another. ‘Better‘ for what? ‘More beautiful’ in whose eyes? I am happy that something may hold more information or may be simpler, or more complex, more or less intelligible or interesting, but ‘better’ ? This use of words casts doubt on the theory itself and the theorist. >> >> Alan >> >> Sent from my iPhone >> >>> On 22 Jul 2018, at 17:00, Bin Jiang <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote: >>> >>> Dear all, >>> >>> As far as I see, one of the theory's limits is that it is unable to say >>> which facade is objectively better than another, or alternatively, which >>> facade has a higher degree of goodness objectively. >>> >>> Christopher Alexander developed a configurational theory - in The >>> Nature of Order - that is based on a mathematically defined wholeness. >>> It is able to objectively judge which facade is better than another, or >>> which facade is more life, or more beautiful, or more whole than >>> another. We are currently running a project - namely FACADE - with which >>> we are testing with human subjects, which of two facades (their pictures >>> actually) has a higher degree of goodness. This is the so called the >>> mirror-of-the-self experiment, developed by Alexander. In this project, >>> we will also compute the degree of goodness for many pairs of facades, >>> in order to compare to the results of the mirror of the self experiment. >>> The computational experiment is based on the following papers: >>> >>> https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312332540_Geographic_Space_as_a_Living_Structure_for_Predicting_Human_Activities_Using_Big_Data >>> https://www.researchgate.net/publication/305638074_A_Topological_Representation_for_Taking_Cities_as_a_Coherent_Whole >>> >>> I shall keep you updated with the progress of this FACADE project. >>> >>> Thanks and cheers. >>> >>> Bin >>>> On 7/22/2018 3:23 PM, Psarra, Sophia wrote: >>>> Dear all >>>> >>>> Bill's work that Alan and Ruth refer to has been published in a thematic issue of JOSS, which was dedicated to space syntax and design (annotated by the editor's comments). >>>> >>>> Bill elaborates on some of the ideas that Alan mentions in this paper, using analysis of facades. I attach the paper here. >>>> >>>> This issue (Vol. 2 no 2 Dec. 2011) contains other interesting papers in the field of space syntax, formal analysis and design. >>>> >>>> http://joss.bartlett.ucl.ac.uk/journal/index.php/joss/issue/view/4 >>>> >>>> Best >>>> >>>> Sophia >>>> >>>> >>>> SOPHIA PSARRA DipArch, MSc, PhD >>>> >>>> The Bartlett School of Architecture >>>> Faculty of the Built Environment >>>> University College London (UCL) >>>> 22 Gordon Street >>>> London, WC1H 0QB >>>> United Kingdom >>>> >>>> Email: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> >>>> Web: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/architecture/dr-sophia-psarra >>>> Blog: https://con-figurations.com/ >>>> Twitter: https://twitter.com/SophiaPsarra >>>> Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/bartlettarchucl >>>> >>>> The Venice Variations (2018), London: UCL Press (free PDF download) >>>> http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/10047544/1/The-Venice-Variations.pdf >>>> >>>> Architecture and Narrative (2009), London: Routledge >>>> http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415343763/ >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> On 22/07/2018, 12:27, "[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Ruth Dalton" <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> on behalf of [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote: >>>> >>>> I have a copy of the paper Alan, but it’s the ‘lost’ chapter of space is the machine that never made it into the final publication and so have never been in the public realm! >>>> >>>> I could scan it with bill’s permission. >>>> >>>> Regards Ruth >>>> >>>> ___________________________ >>>> Professor Ruth Conroy Dalton >>>> Sent from my iPhone >>>> >>>> > On 22 Jul 2018, at 12:23, Penn, Alan <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote: >>>> > >>>> > Thanks Reem! >>>> > clearly, on re-reading I have conflated the paper and some of Bill’s lectures on the subject that developed on from this - glueing and binding and the sociological argument… >>>> > Alan >>>> > >>>> >> On 22 Jul 2018, at 12:05, Reem Zako <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote: >>>> >> >>>> >> I have a digital copy of "Quite unlike the pleasures of scratching” and attaching it, but not quite sure of publication year thus the 19xx >>>> >> >>>> >> Reem >>>> >> >>>> >> ######################################################################## >>>> >> >>>> >> To unsubscribe from the SPACESYNTAX list, click the following link: >>>> >> https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?SUBED1=SPACESYNTAX&A=1 >>>> >> >>>> >> >>>> >>> On 22 Jul 2018, at 11:46, Penn, Alan <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote: >>>> >>> >>>> >>> Two thoughts: >>>> >>> >>>> >>> Bill wrote a paper about this under the title “Quite unlike the pleasures of scratching”, but for the life of me I cant see where it is and don’t have a copy. It applies very fundamental configurational analysis to different things one can do with a facade. Essentially, ‘gluing’ or ‘binding’. The former where an element is used to create a logical relationship between other elements, as in for example bilateral symmetry around a single central axis, elaborated and made more unlikely (therefore intentional) by increased detail. The latter where a single element is used to group together a number of similar sub elements - the cornice for example above repeated elements of fenestration. Bill’s main insight here was that these kinds of configurational possibility seem to map onto the social structures of organisations and institutions, and so give information about the likely social structures of those that built them. A dominant logical elaboration of a single axis indicating a hierarchical social structure of a single ideology; a repetition of similar units unified by a single facade plain or a unifying cornice line suggesting a mechanical solidarity. The cathedral and the monastery were examples. There was much more - it was an elegant argument. >>>> >>> >>>> >>> Second, Juval Portugali’s work on this issue. A whole information based theory. >>>> >>> >>>> >>> Alan >>>> >>> >>>> >>> >>>> >>> >>>> >>>> On 22 Jul 2018, at 10:23, Armir Ferati <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote: >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> Dear all, >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> Anything on Facade analysis (configurational approach)? >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> To unsubscribe from the SPACESYNTAX list, click the following link: >>>> >>>> https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?SUBED1=SPACESYNTAX&A=1 >>>> >>>> >>>> >>> >>>> >>> >>>> >>> ######################################################################## >>>> >>> >>>> >>> To unsubscribe from the SPACESYNTAX list, click the following link: >>>> >>> https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?SUBED1=SPACESYNTAX&A=1 >>>> >> >>>> >> >>>> >> ######################################################################## >>>> >> >>>> >> To unsubscribe from the SPACESYNTAX list, click the following link: >>>> >> https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?SUBED1=SPACESYNTAX&A=1 >>>> >> <19xx_Hillier_PleasureScratching.pdf> >>>> > >>>> > >>>> > ######################################################################## >>>> > >>>> > To unsubscribe from the SPACESYNTAX list, click the following link: >>>> > https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?SUBED1=SPACESYNTAX&A=1 >>>> This message is intended solely for the addressee and may contain confidential and/or legally privileged information. 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The University cannot guarantee that this message or any attachment is virus free or has not been intercepted and/or amended. >>>> >>>> ######################################################################## >>>> >>>> To unsubscribe from the SPACESYNTAX list, click the following link: >>>> https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?SUBED1=SPACESYNTAX&A=1 >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> ######################################################################## >>>> >>>> To unsubscribe from the SPACESYNTAX list, click the following link: >>>> https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?SUBED1=SPACESYNTAX&A=1 >>> -- >>> >>> -------------------------------------------------------- >>> Bin Jiang >>> Division of GIScience >>> Faculty of Engineering and Sustainable Development >>> University of Gävle, SE-801 76 Gävle, Sweden >>> Phone: +46-26-64 8901 Fax: +46-26-64 8758 >>> Email: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> Web: http://giscience.hig.se/binjiang/ >>> -------------------------------------------------------- >>> >>> Associate Editor: Cartographica >>> BinsArXiv: http://arxiv.org/a/jiang_b_1 >>> Axwoman: http://giscience.hig.se/binjiang/axwoman/ >>> Geomatics: http://giscience.hig.se/binjiang/geomaticsprogram/ >>> RG: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Bin_Jiang3 >>> >>> >>> [Högskolan i Gävle] >>> >>> Högskolan i Gävle, 801 76 Gävle • 026 64 85 00 • www.hig.se<http://www.hig.se><http://www.hig.se> >>> >>> För en hållbar livsmiljö för människan >>> >>> University of Gävle, SE-801 76 Gävle, Sweden • +46 (0) 26 64 85 00 • www.hig.se<http://www.hig.se><http://www.hig.se> >>> >>> ######################################################################## >>> >>> To unsubscribe from the SPACESYNTAX list, click the following link: >>> https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?SUBED1=SPACESYNTAX&A=1 >> ######################################################################## >> >> To unsubscribe from the SPACESYNTAX list, click the following link: >> https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?SUBED1=SPACESYNTAX&A=1 > > -- > > -------------------------------------------------------- > Bin Jiang > Division of GIScience > Faculty of Engineering and Sustainable Development > University of Gävle, SE-801 76 Gävle, Sweden > Phone: +46-26-64 8901 Fax: +46-26-64 8758 > Email: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> Web: http://giscience.hig.se/binjiang/ > -------------------------------------------------------- > > Associate Editor: Cartographica > BinsArXiv: http://arxiv.org/a/jiang_b_1 > Axwoman: http://giscience.hig.se/binjiang/axwoman/ > Geomatics: http://giscience.hig.se/binjiang/geomaticsprogram/ > RG: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Bin_Jiang3 > > > [Högskolan i Gävle] > > Högskolan i Gävle, 801 76 Gävle • 026 64 85 00 • www.hig.se<http://www.hig.se><http://www.hig.se> > > För en hållbar livsmiljö för människan > > University of Gävle, SE-801 76 Gävle, Sweden • +46 (0) 26 64 85 00 • www.hig.se<http://www.hig.se><http://www.hig.se> > > ######################################################################## > > To unsubscribe from the SPACESYNTAX list, click the following link: > https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?SUBED1=SPACESYNTAX&A=1 ######################################################################## To unsubscribe from the SPACESYNTAX list, click the following link: https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?SUBED1=SPACESYNTAX&A=1 -- Yodan Rofè, Senior Lecturer, Urban Planning and Design <http://www.bgu.ac.il/CDAUP/yodan-rofe.html> [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> Chair, "Bona Terra" Department of Man in the Desert, Switzerland Institute for Dryland Environmental and Energy Research and Department of Geography and Environmental Development, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. <mailto:[log in to unmask]>Tel: +972-8-6596884 | Fax: +972-8-6596881 | Cell: +972-54-4641088 | Skype: yodan_rofe Please don't print this email unless you really need to Personal academic webpage<http://in.bgu.ac.il/en/bidr/SIDEER/MID/Pages/staff/Yodan_Rofe.aspx> Academia.edu profile<https://bgu.academia.edu/YodanRofe> ResearchGate profile -- <https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Yodan_Rofe> https://www.google.com/+YodanRofe <http://www.bgu.ac.il/CDAUP/yodan-rofe.html> ________________________________ To unsubscribe from the SPACESYNTAX list, click the following link: https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?SUBED1=SPACESYNTAX&A=1 ________________________________ To unsubscribe from the SPACESYNTAX list, click the following link: https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?SUBED1=SPACESYNTAX&A=1 -- -------------------------------------------------------- Bin Jiang Division of GIScience Faculty of Engineering and Sustainable Development University of Gävle, SE-801 76 Gävle, Sweden Phone: +46-26-64 8901 Fax: +46-26-64 8758 Email: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> Web: http://giscience.hig.se/binjiang/ -------------------------------------------------------- Associate Editor: Cartographica BinsArXiv: http://arxiv.org/a/jiang_b_1 Axwoman: http://giscience.hig.se/binjiang/axwoman/ Geomatics: http://giscience.hig.se/binjiang/geomaticsprogram/ RG: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Bin_Jiang3 [Högskolan i Gävle] Högskolan i Gävle, 801 76 Gävle • 026 64 85 00 • www.hig.se<http://www.hig.se> För en hållbar livsmiljö för människan University of Gävle, SE-801 76 Gävle, Sweden • +46 (0) 26 64 85 00 • www.hig.se<http://www.hig.se> ######################################################################## To unsubscribe from the SPACESYNTAX list, click the following link: https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?SUBED1=SPACESYNTAX&A=1