Patterns of Events
Original term: Patterns of Events | Chapter/location: 4 | Chapter start page in the English edition’s table of contents: 55
Definition and core idea
Patterns of events are the recurring behaviours and activities that take place in a setting: who does what, when, with whom and under what conditions. In Alexander’s account a place gets its character from the patterns of events that keep happening there, not from its geometry alone.
Explanation and elaboration
To analyse a place you have to ask who uses the space, when, and for what activity; which behaviours recur; which conditions make them easier, and who is left out of the space. Patterns of events are not separate from geometry, but they are not reducible to geometry either.
Notes and limits of interpretation
Caution in attribution
Recurring events are not the same in all cultures. Age, physical ability, time, climate and social norms all affect a pattern.
Relations to other concepts
Review questions
- What problem does this concept clarify?
- Which part is Alexander’s explicit claim and which part is analytical interpretation?
- What observations or evidence are needed to assess it in a real environment?