On architecture, urban planning and software construction
The outcome of these visionary projects, as described in detail by Scott, is nearly always a complex but dead system. A city void of life, with empty streets, unused buildings, unhealthy forests, poorer people. The high modernist visionary falls victim to their overconfidence, and skips over building the simple systems that work first.
What we want ... See more
What we want ... See more
Coleman McCormick • Gall's Law: But First, Simplify
It was Parkinson who, with the delicious insight of the born historian, applied this Principle to Architecture, pointing out that PERFECTION OF PLANNING IS A SYMPTOM OF DECAY and providing us with a dazzling succession of examples including the Palace of Versailles (completed in time to receive the news of defeat at Blenheim), the League of Nations
... See moreJohn Gall • Systemantics. The Systems Bible
He encouraged looking at people’s expressed preferences and behaviours—for example, drawing on where people actually chose to gather in a home, perhaps in a corner that caught the sun, or how they used public spaces—rather than an architect’s assumptions about how the city should be built.
Geoff Mulgan • Another World Is Possible: How to Reignite Social and Political Imagination
Vernacular design outside of architecture
I've been thinking about how this idea applies to design in fields outside of architecture. Architecture is unique in its geographic, climatic, and cultural contexts, since the "localism" aspect is particularly relevant. But there are probably some parallels that could be drawn to modern software design, pr... See more
I've been thinking about how this idea applies to design in fields outside of architecture. Architecture is unique in its geographic, climatic, and cultural contexts, since the "localism" aspect is particularly relevant. But there are probably some parallels that could be drawn to modern software design, pr... See more