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1. A more beautiful and coherent geometric form that is natural to the land;
2. More probable successful integration and adaptation to plants, trees, animals, and land form –
resulting in communities and built areas, which like traditional towns and villages, seem part of
nature;
3. Successful fine-tuning and deep adaptation;
4. More successful integration with the living process in the daily life of the inhabitants;
5. Better fit with individual local needs of any given building, garden, space, or enclosure;
6. Far greater likelihood that genuine community will emerge in the new place;
7. More uniqueness of each place, each street, each building, and each project;
8. More profound linkage to sustainability and environmental objectives; and
9. An easier path to the desired end state, as described above.
The Generative Code as an overall process, which includes the principles of A Pattern Language,
has been tested on various projects. One project worthy of mention is the Eishin Campus in Japan, a
combined college and high school campus in a suburban location in Tokyo. It exhibits elements of the
generative code’s sequences that have unfolded over many years due to integrated design and construction with active community participation. This project, which started in 1991, slowly unfolded
over several years resulting in many lessons learned, and was subsequently recorded by Alexander,
Neis and Maggie Moore Alexander in The Battle for the Life and Beauty of the Earth – A Struggle
Between Two World Systems (2012). Two important themes are recognised in the book: first, the crucial importance of local adaptation, and second, the search for coherence in the physical, ecological,
emotional and spiritual realm, thereby healing communities, resulting in wholeness, or creating the
whole (Alexander et al., 2012, pp. 19, 87). It is very evident throughout the literature review that the
theme of wholeness and the whole continuously emerges as an important ingredient that is reflected
in the principles of ecological design and planning (McHarg, 1992 [1969]), regenerative design (Lyle,
1994), and generative design [code] (Alexander, 2005). Further investigation of this phenomenon of
the whole and wholeness is explored in the next section.
9.8 Wholeness and the Whole
In science research the tendency is to investigate specific parts, and in general the philosophical position accepted is that a complex system is nothing but the sum of its parts (Goldstein, 1999). In contrast, Einstein’s general theory of relativity ties together space, time and matter in an intrinsic
relationship that cannot exist without the whole. Chaos theory identifies that systems are exquisitely
sensitive to their circumstances and that therefore they must be considered in the context of their
whole (Gleick, 1988). Biological systems are a sum of biological cells with great inter- related complexity (Noble, 2006). Complexity theory identifies that the behaviour of complex systems constitutes
an interrelated pattern connection that not only exchanges between constituents, but also exhibits a
kind of holistic pattern-forming capability with active information forming the whole (Kauffman,
1993; Polkinghorne, 1998).
Here again we can see that the concept of ‘the whole’ appears over and over again in the literature.
In relation to the design and planning of the built environment and the understanding of the whole,
Alexander and Neis ask the question: How do we make intellectual sense of the word wholeness?
They note that ‘wholeness’ suggests the understanding of things in their entirety and that it speaks of
the oneness of all things, the connection of wholes (Alexander et al., 2012, p. 87). It is thus relevant
to reflect on the explanations of wholeness by Alexander and Neis in The Battle for the Life and
Beauty of the Earth (2012, pp. 87–96), as follows:
9.8 Wholeness and the Whole
1. A more beautiful and coherent geometric form that is natural to the land;
2. More probable successful integration and adaptation to plants, trees, animals, and land form –
resulting in communities and built areas, which like traditional towns and villages, seem part of
nature;
3. Successful fine-tuning and deep adaptation;
4. More successful integration with the living process in the daily life of the inhabitants;
5. Better fit with individual local needs of any given building, garden, space, or enclosure;
6. Far greater likelihood that genuine community will emerge in the new place;
7. More uniqueness of each place, each street, each building, and each project;
8. More profound linkage to sustainability and environmental objectives; and
9. An easier path to the desired end state, as described above.
The Generative Code as an overall process, which includes the principles of A Pattern Language,
has been tested on various projects. One project worthy of mention is the Eishin Campus in Japan, a
combined college and high school campus in a suburban location in Tokyo. It exhibits elements of the
generative code’s sequences that have unfolded over many years due to integrated design and construction with active community participation. This project, which started in 1991, slowly unfolded
over several years resulting in many lessons learned, and was subsequently recorded by Alexander,
Neis and Maggie Moore Alexander in The Battle for the Life and Beauty of the Earth – A Struggle
Between Two World Systems (2012). Two important themes are recognised in the book: first, the crucial importance of local adaptation, and second, the search for coherence in the physical, ecological,
emotional and spiritual realm, thereby healing communities, resulting in wholeness, or creating the
whole (Alexander et al., 2012, pp. 19, 87). It is very evident throughout the literature review that the
theme of wholeness and the whole continuously emerges as an important ingredient that is reflected
in the principles of ecological design and planning (McHarg, 1992 [1969]), regenerative design (Lyle,
1994), and generative design [code] (Alexander, 2005). Further investigation of this phenomenon of
the whole and wholeness is explored in the next section.
9.8 Wholeness and the Whole
In science research the tendency is to investigate specific parts, and in general the philosophical position accepted is that a complex system is nothing but the sum of its parts (Goldstein, 1999). In contrast, Einstein’s general theory of relativity ties together space, time and matter in an intrinsic
relationship that cannot exist without the whole. Chaos theory identifies that systems are exquisitely
sensitive to their circumstances and that therefore they must be considered in the context of their
whole (Gleick, 1988). Biological systems are a sum of biological cells with great inter- related complexity (Noble, 2006). Complexity theory identifies that the behaviour of complex systems constitutes
an interrelated pattern connection that not only exchanges between constituents, but also exhibits a
kind of holistic pattern-forming capability with active information forming the whole (Kauffman,
1993; Polkinghorne, 1998).
Here again we can see that the concept of ‘the whole’ appears over and over again in the literature.
In relation to the design and planning of the built environment and the understanding of the whole,
Alexander and Neis ask the question: How do we make intellectual sense of the word wholeness?
They note that ‘wholeness’ suggests the understanding of things in their entirety and that it speaks of
the oneness of all things, the connection of wholes (Alexander et al., 2012, p. 87). It is thus relevant
to reflect on the explanations of wholeness by Alexander and Neis in The Battle for the Life and
Beauty of the Earth (2012, pp. 87–96), as follows:
9.8 Wholeness and the Whole