Making Community and Place: Commonalities and Contrasts in the Work of Daniel Kemmis and Christopher Alexander

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2006

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Seamon, David

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This article examines the theories of community and urban design proposed by architect Christopher Alexander and political thinker Daniel Kemmis. I argue that Kemmis, in his vision of the good city, sees urban healing fostered largely through civil discourse among citizens and politicians. In contrast, Alexander argues that, before any such discourse can begin, there must first be a basic understanding as to what environmental wholeness is and how it can be strengthened or stymied by qualities of physical design. I argue that, ultimately, both aspects of place making, material and communal, must be considered and carried out, though I concur with Alexander that a knowledge of how the physical city grounds the place making must found the civil discourse that follows.

Subject Keywords

Christopher Alexander, Community Design, Environmental Wholes, Daniel Kemmis, Pattern Language, Phenomenology, Place, Place Making, Politics Of The City, Urban Design.

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http://jfa.arch.metu.edu.tr/archive/0258-5316/2006/cilt23/sayi_2/145_153.pdf
https://hdl.handle.net/11511/60421

Journal

ODTÜ Mimarlık Fakültesi Dergisi

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Department of Architecture, Article

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Citation Formats

D. Seamon, “Making Community and Place: Commonalities and Contrasts in the Work of Daniel Kemmis and Christopher Alexander,” ODTÜ Mimarlık Fakültesi Dergisi, vol. 23, no. 2, pp. 145–153, 2006, Accessed: 00, 2020. [Online]. Available: http://jfa.arch.metu.edu.tr/archive/0258-5316/2006/cilt23/sayi_2/145_153.pdf.