W.T. Dore @WT_Dore@octodon.social

Sometimes saying nothing is the most difficult option.

Today I'm thinking of a comment (maybe from Masto) on how "look who wised up!" is counter-productive when dealing with people who changed their minds, and I'm working very hard at not saying that.

Look to successful #daylighting https://www.americanrivers.org/threats-solutions/restoring-damaged-rivers/what-exactly-is-stream-daylighting/ efforts for lessons.

... Whenever possible, collect #rainwater in open gutters and allow it to flow above ground, along pedestrian paths and in front of houses. In places without natural running water, create #fountains in the streets." Christopher Alexander, A Pattern Language #patternlanguage #christopheralexander

... Solution:
Preserve natural pools and #streams and allow them to run through the city; make paths for people to walk along them and footbridges to cross them. Let the streams form natural barriers in the city, with traffic crossing them only infrequently on bridges....

"Problem:
We came from the water; our bodies are largely #water; and water plays a fundamental role in our psychology. We need constant access to water, all around us; and we cannot have it without reverence for water in all its forms. But everywhere in cities water is out of reach...

"Problem:
Why is it that people don't dance in the street today?
Solution:
Along promenades, in squares and evening centers, make a slightly raised platform to form a bandstand, where street musicians and local bands can play. Cover it, and perhaps build in at ground level tiny stalls for refreshment. Surround the #bandstand with paved surface for #dancing - no admission charge." Christopher Alexander, A Pattern Language #patternlanguage #christopheralexander

Probably should make them with varied accessibility features. Total ability is impermanent.

"Problem:
The instinct to climb up to some high place, from which you can look down and survey your world, seems to be a fundamental human instinct.
Solution:
Build occasional high places as landmarks throughout the city. They can be a natural part of the topography, or towers, or part of the roofs of the highest local building - but, in any case, they should include a physical climb." Christopher Alexander, A Pattern Language #patternlanguage #christopheralexander

"Problem:
A town needs public squares; they are the largest, most public rooms, that the town has. But when they are too large, they look and feel deserted.
Solution:
Make a #publicsquare much smaller than you would at first imagine; usually no more than 45 to 60 feet across, never more than 70 feet across. This applies only to its width in the short direction. In the long direction it can certainly be longer." Christopher Alexander, A Pattern Language #patternlanguage #christopheralexander

... Solution:
Build one open public green within three minutes' walk - about 750 feet - of every house and workplace. This means that the greens need to be uniformly scattered at 1500-foot intervals, throughout the city. Make the green at least 150 feet across, and at least 60,000 square feet in area." C. Alexander, A Pattern Language #patternlanguage #christopheralexander

"Problem:
People need green open places to go to; when they are close they use them. But if the greens are more than three minutes away, the distance overwhelms the need....

... Make certain that the path is not a natural shortcut for busy foot traffic, and connect it up with other walks, to form a long ribbon of quiet alleyways which converge on the local pools and streams and the local greens." Christopher Alexander, A Pattern Language #patternlanguage #christopheralexander

"Problem:
Any one who has to work in noise, in offices with people all around, needs to be able to pause and refresh himself with quiet in a more natural situation.
Solution:
Give the buildings in the busy parts of town a quiet "back" behind them and away from the noise. Build a walk along this quiet back, far enough from the building so that it gets full sunlight, but protected from noise by walls and distance and buildings. ...

... weave a wide pedestrian street through this area; run booths along the street, narrow alleys; at one end an outdoor theater; perhaps connect the theater stage directly to the carnival street, so the two spill into and feed one another." Christopher Alexander, A Pattern Language #patternlanguage #christopheralexander

"Problem:
Just as an individual person dreams fantastic happenings to release the inner forces which cannot be encompassed by ordinary events, so too a city needs its #dreams.
Solution:
Set aside some part of the town as a #carnival - mad sideshows, tournaments, acts, displays, competitions, dancing, music, street theater, clowns, transvestites, freak events, which allow people to reveal their madness; ...

Analogies are machines for misunderstanding the world.

... Let this path go through every neighborhood, so that children can get onto it without crossing a main road. And run the path all through the city, down #pedestrian streets, through workshops, assembly plants, warehouses, interchanges, print houses, bakeries, all the interesting "invisible" life of a town - so that the children can roam freely on their bikes and trikes." Christopher Alexander
, A Pattern Language #patternlanguage #christopheralexander

"Problem:
If children are not able to explore the whole of the adult world round about them, they cannot become adults. But modern cities are so dangerous that children cannot be allowed to explore them freely.
Solution:
As part of the network of #bikepaths, develop one system of paths that is extra safe - entirely separate from automobiles, with lights and bridges at the crossings, with homes and shops along it, so that there are always many eyes on the path. ...