Pattern Language

Pattern language is a design methodology developed by the architect Christopher Alexander as a generative grammar for creating coherent, living environments. Rather than prescribing a finished design, a pattern language consists of a network of patterns — recurrent solutions to contextual problems — that can be combined by individuals and communities to generate specific environments without central planning. Each pattern describes a problem, the forces that create it, and a configuration that resolves those forces. The patterns are organized in a network, with larger-scale patterns ("towns and communities") nesting smaller-scale ones ("buildings and rooms"), creating a hierarchical grammar in which design emerges from the bottom up. Alexander's methodology was influential in software engineering through the Design