A Pattern Language for Housing Affordability: Difference between revisions

 

[[File:Alexander--A-Pattern-Language-book-cover.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Alexander, et al. A Pattern Language, 1977]] this article is part of the collection / book in progress,&nbsp;[[Village_Buildings|Village Buildings]].&nbsp; &nbsp;<br/> <- Previous article&nbsp; &nbsp; [[Village_Buildings|Table of Contents]]&nbsp; &nbsp; Next article ->&nbsp;<br/> &nbsp;

 

"A&nbsp;'''pattern language'''&nbsp;is a method of describing good design practices or patterns of useful organization within a field of expertise. The term was coined by architect&nbsp;[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Alexander Christopher Alexander]&nbsp;and popularized by his 1977 book&nbsp;''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Pattern_Language A Pattern Language]''."&nbsp; Patterns "are in essence a way of capturing useful knowledge about the nature of a design problem, and expressing it in a way that can be easily shared and adapted to new contexts." (Mehaffy 2019). Alexander et al's 'patterns' concept has been widely applied in&nbsp;software development and other fields, and inspired the&nbsp;invention of the wiki, by Portland programmer Ward Cunningham for the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_Pattern_Repository Portland Patterns Repository].&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

With this article we&nbsp;are&nbsp;attempting to derive a pattern language to describe all ways to achieve '''housing affordability'''. Of course, affordability is not the ''only'' problem or goal people have in housing or housing policy, but it is an important one, and here we are choosing it as our lens.&nbsp;

 

 

Mehaffy talks about wikis and pattern languages as tools for "consensus development." ''[citation needed]''. In that vein, I've been thinking with this affordability language&nbsp;about how to show varied patterns -- from public housing to 'abundant' market housing -- as all being possible sources of or factors in affordability. In most cases, they may be&nbsp;integrable, instead of conflicting, ideas/approaches.