eprintid: 10148515 rev_number: 24 eprint_status: archive userid: 699 dir: disk0/10/14/85/15 datestamp: 2022-05-16 11:29:09 lastmod: 2022-10-07 14:51:15 status_changed: 2022-05-16 14:42:33 type: proceedings_section metadata_visibility: show sword_depositor: 699 creators_name: Davis, Howard creators_name: Griffiths, Sam title: Bill Hillier, Christopher Alexander and the representation of urban complexity: their concepts of ‘pervasive centrality’ and ‘field of centres’ brought into dialogue ispublished: pub divisions: C04 divisions: F36 divisions: B04 divisions: UCL keywords: Bill Hillier, Christopher Alexander, urban centrality, ervasive centrality, field of centres note: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. abstract: This paper draws attention to what we propose as a shared sensibility towards the life of cities in the work of Christopher Alexander and Bill Hillier. Specifically, it reflects on some similarities in their conceptions of urban centrality, while also acknowledging their very different intellectual trajectories. A consideration is how both men grounded their theoretical and analytical insights in their personal experience of cities. Alexander’s emphasis on detailed multimodal observation and awareness as a source of design understanding is writ large throughout his many publications. The same could hardly be said of Hillier who consistently prioritized the configurational modelling of urban form. Yet those familiar with Hillier’s teaching and design practice know how his analytical understanding drew on a deep knowledge of cities worldwide. For Hillier space syntax models were not simply outputs of a computational process but a stage in his ongoing dialogue with real places. Direct points of contact between Alexander and Hillier are few. Hillier’s engagement with Alexander in Space is the Machine (1996) takes issue with the inductive epistemology in Notes on the Synthesis of Form (1964), while Hillier (2009) refers approvingly to Alexander’s critique of the modernist city in ‘A city is not a tree’ (1965). Conversely, in The Nature of Order, Alexander makes brief but positive reference to Hillier and Hanson’s analysis of ‘G’ in The Social Logic of Space (1984). This paper concludes by explaining why the connection of Alexander and Hillier, two of the great urban thinkers of last half-century, is worth developing further. date: 2022 date_type: published publisher: Western Norway University of Applied Sciences (HVL) official_url: https://www.hvl.no/en/research/conference/13sss/presentations/ oa_status: green full_text_type: pub language: eng primo: open primo_central: open_green verified: verified_manual elements_id: 1947829 isbn_13: 978-82-93677-67-3 lyricists_name: Griffiths, Sam lyricists_id: SGRIF58 actors_name: Griffiths, Sam actors_id: SGRIF58 actors_role: owner full_text_status: public pres_type: paper publication: Proceedings of the 13th International Space Syntax Symposium pagerange: 1-19 event_title: The 13th International Space Syntax Symposium event_location: Western Norway University of Applied Sciences (HVL). event_dates: 20th-24th June 2022 book_title: Proceedings of the 13th International Space Syntax Symposium editors_name: de Koning, Remco citation: Davis, Howard; Griffiths, Sam; (2022) Bill Hillier, Christopher Alexander and the representation of urban complexity: their concepts of ‘pervasive centrality’ and ‘field of centres’ brought into dialogue. In: de Koning, Remco, (ed.) Proceedings of the 13th International Space Syntax Symposium. (pp. pp. 1-19). Western Norway University of Applied Sciences (HVL) Green open access document_url: https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10148515/1/Griffiths_davisGriffiths_sss13_depositIris_2022.pdf