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Dr. Nikos A. Salingaros is Professor of Mathematics and Architecture at the University of Texas at San Antonio. An internationally recognized urbanist and architectural theorist, he was Visiting Professor of Architecture at the Delft University of Technology, Tecnológico de Monterrey, Querétaro, Mexico, and at Università di Roma III. He has directed and advised twenty Masters and PhD theses in architecture and urbanism. His publications include seven books and numerous articles. He has collaborated with visionary architect and software pioneer Christopher Alexander. Salingaros won the 2019 Stockholm Cultural Award for Architecture and shared the 2018 Clem Labine Traditional Building Award with Michael Mehaffy.
Eye-tracking technology is a biometric tool that has found many commercial and research applications. The recent advent of affordable wearable sensors has considerably expanded the range of these possibilities to fields such as computer gaming, education, entertainment, health, neuromarketing, psychology, etc. The Visual Attention Software by 3M (3M-VAS) is an artificial intelligence application that was formulated using experimental data from eye-tracking. It can be used to predict viewer reactions to images, generating fixation point probability maps and fixation point sequence estimations, thus revealing pre-attentive processing of visual stimuli with a very high degree of accuracy. We have used 3M-VAS software in an innovative implementation to analyze images of different buildings, either in their original state or photographically manipulated, as well as various geometric patterns. The software not only reveals non-obvious fixation points, but also overall relative design coherence, a key element of Christopher Alexander’s theory of geometrical order. A more evenly distributed field of attention seen in some structures contrasts with other buildings being ignored, those showing instead unconnected points of splintered attention. Our findings are non-intuitive and surprising. We link these results to both Alexander’s theory and Neuroscience, identify potential pitfalls in the software’s use, and also suggest ways to avoid them.
Alexandros Lavdas; Nikos Salingaros; Ann Sussman. Visual Attention Software: A New Tool for Understanding the “Subliminal” Experience of the Built Environment. Applied Sciences 2021, 11, 6197 .
AMA StyleAlexandros Lavdas, Nikos Salingaros, Ann Sussman. Visual Attention Software: A New Tool for Understanding the “Subliminal” Experience of the Built Environment. Applied Sciences. 2021; 11 (13):6197.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAlexandros Lavdas; Nikos Salingaros; Ann Sussman. 2021. "Visual Attention Software: A New Tool for Understanding the “Subliminal” Experience of the Built Environment." Applied Sciences 11, no. 13: 6197.
The world can learn two key lessons from spontaneous settlements: (i) design so as to adapt to human biology; and (ii) design to save energy. Timeless processes of urban growth and sustainability have forced societies to conserve energy. Yet, nowadays, a profession focused on design ideology and short-term profit discredits many economical and effective long-term design methods. Decision-makers, politicians, and urbanists talk of energy conservation while continuing to use failed notions of industrial urbanity in place of documented solutions that work. Most damaging is the myopic academic elite’s fixation on an unsustainable industrial-modernist visual vocabulary of minimalist forms. By promoting typologies based on images dating from the 1920s, instead of using scientific analysis, the industry serves extractive global imperialism rather than satisfying the world’s population needs. We should instead learn from how self-builders adapt form, geometry, materials, surfaces, and ornament to maximize the user’s emotional experience in an otherwise extremely challenging environment.
Nikos Salingaros. Spontaneous Cities: Lessons to Improve Planning for Housing. Land 2021, 10, 535 .
AMA StyleNikos Salingaros. Spontaneous Cities: Lessons to Improve Planning for Housing. Land. 2021; 10 (5):535.
Chicago/Turabian StyleNikos Salingaros. 2021. "Spontaneous Cities: Lessons to Improve Planning for Housing." Land 10, no. 5: 535.
Beauty connects us viscerally to the material universe. Life forms evolved to experience biological connectedness as an absolute necessity for survival. Starting one century ago, however, dominant culture deliberately reversed the mechanism responsible for visceral connection. The resulting disconnection from the material world will continue to have long-lasting negative consequences for human well-being. Christopher Alexander describes how to revive the visceral connecting process, creating conditions for human-centered design in our times. Biological connectedness arises from an organic projection of the designer’s “self” onto the material reality of the object being designed, and to its physical context. Exploring multiple scenarios using informational feedback avoids letting the designer’s ego or imposed images exert a controlling influence. Implementing Alexander’s connecting method could revolutionize design, with the potential to produce a new, nourishing art and architecture. Recent developments in biophilia and neuro-design help to better understand Alexander’s ideas, using results not available at the time he was developing his theory.
Nikos A. Salingaros. Connecting to the World: Christopher Alexander’s Tool for Human-Centered Design. She Ji: The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation 2020, 6, 455 -481.
AMA StyleNikos A. Salingaros. Connecting to the World: Christopher Alexander’s Tool for Human-Centered Design. She Ji: The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation. 2020; 6 (4):455-481.
Chicago/Turabian StyleNikos A. Salingaros. 2020. "Connecting to the World: Christopher Alexander’s Tool for Human-Centered Design." She Ji: The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation 6, no. 4: 455-481.
This is a commentary on Per Galle’s review of the work of Christopher Alexander. Galle covers the classic book A Pattern Language and the later four-volume The Nature of Order. Alexander spent many decades deriving a geometrical basis for beauty. The design tools he introduced create humane and living architecture, by adapting to the human body and sensibilities. Alexander discards the postwar ideology pretending that beauty is meaningless, subjective, existing only in the eye of the beholder. This provocative material re-defines architecture. Alexander has always struck a sympathetic chord with non-architects. Galle clarifies the innovative strands of Alexander’s thought for the average practitioner and reader. Implementing them could completely re-orient the way we build all over the world.
Nikos A. Salingaros. It’s Time for World Architecture to Learn from Christopher Alexander: Discovering Humanity’s Relationship with the Universe. She Ji: The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation 2020, 6, 376 -380.
AMA StyleNikos A. Salingaros. It’s Time for World Architecture to Learn from Christopher Alexander: Discovering Humanity’s Relationship with the Universe. She Ji: The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation. 2020; 6 (3):376-380.
Chicago/Turabian StyleNikos A. Salingaros. 2020. "It’s Time for World Architecture to Learn from Christopher Alexander: Discovering Humanity’s Relationship with the Universe." She Ji: The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation 6, no. 3: 376-380.
While Le Corbusier and Walter Gropius were indeed enormously influential in shaping modern architecture, noteworthy designs being done today prove that the International Style is no longer dominant.
Scott Simpson; Nikos Salingaros. On Theory and Practice. Inference: International Review of Science 2020, 5, 1 .
AMA StyleScott Simpson, Nikos Salingaros. On Theory and Practice. Inference: International Review of Science. 2020; 5 (3):1.
Chicago/Turabian StyleScott Simpson; Nikos Salingaros. 2020. "On Theory and Practice." Inference: International Review of Science 5, no. 3: 1.
The human brain evolved to implicitly approach or avoid objects in its surroundings. Requisite for survival, this behavior happens without conscious awareness or control, honed over 60 million years of primate evolution. Biometric technologies, including eye tracking, reveal these unconscious behaviors at work and allow us to predict the initial response of a design experience. This paper shows how a biometric tool, 3M-VAS (Visual Attention Software), can be effectively used in architecture. This tool aggregates 30 years of eye-tracking data, and is commonly applied in website and signage design. A pilot-study uses simplified drawings of building elevations to show 3M-VAS’s predictive power in revealing implicit human responses of engagement and disengagement to buildings. The implications on the impact of a structure in creating the public realm suggest recommendations for approving new architecture.
Nikos A. Salingaros; Ann Sussman. Biometric Pilot-Studies Reveal the Arrangement and Shape of Windows on a Traditional Façade to be Implicitly “Engaging”, Whereas Contemporary Façades are Not. Urban Science 2020, 4, 26 .
AMA StyleNikos A. Salingaros, Ann Sussman. Biometric Pilot-Studies Reveal the Arrangement and Shape of Windows on a Traditional Façade to be Implicitly “Engaging”, Whereas Contemporary Façades are Not. Urban Science. 2020; 4 (2):26.
Chicago/Turabian StyleNikos A. Salingaros; Ann Sussman. 2020. "Biometric Pilot-Studies Reveal the Arrangement and Shape of Windows on a Traditional Façade to be Implicitly “Engaging”, Whereas Contemporary Façades are Not." Urban Science 4, no. 2: 26.
Symmetry: Culture and Science (ISSN 0865-4824) - Online
Salingaros Nikos A.. Symmetry gives meaning to architecture. Symmetry: Culture and Science 2020, 31, 231 -260.
AMA StyleSalingaros Nikos A.. Symmetry gives meaning to architecture. Symmetry: Culture and Science. 2020; 31 (3):231-260.
Chicago/Turabian StyleSalingaros Nikos A.. 2020. "Symmetry gives meaning to architecture." Symmetry: Culture and Science 31, no. 3: 231-260.
In Making Dystopia: The Strange Rise and Survival of Architectural Barbarism, James Stevens Curl argues that modernist architecture is ill-adapted to human needs. Joining his voice with Curl’s, Nikos Salingaros describes how the style became internationally preferred, despite its failings. He argues that modernist architecture spread through the support of powerful institutions.
Nikos Salingaros. The Rise of the Architectural Cult. Inference: International Review of Science 2019, 5, 1 .
AMA StyleNikos Salingaros. The Rise of the Architectural Cult. Inference: International Review of Science. 2019; 5 (1):1.
Chicago/Turabian StyleNikos Salingaros. 2019. "The Rise of the Architectural Cult." Inference: International Review of Science 5, no. 1: 1.
This is a review of the scholarly book “Making Dystopia — The Strange Rise and Survival of Architectural Barbarism”, by Professor James Stevens Curl. The book is severely critical of the Modernist movement in architecture, holding it responsible for the loss of historical, traditional, and vernacular building cultures. It goes further to associate the loss of other valuable aspects of culture with the erasing influence of modernist thought. The obvious transformation of the built environment influenced people subconsciously away from older compassionate, humane design practices, and towards a cold, inhuman industrialism. Today’s unsustainable Industrial-Modernism is not the inevitable consequence of a natural process of architectural evolution, while the Bauhaus was not an enlightened architecture school. Professor Stevens Curl’s work is an invaluable resource for academia, the public, and professional practitioners. It could help to trigger a massive re-orientation of the building industry, helped by forward-thinking legislators. An enlightened and interested public has to come to grips with what happened, and try and fix it for a better society in the future.
Nikos Salingaros. Book Review: Making Dystopia — The Strange Rise and Survival of Architectural Barbarism, by James Stevens Curl, Oxford University Press. 2018. Archnet-IJAR: International Journal of Architectural Research 2018, 12, 327 -332.
AMA StyleNikos Salingaros. Book Review: Making Dystopia — The Strange Rise and Survival of Architectural Barbarism, by James Stevens Curl, Oxford University Press. 2018. Archnet-IJAR: International Journal of Architectural Research. 2018; 12 (3):327-332.
Chicago/Turabian StyleNikos Salingaros. 2018. "Book Review: Making Dystopia — The Strange Rise and Survival of Architectural Barbarism, by James Stevens Curl, Oxford University Press. 2018." Archnet-IJAR: International Journal of Architectural Research 12, no. 3: 327-332.
Nikos Salingaros. Fractals and Christopher Alexander’s “Fifteen Fundamental Properties. Conscious Cities Anthology 2020: To Shape and Be Shaped 2018, 2018, 1 .
AMA StyleNikos Salingaros. Fractals and Christopher Alexander’s “Fifteen Fundamental Properties. Conscious Cities Anthology 2020: To Shape and Be Shaped. 2018; 2018 (1):1.
Chicago/Turabian StyleNikos Salingaros. 2018. "Fractals and Christopher Alexander’s “Fifteen Fundamental Properties." Conscious Cities Anthology 2020: To Shape and Be Shaped 2018, no. 1: 1.
Nikos Salingaros. Pattern Language. The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social Theory 2017, 1 -3.
AMA StyleNikos Salingaros. Pattern Language. The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social Theory. 2017; ():1-3.
Chicago/Turabian StyleNikos Salingaros. 2017. "Pattern Language." The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social Theory , no. : 1-3.
This paper argues for a basic need for graspable “handles” to be physically present, or merely suggested in our immediate environment. Yet two of the most characteristic elements of industrial-modernist architecture, plate-glass curtain walls and minimalist surfaces, fail to match this aspect of our body’s biology. The absence of graspable components from the formal architecture of the 20th Century leads to psychological disconnection on the part of the user, and could possibly be a cause for stress and anxiety. Physical built elements and designs suggestive of grasping arise in traditional and vernacular methods of construction as ubiquitous moldings, ornament, and trim in response to both human psychology and tectonics.
Nikos Salingaros. WHY WE NEED TO “GRASP” OUR SURROUNDINGS: OBJECT AFFORDANCE AND PREHENSION IN ARCHITECTURE. JOURNAL OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM 2017, 41, 163 -169.
AMA StyleNikos Salingaros. WHY WE NEED TO “GRASP” OUR SURROUNDINGS: OBJECT AFFORDANCE AND PREHENSION IN ARCHITECTURE. JOURNAL OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM. 2017; 41 (3):163-169.
Chicago/Turabian StyleNikos Salingaros. 2017. "WHY WE NEED TO “GRASP” OUR SURROUNDINGS: OBJECT AFFORDANCE AND PREHENSION IN ARCHITECTURE." JOURNAL OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM 41, no. 3: 163-169.
Nikos Salingaros; Federico Mena-Quintero. Peer-to-Peer-Stadtplanung: Aus Erfahrung lernen Neuere Entwicklungen in der Stadtplanung. Commons 2014, 508 -515.
AMA StyleNikos Salingaros, Federico Mena-Quintero. Peer-to-Peer-Stadtplanung: Aus Erfahrung lernen Neuere Entwicklungen in der Stadtplanung. Commons. 2014; ():508-515.
Chicago/Turabian StyleNikos Salingaros; Federico Mena-Quintero. 2014. "Peer-to-Peer-Stadtplanung: Aus Erfahrung lernen Neuere Entwicklungen in der Stadtplanung." Commons , no. : 508-515.
Many, if not a majority, of the world’s citizens view contemporary architecture as ineffective in accommodating the lives of everyday human beings. And yet, voluminous texts by prominent architects and the media argue just the opposite; that, in fact, flashy and expensive new projects profoundly benefit humanity. Those buildings supposedly provide continued advancement in how humans occupy the world. While there is no doubt that the built environment is instrumental to human achievement and wellbeing, what is the true value of the ill-formed, and perhaps ill-conceived, products of today’s leading architects? This essay argues that the elite power structure behind high-profile architectural projects is focused more upon promoting like-minded architects, and their narrow ideological interests, than in satisfying the ordinary everyday user. In doing so, this activity irrevocably damages the environment and markedly diminishes human neuro-physiological engagement with the man-made world. The logical conclusion from this purposeful misrepresentation is that the profession deliberately manipulates both the general public and architecture students to serve its own agenda.
Kenneth G. Masden; Nikos Salingaros. INTELLECTUAL [DIS]HONESTY IN ARCHITECTURE. JOURNAL OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM 2014, 38, 187 -191.
AMA StyleKenneth G. Masden, Nikos Salingaros. INTELLECTUAL [DIS]HONESTY IN ARCHITECTURE. JOURNAL OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM. 2014; 38 (3):187-191.
Chicago/Turabian StyleKenneth G. Masden; Nikos Salingaros. 2014. "INTELLECTUAL [DIS]HONESTY IN ARCHITECTURE." JOURNAL OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM 38, no. 3: 187-191.
This is an introduction to the special issue of IJAR.
Nikos Salingaros. GUEST EDITORIAL: COMPLEXITY, PATTERNS, AND BIOPHILIA. Archnet-IJAR: International Journal of Architectural Research 2014, 8, 5 .
AMA StyleNikos Salingaros. GUEST EDITORIAL: COMPLEXITY, PATTERNS, AND BIOPHILIA. Archnet-IJAR: International Journal of Architectural Research. 2014; 8 (2):5.
Chicago/Turabian StyleNikos Salingaros. 2014. "GUEST EDITORIAL: COMPLEXITY, PATTERNS, AND BIOPHILIA." Archnet-IJAR: International Journal of Architectural Research 8, no. 2: 5.
Nikos Salingaros; Federico Mena-Quintero. Peer-to-Peer-Stadtplanung: Aus Erfahrung lernen Neuere Entwicklungen in der Stadtplanung. Commons 2014, 1 .
AMA StyleNikos Salingaros, Federico Mena-Quintero. Peer-to-Peer-Stadtplanung: Aus Erfahrung lernen Neuere Entwicklungen in der Stadtplanung. Commons. 2014; ():1.
Chicago/Turabian StyleNikos Salingaros; Federico Mena-Quintero. 2014. "Peer-to-Peer-Stadtplanung: Aus Erfahrung lernen Neuere Entwicklungen in der Stadtplanung." Commons , no. : 1.
Nikos Salingaros. Complexity in Architecture and Design. Oz 2014, 36, 4 .
AMA StyleNikos Salingaros. Complexity in Architecture and Design. Oz. 2014; 36 (1):4.
Chicago/Turabian StyleNikos Salingaros. 2014. "Complexity in Architecture and Design." Oz 36, no. 1: 4.
Successful urban configurations are the result of a complex sequence of implicit computations that transform unorganized input into organized output. Although that is exactly what they do, few urbanists discuss their work in these terms. I propose a fundamental distinction between the principal methods of urban computation. One algorithmic process for urbanism leads to formal planning, which lacks the complex organizational structures that support essential adaptability. This closed computational method uses a set of fixed, or formal, rules to compute a configuration that does not adapt interactively during execution. Such algorithms perform each computation based upon predetermined rules, and those rules cannot be changed via any interaction. The other method of urban generation is achieved by means of interactive computing, which is the basis of human intelligence. An interactive computational method generates adaptive organic urban fabric, as seen in both traditional cities and squatter settlements. Adaptive computational systems necessarily rely upon interaction with their situational environment. In this interactive approach, the result of each step in the sequence of computations is fed back into the algorithm so as to influence the subsequent step. The algorithm itself changes by interacting with whatever it is computing. Interactive or intelligent computing, therefore, is not equivalent to computations that rely exclusively upon a fixed algorithm. These two diverse computational methods design two morphologically distinct types of urban fabric. Also included in this discussion are urban morphologies that have no computational basis, as well as those that are deliberately random.
Nikos A. Salingaros. Urbanism as Computation. Complexity Theories of Cities Have Come of Age 2011, 245 -268.
AMA StyleNikos A. Salingaros. Urbanism as Computation. Complexity Theories of Cities Have Come of Age. 2011; ():245-268.
Chicago/Turabian StyleNikos A. Salingaros. 2011. "Urbanism as Computation." Complexity Theories of Cities Have Come of Age , no. : 245-268.
This essay outlines how to incorporate morphological rules within the exigencies of our technological age. We propose using the current evolution of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) technologies beyond their original representational domain, towards predictive and dynamic spatial models that help in constructing the new discipline of “urban seeding”. We condemn the high-rise tower block as an unsuitable typology for a living city, and propose to re-establish human-scale urban fabric that resembles the traditional city. Pedestrian presence, density, and movement all reveal that open space between modernist buildings is not urban at all, but neither is the open space found in today’s sprawling suburbs. True urban space contains and encourages pedestrian interactions, and has to be designed and built according to specific rules. The opposition between traditional self-organized versus modernist planned cities challenges the very core of the urban planning discipline. Planning has to be re-framed from being a tool creating a fixed future to become a visionary adaptive tool of dynamic states in evolution.
Pietro Pagliardini; Sergio Porta; Nikos Salingaros. Geospatial Analysis and Living Urban Geometry. Cities between Competitiveness and Cohesion 2010, 99, 331 -353.
AMA StylePietro Pagliardini, Sergio Porta, Nikos Salingaros. Geospatial Analysis and Living Urban Geometry. Cities between Competitiveness and Cohesion. 2010; 99 ():331-353.
Chicago/Turabian StylePietro Pagliardini; Sergio Porta; Nikos Salingaros. 2010. "Geospatial Analysis and Living Urban Geometry." Cities between Competitiveness and Cohesion 99, no. : 331-353.
URBAN DESIGN International is a scholarly publication with a strong practitioner emphasis. It is relevant for all of those involved in architectural and planning education and practice. It is relevant for urban designers, architects, planners, surveyors and landscape architects and all professionals concerned with urban development and design.
Michael Mehaffy; Sergio Porta; Yodan Rofe; Nikos Salingaros. Urban nuclei and the geometry of streets: The ‘emergent neighborhoods’ model. URBAN DESIGN International 2010, 15, 22 -46.
AMA StyleMichael Mehaffy, Sergio Porta, Yodan Rofe, Nikos Salingaros. Urban nuclei and the geometry of streets: The ‘emergent neighborhoods’ model. URBAN DESIGN International. 2010; 15 (1):22-46.
Chicago/Turabian StyleMichael Mehaffy; Sergio Porta; Yodan Rofe; Nikos Salingaros. 2010. "Urban nuclei and the geometry of streets: The ‘emergent neighborhoods’ model." URBAN DESIGN International 15, no. 1: 22-46.