Principles of Urban Structure

This book introduces the city as a collection of networks, and analyzes good city form using the latest scientific concepts such as fractals and scaling. A very different conception of sustainable cities emerges: more towards a traditional city of mixed uses and sizes, and away from the industrial monotonous model used in post World-War II planning. Meant for students as well as practicing planners and architects, this book presents the basis of a new way of thinking about sustainable urbanism from the structural point of view.

Nikos A. Salingaros MA PhD is one of the pioneers who are defining the new architecture. This is an innovative and interactive way of conceiving, constructing, and repairing the city. Evidence-based rules for the built environment using scientific methods and logic replace outdated working assumptions that have created dysfunctional urban regions following World-War II. His work links human-scale urbanism to developing architectural movements such as P2P Urbanism, the Network City, Biophilic Design, Self-built Housing, Generative Codes, and Sustainable Architecture. 

Dr. Salingaros collaborated with the visionary architect and software pioneer Christopher Alexander, helping to edit the four-volume "The Nature of Order" during its twenty-five-year gestation. In recognition of his efforts to understand architecture using scientific thinking, Salingaros was awarded the first grant ever for research on architecture by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation in 1997. He is a member of the INTBAU College of Traditional Practitioners and is on the INTBAU Committee of Honor. He was one of the "50 Visionaries who are Changing Your World" selected by the UTNE Reader in 2008. In Planetizen's 2009 survey, he was ranked 11th among "The Top Urban Thinkers of All Time".