Christopher Alexander on Uniqueness
“Almost the most distinctive mark of living process lies in one aspect of the geometry of the results. Simply put, Every part of the world that has life, and every part of every part, becomes UNIQUE. It becomes unique because each part is adapted to its context and because, in the large, no two contexts are ever the same.
… uniqueness … is a necessary aspect of living structure … possibly the most fundamental …
Indirectly, then, the love that we can feel for a place … is made possible by living process … It is the uniqueness of each mountain, building, person, spot that makes it possible to love it, or him, or her … By creating uniqueness everywhere, the living process touches, directly, the issue of whether the world will be a world we love, or not.”
Christopher Alexander – The Nature of Order – Book 2: The Process of Creating Life
… so it isn’t just a quality of snowflakes 🙂