Favorites. Research. Lewis Mumford. Lewis Mumford, KBE (October 19, 1895 – January 26, 1990) was an American historian, sociologist, philosopher of technology, and literary critic.
Particularly noted for his study of cities and urban architecture, he had a broad career as a writer. Mumford was influenced by the work of Scottish theorist Sir Patrick Geddes and worked closely with his associate the British sociologist Victor Branford. Pattern language. A pattern language is a method of describing good design practices within a field of expertise. The term was coined by architect Christopher Alexander and popularized by his book A Pattern Language. Advocates of this design approach claim that ordinary people can use it to successfully solve very large, complex design problems. Like all languages, a pattern language has vocabulary, syntax, and grammar—but a pattern language applies to some complex activity other than communication.