Morris Mitchell is a renowned architect.  He talked about patterns a fair bit.  Interesting but probably the least relevant talk unfortunately, as I had high hopes given the Christopher Alexander reference early in the talk.  A couple of interesting parallels with our world but nothing new.  One statement he did make that resonated with me is that architecture is a fast moving discipline, particularly when you factor in the science of building communities and the current massive growth in populations in third world countries, but it’s arguably not as fast moving as ours.  To cope with the rapid pace of change in his industry he talked about picking elements that help without endless research but just enough due diligence to “convince a jury”.  I don’t think we have that luxury and should make more gut-feel judgement calls and be prepared to be wrong some of the time.