36. Measuring Coastline: Mandelbrot, Fractals, and Edge earth.google.com “ Clouds are not spheres, mountains are not cones, coastlines are not circles, and bark is not smooth, nor does lightning travel in a straight line.” - Benoît B. Mandelbrot
1. Intro 2. Questions: a. Limited time. If we have time I’ll answer them after the discussion. 3. Why Patterns? a. Better designs b. Understand phenomena c. Patterns, pattern language i. repeating themes throughout design, by humans, or in nature
Zones Urban planning - “the urban core”
Tree rings dendrochronology
Like tree rings, different medium
All scales
Sectors Many plants in dry ecosystems develops forms to concentrate water near their roots Bus Rapid Transit arterial systems
Galaxies Sunflowers Turbulence
No matter how large, the shape remains the same Accreting shell on the outer lip to grow
Tenacity Flexiblity/Spring
Some trees grow in a helical form Classic Example - DNA - compact information storage
Algae growth off Agentina Ocean currents, Mixing of Two Concentrations
Mushroom forms
Mixing / Entropy
Compare with human intestines
Streamline forms from fluids
in lichens, at reef edges A very small notch or indentation
2x more edge. More food. More fish.
Hired by the British govt to measure the coastline of Britian. Surface Area At each level of detail, the length got larger, approaching infinity. 1. Pro - more interface for the amount of area, like intestines a. Humid/Temperate Climates - Trees with 10-30 acres of edge. b. Con - more edge = more material, material conserving designs (like geodesic, bubbles) Arid Climates - Barrel Cactus, round like a geodesic dome, little edge, low water loss. In desert climates: make deep pond with low surface area.
Edge or Surface Area “Boundaries”, Interfaces betweeen various conditions Most fertile areas are edges (conceptually, and in the environmental, intertidal zones)
Pressure = winds Elevation = erosion, water speed The sweet spot. Walls. Soft or Sharp Adding slower transitions for varied species
Branches never reconnect Evolutionary decent? Gene swapping. Microbial life?
Neurons - “dendrites” - dentrites link together to form network Branches - high average cost from point to point Slow communication: bureaucracy
Common form in nature Why? What are the reasons? Flow could be in reverse.
Orders - each size Rivlet, Creek, Stream, River, Estuary…
Water - the path of least resistance Doesn’t store water Flows both ways: Water Sediment Downstream / Salmon Nutrients Upstream Nitrogen
Note the stream lines. Low gradients?
Contraction Expansive clay social networks mycelium
Are we recognizing patterns yet? The US at night. Long exposure.
The Internet. Which is Resiliant? Scale-free/Small world = few hops to any node in the network Scale-free can scale without a loss in quality Explain bell and power law curves. Hubs and Keystone species