Problem
Wherever there is a sharp separation between residential and nonresidential parts of town, the nonresidential areas will quickly turn to slums.
Solution
Build houses into the fabric of shops, small industry, schools, public services, universities—all those parts of cities which draw people in during the day, but which tend to be “nonresidential”. The houses may be in rows or “hills” with shops beneath, or they may be free-standing, so long as they mix with the other functions, and make the entire area “lived-in”.
Related Patterns
… most housing is in residential neighborhoods, and in the clusters within neighborhoods — Identifiable Neighborhood (14), House Cluster (37); and according to our patterns these housing areas need to be separated by boundaries which contain public land and work communities — Subculture Boundary (13), Neighborhood Boundary (15), Work Community (41). But even these work communities, and boundaries, and shopping streets, must contain houses which have people living in them.
Make sure that, in spite of its position in a public area, each house still has enough private territory for people to feel at home in it — Your Own Home (79). If there are several houses in one area, treat them as a cluster or as a row — House Cluster (37), Row Houses (38).
Alexander, Christopher. A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction. Oxford University Press, 1977, p. 256.