Alexander and Nikos Salingaros to jointly develop new concepts of "generative codes" and urban self-organization. In the book Design for a Living Planet, Mehaffy introduced "Place Network Theory," which he described as a "grand unified theory of urbanism" synthesizing the ideas of Christopher Alexander, Jane Jacobs, Kevin Lynch, Alfred North Whitehead, René Thom, Bruno Latour and others. In philosophy, Mehaffy has argued for a "neo-structuralism" to inform architecture and urbanism, and to resolve key problems in philosophy and linguistics. Mehaffy argued that the abstractions of language should be regarded as physical structures in the world, no different in nature from the structures they represent, but that they are distinctive only in the symmetric relationships that humans exploit to map experience and to guide action. He has referred to this theory as “Symmetric Structuralism”. Practice, teaching and research Mehaffy is a practicing urban planner and designer, with a key role in a number of noted projects including Orenco Station, a walkable mixed-use transit-oriented development on the Portland, Oregon light rail line. He has also been active in developing a number of urban design innovations including "sprawl retrofit," to help reconfigure sprawling, fragmented suburban developments into complete, walkable neighborhoods, and "generative codes," design codes that promote greater self-organization and adaptive form. Mehaffy has held periodic appointments in teaching or research at the University of Oregon, Arizona State University, the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, UK, the University of Trento in Trento, Italy, and Tecnologico de Monterrey in Querétaro, Mexico. As Director of Education at The Prince's Foundation for Building Community, he developed an education curriculum that formed the basis of a new Masters of Science in Sustainable Urban Development at the University of Oxford. He was the Academic Chair of the Future of Places, a partnership of UN-Habitat, the Project for Public Space, and the Ax:son Johnson Foundation, and a lead-in conference series to the 2016 United Nations Habitat III conference. He was also Project Manager for the European School of Architecture and Urbanism, an EU-funded pilot curriculum with five university partners. Mehaffy is a Fellow of the Congress for the New Urbanism, a Senior Fellow of the Center for Local Governance, and a member of the INTBAU College of Traditional Practitioners. Education Mehaffy studied music composition and the arts at California Institute of the Arts for his first two years of college study, before transferring to Evergreen State College where he