Living structure is defined as a mathematical structure in which there are far more small substructures than larges. It pervasively exists in any space or any part of space, and can be effectively reflected in human mind, triggering a sense of livingness.
The concept is initially defined by Christopher Alexander in his Magnum Opus The Nature of Order, but it is a mathematical concept, but he did not manage to mathematicalize it. In a 2015 paper, Bin Jiang developed a mathematical model of wholeness or living structure that help address not only why a space is living, but also how much living the space is.
There are many examples of living structure shown in the head/tail breaks wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head/tail_breaks
The simplest one is the dataset containing the 10 numbers:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head/tail_breaks#/media/File:HeadTailBreaks_Classification_Illustration.png
the 10 numbers (1, 1/2, 1/3, ... 1/10) as a dataset is a living structure with 5 substructures defined at three hierarchical levels, so its livingness is 5 * 3 = 15.
Living structure can be used to guide all mapping activities such as data classification, map generalization, cognitive mapping, and perception of map beauty. It is believed that human cartographers are subconsciously or unconsciously guided by the underlying living structure
wholeness, life, beauty, coherence, harmony
