---
title: "Work Community (41)"
created: 2026-07-01
updated: 2026-07-01
type: concept
status: compiled
namespace: pattern-language
pattern_number: 41
pattern_name: "Work Community"
source_repository: https://github.com/zenodotus280/apl-md
source_url: https://github.com/zenodotus280/apl-md/blob/master/Patterns/Work%20Community%20%2841%29.md
license_note: Non-commercial reuse with attribution; see namespace README and source LICENSE.md.
related_patterns:
  - "Scattered Work (9)"
  - "Subculture Boundary (13)"
  - "Neighborhood Boundary (15)"
  - "Activity Nodes (30)"
  - "Small Public Squares (61)"
  - "Local Sports (72)"
  - "Accessible Green (60)"
  - "Courtyards Which Live (115)"
  - "Self-Governing Workshops and Offices (80)"
  - "Street Cafe (88)"
  - "Food Stands (93)"
  - "Communal Eating (147)"
---

# Work Community (41)

> Source pattern from the abridged `apl-md` corpus. Use as a design reference and constraint seed; do not treat as commercial-clean training data.

### Problem
>If you spend eight hours of your day at work, and eight hours at home, there is no reason why your workplace should be any less of a community than your home.

### Solution
>Build or encourage the formation of work communities—each one a collection of smaller clusters of workplaces which have their own courtyards, gathered round a larger common square or common courtyard which contains shops and lunch counters. The total work community should have no more than 10 or 20 workplaces in it.

### Related Patterns
... according to the pattern [[Scattered Work (9)]], work is entirely decentralized and woven in and out of the housing areas. The effect of [[Scattered Work (9)]] can be increased piecemeal, by building individual work communities, one by one, in the boundaries between the neighborhoods; these work communities will then help to form the boundaries -- [[Subculture Boundary (13)]], [[Neighborhood Boundary (15)]] -- and above all in the boundaries, they will help to form [[Activity Nodes (30)]].

Make the square at the heart of the community a public square with public paths coming through it [[Small Public Squares (61)]]; either in this square, or in some attached space, place opportunities for sports -- [[Local Sports (72)]]; make sure that the entire community is always within three minutes' walk of an [[Accessible Green (60)]]; lay out the individual smaller courtyards in such a way that people naturally gather there -- [[Courtyards Which Live (115)]]; keep the workshops small -- [[Self-Governing Workshops and Offices (80)]]; encourage communal cooking and eating over and beyond the lunch counters -- [[Street Cafe (88)]], [[Food Stands (93)]], [[Communal Eating (147)]] ...

---

> [!cite]- Alexander, Christopher. _A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction_. Oxford University Press, 1977, p. 222.
> #APL/confidence/high
>
> #APL/Town-Patterns/Work-Communities