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This article discusses the epistemology of design as a process, arguing specifically that sketching and drawing are essential modes of thinking and reasoning. It demonstrates that the commonly accepted notion of a spontaneous and intuitive vision in the mind's eye—encapsulated in the cliché of the napkin sketch—obscures the exploratory inferences that are made while scribbling with a pencil on a sheet of paper. The draughtsperson, along with their work tools (such as the 6B), modes of notation, specific techniques, and epistemic strategies as well as the resulting design artefacts form milieus of reflection that facilitate complex processes of exploration. Case studies, including the genesis of the Mini by Alec Issigonis, samples of work by Alvar Aalto, and a reinterpretation of student sketches from a classical design study by Gabriela Goldschmidt, serve to illustrate how drawing inferences with pencil and paper occurs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Finland the construction of post-war neighbourhoods started in 1950, but its ideological background was in the planning of the 1940s. As has been shown, the principles of Anglo-American neighbourhood unit planning and regional planning influence the structural principles that were adopted for neighbourhood units. This paper presents another narrative for the period by analysing the work of the architect Alvar Aalto, who was a pioneer of Finnish regional planning and was significantly active in community planning. After having established good relations with Finnish industry, he got the chance to develop his own community planning principles. They became close to the principles of neighbourhood unit planning but, at the same time, were personal and extended beyond them. This paper examines in closer detail three of Aalto's plans and the way he combined planning and building design. In this way it is possible to better understand the ideas of the 1940s and the importance of Finnish industry during this time. Aalto's activity during the 1940s also explains his success in later decades. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]