Low level descriptive retrieval means that description retrieval happens at the level of the way in which a complex is put together by relating different elements to each other. It will create a recognisable pattern in two senses: apptern in which the local joining rules are consistent, but also in the sense of an emergent global pattern, which is entailed by but not described by the joining rules by which the system is built.
Low level descriptive retrieval
Sources
Hillier, B. (2003) The knowledge that shapes the cities: the human city beneath the social city. In: (Proceedings) 4th International Space Syntax Symposium. : London, UK, 01.1-20. pp. 01.8-01.9