Complex sentence: Volume 1 attempts to define "life" in the built environment, and contains an exposition of what Alexander calls the fundamental properties, which are those that are possessed by environments which have more life.
Split into simpler sentences: Volume 1 attempts to define "life" in the built environment and determine why one built environment may have more life than another. The first volume contains an exposition of what Alexander calls the fundamental properties, which are those that are possessed by environments which have more life.