Doxiadis and the Science of Human Settlements

Time-Saver Standards for Urban Design 3.3-1

Jurg Lang

SummaryC.A.Doxiadis, architect, planner and theoretician believed that

problems of human settlements can be addressed only by a

comprehensive and integrated) approach. To this end he formulated

ekistics, the science of human settlements. He defined five ekistic

elements, man, society, shells, networks, nature and their

interrelationships, and sought to relate any study of human

settlements to units of the ekistic logarithmic scale, ranging from

the individual (man, anthropos) to the entire world (ecumenopolis),

extending from from the past to the distant future.

Key wordscities, ekistics, global impact, metrapolis, planning theory, regional

planning, scale, taxonomy, transportation, urban planning

1 CONSTANTINOS A.DOXIADIS

C.A.Doxiadis called himself a bricklayer and he talked with conviction about his visions of human settlements, which rangefrom the individual room to the global community, extending

from the past to the distant future. As a bricklayer he was connected toreality, in full command of his field, committed to implement his ideasand principles, operating from a basis of far-reaching visions and soar-ing aspirations. He left a formidible legacy, ekistics, proposed as a sci-ence of human settlements, consisting of a comprehensive frameworkfor a new science, extensive research, proposals, visions and challengesand built projects, buildings and entire cities.

Constantinos Apostolou Doxiadis was born in 1913 in Bulgaria, theson of Greek parents. He lived in Athens most of his life and died June28, 1975. Many of his ideas and convictions were influenced by child-hood experiences and his early formative years. His father was a GreekMinister of Social Affairs during the time of the Asia Minor crisis in1922, when millions of refugees came from the coastal areas of AsiaMinor, particularly Smyrna. Doxiadis witnessed the hardship and suf-fering through his family’s involvement in the relief programs. Muchof his later work was based on practical experience, on real-life prob-lems, on the urgency and seriousness of these problems and the needfor immediate and effective answers.

In 1935 Doxiadis graduated from the Technical University of Athensas Architect-Engineer and he received his Doctorate Degree from the

Berlin-Charlottenburg University in 1936. For his work and contri-butions in ekistics he was awarded Honorary Degrees by twelve uni-versities, among them Swarthmore College, the University of Pitts-burgh and the University of Michigan.1

Doxiadis experienced the misery of World War II and the Germanoccupation of Greece. In his first major public role he served asUnderSecretary and Director General of the Ministry for Housingand Reconstruction for Greece between 1945 and 1948, and wasMinisterCoordinator of the Greek Recovery Program and Under-Secretary, Ministry of Coordination from 1948 to 1951. The enormityand complexity of problems, scarcity of resources, urgency in guidingrecovery and development and, afterwards, the complexity in allocat-ing aid provided through the World Relief and Marshall Plan weredecisive in Doxiadis’ approach and his further involvement in the over-all concept of a science of human settlements.

From these experiences in planning programs, Doxiadis realized thatthe basis of knowledge seemed to be lacking and what was undertakenwas often ineffective. He formulated an agenda of priority issues forhuman settlements. It was then that he decided that the full spectrumof human knowledge would provide a better answer to the problemsthan any single discipline. He realized that the vocabulary of sociolo-gists, economists, geographers were similar but were used with differ-ent meanings and that there was a need for them to sit down anddefine issues in a more objective and comprehensive way.

C.A.Doxiadis and theScience of Human Settlements

Credits: The author acknowledges the contribution of Panayis Psomopoulos, President of the Athens Center of Ekistics and editor-in-chief of the journal Ekistics, whoreviewed the manuscript and provided invaluable advice and material. Illustrations courtesy of the Doxiadis Archive at the Athens Center.

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Source: TIME-SAVER STANDARDS for URBAN DESIGN

2 � C.A.Doxiadis and the Science of Human Settlements

Time-Saver Standards for Urban Design3.3-2

As early as 1950, Doxiadis postulated the need for a comprehensivescience of human settlements, which he called ekistics. Throughout hislife he worked with unending passion to formulate this science with abody of knowledge and a theory, and to disseminate these ideas andprinciples worldwide. Principles of ekistics guided Doxiadis in his pro-fessional projects, his research, his teaching and the foundation of insti-tutions, symposia and societies, all with the purpose to use his ideas forthe betterment of human settlements.

Doxiadis was a prolific writer and published several seminal books.His doctoral thesis Raumordnung im Griechischen Staedtebau was pub-lished as a book in 1937, later translated into English as ArchitecturalSpace in Ancient Greece, 1972.2 In his book Architecture in Transition,1963,3 he addresses the role of the architect in a world of confusionand rapid change. Based on his broad experience and astute analysisof the increasing complexity and severity of the problems surround-ing mankind, he postulated the comprehensive approach relying onscientific research, connecting the past with the future, architecturewith the context. In his eloquent and passionate plea he joined thepioneers of the modern movement, and a generation later, he soughtsolutions not in the individual monument but in “simple, plain, hu-man buildings” within the overall evolution of the environment andsociety. Ekistics, the science of human settlements, was summarizedin his book Ekistics in 1968.4 This new science was further elabo-rated in four more books,5 Anthropopolis in 1974 (summary of asymposion on the City for Human Development), Ecumenopolis in1975, Building Entopia in 1975, and Action for Human Settlements in1976, published after his death.

In 1951 Doxiadis founded Doxiadis Associates, an international con-sulting firm for architecture, planning and development, headquarteredin Athens, Greece, with affiliated offices worldwide. Doxiadis Associ-ates provided opportunity for the application and testing of his ideasand theories. Projects ranged from architecture to rural and urban set-tlements, agricultural plans, public works, plans for tourism, transpor-tation, housing, urban renewal and design, planning and developmentof new cities, such as Islamabad, the new capital of Pakistan, and Tema,in Ghana.

Doxiadis founded the Athens Technological Organization (originallythe Athens Technological Institute) in 1958, consisting of distinguishedmembers of Athenian and Greek society. The purpose of this organiza-tion was to help Greece to proceed from a developing country to amore advanced level by the spread of new technology, the educationof young people as technicians and scientists, and the development ofcultural programs and debates on burning issues of the country. Sev-eral technical schools were established and new educational programswere formulated and tested until 1967 when the schools and programswere taken over by the Ministry of Education and became public oneyear after Doxiadis’ death.

The Athens Technological Organization offered a rich programof lectures, cultural events, exhibitions of art and performance ofmusic. A new dimension was added in 1959 with the City of theFuture Research project, initiated by Doxiadis with JohnG.Papaioannou as collaborator and project manager. Additionalopportunities for research presented themselves immediatelythereafter and the need grew to train experts in ekistics and haveDoxiadis share his expertise with younger people. This lead in1963 to the creation of the Athens Center of Ekistics, which be-came a major project of the Athens Technical Organization “tofoster a concerted program of research, education, documenta-

tion, and international cooperation related to the development ofhuman settlements.”

Doxiadis designed and built an office and research complex on theslope of the Lykabettos hill in Athens as a sensitive blend of modernarchitecture, regionalism and urban integration. The building, housinghis office, research facility and school grouped around a generouscourtyard and meeting space, would soon become an internationalcenter for discourse. (Fig. 1)

Panayis Psomopoulos characterized Doxiadis and his work as follows:

Most of what Doxiadis has done in terms of ekistics is due to hisexceptional intelligence, his immense thirst for knowledge, unabated energyand his very well organized mind, let alone his charming ability forcommunication. He started as a theoretician with his Ph.D. thesis, becamea politician with enormous experience, a practitioner with DoxiadisAssociates, and gradually shifted to research, documentation and education,so as to become a unique phenomenon in the first part of the second halfof the 20th century.6

While it is difficult to summarize Doxiadis’ work within a shortarticle, it is important that an attempt be made to provide a struc-ture and entry to the body of his work, writings, projects and nu-merous creative contributions. The work was documented byDoxiadis himself in many books and papers, in contributions bycolleagues, collaborators and students, but particularly by the jour-nal Ekistics, which for over forty-five years has disseminated hisideas and principles.7

2 EKISTICS, THE SCIENCE OF HUMAN SETTLEMENTS

Human settlements are no longer satisfactory for their inhabitants. This istrue everywhere in the world, in underdeveloped as well as in developedcountries. It holds true both for the way of living of their inhabitants and forthe forms we give to the shells of the settlements trying to satisfy their needs.And it is true whatever our aspect of the problem.8

Doxiadis described our cities as urban nightmares. The irrationalstructure, clogged arteries and congested streets, pollution and envi-ronmental degradation, lack of sufficient housing, facilities and serv-ices are indications that cities no longer serve their inhabitants ad-equately. It is in our cities, where the problems of our societies mani-fest themselves most pointedly in an epoch of rapid growth andchange.

While the fields of science and technology have experienced rapidadvancement and progress, in dealing with our cities and settlementswe face confusion, disorientation and isolated unconcerted action.There is plenty of research in focused aspects of cities and settle-ments, but there is a dearth of interdisciplinary work. Doxiadis there-fore proposed the creation of a science, which integrates all aspectsof human settlements including the implementation of ideas andsolutions for a better habitat for mankind. He called this scienceekistics, the science of human settlements, defined as follows:

Ekistics is the science of human settlements. The term derives from the Greekverb oikõ, meaning “settling down,” and denotes the existence of an overallscience of human settlements conditioned by man and influenced by economic,



C.A.Doxiadis and the Science of Human Settlements

C.A.Doxiadis and the Science of Human Settlements1 � 3


social, political administrative, and technical sciences as well as the disciplinesrelated to the arts.9

There may be some dispute whether ekistics is a science at this stage,or whether it has to be developed more completely to be recognizedas such. Doxiadis saw the purpose of his science to first provide adescriptive framework with increasing knowledge of facts and gradu-ally evolving theories, and secondly a concerted effort to attain itsgoals and to implement ideas for better human conditions in improvedsettlements. The descriptive science requires scientific methodology,the prescriptive or implementation part requires scientists, techniciansand artists to implement well-founded and creative ideas.

Cities and settlements are confronted with a great number of prob-lems, some inherited from the past, some arising out of present condi-tions. According to Doxiadis there are critical conditions, which arecommon to all cities:

1. There is an unprecedented increase in population due to improvedliving conditions, accompanied by a migration to urban settlements.The result is growth of urban settlements at a tremendous scale.

2. We experience multiple impacts of machines in our lives. Theseimpacts lead to higher productivity and new possibilities, but alsobring unprecedented problems to the structure of cities and society,of resource use and environmental degradation.

3. There is a gradual socialization in the patterns of living, whichallows the whole population to participate more and more in thecity, its facilities and resources.

4. In the modern city, growth and change over time is a dominantfeature, which must take precedence in all planning considerations.

Doxiadis stated that,

…we do not know enough about human settlements, and this is why wehave failed to solve their problems and thus to create a better habitat for man.People are trying to learn more about them, but much more work is beingundertaken in the creation of new settlements than in attempting tounderstand their functioning. Thus their creation is based on a very weakfoundation.10

Scope and Organization

It is apparent that an integrated interdisciplinary science of the humansettlement would have an enormous scope and complexity andDoxiadis in his early work concentrated on providing a framework oforganization and emphasis, He started with an empiric study of settle-ments, which he pragmatically organized. All possible methods, all cat-egories of studies, the findings of all disciplines related to human settle-ments had to be assembled and combined and their validity checkedagainst the wealth of experience embedded in our settlements. Heconcluded:

These categories can be combined or studied in isolation. The studies canlead to conclusions or simply provide data to be fed into further studies.

Fig. 1. Courtyard of Doxiadis Associates and Athens Center of Ekistics.






However, no studies can help us to illuminate the situation unless theirfindings are related to very specific categories and scales of humansettlements.11

Doxiadis formulated a set of conceptual models, which formed thefoundation of ekistics. Five of the most important ones are listed here12:

• The five elements of human settlements or ekistic elements: man,society, nature, shells and networks, and their relationships.

• The ekistic logarithmic scale (ELS) and the ekistic units.

• The ekistic grid, consisting of units of space and the five elementsof human settlements.

• The model of satisfaction.

• The anthropocosmos model.

Ekistic elements

Doxiadis defined five elements of human settlements or ekistic ele-ments, which are essential for an inclusive approach to human settle-ments. (Figs. 2 and 3)

• Man. In the center stands man, the individual human being. Thegeneric term includes male and female. Later Doxiadis replacedman with the Greek term anthropos to be more inclusive.

• Society deals with people and their interaction with populationtrends, group behavior, social customs, occupation, income, andgovernment. Of increasing importance is the preservation of valuesinherent in small communities after they have been absorbed bylarger settlements.

• Nature represents the ecosystem within which man and societyoperate and cities and settlements are placed. The interrelationbetween man, machine, settlement and nature is of high importance,as is the carrying capacity of regions, continents and ultimately theentire planet.

• Shells are used as the generic term for all buildings and structures.

• Networks for transportation, communication and utilities supportthe settlements and tie them together with their organization andstructure. Their changes profoundly affect urban patterns and oftendevelopments in networks have been portending newdevelopments in cities and societies.

Individually the five elements have been well studied in their ownscientific disciplines with man/anthropos in medicine and psychology,society in the social sciences, nature in geography and more recentlyin ecology, shells and networks in architecture, engineering and plan-ning. Rather then creating a super-science through accumulation ofevery discipline, one shall concentrate on each discipline’s aspects re-lated to settlements and bring them together in an interdisciplinaryapproach. Over time, this will be supplemented with autonomousthought, methods, and approaches within ekistics itself. In essence,ekistics is an applied science, which needs to proceed from a solidscientific base to implementation and action within the most difficultand complex situations.

Fig. 2. Model of ekistic elements, used to demonstrate the importance oftheir interrelationship, or synthesis.

Fig. 3. Ekistics and related sciences.






Rather than to consider the elements in isolation, Doxiadis urged anemphasis on their mutual interaction which he called synthesis.

Ekistic units and ekistic logarithmic scale

Any study of human settlements must be related to the scale. To thisend, Doxiadis proposed 15 levels of settlement size or 15 ekisticunits, ranging from the individual man or anthropos to the entireglobal settlement called ecumenopolis, with its ultimate size of 30–50 billion people. The 15 units are: man (anthropos), room, house,house group, small neighborhood, small city, city (polis), small me-tropolis, metropolis, small megalopolis, megalopolis, small eperopolis,eperopolis, ecumenopolis (for definition of the terms see glossary).The population figures for the first three units have been given with1 for man/anthropos, 2 for room and 5 for house/dwelling. For theremaining 12 units, which are numbered as community classes (ro-man) I to XII, the population figures increase by a factor of roughly7, which constitutes the ekistic logarithmic scale. The population figuresrange from 40 persons in the house group to 10,000 for the smallcity/polis (community class IV) to 4 million in the average metropo-lis to 30–50 billion for ecumenopolis, the city spanning the entireglobe (Fig. 4).

Ekistic grid

Human settlements are so numerous and so different from each other thatany attempt to study or understand them is meaningless unless we classifythem in an orderly way.… All fields of knowledge which gradually becomescientific pass through a state of effort towards a systematic classification inspite of the resistance which is sometimes made tothis effort.13

By combining the ekistic elements with the ekistic logarithmic scale,Doxiadis created the ekistic grid, an organizational matrix on whicheach study can be localized and categorized. This ekistic grid washenceforth to be included at the beginning of each publication, Thusit became a unique and most valuable element in the journal Ekistics.But it also became an indispensable research and policy tool in theestablishment of the relation between research objects, and in theidentification of overlaps or gaps in research topics and programs(Fig. 5).

Doxiadis was well aware of earlier uses of the grid as a tool for classifi-cation, or taxonomy, most notably the grids by the Scottish plannerPatrick Geddes and Le Corbusier’s CIAM grid. The CIAM grid withits elements housing, work, recreation and traffic undoubtedly had abuilt-in bias, which fundamentally influenced the understanding ofthe city and is at least partially responsible for the normative state-ments of the Athens Charter of 1933. Doxiadis’ ekistic grid is moreneutral in the choice of the elements, and the introduction of theekistic elements, units and logarithmic scale constitutes a valuable andconstructive innovation.

Goals and the model of satisfaction

Doxiadis derived the goals for human settlements from Aristotle’s age-old saying that the goals for our cities are to make man happy and safe. Safetyis not only limited to safety from wars, but safety from crime, pollu-tion, and natural disasters (through location, codes).

Fig. 4. Ekistic units.

Fig. 5. Ekistic grid with scale defined in terms of logarithmic scale of population (x axis).






The goal of ekistics is to achieve a balance between the elements of humansettlements in order to guarantee happiness and safety of man.14

Doxiadis followed the ancient Greek philosophers in asking what isthe good life and, by referring to Aristotle, he gave his own position onwhat constitutes happiness. Doxiadis believed that to survive, to liveand to achieve happiness, human beings built settlements, which al-ways followed fundamental principles, and he defined five principlesin man’s quest for happiness:

1. Maximum contacts. Man is continuously reaching out for agreater number of contacts (material, aesthetic, intellectual) withnature and other people and elements. This maximizing of contactsleads to the expansion of cities.

2. Minimum effort. Man tries to expend minimum effort toachieve maximum contacts and to reduce energy, time and cost toa minimum. This leads to higher densities.

3. Optimum space. Man needs optimum (but not necessarilymaximum) space, whether temporary or permanent, for man as anindividual or as the member of a group, for the satisfaction of hisneeds.

4. Quality of the environment. The quality of the environment isdetermined by man’s relation with nature, society, shells andnetworks, creating a balance of the ekistic elements. Therelationships within the total environment need to be optimized.

5. Optimum in the synthesis of all principles. A balanced andbeneficial synthesis of the preceding principles has to be created.

These principles were combined with desirability and feasibility ofthe economic, social, political, technological and cultural aspects toform the model of satisfaction. Doxiadis developed studies on maxi-mizing the amount of time one spends in good and rewarding activi-ties and minimizing idle waste of time. These efforts lead to time allo-cation studies and time management in urban activities as for instancethe optimization of travel time (Fig. 6).

Anthropocosmos

Doxiadis elaborated further on the ekistic grid by adding the timescale and aspects of desirability and feasibility to the x-axis. On the y-axis the ekistic elements were expanded to include their interrelations.This formed the framework for the description of the total world(cosmos) of man (anthropos) leading to the term anthropocosmos. Thismodel is intended to define the total system of life. It is described inEkistics 241, December, 1975 and in a slightly longer version in Ekistics229, December 1974 (Fig. 7).

The dimension of time

All too often settlements are only considered with their two-di-mensional qualities. Doxiadis stressed again and again that we mustdeal with their three physical dimensions but also, and most impor-tantly, include the fourth dimension of time. Settlements are nolonger static but they are increasingly subject to rapid growth andchange. By introducing the dimension of time in a bold way, we areencouraged to look at the past, which gives us an understanding ofthe evolution of settlements; by looking at the future we will an-ticipate the dynamic interplay of forces and be able to assess the

Fig. 6. Model of Satisfaction.






Fig. 7. Anthropocosmos model.






complex implications. This anticipation of the future will enable usto plan for the future by acting in the present. The introduction ofthe dimension of time was a recurring theme and important part ofDoxiadis’ theory, which placed emphasis on the dynamic nature ofcities.

In later years Doxiadis expanded from the thinking in four-dimen-sional space by adding more and more dimensions in a concept of themultidimensional or n-dimensional parameter space. This formed thebasis for the conceptual model for the project for the Greater DetroitRegion (Doxiadis 1966, 1967, 1970).

Concepts

Within the framework of Doxiadis’ numerous models, several con-cepts emerged, which were developed and refined over time andserved as recurring paradigms in many of his projects:

• Dynapolis is a term coined by Doxiadis in the early fifties meaningdynamic city or dynamic polis, recognizing the fact thatcontemporary city is a dynamic and not a static entity. He proposeda unique linear configuration to accommodate for growth andchange.

• Ecumenopolis is a key concept of ekistics. As the largest unit of theekistic logarithmic scale it is the inevitable city of the future, whichwill cover the entire earth as a continuous system forming auniversal settlement (see below for further elaboration).

• The human community is the settlement unit designed at a humanscale. It corresponds to unit 7 and community class IV on the ekisticlogarithmic scale and is an indispensable building block within thechanging and dynamic context of ecumenopolis, providing a stablespatial and functional unit to satisfy the needs and aspirations of ourdaily life.

• The functional classification of space postulates the completeallocation of land for human settlements consisting of the area ofurban settlement, of cultivated areas and natural areas.

Search for ideal solutions

For thousands of years we have been developing static settlements,which can be categorized as natural and planned, radial and gridiron,simple and monumental, ideal and utopian. Contemporary and futuresettlements are dynamic and as of today have not attained any clearforms to establish a morphology. Despite the uncertainties and diffi-culties, Doxiadis (1968) reminded that,

the search for the ideal is our greatest obligation…Only by searching for theideal can we hope to face the real issues. As long as we start off with thenarrow-minded view that the ideal is neither necessary nor attainable, we arecompromised right from the beginning.15

• We have to guide our cities. We cannot stop certain trends, butto avert adverse conditions in our cities, we must learn how toguide them.

• We must define how much land we shall allocate for

everything in its place. This means we must define how much

land is to be allocated for preservation of natural conditions, forcultivation and for settlements.

• We must immediately designate common corridors fornetworks of roads, communication and other infrastructure.Independent and uncoordinated networks lead to chaos.

• We must create human communities to enable us to livetogether with other people.

• We must get rid of towers and live in human dwellings orhouses.

• We must create new administrative systems, oneresponsible for every large city and its region, another for everysmall city and another for every neighborhood.

Doxiadis developed the science of ekistics from a restricted frameworkof simple categories to an increasingly refined framework with a grow-ing number of categories and relations. This in itself led to increasingcomplexity and sophistication. But it also encouraged increasinglycomplex and profound treatment of the subjects by others, filling theframework with knowledge and insights by top experts from manydisciplines from all over the world. Doxiadis’ evolution can be seen inhis last article “Action for human settlements,” Ekistics, 241, Decem-ber 1975. In it he summarizes his position on the human settlement,the definition of the topic, the problems, the goals, policies and pro-grams and finally a statement of the radical changes we need for oursettlements to survive and become human.

3 ECUMENOPOLIS

The realistic view of the City of the Future16 accepts that it will be a globalcity. This does not mean, that it will cover the whole globe—only a smallpart of the globe can and will be covered—but it will be a system of humansettlements encircling the whole globe, made up of several types of cities andother settlements of all types interconnected into broader urbanized areaslike the ones we today call megalopolises, It will consist of parts with verydifferent densities from very high to very low, and of continuous built-upareas as well as separate areas interconnected by several types of transportationand communication lines. The global city of anthropos is the ecumenopolis orthe city of the inhabited globe.17

The unprecedented growth of metropolitan areas all over the world,the population explosion and migration to cities, the merging ofmetropolitan areas into continuous settlements such as the Americaneastern seaboard stretching from Boston to Washington, inducedDoxiadis to conceive of a comprehensive model of urbanizationwhich covered entire regions, countries and continents (Fig. 8). Stud-ies of J.Gottmann (1961)18 and others identified a trend of citieswithin large regions to become interdependent and to grow togetherinto contiguous patterns along transportation networks, a settlementform, which they called megalopolis. Doxiadis predicted that this typeof pattern would stretch across entire countries and continents andover time would form the unavoidable city of the future calledecumenopolis.

Doxiadis presented his concept of ecumenopolis in a 200-page report in1959. This document already contained the major points of the projectin a mature form with their conditions and far-reaching consequences,reflecting Doxiadis’ many years of experience and thinking on the






subject. In 1960 research began in a systematic way at the AthensCenter of Ekistics under the leadership of John G. Papaioannou. Thework was published in an issue of the journal Ekistics (June 1965)19

devoted entirely to the subject. The book Ecumenopolis, the InevitableCity of the Future was written first by Papaioannou then rewritten byChris Ripman and finally by Doxiadis himself. It appeared in 1975 asone of the so-called four red books to be presented at the HabitatConference of the United Nations in Vancouver in 1976.

Projection of the dynamic settlement patterns proved to be surpris-ingly accurate, which goes a long way toward validating the conceptsand methodology. The work on different parts of Ecumenopolis suchas metropolitan areas and megalopolises in different regions of theworld were projected to the year 2010 and 2100. After forty years (andnine years ahead of time) we can see that the 2010 projections willclosely reflect reality. If there are discrepancies between projection andreality, they usually show that specific conditions are appearing aheadof time or to a greater extent than anticipated.

Why are these projections so accurate? Doxiadis did not merely followthe usual forecasting techniques such as trend extrapolations or inde-pendent parameter modeling. Rather, he defined and described a finalcondition of balance and saturation for the target date. From there heworked backwards connecting the future with the present and thusdescribing the development over time in reverse. This presupposes a

state of balance and equilibrium as a final condition, in contrast to theexplosive growth in population, in land and in resource consumption,and the increasing degradation of the environment, which would leadour planet toward disaster and cannot be sustained much longer. Ifmankind wants to survive, the trends have to be reversed. The limitswe encounter force us to make critical choices.

One of the major difficulties in dynamically growing settlements istheir unremitting change, which seems to affect the entire system. Yetan analogy to nature offers a solution. In a growing and changing or-ganism, the individual cell usually maintains its size and structure de-spite growth and change of the system overall. Based on this exampleDoxiadis (1968) drew the conclusion that “the search for ideal solu-tions has to be geared towards [maintaining] static cells [within] thedynamic growth of the organism.”20 This condition can be achievedby removing the forces of change from a settlement or cell as, forexample, by moving a transportation network from the center of asettlement to the periphery.

In the past the city block has been the basic unit of the city. With theincreasing size of the settlement, the small town or community classIV with about 2,000 families or 10,000 inhabitants seems to be abetter size for a recurring unit. The ideal building block should notexceed 30,000 inhabitants and a maximum size of 2,000 yards by 2,000yards. It is important that the building block or cell is based on the

Fig. 8. Ecumenopolis.






human scale and the human experience. Growth is achieved by addingunits of a constant size rather than enlarging the units themselves. Thisis analogous to the evolution of the house, which, over time, grows notso much by the enlarging of one room but by adding more and morerooms. As the human city becomes bigger and bigger, it will consist oftwo categories of parts, the cells or building blocks and the networksorganizing and serving them (Fig. 9).

“If we start building urban areas with static cells, it will be because ofthe need to create human conditions providing as much securityagainst constant change as possible” (Doxiadis 1968).21 But how is thisachieved in dynamic settlements of the size of the metropolis,megalopolis and larger? One major problem of the rapid dynamicgrowth of settlements is the typical growth of their centers, expandingconcentrically into their surrounding areas and having an impact oneach subsequent concentric ring. The slum areas surrounding thedowntowns are a typical result of the forces of transition from housingto office use and from lower to higher densities.

The only way to solve the problems of dynapolis [the dynamically growingmetropolis] is to conceive a pattern which will permit its natural growth,especially that of its center, without allowing the new additions to destroy theexisting patterns.22

This led Doxiadis to the formulation of a compelling solution of hisideal dynapolis, which expands along a single axis emanating from thecenter, allowing growth by addition and leading to a unidirectionallinear arrangement. Since empiric studies have shown that densitieshave declined over time, meaning newer cities show lower densitiesthan older ones, this dynamic growth model can accommodate thelower densities in the future, accommodating increasing land con-sumption in subsequent growth along the growth axis. The require-ments of efficient networks for traffic will likely superimpose a gridconfiguration over the theoretical diagram with the increasing circu-lar areas (Fig. 10).

This diagram for the dynamic city is a creative invention for a settle-ment structure, which is based on a broad and carefully developedtheory (Fig. 11). Doxiadis applied this model in many different con-texts, most notably in Islamabad, Pakistan, 1960 (Fig. 12), and Tema,Ghana, 1964, both projects realized.23

Developing Urban Detroit Area Research Project

The Developing Urban Detroit Area (UDA) Research Project was oneof Doxiadis major projects demonstrating his approach and the ekisticprinciples. It was conducted from 1965 to 1970 by Doxiadis Associatesin collaboration with Detroit Edison Company and Wayne State Uni-versity and resulted in a three-volume documentation Emergence andGrowth of an Urban Region—the Developing Urban Detroit Area ResearchProject (Doxiadis 1966, 1967, 1970). The objectives of the study were:

• To analyze the nature and magnitude of the growth in the area

• To understand the problems

• To explore methods for finding solutions

• To assess the needs for electric energy and provide a framework tomeet the demand. It should be a prototypical study for use in otherareas.

Fig. 9. The human community: four communities Class IV form a sector inIslamabad, the new capital of Pakistan.

Fig. 10. The concept of Dynapolis.






Fig. 11. Evolution of a Dynapolis. London England 1820–1962.j






Detroit with a population of 1.7 million inhabitants was classified asa metropolis, unit 10 on the ekistic logarithmic scale, and the scopeof study was extended down to the scale of the town, unit 8, and upto the megalopolis, unit 12, and for some issues to ecumenopolis,unit 15. The immediate planning area was contained within a radiusof roughly 100 miles (161 km) from the center of Detroit, stretching75 miles (121 km) east and southeast and 120 miles (193 km) north(Figs. 13 and 14).

The time frame was also set up according to ekistic principles, startingin the present, going to the past (1900), extending into the distantfuture (2050), going back to the past and then to a near future (2000)and after a few iterations returning to the present to implement thesolutions.

The Detroit region was considered to be a dynamic system undergo-ing growth and change. The form and structure of the future city wasexpected to be different from mere trend extrapolation, and Doxiadistried to formulate a new method to be able to deal with these condi-tions. A variety of methods were used to predict the future and gener-ate alternatives. These alternatives were then evaluated with a set ofcriteria and through successive rounds of elimination, the large numberof alternatives was reduced to one by the IDEA-CID method.24

The main model used in the UDA project was an urban simulationmodel, with its centerpiece a transportation and land-use model derivedfrom the Lowry model,25 which simulated population distribution basedon basic employment centers, transportation networks, speed, and a va-riety of behavioral parameters. The space of possible solutions or alter-natives was defined by a number of relevant parameters or dimensions

Fig. 12. Islamabad, the new capital of Pakistan.

Fig. 13. Project for the Urban Detroit Area: Network Alternative.






(n-dimensional parameter space). On each parameter a range of up to16 values or options was selected and combining a set of values or pointsfor each parameter created an alternative. This generated 49 million theo-retical alternatives for the UDA project, which were then narroweddown by the IDEA-CID method, proceeding from the largest to thesmaller scales.

The parameters considered in the UDA project were:

• Total population

• Basic employment concentrations

• Major center areas

• Education and research centers

• Industrial zones

• Port

• Airport

• Transportation networks

• Speed ranges

• Maximum travel times

• Behavioral parameters

• Growth parameters

• Parameters of employment structure

Fig. 14. Project for the urban Detroit area: Alternative of population densities based on 45-minute travel time and three projected transportation speeds.






In the stepwise evaluation and elimination process, whole groups ofalternatives were eliminated, whole groups of solutions were omit-ted. This type of model is by definition an abstraction of the realworld and therefore incomplete. Whatever was included in the modelwas carefully considered; however, it was possible and even likelythat whole parameters or ranges of parameter values were missing,which could limit the applicability of the model and its findings.Nevertheless, the UDA project was a pioneering application of amacro model which in its scope and theoretical rigor was unmatchedat the time and in its clarity and strength of presentation is still unri-valed to the present time.

The project reflected Doxiadis’ strong belief that the transportationnetworks are a decisive form determinant for the dynamic city of thefuture, particularly in the USA. He placed major transportation corri-dors across the planning area. Rather than designating specific trans-portation systems he assumed sets of speed as performance parameters,which can be expected for the target dates. His projections of speedsof 100, 250 and 400 mph (160, 400 and 640 km) reflected his futureorientation and bold belief in technological progress but also were ananticipation that we had to transcend car transportation as we know it.

4 ACTIONS FOR HUMAN SETTLEMENTS

To implement his vision, Doxiadis embarked on many parallel andinterrelated paths.

One of his strong arguments was that his theories and ideas were de-veloped on the basis of a wealth of experience through projects anddirect observation. His professional practice, Doxiadis Associates, wasfounded in 1951, and had influential projects in forty countries. At itspeak Doxiadis Associates had 400 to 450 employees in a network ofoffices all over the world, including the United States (Washington,Philadelphia, Detroit). The mayor projects included Islamabad, the newcapital of Pakistan (1960), the master plan of Accra-Tema, Ghana, in1960, a housing program for Iraq with housing projects in Baghdadand other cities, study and plan for the Greater Detroit Area (1960–70), and housing in Eastwick, Philadelphia.

The Athens Center of Ekistics (ACE) was the research arm of theenterprise. Research started in 1959 with the initial projects the Cityof the Future(COF) (which later turned into the study ofecumenopolis), followed by the Human Community project(HUCO). In 1964 the project Capital of Greece was added to formthe initial research program, covering three major units of the ekisticscale, namely small town, metropolis, and ecumenopolis.

The Athens Graduate School of Ekistics brought students togetherfrom all over the world to introduce them to ekistics, and with this todisseminate the ideas and principles worldwide through their futureactivities, projects, teaching and research. During their stay in Athensthe students were also active participants in the research projects mak-ing valuable contributions from the viewpoint of their home coun-tries. While the number of students was relatively small, the impact ofekistics is evident to the present day wherever they practice.

One of Doxiadis’ most brilliantly conceived institutions was the DelosSymposia, which took place from 1963 to 1972. Doxiadis invited a groupof approximately forty leaders from academia, politics, business and theprofessions related to human settlements to join in a cruise to the Greekislands. During the weeklong journey, the international experts discussed

issues of human settlements, culminating in a joint postulation for actionand further research presented in the ancient theater on the island of Delos.There could hardly have been any context more conducive to productivediscourse than these cruises with visits to islands with indigenous villages,natural beauty and inspiring reminders of ancient Greek culture. After theformal and informal debates, the immersion into the local culture witheating, drinking, music and dancing served as a reminder that within thedaunting problems of the future of settlements, there is at the center thehuman being with enjoyment of life and happiness.

The collaboration and interaction of the participants lasted well be-yond the symposia. Doxiadis organized the Athens Ekistic Month atthe headquarters in Athens to expand on the visit of the Delos partici-pants and give exposure of the ekistic ideas to a wider interested pub-lic through lectures, meetings and discussion. At the third DelosSymposion in 1965, a decision was made to organize the participantsand other personalities interested in the ekistic cause in the WorldSociety for Ekistics, which was founded in 1967 and is active to thepresent time.

The Journal Ekistics

A most important element in the development and dissemination of theekistic ideas was the existence of a journal. Initially Doxiadis supported amonthly bulletin to keep architects and planners in his numerous officesin developing countries informed of the relevant professional informa-tion elsewhere in the world. Mary Jaqueline Tyrwhitt, Professor atHarvard, became the first editor and directed the new journal also to theU.N. housing and development experts. The journal was called TropicalHousing and Planning Monthly Bulletin before assuming its name Ekistics:Housing and Planning Abstracts in October 1957, and its present nameEkistics: The Problems and Science of Human Settlements in January 1965.The first issue of October 1955 contained mainly reprints of articlesfrom other journals, but over the years original articles started to domi-nate and give the journal a unique and highly respected position. Theregular editorials and lead articles of Doxiadis himself gave a uniqueemphasis to the journal, and the recurring annual themes provided areliable documentation on the development of the research and theevolution of the ekistic theory. Thus it became the major source forinformation on the Athens Center for Ekistics, but the articles on settle-ments in general set the ekistic work into the proper context. From1978 to 1985 the journal appeared bi-monthly and from 1986 it ap-peared four times a year under its present editor, Panayis Psomopoulos.26

A unique feature of the journal is the use of the ekistic index. Thecontent of each article is identified in a matrix consisting of the fiveekistic elements and the ekistic logarithmic scale, which allows forprecise delineation of the topic and easy comparison. Annual overviewsof all the published articles give precise indications of the emphasis ofthe journal and identify gaps in the existence of research or in thecoverage of specific areas.

It is encouraging to see how the tools and methods of ekistics, andindeed ekistics as a whole, evolved over time. Most issues of Ekisticscontained a detailed explanation of the ekistic index with an invita-tion for suggestions for improvements. While the principle of theindex remained constant over the years, there were nevertheless sev-eral changes and refinements in the terminology and the ranges ofthe ekistic scale. These refinements occurred parallel to the develop-ment of the anthropocosmos model, which adds more dimensions tothe diagram by introducing the interaction of the five ekistic units






Fig. 15. Interrelationship of scales and elements.

Fig. 16. The pedestrian realm of one individual (anthropos).

Fig. 17. The global impact of urban infrastructure (ecumenopolis).






with each other as well as human settlements (formerly the synthe-sis) and the dimensions of time present, income, desirability and fea-sibility.

5 CONCLUSION

Doxiadis was masterful in distilling the most complex concepts intosimple statements and concise summaries, allowing for easy compre-hension and memorization, providing insight and inspiration andstimulating further action. In this spirit, a treatment of ekistics wouldnot be complete without an attempt at a brief summary.

1. In dealing with human settlements we must be comprehensive,have an interdisciplinary scope and relate to the five ekisticelements: Man (or anthropos), society, nature, shells and networks,and their relationships (Fig. 15).

2. Any study of settlements shall refer to the ekistic units of scale fromman to ecumenopolis, the fifteen levels in the ekistic logarithmicscale (Fig. 16).

3. The time dimension must be integrated in a bold manner in theanalysis and design of human settlements from the past to thepresent to a distant future (Fig. 17).

4. The scientific method shall be used in a systematic treatment ofhuman settlements, following the models, concepts, principles,values and postulations of ekistics. Each study shall be identified onthe ekistic grid index.

5. Analysis must be followed by action.

6. The goal for our human settlements is derived from Aristotle’spostulation for safety and happiness.

7. According to the model of satisfaction, increase to the maximumall possible contacts with people elements and functions; reduceenergy, time and cost to a minimum; optimize protective spacewhether temporary or permanent, for man as an individual or asthe member of a group; optimize relationships with nature, society,shells (buildings) and networks—in other words with the totalenvironment; and finally, create a balanced and beneficial synthesisof the preceding principles.

8. Analysis, planning and design must take place within the largervision of the concept of ecumenopolis.

9. The city must be treated as a dynamic settlement. The use of theconcept of dynapolis allows for growth and change.

10.To deal with the overwhelming forces of growth and change,human communities must be created and preserved as stablebuilding blocks, which can be replicated within the dynamicallygrowing and changing city.

Ekistics started with Constantinos A. Doxiadis, one man and his vi-sion, and blossomed into a framework for a science of human settle-ments of global scope and importance, Many contributors throughoutthe world worked on advancing the work and on closing the gapbetween ideals, aspirations and reality in creating a future, where bal-ance and harmony between man, society, buildings, networks and na-ture prevail. Doxiadis offered a message of optimism and hope. Heaccepted the growth, complexity and interdependence of the modern

settlements as inevitable and as a reflection of our civilization andprogress, yet he vehemently rejected the dehumanizing conditions ofthe machine, the negative side effects of technology, wanton neglect ofthe environment and destruction of nature.

Doxiadis believed there was an urgent need to reconcile our increasinglycomplex scientific and technological achievements to our permanent,unchanging human nature and to the enduring prevalence of a “humanscale” in our cities, whether the ones in which we reside today or those whichwe envisage for the future.27

The ekistic movement grew in great part due to the charisma, person-ality and creative power of its principal innovator, Constantinos A.Doxiadis. His legacy, his ideas and principles are a rich resource to beapplied, developed further and adapted to human settlements of thepresent and the future.

NOTES

1. For a detailed biography and listing of honorary degrees, honorsand awards, see Ekistics 373–375, July–Dec. 1995, or the official websitewww.ekistics.org.

2. Doxiadis, Constantinos A. 1937. Raumordnung im GriechischenStaedtebau. Doctoral thesis Berlin-Charlottenburg University. Berlin:Vonwinckel. English Translation 1972. Architectural Space in AncientGreece. Cambridge: MIT Press.

3. Doxiadis, Constantinos A. 1963. Architecture in Transition. London:Hutchinson.

4. Doxiadis, Constantinos A. 1968. Ekistics, an Introduction to the Scienceof Human Settlements. New York: Oxford University Press.

5. Doxiadis wrote the Four Red Books “to help us understand what willhappen to our human settlements and what we can do to save them.”Doxiadis, Constantinos A., 1974.

• Anthropopolis (summary of a symposion on the City for HumanDevelopment). Athens: Athens Publishing Center.

• and J.G.Papaioannou. 1975. Ecumenopolis. Athens: Athens PublishingCenter.

• 1975. Building Entopia. New York: Norton.

• 1976. Action for Human Settlements. Athens: Athens Publishing Center.This last book was published posthumously as a key document to theUnited Nations First Conference on Human Settlements, Habitat 1,Vancouver, 1976.

6. Panayis Psomopoulos, letter to the author, April 27, 2001.

7. For detailed description of Doxiadis’ background and work, seeEkistics 373–375, July–Dec. 1995, or the official website<www.ekistics.org.> Thomas W.Fookes. “Ekistics: An example ofinnovation in human settlement planning.” Ekistics 325–327, July–Dec. 1987, gives an excellent overview over the concept of ekistics asan approach to planning. Suzanne Keller. “Planning at two scales: thework of C.A.Doxiadis.” Ekistics 282, May–June 1980, summarizes






basic themes in Doxiadis’ work by an emphasis on the humandimension within a global framework. And, Panayis Psomopoulos.“The Apollonion in Attica: A bricklayer’s dream.” Ekistics 312, May-June 1985, describes how Doxiadis’ vision found realization in one ofhis late projects for a new community near Athens “where humanbeings, not machines, can and must prevail and where the essentialinfrastructure is provided for the satisfaction of all the inhabitants’ dailyneeds—regardless of age sex or ability.”

8. Doxiadis, Constantinos A. 1968. Ekistics, an introduction to the science ofhuman settlements. New York: Oxford University Press. p.8.

9. Doxiadis, Constantinos A. Ekistics 141, Aug. 1967. p.131.

10. Doxiadis, Constantinos A. Ekistics 140, July 1967.

11. Doxiadis, Constantinos A. Ekistics 140, July 1967.

12. Fookes, op. cit., includes two additional models, the force mobileand the IDEA-CID model (Isolation of Dimensions and Eliminationof Alternatives—Continuously Increasing Dimensionality). The forcemobile deals with the totality of forces and their impact on form andstructure of human settlements. The IDEA—CID model wasdeveloped in connection with the study on the Detroit Region, see:Doxiadis, Constantinos A. 1966, 1967, 1970. Emergence and Growth ofan Urban Region, the Developing Urban Detroit Area. Vols. 1–3. Detroit:Detroit Edison Company. It constitutes an important contribution tothe generation and evaluation of large numbers of conceptualalternatives in urban modeling.

13. Doxiadis, Constantinos A. 1968. op. cit., p. 31.

14. Ibid, p 56.

15. Ibid, p. 355.

16. The City of the Future was one of the major research projects ofthe Athens Center of Ekistics (ACE). “This project—a continuousone for over 40 years—examines the long term prospects, trends,developments and forecasts regarding networks of human settlementsand networks of communication at a regional and global scale as wellas in geopolitical systems of interdependency.” Ekistics 131, July–Dec.1998. Within this project, ecumenopolis is the largest scale element.

17. Constantinos A. Doxiadis. 1975. Building Entopia. New York:Norton, p. 2.

18. Gottmann, J. 1961. Megalopolis: the Urbanized Northeastern Seaboardof the United States. Cambridge: MIT Press.

19. Ekistics 115, June 1965.

20. Doxiadis, Constantinos A. 1968. op. cit., p. 355.

21. Ibid, p. 364.

22. Ibid. p. 364.

23. The Dynapolis concept was also applied in conceptual proposalsfor Beirut, Lebanon, 1958, Caracas, Venezuela, 1960, Karachi, Pakistan,1959. A proposal for Copenhagen, Denmark, 1963, argued for a limitednumber of expansion axes versus the official 5 Finger Plan, and aproposal for Washington, D.C., 1959, emphasizes the developmentalong one axis towards south-west rather than the six officialdevelopment directions in form of a star configuration. In bothCopenhagen and Washington, Doxiadis predicted that the areasbetween the fingers would be filled in, which ultimately would chokethe center.

24. The IDEA-CID model (Isolation of Dimensions and Eliminationof Alternatives-Continuously Increasing Dimensionality) wasdeveloped in this context. For additional information on this model,see: Ulkuatam, Semih Rasid and Alexander N. Christakis “Algebraicrepresentation of human settlement design.” Ekistics 325–327, July–Dec. 1987.

25. Lowry, Ira S. 1964. A Model of Metropolis. Santa Monica: RandCorporation. For additional background, see: Hansen, Walter G. 1959.“How Accessibility Shapes Land Use.” Journal of the American Instituteof Planners 25.2. p.73–76.

26. Psomopoulos, Panayis, ed. “Forty years of Ekistics on persistingpriorities.” Special issue of Ekistics 373–375, July–Dec. 1995, gives anoverview of the evolution of the journal.

27. Psomopoulos, Panayis. “The Apollonion in Attica: A bricklayer’sdream.” Ekistics 312, May-June 1985, p. 274.

REFERENCES

Doxiadis, Constantinos A. 1968. Ekistics, an Introduction to the Science ofHuman Settlements. New York: Oxford University Press

————and J.G.Papaioannou. 1975. Ecumenopolis. Athens: AthensPublishing Center.

Fookes, Thomas W. “Ekistics: An example of innovation in humansettlement planning.” Ekistics 325–327, July–Dec. 1987.






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Documents

Doxiadis and the Science of Human Settlements