EKISTICS

-TAIYABA RASHID F/O ARCHITECTURE & EKISTICS JAMIA MILLIA ISLAMIA

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 EKISTICS

 The term Ekistics was coined by Greek

architect & urban planner Konstantinos
Apostolos Doxiadis in 1942.

 Applies to the science of human

settlements.

 Includes regional, city, community planning

and dwelling design.
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 BASIC PRINCIPLES OF EKISTICS

 Human happiness
 Unity of Purpose
 Hierarchy of Functions
 Four dimensions
 Many scales for many masters

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FIVE ELEMENTS OF EKISTICS

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 BASIC PARTS OF COMPOSITE
HUMAN SETTLEMENTS
 Homogeneous parts- fields;

 Central parts- built-up villages;

 Circulatory parts- roads & paths within the

fields; and

 Special parts- i.e., a monastery contained

within the homogeneous part. 5
 CLASSIFICATION OF HUMAN
SETTLEMENTS
 Based on sizes- size of five elements &
their combinations
 Hamlet to Metropolitan cities
 Small & sparsely spaced (rural settlements
or villages specializing in agriculture & other
primary activities)
 Large & closely spaced (urban settlements
specializing in secondary & tertiary
activities)
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 CLASSIFICATION OF HUMAN
SETTLEMENTS
 Based on Location of Settlements- plains,
mountains, coastal, etc.
 Based on Relationships between
Settlements within Space (hierarchical or
non-hierarchical)
 Based on Physical Forms- form as the
expression of content, function, & structure
 Based on Five Elements of Human
Settlements
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 CLASSIFICATION OF HUMAN
SETTLEMENTS
 Based on Functions- which are important
to an understanding of the meaning & role
of settlements:

 Reveal nature, specialisation, & raison

d’etre of settlements
 Based on activity (economic, social), their
performance, or special role (as
dormitories, retirement villages, etc.)
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 CLASSIFICATION OF HUMAN
SETTLEMENTS
 Based on Time Dimension- age of
settlements, their place in continuum (past,
present, future), their relative static or
dynamic character, the whole process of
their growth
 Based on degree of society’s conscious
involvement in settlements creation-
natural & planned settlements
 Based on institutions, legislations &
administration- which society has created9
for settlements
 CLASSIFICATION OF HUMAN
SETTLEMENTS
 By Ekistics Units
 By Ekistics Elements
 By Ekistics Functions
 By Evolutionary Phases
 By Factors & Disciplines

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 CLASSIFICATION OF HUMAN
SETTLEMENTS
BY EKISTICS UNITS: FOUR BASIC GROUPS

 Minor shells or elementary units- man

(anthropos), room, house;
 Micro-settlements- units smaller than, or
as small as, the traditional town where
people used , do & still do achieve
interconnection by walking (housegroup,
small neighbourhood);
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 CLASSIFICATION OF HUMAN
SETTLEMENTS
BY EKISTICS UNITS: FOUR BASIC GROUPS

 Meso-settlements- between traditional

town & conurbation within which one can
commute daily (small polis, polis, small
metropolis, small megalopolis, small
eperopolis, eperopolis); and
 Macro-settlements- whose largest
possible expression is the Ecumenopolis.
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 CLASSIFICATION OF HUMAN
SETTLEMENTS
BY EKISTICS UNITS
Physical & Social Units
 Man (as individual)- smallest unit
 Space- second unit either personally owned
or shared with others
 Family Home- third unit
Social Unit
 Group of Homes
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 ANTHROPOS-1
ROOM-2
EKISTIC UNITS: HOUSE-5

15 LEVELS
HAMLET-40
VILLAGE-250

• Also called NEIGHBOURHOOD-1,500

EKISTICS SMALL POLIS-10,000

LOGARITHMIC POLIS(CITY)-75,000

SCALE (ELS). SMALL METROPOLIS-5,00,000

• Units range from METROPOLIS-4 MILLION

Man to
SMALL MEGALOPOLIS-25 MILLION
Ecumenopolis
which turn into MEGALOPOLIS-150 MILLION

four basic SMALL EPEROPOLIS-750 MILLION

groups. EPEROPOLIS-7,500 MILLION

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ECUMENOPOLIS-50,000 MILLION
 EKISTICS GRID/
EKISTICS LOGARITHMIC SCALE

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 EKISTICS UNITS

Ecumenopolis: The entire area of Earth Megalopolis: A group of conurbations,

taken up by human settlements. consisting of more than 10 million people
each. 16
 EKISTICS UNITS

South Florida Tokyo: World’s largest metropolis

Conurbation: A group of large cities & their Metropolis: A large city & its suburbs
suburbs, consisting of 3 to 10 million consisting of multiple cities & towns having 1 to
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people. Also called urban agglomeration. 3 million people.
 EKISTICS UNITS
 Large City: A city with large population &
many services having less than 1 million but
over 3 lakhs people.
 City: A city with abundant but not with as
many services as in a large city, having over
1 lakh upto 3 lakhs people.
 Large Town: Population of 20,000 to 1
lakh.
 Town: Population of 1,000 to 20,000.
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 EKISTICS UNITS
 Village: Generally does not have many
services, possibly having only a small
corner shop or post office. Population of 100
to 1,000.
 Hamlet: A tiny population (<100) & very
few (if any) services, & few buildings.
 Isolated dwellings: 1 or 2 buildings or
families with negligible services, if any.

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 CLASSIFICATION OF HUMAN
SETTLEMENTS
BY EKISTICS ELEMENTS
 Nature: Represents ecosystems including
water cycle, biosystems, climatic zones, etc.

 Anthropos: Constantly adapting &

changing certain physical & psychological
diseases directly associated with
urbanisation. These include obesity,
respiratory elements & alienation.
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 CLASSIFICATION OF HUMAN
SETTLEMENTS
BY EKISTICS ELEMENTS
 Society: Realm of society comprises all
those aspects of the urban or rural scene
that are commonly dealt with by
sociologists, economists & administrators:
population trends, social customs, income &
occupations, & the system of urban
government.

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 CLASSIFICATION OF HUMAN
SETTLEMENTS
BY EKISTICS ELEMENTS
 Shells: The built environment is the
traditional domain of architectural &
engineering professions.
 Networks: Provide glue for all systems of
urbanisation. Changes profoundly affect
urban scale like advent of the rail-road, or
of piped water supplies, or of the telephone
which affect the extent, texture & densities
of human settlements. 22
 CLASSIFICATION OF HUMAN
SETTLEMENTS
BY EVOLUTIONARY PHASES
 Macro scale- nomadic, agricultural, urban,
urban-industrial;

 Micro scale- specific area at a limited

period of time.

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CLASSIFICATION OF HUMAN
SETTLEMENTS
BY FACTORS & DISCIPLINES

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 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE PUNJAB
 Doxiadis was involved in the design
of this new campus in Pakistan.
 Used ekistic principles to create a
campus he believed was built for
true ” human scale”.
 Limited the number of roads on
campus, banning them from the
classroom areas.
 All the educational buildings are
interconnected to permit people to
walk from one to the other.
 Courtyards provide a place for
meetings between people. The University of the Punjab, 25
Lahore, Pakistan (1959)
 DOXIADIS’ BAGHDAD
 Doxiadis Associates identified Tigris as reference for
establishing a central axis of growth.
 Ideal limits of the future Iraqi capital set to 3
million—approximately three times larger than
1958 population which suggested Baghdad’s
maximum limits, defined with an elongated
rectangle orientated along the main NW-SE axis of
the river.
 Rectangular area incorporated some of existing
major roads & suggested opening of new roads that
would adopt a rectilinear pattern.
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 DOXIADIS’ BAGHDAD
 Residential sectors & subsectors
arranged according to
rectangular grid system,
modified in middle, to
accommodate commercial
district.
 Commercial district included old
city centre & new commercial
centres expected to emerge
along main axis of Dynapolis.
 New commercial centres to abide
by rectilinear logic of road
system & residential grid. Doxiadis Associates, The Master 27
Plan for
Baghdad, Iraq, 1958.
Plan of Community Sector in West Baghdad Model of Community Sector in West Baghdad

• “Western Baghdad Development Scheme” to house 100,000 people.

• Composed of different “community sectors” of seven to ten thousand people.
• Each sector provided for administrative, social, educational, health & other community
buildings, shopping centers, green areas, coffee houses, & mosques. 28
• Sub-hamlets built in groups of 10 or 15 small attached houses beside a pedestrian way, at end
of which was a small gossip square (an idea from Hassan Fathy, the Egyptian architect who
joined the Ekistics group in 1957).
• Doxiadis asked that term to be replaced with “community squares of first degree”. 29
 House Types in West Baghdad Upper-Income Housing in West Baghdad

Standardized “house types” pushed courtyards to side or back of each unit, thereby losing any of
traditional courtyards’ climatic benefits & secluded qualities.
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 ISLAMABAD
 Unity of scale for cohesion between
various elements of town. City isn’t a
conglomeration of isolated’& unrelated
spaces, but one entity of interrelated
spaces. A scale measurement was
determined to govern elements
composing the city (plots, streets, open
spaces, squares, roads, etc.).
 Unity of Expression: A system of four
highways becomes the basic step for
the metropolitan area. These axes form
a big square, which will define all future The main highways
transportation systems & all major
functions within. 31
 ISLAMABAD
3 DISTINCTIVE AREAS:
(subdivided into sectors)
 Islamabad proper (expansion towards
SW): Capital of nation mainly
administrative & cultural functions.
 Rawalpindi (expansion towards SW):
regional centre serving industrial &
commercial functions.
 National Park: to retain certain
agricultural functions & where sites must
be provided for national sports centre,
The three parts of the
university, research institute, etc. metropolitan area.
(expansion towards SE). 32
 The administrative sector within
Islamabad.

• Main axis through core of Islamabad :Capital Avenue.

• Looks towards the Presidential Palace located on top of a hill.
• Due to fixed road & location of administrative centre on a higher level, this section of
the capital – which is its brain centre and pulsating heart - will dominate the city
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even after it has expanded and fully grown along the patterns provided for.
A Community Class V for about A Community Class IV for about A Community Class III for
40, 000 people. 12,000 people. about 3,000 people.
• Each sector (Community Class V) of Islamabad is self-contained & self-supported wrt everyday life.
• Sub-divided into 3 or 4 smaller Communities (Class IV) by income groups of occupants.
• Centre of sector is the civic centre, containing shopping, business and civic activities.
• Each Class IV Community is subdivided into several Communities Class III, which are further
subdivided into Communities Class II.
• Arrangement of functions best serves the inhabitants of each sector and with least time required
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for approach.
Pedestrian and Vehicle Traffic:
• Segregated by a road system where scales of human & motor-vehicle movements differ.
• Pedestrians move within human community though spatial hierarchy from small pedestrian
streets towards larger ones of a Class II Community, then to centre of a Class III Community, &
so on.
• Spaces & perspectives created along way agree with same hierarchical order.
• For roads leading to specific targets aesthetically related and presenting a unity of scale.
• Extensive use of cul-de-sacs at end of access roads.
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• Pattern of motor traffic leading to houses without interfering with pedestrian-street systems.
• Street Design-The Positive Space: • House Design: Plots vary from 111 sq. yards
Detached houses are the greatest to about 3,000 sq. yards, depending on income
challenge in terms of a proper shaping of group. Frontage dimensions of plots are less
space. than their depth. Most plots are rectangular.
• Houses are situated as much as possible in Special efforts were made to avoid irregular
accordance with the morphology of the plots, especially in low-income areas.
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site.
 Low-income house (perspective view)

Low-income house (plan)

Minimum Accommodation:
• No house has less than two rooms, a kitchen, WC, & a shower room.
• Sufficient space for outdoor living.
• Each house has closed, semi-covered or open living spaces. 37
• Supplied with running water & electricity, and connected with sewage system.
 NEED TO BALANCE ELEMENTS
OF HUMAN SETTLEMENTS
We are dealing by necessity with:
 Nature, which is being spoilt;
 Man, who is continuously changing;
 Society, which is changing because of man’s
new needs;
 Shells, which must be constructed;
 Networks, which are also changing to cope
up with new demands.
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 EVOLUTION OF HUMAN
SETTLEMENTS
 Phase 1: Primitive non-organised human
settlements (started with evolution of man)
 Phase 2: Primitive organised settlements-
Eopolis (period of villages lasted 10,000 years)
 Phase 3: Static urban settlements or cities-
Polis (lasted about 5,000 to 6,000 years)
 Phase 4: Dynamic urban settlements-
Dynapolis (lasted 200 to 400 years)
 Phase 5: Universal City- Ecumenopolis (which
is now beginning)
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 CONCLUSION

 Study of human settlements should be

comprehensive and have an interdisciplinary
scope related to five ekistics elements.
 Any study of settlements shall refer to ekistics
units of scale from man to Ecumenopolis, the
fifteen levels in ekistics logarithmic scale.
 Time dimension must be integrated in analysis
and design of human settlements from past to
present to distant future.
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 CONCLUSION
 The scientific method shall be used in a
systematic treatment of human settlements,
following the models, concepts, principles,
values & postulations of ekistics.

 City must be treated as a dynamic settlement

for which the concept of Dynapolis allows for
growth & change.

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 REFERENCES
 Classnotes
 Time Saver Standards for Urban Design by Watson, Plattus,
Shibley
 Metropolitan Problems by S. Miles
 Information & Communication Technologies, Society & Human
Beings: Theory & Framework by Haftor & Mirijamdotter.
 Basic ekistic principles_word: pdf
 Ekistics_the_science_of_human_settlements:pdf
 W.A. Howard, Ekistics
 Journal of Planning History by Panayiota Pyla
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ekistics
 http://www.csiss.org/classics/content/36 42