DOXIADIS

“DIMENSIONS INCREASE AND WILL

CONTINUE TO INCREASE FOR A FEW
GENERATION AND THUS THE MOST
PROBABLE FUTURE IN DEFINABLE TERMS
WILL MEAN A VERY LARGE INCREASE OF
POPULATION AND ENERGY IN THE CITY OF
ANTHOPOS . THIS IS THE CITY WHERE THE
WHOLE MANKIND WILL LIVE OR TEND TO
LIVE.”

BORN- 1913
MAJOR WORKS- CHIEF TOWN
PLANNING OFFICER, GREATER ATHENS
AREA (1937 - 1938). •HEAD,
DEPARTMENT OF REGIONAL AND
TOWN PLANNING, MINISTRY OF PUBLIC
WORKS, GREECE (1939 - 1945).
DOXIADIS PRINCIPLES

EKSISTIKS FRAMEWORK- THE SCIENCE OF

HUMAN SETTLEMENT
Doxiadis posited a convenient way of organising information and
mapping out the components and relationships of the elements within
the human settlements realm. He suggests to have a Classificatory
System that will be a methodology to establish the hierarchical
structure and links among elements of a system.
Ekistics is the science of human settlements; this characteristic refers to
functions expressed in space by area of certain dimensions. In practice,
Ekistics has set the goal of happiness.

His two Classificatory Dimensions:

1. FIRST DIMENSION- RELATIVE TO SCALE:
Lower End- the individual, the room, and the dwelling, increases in size
all the way into the other extreme- the city, the urban continent, and
the "world-wide city”-which he called an Ecumenopolis
EKISTIKS- THE SCIENCE OF HUMAN SETTLEMENT

2. SECOND DIMENSION- Man's five Environmental Elements:

‣ Nature
‣ Society
‣ Shells
‣ Networks
‣ Culture

i. The first principle- is maximisation of man's potential contacts with the elements of nature (such as water and trees), with other
people, and with the works of man (such as buildings and roads).

ii. The second principle- is minimisation of the effort required for the achievement of man's actual and potential contacts.

iii. The third principle- is optimisation of man's protective space, which means the selection of such a distance from other persons,
animals, or objects that he can keep his Contacts with them (first principle) without any kind of Sensory Or Psychological discomfort.
iv. The fourth principle- is optimisation of the quality of man's relationship with his environment, which consists of nature, society, shells
(buildings and houses of all sorts)and networks (ranging from roads to telecommunications). This is the principle that leads to order,
physiological and aesthetic, and that influences architecture and, in many respects, art.
v. The fifth principle- man organises his settlements in an attempt to achieve an optimum synthesis of the other four principles, and this
optimisation is dependent on time and space, on actual conditions, and on man's ability to create a synthesis.
PLANNING CONCEPT

EKISTIKS LOGARITHMIC MAN

SCALE ROOM
ELS CONSISTS OF 15 EKISTIKS UNITS RANGING FROM
MAN TO ECUMENOPOLIS.
DWELLING
CLASSIFIED UNDER 4 MAJOR TYPES:
NEIGHBOURHOOD
▸ MINOR SHELLS: or elementary units (man, room,
house)
TOWN
▸ MICRO-SETTLEMENTS: units smaller than, or as
small as, the traditional town where people used CITY
to and still do achieve interconnection by walking.

▸ MESO-SETTLEMENTS: between the traditional METROPOLIS

town and the conurbation within which one can
commute daily. CONURBATION

▸ MACRO-SETTLEMENTS: whose largest possible MEGALAPOLIS

expression is the ecumenopolis.
URBAN REGION

ECUMENOPOLIS
ANALYSIS
According to Doxiadis, the greatest problem facing cities worldwide was
the problem of managing growth.

He proposed several solutions to leave room for expansion of the city

core.
CENTRAL MALL IN A RECENTLY BUILT
Some of his proposals included: SHOPPING CENTRE OUTSIDE LOS
ANGELES WHERE PEDESTRIANS ARE ABLE
1. Limiting all buildings to three levels or less, with permission to build TO MOVE FREE OF AUTOMOBILE
higher. TRAFFIC.

2. Separating automobile and pedestrian traffic completely.

3. Constructing cities as a "beehive" of cells each no bigger than 2 by 2

kilometers, the maximum comfortable distance for pedestrians.

4. Doxiadis limited the number of roads on campus. All the educational

buildings are interconnected to permit people to walk from one to the
other. Courtyards provide a place for meetings between people.

UNIVERSITY OF PUNJAB,LAHORE, PAKISTAN

DEVELOPMENT OF HUMAN SETTLEMENT
One of the major
problems is the great
confusion created by a
mixing of two elements—
of man and machine
within the cities of the
present.
This confusion, which
brings man and machine
into conflict in all urban
areas, has been resolved
satisfactorily in favour of
the machine only for
major lines of
transportation where man
as a free agent has been
completely separated
from machine and has
been confined within it.
ISLAMABAD : APPLICATION OF DOXIADIS
PRINCIPLES
• Islamabad was an idea
to create a “City of the
Future” with the
concept of dynapolis’,
that is, a planned LANDSCAPE PATTERN
3 PARTS OF METROPOLITAN AREA
AND HIGHWAYS
unidirectional linear
city as the only solution
to cope with the growth
of an explosive
urbanization era,
relying on strong
environmental
elements and a THE SKETCH INDICATES GROWTH
synthesis of town DYNAMTEROPOLIS
OF FUNCTION IN THE DIRECTION
planning and OF THE CITY’S FUTURE
EXPANSION
Architectural principles.
Landscape Pattern &
Highways 3 Parts Of
Metropolitan Area.

NATIONAL PARK UNITY OF SCALE

ISLAMABAD :APPLICATION OF DOXIADIS
PRINCIPLES SOCIAL PLANNING PEDESTRIAN
& VECHICLE TRAFFIC
• The making of the plan of
Islamabad is an
investigation and
prospection into the
landscape of the area
chosen as project site for
the new capital of Pakistan.
The idea, concept and
proto-form of ‘Dynapolis’,
as conceived by Doxiadis, is
bound to find its
manifestation in Islamabad.
The translation of dynapolis
into a physical plan, guided
by its proto-form,
Landscape and the intuition SOCIAL PLANNING PEDESTRIAN &
of the architect is what I VEHICULAR
describe as the making of MOVEMENT
the plan of Islamabad.
BHAGDAD, IRAQ
• 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.
MASTERPLAN IMPOSED FOR
BHAGDAD BY DOXIADIS
 • “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 28 buildings, PLAN OF COMMUNITY SECTOR
shopping centers, green areas, coffee (GOSSIP SQUARE), IN WEST
houses, & mosques. BHAGDAD

• 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).

MODEL OF COMMUNITY SECTOR IN

WEST BHAGDAD
HOUSING TYPES IN
WEST BHAGDAD
• 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.

HOUSE TYPES IN WEST BHAGDAD

UPPER INCOME HOUSING IN WEST

BHAGDAD
CONCLUSION
THE CENTRE HAS TO GROW WITHIN THE BUILT-UP AREA,
AND THE DYNAMIC CITY IS CHOKED TO DEATH. IF, IN THE
SAME SYSTEM AS THE PRECEDING FIGURE, WE CREATE
NEW ARTERIES AND NEW CITIES, WE CAN AVOID ALL
PROBLEMS OF ABNORMAL GROWTH. MORE AND MORE,
MAN WILL DO ALL THE TASKS THAT PRESENT AN INTEREST
AND A CHALLENGE AND LEAVE EVERYTHING ELSE TO
AUTOMATED PROCESS. ECUMENOPOLIS, THE UNIQUE CITY
OF MAN, WILL FORM A CONTINUOUS, DIFFERENTIATED,
BUT ALSO UNIFIED TEXTURE CONSISTING OF MANY CELLS,
THE HUMAN COMMUNITIES.