Constantinos A. Doxiadis[a] (14 May 1913 – 28 June 1975), often cited as C. A. Doxiadis, was a Greek architect and urban planner. During the 1960s, he was the lead architect and planner of Islamabad, which was to serve as the new capital city of Pakistan. He was later known as the father of ekistics, which concerns the multi-aspect science of human settlements.[2]
Theories
Doxiadis is the father of "ekistics", which concerns the science of human settlements, including regional, city, community planning and dwelling design.[2] The term was coined by Doxiadis in 1942 and a major incentive for the development of the science is the emergence of increasingly large and complex settlements, tending to regional conurbations and even to a worldwide city[dubious – discuss]. However, ekistics attempts to encompass all scales of human habitation and seeks to learn from the archaeological and historical record by looking not only at great cities, but, as much as possible, at the total settlement pattern.
Doxiadis also coined the term entopia, coming from the Greek words έν ("in") and τόπος ("place"). He quoted "What human beings need is not utopia ('no place') but entopia ('in place') a real city which they can build, a place which satisfies the dreamer and is acceptable to the scientist, a place where the projections of the artist and the builder merge."
Influence
In the 1960s and 1970s, urban planner and architect Constantinos Doxiadis authored books, studies, and reports including those regarding the growth potential of the Great Lakes Megalopolis.[3] At the peak of his popularity, in the 1960s, he addressed the US Congress on the future of American cities, his portrait illustrated the front cover of Time magazine, his company Doxiadis Associates was implementing large projects in housing, urban and regional development in more than 40 countries, his Computer Centre (UNIVAC-DACC) was at the cutting edge of the computer technology of his time and at his annual "Delos Symposium" the World Society of Ekistics attracted the worlds foremost thinkers and experts.
In Greece, he faced persistent suspicion and opposition and his recommendations were largely ignored. Having won two large contracts (National Regional Plan for Greece and Master Plan for Athens) from the Greek Junta he was criticised by competitors, after its fall in 1974, portrayed as a friend of the colonels. His visions for Athens airport to be constructed on the adjacent island of Makronissos, where political prisoners were held, together with a bridge, a rail link and a port at Lavrion were never realised.[citation needed]
His influence had already diminished at his death in 1975, as he was unable to speak for the last two years of his life, a victim of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).[4] His company Doxiadis Associates changed owners several times after his death, the heir to his computer company remained but without any links to planning or ekistics. The Delos Symposium was discontinued, and the World Society of Ekistics is today an obscure organisation.[citation needed]
One of his best-known town planning works is Islamabad. Designed as a new city it was fully realised, unlike many of his other proposals in already existing cities, where shifting political and economic forces did not allow full implementation of his plans. The plan for Islamabad, separates cars and people, allows easy and affordable access to public transport and utilities and permits low cost gradual expansion and growth without losing the human scale of his "communities".
In Riyadh, Doxiadis reoriented the city on a southwest-northeast axis, rendering "the planned city... similar to an immense mosque facing Mecca."[7] His work was also part of the architecture event in the art competition at the 1936 Summer Olympics.[8]
Tsiambaos, Kostas (2018). From Doxiadis' Theory to Pikionis' Work: Reflections of Antiquity in Modern Architecture. London & New York: Routledge.
Amygdalou, K., Kritikos, C. G., Tsiambaos, K. (2018). The Future as a Project: Doxiadis in Skopje. Athens: Hellenic Institute of Architecture.((cite book)): CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
