BASIC PRINCIPLES &

COMPONENTS OF EKISTICS

Made by
Ashima Mathur
Harshika Sharma
Nabha Joshi
INTRODUCTION
•The term Ekistics was coined by Greek architect and urban planner Konstantinos Apostolos
Doxiadis in 1942.

•It is the study of how human settlements were inhabited by humans and provides a
conceptual framework for a better understanding of human settlements.

•The science of ekistics takes into consideration ,the principles man takes into account when
building his settlements as well as the evolution of human settlements through history in
terms of size and quality.

• It aims 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 at the total
settlement pattern.

•Includes regional, city, community planning and dwelling design.

•The target is to build the city of optimum size, which is a city which respects human
dimensions.
BASIC ELEMENTS OF HUMAN SETTLEMENTS IN THE EKISTICS STUDIES ARE-
BASIC ELEMENTS OF HUMAN SETTLEMENTS IN THE EKISTICS STUDIES
ARE-
NATURE
•The first element, represents the ecosystem within which rural settlements must exist.

•It Provides foundation upon which the settlements are created and the frame within which
they can function.

•It involves a number of component processes including the hydrologic cycle, bio systems , air
sheds , climatic zones, etc.

•Overcultivation in the Thar desert of the Indian subcontinent and overgrazing in the Middle
East are two examples of how early cultivations weighted the natural balance and tipped it
towards an uninhabitable landscape.

ANTHROPOS(MAN)
•Man himself is constantly adapting and changing.

•It lays emphasis on concepts of the constitution of the healthy individual that can contribute
many important inputs to the better organization of urban life.

•Studies have shown that certain physical and psychological diseases are directly associated
with urbanization. These include obesity, respiratory ailments and alienation.
 NETWORKS
• It provide the glue for all systems of urbanization. Their changes profoundly affect urban
patterns and urban scale. It addresses the effect of the advent of the railroad, o piped water
supplies, telephone, upon the extent, the texture and the densities of human settlements.

•The increasingly rapid developments of all types of networks — coupled with population
pressures are the most potent heralds of megalopolis.

• To respond to man's demands, transportation, communication and utility networks must all
expand even faster than the anticipated growth of settlements.

SYNTHESIS
•It rises from a consideration of the interactions of all the ekistic’s elements in terms of a
single ekistics unit: for example, the interactions of nature, man, society, shells and
networks may be considered in terms of megalopolis.

• Synthesis comprises a single ekistic’s element in terms of the whole range of ekistic units:
for example, the effect of certain aspects of society such as changes in the birth rate or
networks such as advent of the automobile upon all scales of human settlements.
 SOCIETY
•Society comprises those aspects of the urban or rural scene that are commonly dealt with by
sociologists , economists and administrators. This includes population trends, social customs,
income and occupations, and the systems of urban government.

•One of the most urgent aspects of society is the problem of the retention, or
reorganization, of values inherent in independent small communities after these have
become incorporated in megalopolis.
SHELLS
Shells or the built environment, is the traditional domain of the architectural and engineering
professions. The central problem is how mass-produced, anonymous housing can cater for
the needs of very diverse individuals and family groupings.
FRAME WORK

FIRST DIMENSION
(Relative to scale)
. The first classificatory dimension, that of scale, ranges from the
individual, the room and the dwelling at the lower end, to the urban
region, the urban continent and the world city at the other extreme.

SECOND DIMENSION
(five environmental elements)
The second classificatory dimension distinguishes five elements common
to all settlements: nature, society, shells, networks and culture.
Anthropos-1
FIRST DIMENSION
Room -2

House- 5

House group (hamlet)- 40

Small neighborhood (village)- 250

Neighbourhood-1500

Small polis(town)-10,000

Polis( city)- 75,000

Small megalopolis- 25 million

Megalopolis- 150 million

Small eperopolis – 750 million

Eperopolis- 7,500 million

Ecumenopolis- 50,000 million

SECOND DIMENSION
 PRINCIPLES
1. Maximization 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)

2. Minimization of the effort required for the achievement of man's actual and potential contacts.

3. Optimization 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.

4. Optimization 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.

5. Optimization dependent on time and space, on actual conditions, and on man's ability to create
a synthesis :Man organizes his settlements in an attempt to achieve an optimum synthesis of the
other four principles, and this optimization is dependent on time and space, on actual conditions,
and on man's ability to create a synthesis.
Ekistics logarithmic scale
COMPONENTS
The fabric of human settlements consists of physical elements and services to which these
elements provide the material support.

The physical elements / components comprises of :

SHELTER
The superstructures of different shape, size, type and materials erected by mankind for security,
privacy, and protection from the elements and for his singularity within a community.

INFRASTRUCTURE
The complex networks designed to deliver to or remove from the shelter people, goods, energy or
information.

SERVICES
Cover those required by a community for the fulfillment of its functions as a social body, such as
education, health, culture, welfare, recreation and nutrition.
DETERMINANTS
ENVIRONMENTAL FACTOR

WATER SUPPLY:
Settlements are located near water bodies such as RIVERS, LAKES, AND SPRINGS .Water supply is a
main factor as it is used for DRINKING, COOKING, WASHING, IRRIGATION AND TRANSPORTATION
PURPOSES

TOPOGRAPHY:
Topography refers to the SHAPE AND ELEVATION OF THE LAND. It includes features like mountains,
hills, plains, valleys, and deserts. Farmers preferred to settle IN FLAT, OPEN AREAS SUCH AS PLAINS
AND VALLEYS FOR CULTIVATION which has rich fertile soil .MOUNTAINS WERE LESS FRIENDLY to
human settlement. steep mountains were hard to cross. Their jagged peaks, cold temperatures,
and rocky land made fanning difficult. DESERTS ALSO DISCOURAGED SEITLEMENT. They were hot
and dry. They contained very little water for farming.

VEGETATION:
There are many kinds of vegetation, such as TREES, BUSHES, FLOWERS. GRASS, AND
REEDS. Plants were a source of FOOD and useful products out of plants.
CULTURAL FACTOR
These include aspects like CASTE, COMMUNITY, ETHNICITY AND RELIGION. In india it is
commonly found that the MAIN LAND OWNING CASTE resides at the CENTRE of the village and
the OTHER SERVICE PROVIDING CASTES ON THE PERIPHERY
this leads to SOCIAL SEGREGATION AND FRAGMENTATION of a settlement into several units.

HISTORICAL OR DEFENCE FACTOR

In the past and also today's context mostly border areas were conquered or attacked
frequently by outsiders.

SECURITY concerns favored the EVOLUTION OF NUCLEATED SEITLEMENTS.

Building on high ground allowed people the chance TO LOOK OUT FOR ENEMIES
surrounding a settlement with water also helped with DEED DEFENCE

ACCESSIBILITY
Need to COMMUNICATE with other areas of trade and travel
settlements are often located along TRANSPORT ROUTES AND COMMUNICATION LINES road
and trail lines as settlement needs communication network
 RURAL SETTLEMENT
The rural settlements derive their life support or basic economic needs from land based primary
economic activities.

CLASSIFICATION OF RURAL SETTLEMENT-

1. ON THE BASIS OF LOCATION-

• PLAIN VILLAGES

• PLATEAU VILLAGES

• COASTAL VILLAGES
PLATEAU VILLAGE
• FOREST VILLAGES

• DESSERT VILLAGES

DESSERT VILLAGE
2. ON THE BASIS OF SHAPE OF SETTLEMENT

CLUSTERED SETTLEMENTS –

• Is a compact or closely built up area of houses.

• Such settlements are generally found in fertile
alluvial plains.
• The closely built-up area and its intervening
streets present some common pattern or geo-
-metric shape, such as rectangular, radial, linear, etc.
CLUSTERED SETTLEMENT

SEMI-CLUSTERED SETTLEMENTS-

• A pattern resulted from segregation or fragmentation

of a large compact village.
• Generally, the land-owning and dominant community
occupies the central part of the main village, whereas
people of lower strata of society and menial workers
settle on the outer flanks of the village.

SEMI-CLUSTERED SETTLEMENT
DISPERSED SETTLEMENTS-

• Dispersed or isolated settlement

patterns appear in the form of isolated
huts or hamlets of few huts in remote
jungles, or on small hills.

• These settlements have farms and

pasture on the slope.

• Extreme dispersion of settlement is often

caused by extremely fragmented nature
of the terrain and land resource base of
habitable areas.
 URBAN SETTLEMENT
Unlike rural settlements, urban settlements are generally compact and larger in size. They are
engaged in a variety of nonagricultural, economic and administrative functions.

CLASSIFICATION OF URBAN SETTLEMENT-

1. ON THE BASIS OF POPULATION SIZE

• MEGA CITIES – more than 5 million population

• METROPOLITAN – one million to five million

population

• CITY – one lakh to one million population

• TOWN – less than one lakh population

Towns are further divided into classes on the basis of
CLASS-WISE DISTRIBUTION OF TOWNS
population
2. CLASSIFICATION ON THE BASIS OF FUNCTION –

• Administrative towns and cities- Towns supporting administrative

headquarters of higher order are administrative towns, such as
Chandigarh, New Delhi, Bhopal, Jaipur Chennai, etc.
ADMINISTRATIVE CITY - DELHI

• Industrial towns- Industries constitute prime motive force of these

cities such as Mumbai, Coimbatore, Modinagar, Jamshedpur,
Hugli, Bhilai, etc.

• Commercial towns- Towns and cities specialising in trade and

commerce are kept in this class. Kolkata, Saharanpur, Satna, etc
INDUSTRIAL TOWN -JAMSHEDPUR

• Mining towns - These towns have developed in mineral rich areas

such as Raniganj, Jharia, Digboi, Ankaleshwar, Singrauli, etc.

•Educational towns Starting as centres of education, some of the

towns have grown into major campus towns such as Roorki,
Varanasi, Aligarh, Pilani, etc.
MINING TOWN
•Transport Cities -They may be ports primarily engaged in
export and import activities such as Kandla, Kochchi,
Kozhikode, Vishakhapatnam, etc.

•Garrisson Cantonment towns These towns emerged as

garrisson towns such as Ambala, Jalandhar, Mhow, Babina,
Udhampur, etc.
RELIGIOUS CITY- VARANASI

•Religious and cultural towns- Varanasi, Mathura, Amritsar,

Madurai, Puri, Ajmer, Pushkar, Tirupati, Kurukshetra,
Haridwar, Ujjain came to prominence due to their
religious/cultural significance.

•Tourist towns- Nainital, Mussoorie, Shimla, Pachmarhi,

Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Udagamandalam (Ooty), Mount Abu are
some of the tourist destinations.

TOURIST CITY - JAIPUR