Biographical

Constantinos A. Doxiadis, the son of Apostolos and Evanthia

(Mezeviri) Doxiadis, was born in 1913. His father, a pediatrician,
was Minister of Refugees, Social Welfare and Public Health and
organized many welfare services, especially for children. He
graduated as Architect-Engineer from the Athens Technical
University in 1935 and obtained his doctorate at Charlottenburg
University, Berlin, one year later.

In 1937 he was appointed Chief Town Planning Officer for the

Greater Athens Area and during the war (1940-1945) held the
post of Head of the Department of Regional and Town Planning in
the Ministry of Public Works while also serving as a corporal in the
Greek Army. During the Occupation he was Chief of the National
Resistance Group, Hephaestus, and published a magazine called
"Regional Planning, Town Planning and Ekistics," the only
underground technical publication anywhere in occupied
territories. At the time of Greece's liberation in 1945 he left the
army with the rank of captain, and went to the San Francisco
Peace Conference as a member of the Greek delegation. In 1945
he also served as Greece's representative to England, France and
the United States on the problems of postwar reconstruction.

From 1945 to 1951 Doxiadis was one of the prime leaders in

restoring Greece to a normal peacetime existence, first as
Undersecretary and Director-General of the Ministry of Housing
and Reconstruction (1945-48), and subsequently as Minister-
Coordinator of the Greek Recovery Program and Undersecretary
of the Ministry of Coordination (1948-51). During these years he
was also head of the Greek Delegation at the UN International
Conference on Housing, Planning and Reconstruction (1947) and
head of the Greek Delegation at the Greco-Italian War
Reparations Conference (1949-50).

In 1953 he founded Doxiadis Associates, a private firm of

consulting engineers, with a small group of architects and
planners, many of whom had worked with him on the Greek
Recovery Program. The company grew rapidly until it had offices
on five continents and projects in 40 countries, acquiring its legal
form as DA International Co., Ltd., Consultants on Development
and Ekistics, in 1963. In 1958 Doxiadis founded the Athens
Technological Organization and in 1963 the Athens Center of
Ekistics. From 1958 to 1971 he taught ekistics at the Athens
Technological Organization and lectured at universities all over
the United States as well as at Oxford and Dublin.

In 1963 and 1964 he served as representative of Greece on the

Housing, Building and Planning Committee of the Economic and
Social Council of the United Nations in New York and was
chairman of the Session on Urban Problems at the UN Conference
on the Application of Science and Technology for the benefit of
the less developed areas held in Geneva in 1963.

During his lifetime Doxiadis received several awards and

decorations, both civil and military as well as one posthumous
award, the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada's Gold Medal
for 1976.

His awards and decorations are as follows: Greek Military Cross,

for his services during the war 1940-41 (1941); Order of the
British Empire, for his activities in the National Resistance and for
his collaboration with the Allied Forces, Middle East (1945); Order
of the Cedar of Lebanon, for his contribution to the development
of Lebanon (1958); Royal Order of the Phoenix for his contribution
to the development of Greece (1960); Sir Patrick Abercrombie
Prize of the International Union of Architects (1963); Cali de Oro
(Mexican Gold Medal) Award of the Society of Mexican Architects
(1963); Award of Excellence, Industrial Designers Society of
America (1965); Aspen Award for the Humanities (1966); and
Yugoslav Flag Order with Golden Wreath (1966).

In the last years of his life Constantinos A. Doxiadis was ravaged

by a particularly debilitating, terminal disease (Amyotrophic
Lateral Sclerosis, also known as 'Lou Gehrig's disease) which led
to gradual complete paralysis, over three years. This, he fought
with great courage and dignity, writing to his last day, and
making detailed notes of the progress of his disease, so as to help
 future researchers. He died peacefully, at home,with his family, at
11am, June 28, 1975.

Doxiadis graduated in architectural engineering from the T

echnical University of Athens in 1935, obtaining a doctoratefro
m Charlottenburg University (today Technical University of Berli
n) a year later. In 1937 he was appointed ChiefTown Planning O
fficer for the Greater Athens Area. During World War II he held t
he post of Head of the Department ofRegional and Town Planni
ng in the Ministry of Public Works.[1] He took part in the Greek r
esistance and wasdecorated by the Greek and British governm
ents. He distinguished himself as Minister of Reconstruction at t
he end ofthe war and it was this experience that allowed him in
the 1950s to gain large housing contracts in dozens ofcountries
.
In 1951 he founded Doxiadis Associates, a private firm of
consulting engineers, which grew rapidly until it had officeson fi
ve continents and projects in 40 countries. In 1963 the compan
y changed its name to DA International Co. Ltd. Consultants on
Development and Ekistics.[1]
One of his most well known town planning works is Islama
bad. Designed as a new city it was fully realised, unlikemany of
his other proposals in already existing cities, where shifting poli
tical and economic forces did not allow fullimplementation of hi
s plans. The plan for Islamabad, separates cars and people, allo
ws easy and affordable access topublic transport and utilities a
nd permits low cost gradual expansion and growth without losin
g the human scale of his"communities".
Theories
Doxiadis proposed ekistics as a science of human settlement
and outlined its scope, aims, intellectual framework andrelevance.
A major incentive for the development of the science is the emerg
ence of increasingly large and complexsettlements, tending to reg
ional conurbations and even to a worldwide city (Doxiadis uses th
e word "ecumenopolis"). However, ekistics aims to encompass all
scales of human habitation and seeks to learn from the archaeolo
gical andhistorical record by looking not only at great cities, but, a
s much as possible, at the total settlement pattern.
Influence
In the 1960s and 1970s, urban planner and architect Konstan
tinos Apostolos Doxiadis (Constantinos Doxiadis) authored books,
studies, and reports including those regarding the growth potentia
l of the Great Lakes Megalopolis.[2]At the peak of his popularity, in
 the 1960s, he addressed the US Congress on the future of Americ
an cities, hisportrait illustrated the front cover of Time Magazine,
his company Doxiadis Associates was implementing largeprojects
in housing, urban and regional development in more than 40 coun
tries, his Computer Centre (UNIVAC-DACC) was at the cutting edg
e of the computer technology of his time and at his annual "Delos
Symposium" theWorld Society of Ekistics attracted the worlds fore
most thinkers and experts.
In Greece, he faced persistent suspicion and opposition and
his recommendations were largely ignored. Having wontwo large
contracts (National Regional Plan for Greece and Master Plan for A
thens) from the Greek Junta he wascriticised by competitors, after
its fall in 1974, portrayed as a friend of the colonel's. His visions f
or Athens airport to beconstructed on the adjacent island of Makro
nissos, where political prisoners were held, together with a bridge,
a raillink and a port at Lavrion were never realised.
His influence had already diminished at his death in 1975, un
able to speak for the last two years of his life, a victim ofmultiple
sclerosis. His company Doxiadis Associates changed owners sever
al times after his death, the heir to hiscomputer company remain
ed but without any links to planning or Ekistics. The Delos Sympos
ium was discontinued, and the World Society of Ekistics is today a
n obscure organisation.
Works
 Teacher-Student Centre (TSC), Universit
y of Dhaka, Bangladesh; 1961
Publications
 Ekistics: An Introduction to the Science of Human Settlements. New Yor
k: Oxford University Press, 1968.
 Anthropopolis: City for Human Development.New York: W.W. Norton, 1
974.
 Ecumenopolis: The Inevitable City of the Future. With J.G. Papaioannou.
Athens: Athens Center of Ekistics, 1974.
 Building Entopia. Athens: Athens Publishing Center, 1975.
 Action for Human Settlements. New York: W.W. Norton, 1976.

SALOMON, JEZREEL M. BSAR 5E

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