Constantinos A. Doxiadis

Ekistics and regional science are two disciplines which cover similar subjects, that is, human settlements and regions respectively. They both have to cut through other disciplines, such as geography and economics, in order to provide the necessary synthesis for the problems of space within human settlements. Ekistics and regional science combine technology and art and therefore they are both descriptive and prescriptive sciences. Regional science can be seen as the extension of geography whereas Ekistics as the extension of urban geography. These disciplines should develop a methodology both abstract and empirical, which will be influences by the scale of phenomena with which they are dealing. Since in the future we are moving towards the creation of a universal city (Ecumenopolis) where a much higher percentage of the surface of the earth will be covered by human settlements, we need systematic methods in order to understand and guide this expansion, that only Regional science and Ekistics can provide.

From Ekistics, v.14, no.84, November 1962, p. 193-200