11 Mar 2025
In the mid-20th century, cities worldwide faced a significant challenge: the rapid intrusion of automobiles into urban centres, which displaced free social spaces and fragmented urban communities. This phenomenon led to the pioneering work of Greek architect and urban theorist C. A. Doxiadis, whose innovative approaches to urban planning sought to reclaim cities for pedestrians.
A recent paper by Dr Deborah Middleton, an Associate Professor from the Department of Architecture at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, delves into Doxiadis’ contributions to pedestrian urbanism, offering valuable insights for contemporary urban planners and architects. It is published on Ekistics, a journal founded by Doxiadis himself since the early 1950s.
This research not only honors the legacy of a visionary urban planner, but also offers practical ideas for creating more livable and sustainable cities.
Detroit Pedestrain Esplanade
The author would like to thank the archivist Ms. Pavlidou with Constantinos A. Doxiadis Archive for their kind assistance and the Constantinos and Emma Doxiadis Foundation for permission their kind research assistance and permission to use the images in this paper.
The visionary approach of C. A. Doxiadis
Ekistics is a comprehensive scientific approach to the study and planning of human settlements, developed by C. A. Doxiadis. It aims to create an integrated and rational framework for understanding and designing urban environments, focusing on the relationships between people, buildings, and spaces.
Doxiadis’ work, rooted in his theory of Ekistics, aimed to create human-centric urban environments that prioritized walking and social interaction over vehicular traffic. His projects, spanning from the 1950s to the 1970s, included urban plans for cities like Korangi in Pakistan, New Eastwick in the USA, and Tema in Ghana.
At the time and still today Doxiadis’ Ekistics approach was groundbreaking. It structured urban expansion through nested hierarchies of community class spatial scales, with each higher-level community incorporating formations of all lower-order communities. Many of his urban and architectural plans featured pedestrian esplanades, covered walkways, and squares, all aimed at fostering a movement across the urban district and informing social density.
“His design methodology emphasized the importance of walking range and proximity to services, aiming to create an optimal settlement size that supported a wide range of interactions while allowing residential mobility in the city,” says Dr Deborah Middleton.
The impact of Doxiadis’ work
Dr Middleton’s paper highlights the significance of Doxiadis’ theory and practice of urban planning to address the challenges of urban social and spatial fragmentation.
“His designs not only separated pedestrian and vehicular circulation, but also created plans with an absence or diffused form of a spatial center, highlighting rather the urban formation as a catchment area with a hierarchy of human movement.
“The analysis of various projects reveals a rich diversity in Doxiadis’ planning approaches, resulting in pedestrian spaces deeply integrated into the urban fabric,” she says.
The paper reflects on the way the pedestrian esplanade and linear walkways emerge throughout his urban projects from 1957 to 1970’s. In Islamabad, Doxiadis designs for a linear pedestrian esplanade integrated large building masses while also forming a social pedestrian esplanade space that unified the larger community sectors. Doxiadis’s planning methodology also was very advanced with parametric design for a field of urban squares and walkways crossing the Tema, Ghana urban terrain.
In many of his projects, Doxiadis’s urban plans aimed to revitalise the concept of a commercial center affording movement exclusively for pedestrian circulation, with a central square defining the spatial center. Dr Middleton discusses how many of these previously unknown urban projects, demonstrate Doxiadis’ ability to adapt his principles to different cultural and geographical contexts, creating vibrant urban spaces that prioritize human interaction.
Insights for designing pedestrian friendly and more livable cities
This research is not just a historical account but a valuable resource for contemporary urban planning.
“As cities around the world struggle towards sustainability, social equity, and livability, Doxiadis’ emphasis on pedestrian-friendly design and human-centric urbanism offers a timeless blueprint and serves as a guiding light.
“His work underscores the importance of creating spaces that foster social interaction and community cohesion, principles that remain relevant in the face of modern urban challenges.
“Moreover, the paper’s application of space syntax and Conzenian methods provides a robust analytical framework for understanding urban spatial configurations. This methodology can help contemporary planners and architects design more effective and inclusive urban environments, ensuring that future cities are places where people can thrive,” Dr Middleton adds.
This recently published paper by Deborah Middleton on C. A. Doxiadis's Pedestrian Esplanades, can be accessed online here.
(By Yi Qian)
11 Mar 2025