Ekistics

Ekistics is a futurist conceptual framework for the maximal development of human settlements. Coined in 1942 by Constantinos Apostolos Doxiadis, ekistics was developed in response to rapid modern urbanization. The framework identifies five key elements of human settlement - nature, humans, society, shells (buildings), and networks - as well as a scale of 'ekistics units', delineated roughly in orders of magnitude of population. The framework's goal is to maximize all five elements for a given settlement at each of ekistics unit. Doxiadis advocated for the framework to be the foundation of a field of science, rather than an interdisciplinary framework.