C. A. Doxiadis and the Islamabad master plan: social engineering in a developing world, from the individual to the global

Abstract

The end of empires signified the emergence of new nation-states, bringing to the fore a complex nexus of needs on a global scale. The transfer of Western expertise to the Global South and the dissemination of a modernist lexicon emerged as key parameters in addressing these needs. Post-colonial Pakistan constitutes a significant part of the discourse on nation-state building through transnational strategies of modernism, and the Greek architect and urban planner Constantinos Doxiadis was one of the main actors, although his contribution is only partially acknowledged. In this context, the Doxiadis master plan of Islamabad—the tabula rasa federal capital of Pakistan—becomes the focus of this research. The thesis is fundamentally archive-based and its primary source material is drawn from the extensive professional archive of Doxiadis.

Islamabad was chosen as a case study that exemplifies the broader parameters of the evolution of Doxiadis’ theories of modernist global urbanism and the science of Ekistics as they evolved in the late 1950s. In this way the primary research question is posed: how did Islamabad reflect Doxiadis’ particular ideas on the science of the city? Secondary research questions that follow are: to what extent was the Islamabad plan distinctive within his body of work? Furthermore, and moving from the specific to the more general context: how were Doxiadis’ theories of urban planning expected to meet the needs of a developing world?

The thesis’ main argument is that the master plan of Islamabad was informed by predetermined requirements of a socio-economic reform; a modernist reform that equally underpinned nation-state building, development and globalisation. The main findings of the research that formulate Doxiadis’ particular ideas of urban planning and in addition their impact on global development can be summarised as follows: First, the hierarchical ordering as defined by Ekistics made it possible to connect and coordinate all aspects of human existence. This is identified as a significant tool of analysis and synthesis in spatial terms and beyond. Additionally, the conceptualisation of urbanity as a system of life introduces a methodological approach to urban planning that focuses on the relationships and management of everything that constitutes the system. This is interpreted as a shift from the functional modernist city to a functioning system that by definition transcends the boundaries and the material hypostasis of the city. This approach made possible the emergence of Ecumenopolis, which is interpreted as the conceptualisation of urbanisation and globalisation into one scheme. But, above all, the concept of Ecumenopolis completed Doxiadis’ theory of hierarchically ordered systems of life and justified the logic of acting locally while thinking globally.