Ekistics

The term Ekistics (coined by Konstantinos Apostolos Doxiadis in 1942) applies to the science of human settlements. It includes regional, city, community planning and dwelling design. It involves the study of all kinds of human settlements, with a view to geography and ecology — the physical environment — and human psychology and anthropology, and cultural, political, and occasionally aesthetics. As a scientific mode of study is currently found to rely on statistics and description, organized in five ekistic elements: nature, anthropos, society, shells, and networks. It is generally a more academic field than "urban planning", and has considerable overlap with some of the less restrained fields of architectural theory.