Influence
In the 1960s and 1970s, urban planner and architect Konstantinos Apostolos Doxiadis (Constantinos Doxiadis) authored books, studies, and reports including those regarding the growth potential of the Great Lakes Megalopolis. At the peak of his popularity, in the 1960s, he addressed the US Congress on the future of American cities, his portrait illustrated the front cover of Time Magazine, his company Doxiadis Associates was implementing large projects in housing, urban and regional development in more than 40 countries, his Computer Centre (UNIVAC-DACC) was at the cutting edge of the computer technology of his time and at his annual "Delos Symposium" the World Society of Ekistics attracted the worlds foremost thinkers and experts.
In Greece, he faced persistent suspicion and opposition and his recommendations were largely ignored. Having won two large contracts (National Regional Plan for Greece and Master Plan for Athens) from the Greek Junta he was criticised by competitors, after its fall in 1974, portrayed as a friend of the colonels. His visions for Athens airport to be constructed on the adjacent island of Makronissos, where political prisoners were held, together with a bridge, a rail link and a port at Lavrion were never realised.
His influence had already diminished at his death in 1975, unable to speak for the last two years of his life, a victim of multiple sclerosis. His company Doxiadis Associates changed owners several times after his death, the heir to his computer company remained but without any links to planning or Ekistics. The Delos Symposium was discontinued, and the World Society of Ekistics is today an obscure organisation.
Read more about this topic: Konstantinos Apostolos Doxiadis
Famous quotes containing the word influence:
“I anticipate with pleasing expectations that retreat in which I promise myself to realize, without alloy, the sweet enjoyment of partaking, in the midst of my fellow citizens, the benign influence of good laws under a free government, the ever favorite object of my heart, and the happy reward, as I trust, of our mutual cares, labors, and dangers.”
—George Washington (1732–1799)
“The example of America must be the example, not merely of peace because it will not fight, but of peace because it is the healing and elevating influence of the world, and strife is not. There is such a thing as a man being too proud to fight. There is such a thing as a nation being so right that it does not need to convince others by force that it is right.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)
“We can trace almost all the disasters of English history to the influence of Wales.”
—Evelyn Waugh (1903–1966)