Ecumenopolis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ecumenopolis (from Greek: inhabited city; plural: ecumenopoleis or ecumenopolises) is a word invented in 1967 by the Greek city planner Constantinos Doxiadis to represent the idea that in the future urban areas and megalopolises would eventually fuse and there would be a single continuous world-wide city as a progression from the current urbanization and population growth trends. Before the word ecumenopolis had been coined, the American religious leader Thomas Lake Harris (1823-1906) mentioned city-planets in his verses, and science fiction author Isaac Asimov uses the city-planet Trantor as the setting of some of his books.
A world undergoing this level of hyper-development would presumably either have its food imported from other planets, or grown in vast orbital or subterranean hydroponics facilities. A civilization capable of building an ecumenopolis is almost by definition at least ranked as Type I on the Kardashev scale.
Doxiadis also created a scenario based on the traditions and trends of urban development of his time, predicting at first a European eperopolis (continent city) which would be based on the area between London–Paris–Amsterdam.
[edit] Ecumenopolis in fiction
In modern science fiction, the ecumenopolis has become a frequent topic. Capitals of galactic empires are typically portrayed as ecumenopoleis. A famous example is Coruscant, from Star Wars.
