| Patrick Geddes | |
|---|---|
Patrick Geddes circa 1886
|
|
| Born | October 2, 1854 Ballater, Aberdeenshire, Scotland |
| Died | April 17, 1932 Scots College, Montpellier, France |
| Nationality | Scottish |
| Institutions | Lecturer in Zoology, Edinburgh University (1880–1888) Professor of Botany, University College, Dundee (1889–1914) Professor of Civics & Sociology, Bombay University, India (1920–1923) |
| Alma mater | Royal School of Mines |
| Known for | Conurbation |
|
Notes
Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1880) Co-founder of the University of Bombay[1] Co-founder of the Sociological Society[1] Founder of the Edinburgh Social Union[1] Founder of the Franco-Scottish Society[1] Planned the Hebrew University at Jerusalem[1] Founder of the Collège des Écossais in Montpellier (1924) |
|
Sir Patrick Geddes FRSE (2 October 1854 – 17 April 1932) was a Scottish biologist, sociologist, philanthropist and pioneering town planner. He is known for his innovative thinking in the fields of urban planning and education.
He was responsible for introducing the concept of "region" to architecture and planning and is also known to have coined the term "conurbation".[2]
An energetic Francophile,[3] Geddes was the founder of the Collège des Écossais (Scots College) in Montpellier, France.
Geddes was the father-in-law of the urban planner Frank Charles Mears.
Contents |
The son of Janet Stevenson and soldier Alexander Geddes, Patrick Geddes was born in Ballater, Aberdeenshire, and educated at Perth Academy.[4]
He studied at the Royal College of Mines in London under Thomas Henry Huxley between 1874 and 1878, and lectured in Zoology at Edinburgh University from 1880 to 1888.
Geddes wrote with J. Arthur Thomson an early book on sexology, The Evolution of Sex (1889).[5] He held the Chair of Botany at University College Dundee from 1888 to 1919, and the Chair of Sociology at the University of Bombay from 1919 to 1924. He died in Montpellier, France on April 17, 1932. He was knighted in 1932 shortly before his death.
Geddes shared the belief with John Ruskin that social processes and spatial form are related. Therefore, by changing the spatial form it was possible to change the social structure as well. This was particularly important in the late 19th and early 20th century when industrialization was dramatically altering the conditions of life.
Geddes demonstrated this theory through his work in Edinburgh's Old Town. Here, in this most dilapidated area, he used associations with prominent thinkers who lived there in the 18th and 19th century (like Adam Smith), to establish residential halls. The building in question, Milne's Court, is still part of the University of Edinburgh complex. Here he situated his famous Outlook Tower, a museum of local, regional, Scottish, and world history.
He collaborated with his son-in-law, architect Sir Frank Mears on projects in the Middle East. In 1919, Geddes was commissioned by the British Mandate to draw up a masterplan for Jerusalem.[6] In 1925, he submitted a first master plan for Tel Aviv that was adopted by the city council led by Meir Dizengoff a plan for developing the north of the city which has been termed "The Geddes Plan (Tel Aviv)" with the same time to prepare a master plan for Jerusalem. Tel Aviv is the only known city whose core is entirely built according to Geddes' plan.
Geddes was the founder of the College Des Ecossais, an international teaching establishment located in Montpellier, France. In India, Geddes provided planning consultancy to the rulers of Princely states. His principles for town planning in Bombay included: ("What town planning means under the Bombay Town Planning Act of 1915")[7]
In Madras, Geddes worked with Lord Pentland, whom he knew from Edinburgh. Pentland invited Geddes to hold an exhibit on town planning in 1914. This was around the time of the meeting of the Indian National Congress and Pentland hoped the exhibit would demonstrate the benefits of British rule. The materials for the exhibit were sent to India on a ship that was sunk near Madras by the German ship Emden. New material was collected and exhibited at the Senate hall of Madras University in 1915. Geddes lectured and worked with Indian surveyors and traveled to Bombay and Bengal where Pentland's political allies Lord Willingdon and Lord Carmichael were governors. He held a position in Sociology and Civics at Bombay University from 1919 to 1925.[7]
Geddes was keenly interested in the science of ecology, an advocate of nature conservation and strongly opposed to pollution. Because of this, some historians have claimed he was a forerunner of modern Green politics.[8]
Geddes' ideas had a worldwide circulation: his most famous admirer was the American urban theorist Lewis Mumford. Geddes also influenced several British urban planners (notably Raymond Unwin), the Indian social scientist Radhakamal Mukerjee and the Catalan architect Cebrià de Montoliu (1873–1923) as well as many other 20th century thinkers.[9]