Antecedents for the Ekistic Grid and the Anthropocosmos Model: A critical view of ekistic methodology

Sharmila Jagadisan completed her Bachelors Degree studies in Architecture from the Bharath Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, India, obtained her Masters in City Planning at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, and she is currently a Ph.D candidate in her second year research program at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. Dr Fookes is an Associate Professor in the Planning Department, University of Auckland, New Zealand. He has worked variously through the past 36 years as a geographer-planner, academic, environmental impact assessor, policy analyst, and professional planner. A defining moment in his career path was the two years spent as a student with C.A.Doxiadis at the Athens Center of Ekistics in Greece. As a consequence he has carried through the principles and practices developed in Athens into his professional life. Dr Fookes is leading research and development on Ekistics in Education in the Planning Department and is Ms Jagadisan's main supervisor. The text that follows is a slightly revised and edited version of a paper presented by the authors at the international symposion on "Globalization and Local Identity," organized jointly by the World Society for Ekistics and the University of Shiga Prefecture in Hikone, Japan, 19-24 September, 2005.