See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/271193346

Nature and the City: The Legacy of Doxiadis Plan for Islamabad

Conference Paper · January 2005

CITATION READS
1 578

1 author:

Ahmed Z. Khan
Université Libre de Bruxelles
109 PUBLICATIONS   139 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

SPINDUS. Spatial innovation, planning, design and user involvement View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Ahmed Z. Khan on 05 January 2016.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Nature and the City: The Legacy of Doxiadis’s Plan for Islamabad

“Nature provides the foundation upon which the settlements are created and the
frame within which they function”1

“We have to save Nature. We must conserve, preserve, and also develop. We have
to bring Nature into the city of Man and not keep it out to be visited only during
long weekends.”2

City of the Future …… “The surface of the city will allow the flora to spread again,
beginning from the small gardens within the cells, to major zones of forests above
the tunnels of the networks, to big farming areas and natural reserves where man
will find the rough conditions which he also needs.
In this city we can hope that man, relieved of all stresses that arise from his conflict
with the machine, will allow his body to dance, his senses to express themselves
through the arts, his mind to dedicate itself to philosophy or mathematics, and his
soul to love and to dream.” 3

Abstract

The making of the plan of Islamabad4 is an investigation and prospection into the landscape of
the area chosen as project site for the new capital of Pakistan. The idea, concept and proto-form
of ‘Dynapolis’5, as conceived by Doxiadis, is bound to find its manifestation in Islamabad. The
translation of dynapolis into a physical plan, guided by its proto-form, Landscape and the
intuition of the architect is what I describe as the making of the plan of Islamabad. The focus of
this paper / presentation is to describe the use of nature and elaborate on the role of landscape
strategies in the making of the plan of Islamabad.

Introduction

Islamabad represents Pakistan’s first New town project as the capital of the newly independent
state, and one of the major new town developments in the sub-continent comparable to
Chandigarh in India or Brasilia in Brazil. Islamabad was an idea to create a “City of the Future”
Ahmed Zaib K. M Nature and the City: The Legacy of Doxiadis’s Plan for Islamabad

with the concept of ‘dynapolis’, that is, a planned unidirectional linear city as the only solution
to cope with the growth of an explosive urbanization era, relying on strong environmental
elements and a synthesis of town planning and Architectural principles.

The Doxiadis´s plan of Islamabad (1959 - 60) is a fascinating co-incidence but a forgotten
planning episode of the 20th century. As a diagram, a strategy, an ideology, the plan of
Islamabad is a synthesis of manifold aspects of city planning. The plan is one of the last great
strokes of modernism but its not there in the canonized history of icons, as it doesn’t conform to
the mainstream modernist practice, rather, it’s a shift which goes into many directions.

One of the directions, which is also the focus of my paper, that can bring partial insight to
support the argument that the plan of Islamabad does not conform or marks a point of departure
from, the mainstream modernist practice, is Doxiadis´s way of dealing with the element of
‘Nature’. Doxiadis´s provision of generous public spaces in graduated amounts for each class of
community was paralleled by a careful ecological analysis of the four main categories of natural
landscape: the mountains, the hillocks, the plain and the ravines.6 The notion of design to
integrate nature and the city is achieved by a scalar arrangement of “Landscape” in the form of
Productive Landscape (agro-grid, urban agro-farm), ecological Landscape (eco-grid, natural
plant, green, ravine and wildlife), and Urban Structuring Landscape (public, private and hybrid)
types. I’ll argue that the plan of Islamabad shows connectivity on all levels; within the city,
natural landscape is integrated with other systems of open spaces and other types of landscape,
and also creates an urban system that is connected to the natural areas surrounding the city. I’ll
try to demonstrate that the plan does not attacks nature, rather weaves it through landscape
strategies and multi-layered interventions, illustrating a sophisticated approach in finding ways
for nature to get into the city and the overall urban area.

I’ll further argue by illustrating that the way ‘nature’ has been dealt with in the plan of
Islamabad, and more specifically – the design, is following a general framework of principles
developed by Doxiadis, the traces and fragments of which can be discerned from his original
scholarship in the form of his doctoral dissertation titled “Architectural Space in Ancient Greece
–Raumordnung im griechischen Städtebau”7, dating back to 1936 – 37. Doxiadis´s scheme is
unlike the colonization of landscape (Broadacre), rather, ‘Nature’ is used as a major design
element, giving it a dominant role. Although, in the plan of Islamabad, a synthesis can be found
of other heterotopian (Olmstead) / utopian (Le Corbusier) models, also aiming at the integration
of nature and the city. Doxiadis´s principles, added with this synthesis and the unique
Ahmed Zaib K. M Nature and the City: The Legacy of Doxiadis’s Plan for Islamabad

opportunity provided by the site for the new capital, makes the plan of Islamabad an attempt in
breaking down the classical urban notion of urbanity / urban form. This argument is further
supported by a detailed reading of the plan and the dismantling of various layers of nature,
which propounds that in the plan of Islamabad, a new kind of Urban form is suggested, where
nature is playing a dominant role by becoming part of the city; landscape defining the shape,
form and essence of the city.

The Making of the Plan

The area chosen for the new capital is 12OO km (approx.) north of Karachi, at the beginning of
where the Murree hills (2000 – 2500 m altitude) disappears into the making of the pothwar
plateau (avg. 500-600m altitude), forming a gutted landscape by ravines carrying the rain and
run off of the surrounding hills of lower Himalayan series and erosion of top soil adds to the
fragility of the overall landscape. The series of ravines culminates to form the river ‘Soan’ (in
the immediate south of the site), which falls into River Indus after travelling a 100 kms
approximate distance in South –westerly direction.

The site selected for the city, an area of 1165.5 sq km (450 sq miles), stretches from Margalla
hills in the North, foothills of Murree in the East towards Soan River in the South and the vast
plain of Pothwar plateau in the west and South west. The overall drainage and, thereby, slope of
the site is in a NE to SW direction. The site itself has an average altitude of 500 – 600 m with
the immediate Margalla hills having a 1500 – 1800 m altitude forming a 1000 m high natural
and, somewhat, majestic backdrop for the city. This backdrop of Margallas lends itself to form
the image of the city as its most prominent natural landmark.

The larger ‘Landscape’ defining limits of the site are marked by the two largest dams of the
country; ‘Tarbela’ on Indus in the North – as the world’s largest earth filled dam, and ‘Mangla’
in South on River ‘Jehlum’. The even larger barrier is the curve of ‘Murree’ and ‘Galiat’ Hills –
which are the karakoram and Himalayan foothills, with an average altitude of 2000 – 3000
meters in the East. In the immediate vicinity of the site, there are three major lakes; ‘Khanpur’
in the North (across Margallah hills), ‘Rawal’ Lake is within the site and ‘Simly’ lake is at the
Eastern edge of the site. This geographical limitation of the site in N, E and SE lends itself only
the West and SW direction, with the open plateau of Pothwar and along with the natural slope
and drainage direction of the area, as the possible direction with capacity and suitability for
future urban growth.
Ahmed Zaib K. M Nature and the City: The Legacy of Doxiadis’s Plan for Islamabad

The already established urban centre of the region is the city of Rawalpindi8, an 18th century
provincial town, developed by the British as a large cantonment during the 19th century for the
northern command, making it a natural choice for Pakistan Army’s General Head Quarters after
independence in 1947. The city acts as a centre for trade, commerce and culture for the
dispersed villages and small towns, generally dependent on rain-fed agricultural activity, all
over the pothwar Plateau. The nearest major town to Rawalpindi is Taxila9, only 25 kms away,
with its ruins of the historic capitals of Ashokan Empire of the sub-continent and the Alexandria
/capital of Alexander the Great´s Empire’s most eastern part. The site for Islamabad lies in
between Rawalpindi and Taxila – the military capital and the capital of ancient history.

The new city of Islamabad has to carve out an identity of its own, lying in between - the hills
and the plains, the historic city and the colonial cantonment, amidst the political currents
ranging from ‘Theocracy’, ‘Democracy’, ‘Authoritarianism’ and ‘Totalitarianism’, along with
the tension weaved by the confrontation of the ‘Tradition’ and ‘Modernity’, as a capital of a
new country but an old nation. The process of design has to confront these dualities, while
rationality and knowledge having its own logic of praxis and the landscape has its own answers
and intrigues for the future inhabitations on it, which are to be discerned in the making of the
plan. The making of the plan is that middle ground where knowledge and praxis, theory and
practice, an idea of urbanity and the physical nature / landscape of the site are brought in to a
confronting and sometimes, a complementing dialogue to result in the form of a design, a plan
and a strategy – largely dependent on the choices made by the designer involved.

The Landscape pattern and formation of the main ‘Axis’

The Margalla Hills skirting the valley outside (the site for Islamabad) Rawalpindi, had serrated
tops not dissimilar from those overlooking the plains of Attica behind Athens, although the rock
here is darker and the slopes are greener and undulating. The site had been thinly settled
because the soil was rain-fed hardpan, thorny brush survived that could repel the goats, just as in
Greece.10

The Natural Topography’s chief characteristic is that it runs from Northeast to Southwest along
valleys formed by a series of hillocks running in the same direction. Two rivers flowing at the
southern part of the metropolitan area, in NE to SW direction, form two major lakes (‘Rawal’
and ‘Simly’ Lakes and a minor one called ‘Loi-Bher’ lake.) The area within and surrounding the
Ahmed Zaib K. M Nature and the City: The Legacy of Doxiadis’s Plan for Islamabad

lakes, is mostly natural vegetation and some farming land. The Margalla hills (the foothills of
Himalayas) running east to west as border strip to the north of the city is the major ecological
corridor with natural flaura, fauna and wild life.

The city of Rawalpindi, a major physical element of the site, radiates two important roads
traversing the landscape of the capital site around it. One is the G.T. Road (Grand Trunk road
along with Railway Line), running Northwest (to Peshawar) to Southeast (to Lahore), bisecting
the city of Rawalpindi. The other one is called Murree road running NE to SW linking
Rawalpindi to Murree (a Colonial Hill Resort) and onwards to Kashmir, through the site of the
new capital. This traversing of two roads through the capital site, divides the site into two parts,
the upper NW part - between Margallas and Rawalpindi with fewer ravines, higher, overlooking
the rest of the site, Rawalpindi and more stable slopes, and the lower SE part - mainly enclosing
the lakes area with its natural vegetation, marshes and some faming land.

The division of the site created by Murree road in NE – SW direction is further reinforced by
the element of nature, i.e., natural landscape in the form of a series of hillocks is following the
same direction – a natural division by a series of hillocks between upper NW slopes and the
lower SW Lake / Marsh / farming land. Out of many scenarios that can be generated for the
treatment of this intervening area, the one that made more sense to Doxiadis was like the
strategy of further reinforcing this line or connection of the site with the surrounding landscape.
Either, to keep the continuity of the landscape of the site with surrounding larger landscape lines
as Margallah hills; the general drainage and slope direction also follows this alignment or
perhaps, to keep the urban area at bay from the Lakes inorder to protect them, by opting for this
alignment as one axial direction of the Axis. This is what, probably, leads Doxiadis to draw the
very first line of the main axis of his plan – ‘the Murree Highway”. This strategic intervention is
accorded by Doxiadis as, “The Landscape’s chief characteristic is that it runs from North-East
to South-West along valleys formed by a series of hills running in the same direction. The
Murree Highway had to follow this direction through a valley formed by two hills.11

The Murree highway Axis is probably the most important intervention because it not only
reinforces a strong feature of the existing landscape but also it is the very axis that establishes
the direction of the city and its future growth. This axis forms the central / alignment direction
for the proto-form of dynapolis to be laid out in the plan, i.e., the future direction of the growth
of the city. Although, from the earlier description of the site and its surrounding larger
landscape dimension, its clear that SW direction is open to the plain of Pothwar plateau making
Ahmed Zaib K. M Nature and the City: The Legacy of Doxiadis’s Plan for Islamabad

it a suitable direction for future growth of the city. It may be termed as a co-incidence that a
strong characteristic feature of the landscape inside the site was in coherence with larger
landscape outside, for the requirement of the proto-form to have the same direction, in the case
of Islamabad. But, knowing the direction only may not be sufficient to draw a plan, as the axis
requires for its layout a precise angle.

The laying of the second Axis “the Islamabad highway” creates an interesting scenario as it runs
perpendicular to the Murree highway axis. Similar reasoning can be observed here too. This
time, it is in, more or less, alignement of G. T. road which is NW – SE and is again guarding the
SW frontier of the Lakes area from the city of Rawalpindi. This line is in alignment with the
smaller river ‘korang’ which connects Rawal Lake to ‘Loi-bher’ Lake, and also with the
connection between series of hillocks (“shakarparian” hills) and the existing airport of
Rawalpindi, which was supposed to be used for Islamabad as well.

The laying of the third axis “Margalla highway” defines the limits of the city in the direction of
the Mragalla hills and is even further intriguing. It does not follow any relation with the earlier
two, as in the earlier case one axis is at least perpendicular to the other. Apparently, this axis
seems to follow the alignment of the foot of Margallah hills. The similarity of this axis with the
other two is in the case of ‘guarding’, i.e., as Margallah hills are a fragile ecological corridor
area so they are being guarded, by the alignment of this axis, from the city.

The other two limits of the city are marked by “Capital Highway” to the West – following the
direction of Islamabad Highway (NW – SE) and “Soan Highway” to the South – following the
course of River Soan and the direction of Murree Highway (NE – SW). The formation of the
basic structure or the division of the site for the capital is formed by this system of four major
highways which makes three distinctive entities of the city, namely, the upper NW part for
Islamabad Capital, the lower SE part for Agro-farming, farm housing, recreation, sports and the
third part to define the outer structure for the city of Rawalpindi. In the words of Doxiadis, “The
back bone of the Islamabad Metropolitan area Master plan is formed by two highways,
Islamabad Highway and Murree Highway, the alignment of which was dictated by the natural
landscape pattern and the existing manmade obstacles. The Landscape’s chief characteristic is
that it runs from North-East to South-West along valleys formed by a series of hills running in
the same direction.
Ahmed Zaib K. M Nature and the City: The Legacy of Doxiadis’s Plan for Islamabad

The Murree Highway had to follow this direction through a valley formed by two hills. The
Islamabad highway has been aligned vertically to the Murree highway between the existing
airport and shakarparian hills.

Two more highways, by-passing the existing town of Rawalpindi, have been proposed.

On the basis of above ideas, a system of four highways becomes the basic system of axes for the
Metropolitan area. These axes form a big square, which will define all future transportation
systems and all major functions within the Metropolitan area.”12

The gradual widening of the area between Murree and Margallah highway axis makes a perfect
outline for the lay out of Dynapolis; the gradually widening, fan-shaped, linear city. The
location of the main Capitol Complex takes the place at the tip of the fan, and the city, its centre
/ CBD also begins from there, following the direction of the axis of Murree highway making it
the most important axis of the city.

These axis are determined by the existing landscape and are the fundamental elements in the
organization of space and the urban structure of the city. It is important to probe into their
mutual relationship. Apparently, the plan looks very simplistic at this stage as it does not offer a
co- relationship of these structuring axis. As earlier discussed, the alignment of Murree highway
asked for a SW direction, but it’s not only the direction rather a precise angle that will make the
layout possible. So the obvious thing was to look for the angle of this alignment with the true
West direction, and to my astonishment, it turned out to be an angle of 36°. For the co-
relationship of axis with each other, when worked out, turned to be making an 18° between
Murree and Margallah, and in turn Margallah making an angle of 108° with Islamabad highway
axis. Similarly the Capitol highway and the Soan highway axis are making an angle of 108° and
18° respectively with the Margallah highway axis. The total division of Site from North to
Margallah axis is 108°, the total area of the site from Margallah Axis to edge of Lake area is
making another total field of 108°, and in turn, this last edge of the lake side (following the axis
of Islamabad highway) is making 144° angle with the true North.

This system of articulating the space of the city in the case of Islamabad is precisely following
the “Ten-part”13 system (18°, 36°, 72°, 108°, 144…etc…, dividing 360° into ten equal parts) of
Architectural spacing in ancient Greece of group forms as discovered by Doxiadis in his
doctoral dissertation named “Raumordnung im griechischen Städtebau”. My astonishment is
because there is no mention of this ‘system’ of angles in Doxiadis´s discourse about the plan of
Islamabad.
Ahmed Zaib K. M Nature and the City: The Legacy of Doxiadis’s Plan for Islamabad

In his thesis, he advanced the theory that the Greeks employed a uniform system in arranging
their buildings. Man’s viewpoint related the buildings not only to each other but also to the
landscape. He works out a theory that accounts for the seemingly unordered layout of the
buildings in ancient Greek precincts, proposing that the spatial relationships between the
buildings were strictly determined according to a plan. He also says that, ‘I am convinced that
the system prevailing there represents a general theory of spatial organization – a theory of city
planning’14.

The fundamental thing that is achieved by the formation of axis, is the division of the space of
the city, whether natural or man-made, into three parts. These divisions are so large that a
further system of division seems inevitable, for the organization of the city and the kind of
urbanity intended.

The ‘Grid’ (s): Organizing the City by Structuring the Landscape

There are more then one grids that are made use of, in making the plan of Islamabad. The
fundamental grids, though, are two; the ‘formal’ grid of 2000 x 2000 meters dividing the whole
city roughly into 84 sectors, and the other is the ‘natural’ grid created by ravines flowing
through the entire site area.

At first sight, one could imagine that the natural grid created by ravines with the cover of natural
vegetation on both sides, is a very legible structure in the existing landscape of the site, suitable
for a further, smaller scale division of the site. But here, at this scale when dealing with parts of
the city as to organize their space, a reversal takes place. Because the division of space at the
scale of the City took place by means of axis, which were mainly reinforcing the existing lines
of the landscape and guarding off, rather, setting limits in between, the Lakes area and the city
(Murree Axis), the ecological corridor of Margalla hills and the city (Margalla Axis) and even
between the old city and the new city (Islamabad highway axis). The question is, why this
reversal? as this formal grid of 2 x 2 km is not following the existing lines of the landscape,
rather, they seems to be brutally cutting the landscape, converting the site in a checker-board.

There are a number of reasons that we find in Doxiadis´s discourse, which tries to convert this
conflict or opposition, of formal grid (2x2 km) with the lines of the natural landscape (ravines),
into complementarity in a multi-dimensional way.
Ahmed Zaib K. M Nature and the City: The Legacy of Doxiadis’s Plan for Islamabad

Firstly, ‘the lines of the grid are to have mechanical transportation and the content of the grid- a
human scale community’. He is dealing with the making of the plan of a modern city; he
believes that the modern city should be a synthesis of the human scale and the mechanical scale.
Smaller units, which can be planned on human dimensions, should be based on the human scale
(the content of the grid), while larger areas are based on the mechanical one (the perimeter of
the grid).”15 For him, man and machine needs separation, as he says, “In such a dynamic city we
do not have a conflict of man and machine, we do not run the danger of moving in the vicious
circle of the old city devouring its own self in order to grow.”16 This confinement of machines to
the lines of the grid also deals with the concern of how the balance between nature and
mechanization could be better maintained? These lines of the grid, thus, forms highways for
mechanical transportation where the concern is higher speed and efficiency, whereas, in the
content of the grid, having the human scale with smaller roads and pedestrian paths displays a
more intricate balance with the landscape. He accords this reading of the plan as, ‘… Full
segregation of motorcar traffic and pedestrian movement has been provided. Longitudinal
sections of the roads follow the same classification. Highways are designed with the sole
objective of serving high-speed motorcar traffic. As we move to the other categories of roads,
landscape is more respected, and when we reach the pedestrian streets, even steps are provided
where the landscape is steep. The machine and human scale are clearly separated, and the
elements of road design observe strictly the requirements of this separation.17

Secondly, ‘opting straight lines crossing each other at 90° for the grid and avoiding any curved
lines’. This conviction of Doxiadis stems from his rational way of thinking, as he believes that
“The circular shapes must be transformed into squares and rectangles. This is due to the fact
that an ideal city should be built on the basis of a rectangular grid system of roads. It is quite
out of the question for the rational way of building a city to be based on any other system of
roads than that of a rectangular network.”18 This statement does not give clues to the fact that
what makes him so clear and blunt in his advocacy for rectilinear grid? And what does he mean
by a ‘rational way of building’? making the statement simplistic but at the same time
sophisticated. The sophistication of the statement owes to the way Doxiadis reaches his
conviction, which is also something that separates him from the mainstream modernists. He
explains his way as, “We are left with a grid, and the question arises as to which form this grid
should have – the elongated city blocks of the past, square blocks, straight or curved streets?
Various considerations show that the traditional elongated city block is a rational product of
the fact that the block consists of plots, which are in two rows of the same orientation. There is
no reason for the main roads to be curved, unless the form of the landscape compels us to do so.
Only mechanical traffic leads to this solution, which may look naïve but is genuine. Thus we are
Ahmed Zaib K. M Nature and the City: The Legacy of Doxiadis’s Plan for Islamabad

led not only to the basic form of a grid, but also to the basic form of squares which by
conception (of a grid of squares) are all equal; these are the cells of the city.”19

Doxiadis´s way is that of analyzing the historic city20, making reference to it, unlike the
mainstream Modernists, for whom the historic city is an anti-model. In the case of the grid, he
refers to his analysis of the elongated city block of the past, which leads him to his conviction of
a rectilinear grid, but at the same time the analysis carries a inherent contradiction when
compared to the plan. This contradiction lies in the phrase where he says, ‘There is no reason
for the main roads to be curved, unless the form of the landscape compels us to do so.’ Because
in the plan, the form of the landscape does compel one to consider not only the straight line.

Thirdly, as to ‘why this 2000x2000m specific size of the grid’. This question of dimension
refers to the ‘modulus’, in Doxiadian lexican, which weaves the overall dimensions and the
dimensions of the basic square (the grid). The ‘Modulus’, which by continuous repetition will
form the whole; he relates it to two forces, ‘external’ and ‘internal’. External, being determined
by the size of the whole - the over all dimensions, which are defined by the size of the city
(conceived as a dynamically growing settlement eventually having several million people) and
the formation of the landscape; defined by the container – closed to the North, the East and the
South-east, and open to the south-west. He further explained that the city should not be divided
into city blocks, which are the moduli of the pedestrian city with several thousand people, but
into sectors of such a size that the urban area can contain dozens of them. But when the city
reaches the million mark, even these sectors will be small as sub-divisions, and will have to be
united by groups into major moduli. This external dimension is attributed to the force, that he
took into consideration, which is, the kind of mechanical transportation to be used: as we know
that the distance between the lines of the grid depend on their accessibility, the speed allowed
on them, etc, raising the issue of ‘Mobility’. Taking these factors into considerations he
concluded that a type of grid is needed which can form squares of different dimensions,
depending on how many moduli one unites. Therefore, now, the basic question was the size of
the smallest square, i.e., dimension of the grid. For this, I’ll let Doxiadis speak for himself,
“This can be defined by the internal forces. Unlike the external forces, which are defined by
machines, the internal forces are defined by man. And unlike the external forces, whose
dimensions we have no precedent for, we have thousands of examples of internal forces: almost
all cities that existed up to the eighteenth century. The lesson drawn from them is quite clear.
The normal city, based solely on man’s natural force, is a city whose dimensions are such that
man can reach the centre without walking longer than ten minutes. If we go as far back as the
ancient Greek city or to the nearest city in the neighborhood of Islamabad (that is, to
Rawalpindi), the conclusion is the same – the longest distance is no more than 2000 yards or
Ahmed Zaib K. M Nature and the City: The Legacy of Doxiadis’s Plan for Islamabad

about 2000 meters. This is the modulus we are looking for, the square derived from the human
scale (which now has some content) and from human tradition (five or six thousand years old)
that is a square of about 2000 by 2000 yards.”21

Fourthly, the notion that the grid pattern of 2x2 km keeps a ‘unified scale’ in the city as he
claims that ‘this pattern forms a modulus in the town and keeps a unified scale in the whole
metropolitan area.22 One can discern, by looking at this pattern in the plan and, though, it has
been assigned the use to cater for the mechanical transportation, but it also does play the role of
the formal grid i.e.; it does structure the entire city by parceling it uniformly, and providing
connectivity and continuity to the plan. But how does it keeps a unified scale in the city?, is a
much bigger statement as it involves not only the aspect of mobility within the city but also the
important aspect, (and the subject of this paper) i.e. how does it connects and continues the
element of nature within and outside the city?

The use of ‘formal grid’ in the making of the plan gives rise to this apparent contradiction
between discourse and the plan, necessitating, a further zooming in and probing into the inter-
relationship established between the ‘formal’ and the ‘natural’ grid. For this purpose, a N-
Eastern section of the plan enclosed by Murree, Islamabad and Margalla highway axis, as
originally drawn by Doxiadis and called ‘the heart of the city’, including the first four sectors,
capitol area and the CBD, is taken for a detailed reading and description of its making.

The ‘Eco-Grid’ and the ‘Hybrid green’

This part (‘the heart of the city’) of the site, like the rest of the site, represents a loose network
of ravines, running from approximately NE to SW direction. Most of these ravines are tributing
to a major ravine located at the lower left corner, very near to the crossing point of the major
axes (Murree and Islamabad highway), which is also called ‘Zero Point’. A few of them, on the
eastern side, are falling directly under the Murree highway, into the ‘Shakarparian’ hills and the
Lakes area. The ravines are narrow and shallow at the beginning side, i.e., the upper side
aligned with Margalla road axes, and becomes slightly wider and deeper towards the south west.
This area is mainly a catchment area, from the Margalla foothills behind the Margalla axes, for
the ‘Nala Lai’ – a major riverine crossing through Rawalpindi and falling into Soan River in the
South.

Since the rainfall in the area is consistent, so most of these ravines do not turn dry, though,
during the higher rain fall of monsoon, they fill up their maximum width and depth. The profile
Ahmed Zaib K. M Nature and the City: The Legacy of Doxiadis’s Plan for Islamabad

of these ravines, in terms of width and depths, is extremely irregular, e.g., the widths can be as
little as 2-3 meters and can stretch upto 20-25 meters, and similarly the depths may range from 1
- 3 meters. The natural vegetation is in abundance on both sides of the ravines because of the
seasonal alluvial deposits on the floor and consistent rainfall helps maintaining a thick forest of
local plants, shrubs and trees. This natural vegetation may stretch upto 100 meters on each side
of the ravines, like a right of way in certain areas, as a continuous cover to the ravine. The
vegetation is on a slope with the bottom of the ravine as the lowest point of the slope and
gradually rises on both sides. The overall character of the landscape is undulating slopes, as is
the case generally with the whole site. These ravines form an ecological network giving an
organic structure to the landscape and also divides the area into parcels, just like the formal grid,
therefore, it can be termed as the ‘eco-grid’ of the site.

The laying out of the formal grid of 2000 x 2000m on top of this organic, natural and somewhat
ecological grid, indeed, creates a very contrasting situation. In theory, as explained earlier,
Doxiadis tries to make a complimentary role for these two opposing grids; as a synthesis, for
integrating both the nature and mechanization within the city. The translation of this into the
plan may, at first, sounds very simplistic. What he proposes for the grid is not just an ordinary
highway, but a highway with 360 meters ROW (right of way) for the major axis, no less then
180 meters for all the other lines of the formal grid of 2x2 km, and even a ROW of 90 m is for
the roads inside the sector. These huge widths of ROWs are said to accommodate all roads,
transportation lines, communication, utilities from sewers to electric etc, and also to
accommodate and have capacity to deal with expansion of these lines in the future. But still,
they seem quite over-dimensioned. One could argue that since Islamabad is going to be a capital
city, which needs a majestic dimension and size in the grid to reflect the monumentality, dignity
and the force that the city is supposed to carry, though usually such an argument is not there in
his discourse.

The most intriguing argument that one finds within the discourse is about the green character of
these ROWs, e.g. “This width will also make it possible to isolate the nearby areas (Human
scale community inside grid) from the traffic and its noise and nuisance by elongated green
belts.”23 This green is further exploited as a rentable space for urban agriculture. In the words of
Doxiadis, “As the town grows and traffic increases, a certain width of road section will be
implemented. The rest of the space of the right-of-way could be rented for vegetable gardens,
fruit trees etc. It is understood that in no case buildings of any kind, either temporary or
permanent, be allowed in this area.”24 The clarity in the last sentence forces one to think that for
Doxiadis, this green is a fundamental element of the city design, though, without any buildings
of any kind. Doxiadis further goes on to tell us about the aesthetic dimension of this green.
Ahmed Zaib K. M Nature and the City: The Legacy of Doxiadis’s Plan for Islamabad

According to him, this green is needed because in the past, the city was surrounded by the
country side. The distances from the city to the countryside were natural, and there was a
balance between urban and rural areas as the urban area was reaching out up to a certain size.
He prescribes that “At present it is necessary to surround the sector, the natural urban unit to
which humanity is used, by a strip of open space. This we do inorder to: a). Allow everybody to
reach this open strip in the same amount of time as in the city of the past. b). Keep a proper
balance between open landscape and urban dimensions. c). Use these strips of land for proper
plantations which will contribute to the proper ventilation of the city and the proper balance of
elements leading to a better climate.”25 In another statement about this green, pertaining to the
scale of cars /mobility in the city, he goes on like, ‘For cars we need to create green walls”26

The question arises as to, what kind of green is this? This green is doing different functions,
most importantly, structuring the landscape of the city, but still doesn’t have any name for its
own self. one could speculate about this green, Which is partly private, partly public, has
extensions and variations of all sorts in its use like, initially as a dress up for the ceremonial grid
line, from being just a left over place for future expansion of ‘utilidors’, assigned as a anti-
pollutant buffer for the sector, not making the sense of it all still, even goes on to be declared as
a ‘super-market’ for urban agriculture that anybody can go in and rent a piece for agriculture
and even to the extent that aesthetically it’s the “rural landscape” in the city – the country side
around the sector. In any case, this green is the most legible, prominent and organized man-
made landscape in the city. I do not know if one could term the functions of this green as more
hybrid in nature and so, therefore, it may be called as a “Hybrid green”.

Since, this hybrid green is surrounding the sector from all four sides and for the eco-grid, which
is inside the 2x2 grid, there is no escape but to fall into this hybrid green. And the plan does let
it happen. This is not only happening at the periphery of the sector, because the ROW of the
roads inside the sectors also have this mandatory 90 m of hybrid green, which also connects the
eco-grid inside the sectors. The overlapping or interconnection of the formal grid with the eco-
grid further organizes the space inside the sector. Though, in the discourse, Doxiadis goes for a
hierarchical sub-division of the space of sectors into four sub-sectors and each sub-sector into
further four parts, thus making sixteen parts of a sector. Whereas, in the plan, the interweaving
of the formal and eco grids divides the space into a varying number of parts in each sector. For
example, in G-6 nine parts are clearly legible, in G-7 eleven parts, in F-6 twelve parts, in F-7
sixteen parts are legible.

A similar confrontation develops here at this scale, just like at the scale of the city where eco-
grid had to confront the formal grid, here the theoretical hierarchy of sixteen equal parts of a
Ahmed Zaib K. M Nature and the City: The Legacy of Doxiadis’s Plan for Islamabad

sector confronts the formation of organic and varying in number and size of parcels resulted by
the interweaving of the formal and the eco grids. In this case, another reversal takes place.

The lines of the formal order (sixteen part hierarchal system) of the sector are in the form of
streets, which are straight and at 90° to each other – just like the formal grid of 2x2, but these
streets are following the lines of the landscape. Since the housing and most of the buildings are
attached and extending linearly, and their backyards (private lawns / gardens) and the public
green (front set back) are also attached and forms continuous lines of man-made landscape and
buildings. The strips of public spaces, private greens, though, does not cross the eco-grid, rather
they fall into it. So in this sense, the man made nature in the form of public / private green falls
into the natural nature of eco-grid, just like the eco grid falls in to hybrid green outside the
sector.

The natural nature of eco-grid inside the sector, goes on to connect itself into the hybrid green
around the sectors, the hybrid green of the surrounding belt of the sector is connected to the
partly natural and partly man-made huge hybrid greens of the main Axis. Since these Axis are
formed on the basis of already existing lines / feature of the landscape, and are the intermediate
connection between the nature inside the city and around the city. They are further reinforced by
providing nine sectors in a row below the Murree highway axes towards west for urban agro-
farming, open space, parks and special institutions. The whole park area, (reserved for agro-
farming, sports fields, special institutions, parks etc) bordering NEastern part of the Murre
highway and the Islamabad highway along with the eco-green strip of the Margalla running
along that axes further facilitates this connection between the natural nature of inside and
outside of the city. Similarly, for the old city of Rawalpindi, the eco-grid in the form of ‘Nala
Lai’ is further reinforced by providing a ROW of 300 – 400 m strip of varying width, which
bisects the city in a North-South direction, and eventually falls into the wide belt of Natural
nature surrounding Soan river in the south of the city.

The whole system of nature is connected from the level of a house (its garden) to the
surrounding landscape of the city. The hybrid and man-made landscape of the city is helping /
connecting the natural nature of the city (eco-grid) to the natural nature of the landscape outside
the city. In turn, the natural nature inside the city (eco-grid) is providing a variety to the
architectural space of the city. In this way the formal grid and the informal / eco-grid
complements each other in creating a variety in the architectural space of the city, and at the
same time, it also makes natural nature as part of the city.
Ahmed Zaib K. M Nature and the City: The Legacy of Doxiadis’s Plan for Islamabad

Architectural Space of the City and the Urban Form

“The ancient Greek system was total. It took all space into account, and all
three dimensional masses, man-made or natural, were incorporated as
volumes in space. Voids as well as masses had their form, since together they
constitute the architectural space – the space that is created by man to
enhance his sense of well-being.”27

The site chosen for the capital city lends itself to form the architectural space by going through a
process of interventions. The strategies that guided these interventions (Axis, formal grid and
the eco-grid etc.) are, mainly, geared to organize the landscape of the area. Nature (man-made,
hybrid and natural) and Networks (all transportation lines, highways, roads, pedestrian paths,
etc.) are used together to form the pattern of the architectural space of the city. Any element,
whether natural, man-made or symbolic, that could set precedent while conceiving the shapes
and volumes for this architectural space are coming out of two co-ordinates. The first co-
ordinate is the ‘project’ – a capital city and the idea of a dynapolis with already its proto-form
established and marked, the second co-ordinate is the ‘site’ – the landscape pattern of the area
and the size of the city which is already being established. The architect’s intuition and his idea
of urbanity has to act as an interface to the two co-ordinates in order to determine the scale of
the city.

In the discourse, the way this architectural space of the city is composed follows the principles
of functional hierarchy, which in a nut shell would mean; the larger the function the larger
would be its volume and the space around it, the wider would be its connection with the rest of
the city etc, and vice versa. This is substantiated by Doxiadis as, “As a whole the city must have
a hierarchy of spaces and volumes, and a hierarchy which corresponds to the hierarchy of
functions.”28 His discourse degenerates the city into a scalar arrangement of fifteen elements
starting from Anthropos, room, dwelling, dwelling group, all the way to the scale of the city,
metropolis, megalopolis and so on. He advocates that each space, (its shape, size and volume)
has to be dealt at the corresponding scale level (one amongst fifteen) separately first, and then
make sure that it connects the ladder, from top to bottom in a nested hierarchy of functions, with
its all corresponding elements. This is to say that a master synthesis, in the end, should be the
product out of design process, in order to formulate the scale of the city. The whole discourse of
Doxiadis about the plan is structured in the same hierarchical way, in a typically structuralist
fashion, which makes it harder to discern the partial insights that can, partly, inform us about the
Ahmed Zaib K. M Nature and the City: The Legacy of Doxiadis’s Plan for Islamabad

dualities and contradictions of his plan. Therefore, the reliance on the reading and description of
his plan gains more ground then the discourse.

The architectural vocabulary that is being made use of in the plan of Islamabad is intriguing but
at the same time raises doubts as to its originality and authenticity. The architectural vocabulary
closely corresponds to the various scale levels, along with using nature and hierarchical order of
centres (urban services centres and facilities for the city and its residents) as structuring and
continuing elements of the design. The scalar arrangement of architectural types is achieved by
adopting a principle which Doxiadis termed as ‘unity of scale’.29 This was considered absolutely
necessary to achieve a cohesion between the various elements of the town, according to
Doxiadis, “the city is not a conglomeration of isolated and unrelated spaces, but one entity of
interrelated spaces”30

On one side, the huge size of the grid – sectors, the width of ROWs and main Axis orientation
(on which the location of grand mosque and Capitol) shows us the attempt to deal with the
monumentality of the capital city. On the other side, the architectural type chosen for the central
area (which is to grow) and the residential area (which is to be static) attempts to translate the
concept of his amorphous ‘Dynapolis’ with dynamic and static parts respectively.

The architectural type for the CBD, representing the dynamic part, is forming a continuous,
linear, pattern of blocks (4-8 storeys) with a variety of enclosed courts and open spaces. The
architectural space that shapes this type, is not organized by streets or paths, but by a system of
open spaces, enclosed squares, open squares, half open and half enclosed, rectilinear and so on,
and where as the width of the block remains the same. The width of the block doesn’t stop,
running through the space, articulating it into a uniform rhythm of solids and voids. This
uniformity of the rhythm makes the whole of CBD area as one single architectonic object,
which is continuous and growing. Though, it seems like a mega structure, but the concept and
ability to articulate space through such a structure is known to Doxiadis long ago. Describing
the principles of group forms in ancient Greece, ‘One finds in every grouping that a building
comes into view at the point where the view of another building ends. Precision and clarity were
all-important elements in the formation of space…….sizes of building and the spaces in which
they stand appear to man’s eye in simple ratios such as 1:2, 1:2:1, 2:1:2, 1:1:1, 2:3:2:3. The
total mass of each structure was calculated and its effect determined……..appear to form
symmetry, which did not exist in reality.”31 The layout of CBD architecture in the plan
represents the same polar co-ordinates system with simple ratios of 1:2, 1:2:1, 2:1:2, and so on,
Ahmed Zaib K. M Nature and the City: The Legacy of Doxiadis’s Plan for Islamabad

which represents the uniform rhythm but not in symmetry, as Doxiadis tried to correspond to
the “reality” (the last sentence of the above quote).

Doxiadis´s acquaintance with the group form design and being a pioneer is also recognized by
the celebrated S. Giedion, 'the Greek city planner Doxiadis made an early attempt to establish
the distribution of building masses according to a system of polar coordinates, so that .....they
are optically evenly distributed….”32

The group form of CBD represents not only the even distribution of space – continuity, but also
represents a dynamic order. This dynamic order can be discerned by comparing the difference
of the total volume of the group form of the second sector (which is wider) with the first sector
(where it begins and is narrower). The transition of group form from one sector to the next is a
very critical issue, i.e. the issue of growth, which is also represented by the increase in width
and the volume of group form structure in the second sector. This increase, when worked out,
turned out to be a ‘golden section’ ratio, i.e. 1.618.33 In other words, Doxiadis deals with the
issue of growth, by means of the classical notion of golden section ratio, while translating it in
the plan.

The way Doxiadis organizes the architectural space of the sector, considering the hierarchy of
functions and the sixteen parts theoretical division, is not like C. Alexander’s ‘city is like a tree’,
but interconnecting with sub-sectors and overlapping with natural level. The orientation of
streets and plots are following the East-West (Margalla Axis) and North-South (Islamabad Axis)
direction in conformity with the direction of the main axis and the formal grid, but at the same
time, keeping the orientation of some sub-sectors towards the next (neighboring) sector, creates
an ambivalence, which accords the existence of the informal eco-grid as well as the continuous
repetition of the sectors over the entire urban area. The tree becomes more interesting and more
complicating; something more then hierarchy – hybrid, using the diagonal through landscape as
an ordering element; a collector of extra ordinary thing within an ordinary environment.
Orientation and geometry, a precise system of sizes; a very regular organization but not leading
to stereotypical rigid grid, but a variety, that is, at the same time fitting within the grid and also
not stereo-typical formulation.

The architectural type for the sector, representing the static part, is rows of attached housing.
There are hardly any detached houses. The rows of attached houses helps to shape the space of
the street as well as of the built space. It doesn’t let the space to be lost, rather framed and
Ahmed Zaib K. M Nature and the City: The Legacy of Doxiadis’s Plan for Islamabad

defined by its boundaries. This point of attached housing is also in conformity with the
discourse as he considers it as an obligation to the landscape, “If we cannot do otherwise than
have detached houses, then the obligation to landscape by using the system which has detached
houses will work against the City’s scale. It will not merely disrupt it but will destroy it……In
the past, the space was enclosed by walls. It was thus specific and positive. Now space is quite
often lost like a fluid between buildings……large plot width does not allow for the formation of
a continuous mass of buildings, but forces us to create detached buildings. In such cases the
whole of continuity of built-up and open space is lost………..positive space or enclosed space,
we have to keep in mind that this is valid both for private (court-yards, gardens, etc.) and public
(roads, squares etc.) spaces.”34

The only place where the shape disappears into shapelessness is the point where it meets the
natural green of the eco-grid. This transition is usually marked by a cul-de-sac. The natural
green in turn helps to achieve an end to the street and does not let it cross through all the way
from one end of the sector to the other. This, in another way, also helps to translate the concept
of ‘human community’ with human scale, i.e. if the streets which are leading to the houses, if
connected all the way, they would become thorough fares and thus the space wouldn’t be able to
provide intimacy for the small community. Thus the complementation of formal grid with the
informal grid proves its capacity to even help secure the intimate scale for the community.

Doxiadis, while keeping the CBD and the sector separate entities in theory and also in the proto-
form – one dynamic and the other static, but in the plan we see that he takes the typology of the
CBD inside the sector as well, though in a much finer grain. This quality of the plan is not
discernable from his discourse. The quality through which breaking the scale of architecture of
the central spine of the city and taking it inside to the sectors in a much finer grain, thereby,
homogenizing it with the scale of the housing. Thus creating ambivalence in the structure of the
city in terms of gradually shifting levels of scale from the residential, to commercial, and to the
monumental scale level of the city.

The use of the diagonal – the natural element (eco-grid), in the organization of architectural
space of both the residential sector and the CBD area, is playing a crucial part by providing
variety in the treatment of both landscape as well as buildings, and thus becomes an intriguing
element. This element is used in both areas irrespective of their hierarchical requirement of
being static (sector) and dynamic (CBD). The diagonal of nature is unifying the composition of
the entire architectural space of the city, though in contradiction with his hierarchy, as it not
Ahmed Zaib K. M Nature and the City: The Legacy of Doxiadis’s Plan for Islamabad

only connects one part of the city with the other but also opens up views to the surrounding
landscape of the city. Since the background hill of Margalla is a very imposing element of the
landscape, it is also used as an element of composition not only at the scale of the city but at the
scale of a small part of the city as well. Here again, the diagonal is the one which lets the viewer
to see the hills in the background of the buildings, acting as an element of composition. It is
worthwhile, given the importance of the diagonal, to probe into this element of design, to know
if it’s only a co-incidence or otherwise?

Doxiadis was aware of the importance of this element in organizing the architectural space, as
early as 1936. One can discern from his conclusions which says, ‘ One angle, frequently in the
centre of the field of vision was left free of buildings and opened directly to the surrounding
countryside….it was the “sacred way”….the buildings were often disposed so as to incorporate
or accentuate features of the existing landscape and thus create a unified composition….”35 He
explains the same diagonal / open path as, “A path always formed an important feature in the
disposition of the buildings in relation to the landscape…….Throughout, one can sense the
desire to connect the outlines of the different structures with one another and with the lines of
the landscape, to form a continuous unity, and within this unity to emphasize one opening: one
clear and unobstructed path leading out into the Landscape.”36

Similarly the buildings inside the sector are following the lines determined by the landscape, i.e.
the lines created by the eco-grid, and that they do not follow the hierarchy but are in harmony
with the landscape and do not have a clear-cut separation from the landscape. The discourse of
the plan based on hierarchy tries to attempt an order, but the plan shows a different kind of
order; an order both in natural and man-made objects. This can also be discerned from
Doxiadis´s pioneering magnum opus on architectural space as, “Each site was divided into
sectors, allowing for extensions within the over-all plan. The placing of the buildings was
directly related to the contours of the landscape, because the Greeks continually sought to
achieve order in space, no matter the space was natural or man-made. For example, when seen
from the main entrance to the Altis at Olympia, at the southeast corner of the site, the outline of
the Hill of Kornos, to the right, formed an essential balance with the temple of Zeus to the
left………..The effects of different shapings of space were studied(see Euclid´s Optica), and the
lines of buildings were brought into harmony with each other and with the landscape.”37

The analysis of Doxiadis shows that the architectural space in ancient Greece was having nature
and urbanity both as integral part. But this tradition was lost and, astonishingly, he gives a very
Ahmed Zaib K. M Nature and the City: The Legacy of Doxiadis’s Plan for Islamabad

early break away of this tradition as, “….the former impression of a path leading directly
through the sanctuary into the landscape was utterly destroyed. The Roman Altis has become
fully enclosed. Thus, many of the principles that had governed the composition of the site during
the classical and Hellenistic periods – in particular, the use of landscape as an integral part of
the plan – had now been abandoned.”38

The making of the plan of Islamabad and, more specifically, the formation of its architectural
space, in many ways, seems like a resurrection project of the architectural space of ancient
Greece, as understood by Doxiadis. The space where nature and the city are integrated in order
to enhance the citizen’s sense of well-being.39Though, his discourse represents more simplistic
and reductionist view at times, whereas, his plan resolves many inherent contradictions that
seems to obscure the conviction of this resurrection.

In the project of Islamabad, Doxiadis chooses ‘nature’ as the very foundation and assigns it a
complementary role with the city / urbanity, in the making of the plan, thereby, causing the
degeneration of the city, but in turn, breaks down the classical notion of urbanity.

The urban form proposed in the plan of Islamabad strikes at the rural-urban continuum, the ever
growing sprawl and shapelessness of the contemporary urban organization at large; the urban
form which is structured by the soft element of nature – ‘the heterotopic rural landscape’ and the
hard element of network – ‘the wall, later turned ring, of the historic city’. The urban form with
its intention of bringing back the nature into the city and the concepts of “hybridity” (hybrid
green etc), “duality” (formal and informal grids) and “green wall” proposes a new dimension of
aesthetics destined to deal with the scale of the region.
Ahmed Zaib K. M Nature and the City: The Legacy of Doxiadis’s Plan for Islamabad

End Notes

1
C. A. Doxiadis, “ EKISTICS: An introduction to the science of human settlements”, Hutchinson of London, 1968,
p. 517
2
EKISTICS, May 1972, p. 420
3
EKISTICS, Nov. 1966, p. 317
4
Islamabad, or “City of Islam” (from Islam, - the religion meaning peace and “–abad” Persian suffix denoting a
human settlement) is a planned city and the capital of the Republic of Pakistan. (Ref. Adam Nayyar,
“ISLAMABAD”, Grolier Encyclopedia of Urban Culture, September 2002 )
5
The concept of ‘Dynapolis’ is the very essence and soul of the plan of Islamabad, which gives the city a unique
urban form. ‘Dynapolis’, which is central to the planning philosophy of Doxiadis, means a dynamic city as opposed
to static one. As Doxiadis maintained that the cities of the past were static as they were growing only marginally over
long periods of time, whereas present cities experience explosive growth and change. When this growth takes place in
all directions, the city spreads and its centre goes through cycles of expansion into adjacent areas never intended to
receive central functions. This leads to haphazard conversions, bottlenecks due to insufficient infra structure, and
results in a general unsatisfactory functioning of the expanded centre, and in fact of the whole urban area.
According to Doxiadis, the solution to this problem is to allow the city to grow in one direction, where the growth of
central facilities goes hand in hand with the overall growth of the city, is always proportional to the population needs
and can be planned and implemented in an orderly manner. (Ref. Doxiadis C.A., “Islamabad”, Town Planning
Review, Vol. 36, April 1965, pp 15)

……...Doxiadis describes this term in the context of Islamabad as, “the Capital is going to grow continuously, it
cannot be static, but must be dynamic, a DYNAPOLIS or DYNAMETROPOLIS.” (Ref. Doxiadis C.A.,
“Islamabad”, Town Planning Review, Vol. 36, April 1965, Pp. 20)

“Dynapolis: Three centuries back humanity moved into the industrial stage. Industry was now the new force. This
force had an impact on our settlements. Under its pressure humanity moved into the new era of the dynamic
settlements.
Our cities have lost their static nature and have become dynamic organisms, which are spreading continuously into
the countryside like a cancer and covering larger areas and larger parts of our world. Now what happened is this:
although we entered a new era of settlements, the era of dynamic urban centres, we did not understand the change and
because we did not understand the change we have failed to face any of our problems. And so we are still using old
time techniques in attempting to face new problems. We have not set in front of ourselves new goals or new ideals.
We do not have the proper conceptions of the human settlements we are living in. You see now why I prefer to speak
of ekistics as the science of human settlements in order to avoid any involvement with city or town planning, because
these are notions of the past. It is essential that we free ourselves from these notions in order to look straight ahead,
understand the real issues and try to solve them”. (Ekistics, Oct. 1961, pp. 241, 2)

6
A. R., “Islamabad: A Progress report on Pakistan’s New Capital City”, Architectural Review, Vol.141, March
1967, p. 212
7
Jaqueline Tyrwhitt, “DOXIADIS – Architectural Space in Ancient Greece”, MIT Press, 1972 (translated and
edited, originally published in German under the title “Raumordnung im griechischen Städtebau” , Heidelberg, 1937)
8
The city of Rawalpindi, a major physical element of the site, was converted from a 19th century village to a
cantonment city under British rule before independence, with military installations and the cantonment, dominating
the character of the city. Pakistan army also established their headquarters in Rawalpindi in 1947. In 1960,
Rawalpindi with a population of 237,000 inhabitants was the fourth largest city of the country.
9
Taxilla - Gandharan capital of the region approx. 300 B.C.- a town situated about 20 km from Islamabad, is one of
the examples of the oldest town planning traditions of the region (Mohenjodarho and Harrapa being the oldest 2500 -
1500 BC – the home of Indus valley civilization). They were designed on a rectilinear grid with street patterns
exhibiting a geometric order with no walls around the city, having no boundary between the city and the surrounding
landscape. Apart from orderly geometric layouts, these towns were also well-established social and cultural centres of
that time.
10
Richard L. Meier, “Islamabad is Already Twenty Five”, Ekistics, Vol. 52, Number 311, March / April 1985, p.
212
Ahmed Zaib K. M Nature and the City: The Legacy of Doxiadis’s Plan for Islamabad

11
Doxiadis Associates, “ISLAMABAD – The New Capital of Pakistan”, Bulletin No. 64, March 1964, Athens –
Greece,
12
Ibid,.
13
According to his theory that he developed, there were two type of systems used, a ‘Twelve- part’ and a ‘Ten-part’
system. The layout of the site was determined by angles of vision of 30°, 60°, …., dividing the entire 360° into twelve
equal parts being the Twelve-part system. Whereas, In the Ten-part system, the layout was determined by angles of
vision of 18°, 36°, 72°, 108°…etc…, dividing 360° into ten equal parts thus forming the axes for all the objects,
whether space or buildings following the system (ref. Jaqueline Tyrwhitt, “DOXIADIS – Architectural Space in
Ancient Greece”, MIT Press, 1972, p.6 )
14
Jaqueline Tyrwhitt, “DOXIADIS – Architectural Space in Ancient Greece”, MIT Press, 1972, p.3
15
EKISTICS, November 1964, Pp. 363
16
Doxiadis C.A., “Islamabad”, Town Planning Review, Vol. 36, April 1965, Pp. 26
17
Doxiadis Associates, “ISLAMABAD – The New Capital of Pakistan”, Bulletin No. 64, March 1964, Athens –
Greece.
18
Doxiadis C.A., “Programme and Plan Volume 1”, C.D.A.(Capital Development Authority) Library, Islamabad,
Pakistan,1960
19
Doxiadis C.A., “Islamabad”, Town Planning Review, Vol. 36, April 1965, Pp. 21
20
Realistic studies of the history of cities show that we cannot establish their final dimensions or population size.
These are determined by ongoing forces. But, however we examine it, it does appear that cities are heading towards
extra human dimensions and inhuman content: Thus our real challenge is to define the quality of life which man can
have within such great cities. To achieve this quality we must build up from man himself: from small units to big
ones.
The basic unit of space in the inevitable huge cities must be derived from human dimensions. History shows that
throughout the ages cities with a human scale have had the following characteristics:
The largest dimensions are a square of 2,000 x 2,000 meters.
The maximum average walking distance is no more than 10 minutes.
The aesthetic dimensions correspond to the aesthetic abilities of the average human being.
On the basis of such considerations, populations rarely exceeded 50,000 people before the intrusion of
mechanized transportation.
The city is easy to operate and manage.

Thus we may conclude that the present and future huge cities of man should be built up from cells, which correspond
to these human dimensions. The great challenge ahead of us is how we can go about building such a city which, in its
cells, will preserve all the human values we have learned from the past as well as those we can learn from the present.
This city must also be enabled to operate in its totality for its must not become a system of villages, but a great city
for man. The result will give man both the advantages of life at a human scale and life within a huge city. (Ekistics,
June 1968, pp. 393-94)
21
C. A. Doxiadis, ‘Islamabad, the creation of a new capital’, Ekistics, April 1965, p.26
22
Doxiadis Associates, “ISLAMABAD – The New Capital of Pakistan”, Bulletin No. 64, March 1964, Athens –
Greece.
23
Doxiadis C.A., “Programme and Plan Volume II”, C.D.A. Library, Islamabad, Pakistan, 1960, p. 376
24
Ibid, p. 378
25
Doxiadis C.A., “the Scale of the City”, C.D.A.(Capital Development Authority) Library, Islamabad, Pakistan,
1962, pp. 31-32
26
Ibid, p.32
27
Jaqueline Tyrwhitt, “DOXIADIS – Architectural Space in Ancient Greece”, MIT Press, 1972, p.22
 Ahmed Zaib K. M Nature and the City: The Legacy of Doxiadis’s Plan for Islamabad

28
Doxiadis C.A., “the Scale of the City”, C.D.A. Library, Islamabad, Pakistan, 1962, p.18
29
Doxiadis Associates, “ISLAMABAD – The New Capital of Pakistan”, Bulletin No. 64, March 1964, Athens –
Greece.
30
Ibid
31
Jaqueline Tyrwhitt, “DOXIADIS – Architectural Space in Ancient Greece”, MIT Press, 1972, p.23
32
Giedion, Sigfried, in 'Architecture and the Phenomena of Transition.', Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1971,
p. 9 (quoting A von Gerkan in a review of Doxicadis thesis, in: Gnomen, 14 (1938) pp 589-634)
33
This ratio is also something not to be found in doxiadis´s discourse, but it can be precisely measured in the plan.
34
Doxiadis C.A., “the Scale of the City”, C.D.A. Library, Islamabad, Pakistan, 1962, pp. 19-20
35
Jaqueline Tyrwhitt, “DOXIADIS – Architectural Space in Ancient Greece”, MIT Press, 1972, pp.5
36
Ibid, pp.8 & 72
37
Ibid, pp.20-21
38
Ibid, p.76
39
Ibid, p.22

View publication stats