{"id":46,"date":"2019-08-22T20:24:33","date_gmt":"2019-08-23T00:24:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/settlement\/chapter\/lawsofsettlements_book_lopc_2_size\/"},"modified":"2020-04-22T15:27:51","modified_gmt":"2020-04-22T19:27:51","slug":"lawsofsettlements_book_lopc_2_size","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/settlement\/chapter\/lawsofsettlements_book_lopc_2_size\/","title":{"raw":"Size","rendered":"Size"},"content":{"raw":"
\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_45\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"1000\"]\"River Metro Vancouver, BC, Canada. Image courtesy of Author.[\/caption]\n\n<\/div>\n
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<\/a>28.<\/span> The population size of a settlement depends on its roles in serving certain needs for its inhabitant and for its larger settlement system.<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Issues around optimal population size and settlements have a long history, stretching back to Aristotle. Many intelligent voices have spoken their opinions on the matter, including Leonardo and Ebenezer Howard, founder of the Garden City Movement<\/a>. Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire, England, a settlement greatly influenced by Howard, was designed for a target of 250,000 in the 1960s, for example. More recently, The Pragmatist\u2019s<\/em> Pavel Podolyak put forth his opinion suggesting: \u201coptimum national sizes to be 10-50 million, optimum city size of 1 million and below for most major cities in a country, and the exception for largest national city at no more than 5 million\u201d (Podolyak, 2014, para. 18).<\/p>\n

Through his extensive research, it was evident to Doxiadis that settlements came in a very wide range of shapes and sizes, with an equally diverse population base. As such, classification of any sort would be \u201csomewhat arbitrary.\u201d However, he also recognized that their diversity required a classification system in order to allow study. So, he offered his own scalar classification system\u2014the Ekistic Logarithmic Scale<\/span><\/em>\u2014arranging a series of fifteen scalar units (Law 0<\/span><\/a>) according to population and area.<\/p>\n

Without delving into the specifics of Doxiadis\u2019 system, it is important to note that he considered the smallest \u2018unit\u2019 of settlement the human being. At the opposite extreme lay the Ecumenopolis<\/span>, a planet-wide settlement system of over 30,000,000,000 people that still respected human dimensions (Law 25<\/span><\/a>).<\/p>\n

In contrast to many who have put forth exact estimates on optimal size, Doxiadis believed that there was neither a specific number that defined the ideal population size, nor necessarily any limits. To his mind, settlements could\u00ad\u2014and should\u2014grow in line with the needs of the inhabitants and its (dynamic) role within its larger settlement system.<\/p>\n

The iconic image of NASA\u2019s View of the World at Night<\/em><\/a><\/span>\u00a0speaks well to Doxiadis\u2019 prediction\u2014showing the far-reaching interconnected global system of settlements that comprise the contemporary world.<\/p>\n

FURTHER READING (full citations found in reference list<\/a>):<\/p>\n\n