Ecumenopolis

Ecumenopolis (from Greek: οικουμένη, meaning world, and πόλις (polis) meaning city, thus a city made of the whole world) 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 worldwide 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 ranked as at least 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, and Amsterdam (or the Blue Banana).

Ecumenopolis in fiction

In modern science fiction, the ecumenopolis has become a frequent topic. Capitals of galactic empires are typically portrayed as ecumenopoleis. Famous examples are:

• A future or alternative Earth, e.g.:
  • Earth in a timeline altered by the Borg in Star Trek: First Contact.
  • In Isaac Asimov's Robot novels, particularly as explored in The Caves of Steel.
  • In the PlayStation 2 video game Star Ocean: Till the End of Time.
  • In David Wingrove's Chung Kuo series.
  • In 200,000 C.E., seen briefly from the T.A.R.D.I.S. in the Doctor Who episode, "The Long Game" (2005)
  • The Megastructure from Tsutomu Nihei's Blame! manga series.
  • Holy Terra (Earth), from Warhammer 40,000 and some of the Hive Worlds of the same universe. Forge Worlds in the same game are a variation of the concept where, instead of a city, the entire planet is covered in a massive factory complex.
  • On pg. 153 of the Tor hardcover edition of Robert Reed's novel "Sister Alice" the Earth is described as "There were no continents, and no visible seas. Every square kilometer was adorned with a towering city, graceful and oftenimes famous, and the crust beneath was a spongy volume of stone and diamond and exotic matter, lesser cities and pockets of ocean nestled against elaborate farms where enough food to feed a quarter of a trillion people were produced each day."
• Acmetropolis from Loonatics Unleashed
• Apokolips, from DC Comics Jack Kirby's Fourth World series
• Capitol from one of Orson Scott Card's very first books Capitol (collection)
• Core Prime from the game Total Annihilation.
• Coruscant, from the Star Wars galaxy. Also Denon, Nar Shaddaa, Metellos, Axxila, Mygeeto, Vorzyd V, Eriadu, and Taris (pre-bombardment) in the Star Wars Expanded Universe.
• Cybertron from The Transformers, a machine world from core to surface. The concept is taken even further with 'The Hub' a vast physically connected network of Cybertron-type worlds that serves as the centre for power of the Cybertronian Empire.
• Draconis Prime from the RPG Dragonstar
• Helior from Harry Harrison's Bill, the Galactic Hero.
• The Oikumene in Jack Vance's Far Future Societal Novels.
• The Pierson's Puppeteers' homeworld from Ringworld by Larry Niven.
• Ravnica in Magic: The Gathering
• Sunder, from the RPG Anachronox
• Tau Ceti Center and Renaissance Vector from Dan Simmons' Hyperion Cantos.
• Trantor, from The Foundation Series
• Planets Manhattan, New Berlin, New Tokyo and New London from the Freelancer computer game.

See also

• Amalgamation (politics)
• Arcology
• Conurbation
• Cosmopolis
• Ekistics
• Megacity
• Metropolis
• Metroplex
• Megastructure
• Principles of Intelligent Urbanism

External links

• Ecumenopolis: Tomorrow's City Constantinos Doxiadis, Britannica Book of the year, 1968.