"ECUMENOPOLIS" REVISITED: THE PATTERN OF A GLOBAL CITY

Nowadays, paradigm shifts and perception of how rapidly information and its provisional technologies expand may offer suitable bases for understanding the worldwide social consciousness that citizens from almost every country develop. On such account, this study focuses on a challenging topic, namely the idea of a planetary megacity. We revisit the concept of ECUMENOPOLIS, coined in the late ʼ70s by Greek architect and urban planner C.A. Doxiadis. In addition, we stress some sociological, anthropological, and ethical implications that such a concept opens for discussion. Moreover, we grasp the fractal dimension that ekistics imply, considering the scales and the parameters according to which human settlements are designed. The implications of Doxiadis's project of a planetary city reach far beyond topographic and architectural frameworks, expressing philosophical and semiotic issues, keeping record of the place of man in the natural environment and his transformational work over nature in settling an entire civilization.