Mayank Dubey 123521050021

Islamabad: An Ekistics Case Study Ekistics

Islamabad: Conception of a Capital City, Birth of a Nation Ekistics: The Foundation of Islamabad
Pakistan constitutes a par excellence nation-state building para- Ekistics (from oikos, the Greek word for a house or dwelling) is
digm of the preceding century’s developing world. The withdrawal the science of human settlements. It coordinates economics,
of the British imperial forces from the Indian subcontinent in 1947, social sciences, political and administrative sciences, technol-
led to the peninsula’s segregation according to absolute religious ogy and aesthetics into a coherent whole and leads to the
criteria and therefore to the establishment of two independent na- creation of a new type of human habitat.
tion-states; Pakistan, the land of Muslims’ and respectively the Hin-
In more detail, Ekistics constituted a holistic approach, which
dus’ India.
aimed towards the balance of the five primal elements6 of
Many were the reasons for which Pakistan needed a new capital human settlements, namely Nature, Man, Society, Shells and
city. During the first stages of the life of the new State it was natural Networks. Practically, these five elements constitute the frag-
that Karachi should have been selected as the capital, since it was ments of two broader divisions of human settlements – the
a large city and a convenient centre of sea and air transportation. content’s and the container’s.
This was not, however, a satisfactory solution from points of view of Doxiadis had been offered the empty plains of Potwar Plateau
climate, tradition and the existing buildings, which were not ade- in Northern Pakistan, neighbouring the existing city of Rawal-
quate in number or to the standards required by a capital. The lay- pindi, so as to implement his ekistic theory and create Islama-
out and structure of the existing port city did not allow it to take on bad, the first fragment of the city of the future7, or otherwise
the functions of a modern capital. Also, the influx of refugees inten-
the first fragment of a universal system of life. In other words, a
sified the existing problems and created new ones.
capital city was about to be established, which would be con-
February 1959 H.E. The President of Pakistan honoured Dr. C. A. sistent in terms of economic, social, political, technical and
Doxiadis by naming him advisor to the Special Commission for the cultural factors, while it would maintain its functionality in the
Location of the Capital, a report was issued by Dr. Doxiadis . The infinity. Alternatively, Islamabad was about to emerge, follow- The creation of Pakistan’s federal capital presupposed the
result of this report was that two areas were suggested for the new ing two of the Ekistics’ principles, namely the “Unity of Pur- formation of a metropolitan area, which included the area
capital, one outside Karachi and the other to the north of Rawal- pose” and the “Four Dimensions”. Equally respected were sup- of Islamabad with distinguished national features, the area
pindi. posed to be the other two principles, which complete the ekis- of Rawalpindi destined to maintain its regional character
tic theory, suggesting the “Hierarchy of Functions”, as well as and the National Park, corresponding and serving both Is-
H.E. President Mohammed Ayub Khan decided in favour of the site
“many Masters and many Scales” lamabad and Rawalpindi, by means of retaining agricultur-
North of Rawalpindi, on the Potwar Plateau and made a public
announcement to this effect in June 1959. Therefore, Islamabad was meant to be a coherent system of al functions, as well as special functions with either cultural
life, which could be perpetually growing and evolving, while or educational orientation.
Initial Reports by Doxiadis referred to the size of the Capital, the
cost of the project, the facilities needed, highways, transportation maintaining its initial virtues and functional competence, Both urban schemes, namely the existing Rawalpindi and
in general, and so on. he greater area of the capital, the metro- through a series of hierarchically ordered and highly integrat- the created ex-novo Islamabad, were designed so as to
ed sub-systems. The basis for materializing the above men- evolve in parallel and in a complementary manner, follow-
politan area, has been planned for a future population of about
tioned ideal has been th introduction of “Dynapolis”. Doxiadis ing the Dynapolis model. It worth to be noted that this kind
2,500,000 inhabitants within a period of two generations. Many fac-
again introduced this kind of urban development pattern, of unlimited future development appears to be feasible, on-
tors influenced the decision regarding the location of Islamabad,
which presupposed a linear and simultaneously parabolic ly by means of absolute limitations at the stage of planning.
such as transportation and communications, factors of national in-
model of expansion both of the residential and the city’s cen- According to the inspirer of this urban model:
terest, defense, economic factors, civic factors, existing facilities,
tral functions.
etc. “The proper name for the city of the future is Dynapolis, the
The existence of a modular human community, which could dynamic polis or city, which in contrast to the static polis or
On May 24th, 1960 the preliminary master Plan of Islamabad and
the planning principles that will make this capital a model for "A be perpetually reproduced, constituted the key parameter for city of the past will possess the characteristics of dynamic
City of the Future", were presented to the Cabinet and approved the materialization of the Dynapolis model. For Islamabad the development built in it. Thus this city will be able to develop
Class V human community was defined as its modular and the freely and naturally along a planned and predetermined
by H.E. the President of Pakistan.
southwest direction as its only possible way towards expansion. course.”
 Mayank Dubey 123521050021

Master Plan: Ekistics

Islamabad Metropolitan Area. The concept of the dynametropolis

For the development of Islamabad, a narrow triangular The Metropolitan Area:

area had been reserved, strictly defined from the one
The principal system of axes in the metro-
side by the Margalla Hills and from the other side by Ra-
politan area of Islamabad defines three
walpindi and the National Park, leaving only the south-
distinctive areas:
west direction unbounded. Respectively Rawalpindi had
absolute boundaries from all three sides –Islamabad, Na- a. The area of Islamabad proper.
tional Park and Soan river-, while again the southwest b. The area of Rawalpindi, the centre
edge had been kept free to expansion. One of the fun- of which is the city of Rawalpindi.
damental principles, regarding the creation of the federal
c. The National Park area which will re-
capital is highlighted here below.
tain certain agricultural functions for
Planning aims at creating integrated human communities several years and where sites must
and not just conglomeration of houses. People live in be provided for a national sports
communities, where they must satisfy the great variety of center, the national university, na-
their needs and desires. The community should therefore tional research institute, etc.
always be the unit of planning and include residences,
places of work, residential facilities and all services nec-
essary for healthy and pleasant living. Transit Network:
The community was meant to be the unit of planning, The backbone of the Islamabad Metro-
then it could be assumed that a predefined social tissue politan Area Master Plan is formed by
was intended to be materialized through a properly de- two highways, Islamabad Highway and
signed urban tissue. The master plan of Islamabad had Murree Highway
been utterly based on a series of autonomous human
The chief characteristic of the land-
communities of various scales, which were, nevertheless,
scape is that it runs from north-east to
in an absolute and hierarchical manner interrelated – as
south-west along valleys formed by a
specified by the ekistic principle, concerning the hierar-
series of hills running in the same direc-
chy of functions.
tion.
The sequence of hierarchically ordered communities re-
The Murree Highway had to follow this
sulted to the already mentioned Class V human commu-
direction through a valley formed by
nity each for about 20,000-40,000 people and each ac-
two hills: the Islamabad highway has
cording to the income group which presented the high-
been aligned vertically to the Murree
er level of complexity and constituted the most extended
Highway between the existing airport
area under the dominance of the human scale. This is to
and Shakarparian hills.
say that Class V human community, which was defined in
spatial terms by means of a 2x2km square terrain and Two more highways, by-passing the ex-
which could be fully accessible on foot by its inhabitants, isting town of Rawalpindi, have been
without any real dependence on the machine, constitut- proposed. These axes form a big
ed a static, however autonomous and of a highest order square, which will define all future
integrated system of life, which became the modular for transportation systems and all major
the development of Islamabad, or otherwise the city’s functions within the metropolitan area.
sector.
Unity of Scale:
A principle adopted in designing the Islamabad- Master Plan was unity of scale. This was considered absolutely necessary to achieve a cohesion between the various elements of the town. The city
is not a conglomeration of isolated and unrelated spaces, but one entity of interrelated spaces. A scale measurement was determined to govern the elements composing the city, such as plots,
streets, open spaces, squares, roads, etc. The selection of a system of axes or prevailing orientation is equally important for the achievement of unity of expression.
Based on a study of the scale of the city made by the chief consultant, volume, heights, densities, and floor indices of the buildings were specified for each particular sector. This study led to con-
crete proposals for the public-buildings area, the layout plan of which was designed to harmonize with the buildings of the administrative sector opposite the public-buildings area.

Original Master Plan , 1960 Mayank Dubey 123521050021

Ekistics
 Mayank Dubey 123521050021
Network & Amenities: Ekistics

Vehicular and Pedestrian Roads: The Landscape and Climate

In the Class V Community, pedestrian and ve- The main feature of the landscape near Is-
hicle traffic have been segregated by a road lamabad is the many ravines that cut the
system where the scales of human and motor fields from north to south. The ground continu-
-vehicle movements differ. Pedestrians move ously undulates in one direction, giving great
within the human community though a spatial variety and challenge for architectural treat-
hierarchy from small pedestrian streets to- ment of buildings and green spaces. This nat-
wards the larger ones of a Class II Community, ural landscape has been fully respected
then to the centre of a Class III Community, when designing the layout of each sector,
and so on. Spaces and perspectives created and green spaces created by this physical
along way agree with the same hierarchical feature have been fully exploited by locating
order. such functions as schools, gardens, parks, and
This layout is for roads leading to specific tar- playgrounds next to them. Climatic conditions
gets aesthetically related and presenting a have been also taken into account, with ori-
unity of scale. By the extensive use of cul-de- entations for the purpose of insulation and
sacs at the end of the access roads, motor taking advantage of the prevailing winds be-
traffic follows a pattern of roads leading to ing studied thoroughly.
individual houses without interfering with the Interrelation of functions in the administrative
pedestrian-street systems. centre:
These communities are properly served by a
The main axis runs through the core of Islama-
major transportation system developed within
bad. This is called Capital Avenue and looks
wide corridors of a grid-iron configuration, sur-
towards the presidential palace located in a
rounding and defining the higher class com-
commanding position on the top of a hill.
munities. Local and collector low speed
roads, wide sidewalks, pedestrian roads and The main reason for which the new capital of
bicycles lanes within the lower class “human Pakistan is being created is that a proper en-
communities” provide access to the major vironment should be provided for the coun-
transportation system. The above hierarchical try's administrative functions. The hills lying
system of communities and transportation fa- north-west of Rawal lake form an ideal setting
cilities, contributes to the reduction of travel for the administrative sector, at the core of
distances/times and accidents, and to the the city of Islamabad and at the end of the
promotion of “green transport” (walking, cy- main axis. Thus, and on the basis of the theory
cling, public transport). and principles of the city of the future
(dynapolis) the administrative as well as the
Water Supply System central sector of the city both begin at the
The water-supply system was designed by Sewerage and Drainage core of Islamabad. The Capitol complex will
Doxiadis Associates. Water is now being lie at the heart of the synthesis. It is from here
Sewage and drainage networks, de-
tapped from two springs in Nurpur and Said- that the administrative sector will have to be Administrative sector of Islamabad
signed by Doxiadis Associates, are con-
pur, but it is planned to dam the Swan river to developed towards and following the direc-
structed by the Capital Development Au- The primary function of a capital city is to serve
bring water to the town by gravity. Water tion of the Margala Hills, in order to spread
thority. A sewage treatment plant, de- as an administrative centre for the country, and
storage tanks, filtration plants, and similar along them in the future. The sketch on this
signed in collaboration with Dorr-Oliver is this is particularly true of a new city like Islama-
works have been built, and the distribution page is a zoning map of the administrative
functional bad which has been created to fulfil this role.
system is functional centre of Islamabad.
 Mayank Dubey 123521050021
Social Organization and Hierarchy: Ekistics

Organization

Each sector (Community Class V) of Islamabad is selfcontained and self-

supported with respect to everyday life. It is sub-divided into three or four small-
er Communities (Class IV) by income groups of occupants. In the centre of the
sector is the civic centre, containing all types of shopping, business and civic
activities.
Hierarchy

The classification of human communities in Islamabad took place according

both to their size and functions. More precisely, class I constitutes the elemen-
tary community, which derives from the coexistence of 10-25 families. A com-
munity classified as Class II, consists of approximately 75 families, or in other
words of 3-5 communities specified as class I. Following, community class III,
numbering 600-700 families, is the outcome of several class II communities’ co-
existence. In its turn, class IV community, with an indicative population of 7.000-
10.000 people, derives from the gathering of some class III communities. Finally,
3-4 class IV communities organized together create a community class V –
numbering from 20.000 to 40.000 people- which, as already mentioned, consti-
tutes the “self contained and self-supported with respect to everyday life” nu-
cleus of the city. In complete analogy to size ordering, function ordering fol-
lows. More specifically, each distinct type of community shares a common
functional element; for example, class II shares a playground for the children,
class III an elementary school, for a class IV community the secondary school
and a central market are the connecting elements, etc. The interdependence
of diverse functional entities becomes evident, nevertheless, remains to be un-
derlined the intention for “their grouping and structure”, which “should be ra-
tionally programed and implemented”.
The urge for implementing master plans with the idea of social pyramid being
well kept in mind, signifies a lot. In fact, a strong commitment to social structur-
ing is unveiled, which expectedly will take place on a basis of the proper spa-
tial arrangements. Considering again the Islamabad case, as the ultimate cri-
terion, in order that the social pyramid to be portrayed, had been defined the
one of income –its objective features render it a highly efficient instrument.
Human communities of Islamabad were organized, in accordance with a pat-
tern of income status. To give an example and in reference to sector I9, four
categories of income groups it was decided to coexist. The lower income
group –classified as type A- corresponded to the 30% of the community’s total
population, while a percentage of 40% had been reserved for inhabitants be-
longing to income group type B. Respectively, 20% of the population would be
originated from type C income group and the rest 10% would correspond to
the financially stronger members of the community. The lower was the com-
plexity of the community, the less was the intermixing of diverse income groups
–social integration was absolutely predetermined.
Social hierarchy in sector G-6.
 Mayank Dubey 123521050021
Shell: Ekistics

- House Design -The Plots

With few exceptions, Islamabad plots vary from 111 sq. yards to about 3,000 sq. yards, depending on income
group. As a principle, and to improve urban economics, the frontage dimensions of plots are less than their
depth. Most plots are rectangular. Special efforts were made to avoid irregular plots, especially in low-income
areas.
Minimum Accommodation
-
- In Islamabad no house has less than two rooms and a kitchen, W. C., and a shower room. Sufficient space is left
for outdoor living. Each house has closed, semi-covered or open living spaces, necessary for comfortable living
in a country with cold winters and very hot summers, is supplied with running water and electricity, and connect-
ed with the sewage system.

Adjustment to the Landscape

It was attempted to situate the

houses as much as possible in
accordance with the morpholo-
gy of the site. The undulating
Privacy
landscape of Islamabad offers
the city a high degree of variety, Privacy within the residential unit is very important. It was given serious attention in designing individual houses,
and in the most economical especially those near the civic centres. For this reason, residential apartments are few, as they do not offer pri-
way. vacy as readily as do individual houses.
Introducing yet more marked
variations would have deprived
the plan of simplicity and been
tiresome in many ways.