The Ekistic Grid and scoping criteria for defining local identity variables

Abstract

The author is an Associate Professor and has been leading research and development on Ekistics in Education in the Planning Department, University of Auckland, New Zealand. He has worked variously through the past 36 years as a geographer-planner, academic, environmental impact assessor, policy analyst, and professional planner. A defining moment in his career path was the two years spent as a student with C.A. Doxiadis at the Athens Center of Ekistics in Greece. As a consequence he has carried through the principles and practices developed in Athens into his professional life. He has recently retired but continues his association with the University of Auckland. The text that follows is a slightly edited version of a paper presented by the author at the international symposion on "Globalization and LocalIdentity," organized jointly by the World Society for Ekistics and the University of Shiga Prefecture in Hikone, Japan, 19-24 September, 2005.