Polymath, 'father of town planning', biologist, botanist, environmentalist, sociologist. Image Patrick Geddes was born in Ballater, Aberdeenshire on 2 October 1854. He was educated at Perth Academy and then studied at the Royal College of Mines in London, 1874-1878. He lectured in Zoology at Edinburgh University, 1880-1888. He held the Chair of Botany at University College, Dundee, from 1888 to 1919, and the Chair of Sociology at the University of Bombay from 1919 to 1924. Geddes was actively occupied in city improvement, town planning, and educational initiatives at home, on the continent, and in India. He drew up a city plan for both Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, and he developed the Cite Universitaire Mediterraneanne (College des Ecossais) at Montpellier, France, and the educational facility at the Outlook Tower, Edinburgh. A pioneer of the environmental movemen, Geddes developed a deep fascination with the organisation of human societies and their spatial manifestation in the city and the country, propagating a highly individualistic theory of societies and cities drawing from regional theories in biology and geography, philosophical ideas (especially those of Plato) and political anarchist thought. Credited as the father of town planning, his approach was firmly rooted in how people and environment interact, seeing cities as organic entities. People, what they do and the places they inhabit need to be in equilibrium, hence the triad “folk, work, place”. He believed in the interconnections between all branches of knowledge and was a true polymath. Relevant collections Geddes / Outlook Tower Geddes family photographs and papers Frank Mears This article was published on 2024-08-21
