Ecumenopolis (from Greek: world city) is a word invented in 1967 by the Greek city planner Constantinos Doxiadis to represent the idea that in the future the urban areas and megalopolises would eventually fuse and there would be a single continuous world-wide city as a progression from the current urbanization and population growth trends.

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 at least ranked as 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–Amsterdam.

Rural planning

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The growing realisation of the importance of preserving rural areas has stalled the expansion of city boundaries. Many metropolitan areas tend to remain discrete from one another so that natural resources can be preserved through both farming and national forestry. Ecumenopolises may arise when farming becomes obsolete by farming skyscrapers that may possibly be built in city cores. However, national forests may allow structures to be built as tree houses.

The Amazon rainforest is a potential place for treehouses to be built since treehouses are a sustainable alternative to conventional houses.

Ecumenopolis in fiction

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In science fiction, ecumenopolis planets are often the capitals of galactic empires. Examples of ecumenopolises in science fiction include:

• Trantor from the Foundation series of Isaac Asimov.
• Planets Manhattan, New Berlin, New Tokyo and New London from the Freelancer computer game.
• Coruscant from Star Wars (believed to be inspired from Trantor).
• Denon, Nar Shaddaa, Metellos, Axxila, Mygeeto, Vorzyd V, Eriadu, and Taris (pre-bombardment) from the Star Wars Expanded Universe.
• The remains of an unknown deserted ecumenopolis portrayed in the film trilogy The Matrix series. It was also portrayed in its glory days in a short prequel film, "The Second Renaissance" which is included in the The Animatrix film collection.
• Earth, glimpsed at in a timeline altered by the Borg in First Contact.
• Earth, from David Wingrove's Chung Kuo series.
• Holy Terra, along with many of the Hive Worlds, from Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 universe.
• Tau Ceti Center from Dan Simmons' Hyperion Cantos.
• Apokolips from Jack Kirby's Fourth World series.
• Core Prime from the game Total Annihilation.
• Capitol from one of Orson Scott Card's very first books Capitol (collection)
• Helior from Harry Harrison's Bill, the Galactic Hero.
• Cybertron from The Transformers''.
• Puppeteer Homeworld from Ringworld by Larry Niven.
• The World That Never Was from Kingdom Hearts II

Fantasy settings do not usually have ecumenopolises, however, a notable exception is Ravnica in The Gathering. Another one might be Dis, from the Dungeons & Dragons setting. Charn from The Chronicles of Narnia is said to be a "vast city", spreading in "every direction as far as the eye could reach", but it is probably not a world-spanning city.

See also

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• Arcology
• Megacity
• Metropolis
• Megastructure

Urban studies and planning | Megastructures | Human habitats

Екуменополис