Geddes, Sir Patrick

▪ Scottish biologist and sociologist

born Oct. 2, 1854, Ballater, Aberdeen, Scot.

died April 17, 1932, Montpellier, Fr.

      Scottish biologist and sociologist who was one of the modern pioneers of the concept of town and regional planning.

      Greatly influenced by Charles Darwin's evolutionary arguments and their application to society, Geddes chose to study biology in London under Darwin's champion, Thomas Henry Huxley. While professor of botany at University College in Dundee, Angus (1889–1919), he emphasized the development of sexual reproduction as a major step in organic evolution and, with the naturalist John Arthur Thomson, published The Evolution of Sex (1889).

      Geddes turned his attention to sociology after an attack of blindness in Mexico hampered his biological experimentation. His researches in India, where he served as professor of sociology and civics at Bombay University (1920–23), and in Palestine, Mexico, and Scotland formed the basis of his conviction that the development of human communities was primarily biological in nature, consisting of interactions among people, their environment, and their activities. He developed an innovative philosophy of urban planning, summarized in City Development (1904) and Cities in Evolution (1915). After his return from India, Geddes directed Scots College in Montpellier. He was knighted in 1932.

Additional Reading

Studies of his life and ideas include Paddy Kitchen, A Most Unsettling Person (1975); Philip Boardman, The Worlds of Patrick Geddes: Biologist, Town Planner, Re-educator, Peace-warrior (1978); and Helen Meller, Patrick Geddes: Social Evolutionist and City Planner (1990).

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