Patrick Geddes

Sir Patrick Geddes (1854 to 1932) was a Scottish biologist, sociologist, Comtean positivist, geographer, philanthropist and pioneering town planner. He is known for innovative thinking in the fields of urban planning and sociology. Following the philosophies of Auguste Comte and Frederic Le Play, he introduced the concept of region to architecture and planning and coined the term conurbation. Later he elaborated neotechnics as a way of remaking a world apart from over-commercialization and the dominance of money. An energetic Francophile, he founded the Collège des Écossais, or Scots College, in Montpellier, France, in 1924, and in the 1920s he bought the Château d'Assas to set up a centre for urban studies.