e|kis|tics

e|kis|tics «ee KIHS tihks», noun.

the study of communities and settlements of people, especially with a view to improving them by extensive planning: »

Although ekistics is a more compact term than “science of human settlements,” it still derives from the “settling down” root, which to many of us seems all wrong now that the tendency is to move more and settle less (Manchester Guardian Weekly).

╂[< Greek oikistiké (< oikist settler < oîkos house) + English -ics; coined by Constantinos A. Doxiadis, born 1913, a Greek architect]