Think Through Design Marianna Charitonidou

14/08/2026

26/07/2026

Excited about my latest article that was just published in the scientific journal Planning Perspectives:

Charitonidou, M. (2026). Technocratic humanism and computational urbanism: Adriano Olivetti, Constantinos A. Doxiadis, and industrial settlements in Ivrea and ‘Aspra Spitia.’ Planning Perspectives, 1–29. https://doi.org/10.1080/02665433.2026.2680513

ABSTRACT
The article examines Constantinos A. Doxiadis and Adriano Olivetti as parallel yet distinct actors in mid-twentieth-century industrial urbanism, arguing that both developed integrated planning models that combined architecture, design, and emerging computational or organizational systems to construct what may be understood as ‘entopian’ or ‘concrete utopian’ settlements. It argues that both figures developed integrated planning models in which architecture, design, industrial production, and computational or organisational systems were mobilized to reconfigure the relationship between work, habitation, and community. It is structured through a comparative analysis of two primary case studies: Adriano Olivetti’s industrial and civic system in Ivrea and Constantinos Doxiadis’ settlement of ‘Aspra Spitia’ [‘White Houses’], treating them as interconnected expressions of a broader Mediterranean framework of technocratic humanism, in which industrial modernization is reframed through spatial, social, and organizational design. This comparison is extended through an examination of two computational infrastructures: Olivetti’s Elea 9003 computer and the Doxiadis Associates Computer Center (DACC) in Athens. These are interpreted as early experiments in computational urbanism, where information processing becomes integral to planning, analysis, and governance. The article argues that, despite differences in institutional context and methodological orientation, both approaches converge in their attempt to reconcile industrial production with human-scale urbanism.

06/07/2026

Excited about the paperback version of my book Reinventing Modern Architecture in Greece:
From Sentimental Topography to Ekistics,
which will be available to order in one month from now.

This book examines the connection between the politics of the Marshall Plan and urban planning and identifies the key players, such as the Greek architect and urban planner Constantinos A. Doxiadis and the Italian industrialist Adriano Olivetti. It also explores the architects of the Mataroa mission, who played a vital role in the cross-fertilisation between France and Greece, and the role of travel to Greece for architects during the 19th century.

This book delves into the work of Constantinos A. Doxiadis, Adriano Olivetti, Alison and Peter Smithson, Iannis Xenakis, Takis Zenetos, Henri Lefebvre, Cornelius Castoriadis, Aris Konstantinidis, Dimitris Pikionis and others. It sheds light on how Doxiadis introduced “ekistics” as a novel approach to understanding the science of human settlements. This book proposes that the manner in which these aforementioned architects and urban planners addressed the role of technology in everyday life and the relationship between society, history, culture, nature, architecture and urban planning could enrich our ongoing methods and debates on architecture, urban planning, ecology, social equity and democracy.

This book is based on extensive archival research and will be of interest to architects, artists, researchers and students and scholars in architecture, architectural history and theory, art, urban sociology, cultural theory, science and technology studies, philosophy, ecology, cybernetics and aesthetics.

https://www.routledge.com/Reinventing-Modern-Architecture-in-Greece-From-Sentimental-Topography-to-Ekistics/Charitonidou/p/book/9781032798516

01/06/2026

This Wednesday, June 3 at 16:21, I will speak about the concept of the in-between space in the work of Atelier 66 at the Scientific Conference titled “Dimitris & Suzana Antonakakis – Workshop 66 (ATELIER 66): Action and Work,” which will take place in the L. Kaftantzoglou Hall of the Averoff Building (42 Patission Street, 106 82 Athens).

In my talk, I will present how Dimitris Antonakakis and Suzana Antonakaki, through their architectural work, redefine the way the Greek house can be organized, placing particular emphasis not only on the “enclosed” domestic space, but also on the intermediate fields that surround it and mediate its relationship with the environment.

01/05/2026

https://charitonidou.com/sustainable-environmental-design-projects/

01/05/2026

https://charitonidou.com