Geddes, Patrick

A Scots biologist and town planner. Patrick Geddes studied the theory of evolution with T H Huxley and used it as a basis for ethics, history, sociology and town planning. Patrick Geddes made a botanical garden for the University of Dundee which aimed to show the relationships between groups of plants and also their historical significance (eg a garden to show the Shakespearean flora). In his report on Pittencrieff Park in Dunfermline Patrick Geddes wrote that 'City improvers, like the gardeners from whom they develop, fall into two broadly contrasted schools, which are really, just as in gardening itself, the formal and the naturalistic'. His book on Cities in Evolution was published in 1915. Geddes is regarded as one of the founding fathers of the town planning profession. He was also the first British citizen to use 'landscape architect' as a professional title.