Cities in Evolution (1915) by the Scottish biologist and town planner Patrick Geddes applied an evolutionary, ecological outlook to the study of cities. Geddes insisted on survey before plan, the systematic gathering of evidence about a place and its region before any intervention, and treated the city as a living organism embedded in its geographical setting. He coined the term conurbation to describe the merging of towns into continuous urban regions such as those forming around industrial centres. The book linked geography, sociology and civic action.
It introduced regional, evidence-based analysis as the foundation of responsible planning and shifted attention from the isolated town to the wider metropolitan region. Geddes's survey-before-plan method and his concept of the conurbation became enduring principles of regional planning.