Patrick Geddes (Ballater, Aberdeenshire, October 2, 1854 - Montpellier, France, April 17, 1932) was a Scottish sociologist, polymath, biologist and botanist also known for being an innovative thinker in the fields of urban planning and education. He was responsible for introducing the concept of "region" in architecture and for coining the term conurbation.[1]​.

Geddes shared with John Ruskin the belief that social progress and spatial form are related. Therefore, by changing the spatial form the social structure could be changed. This was especially important at the end of the century and beginning of the 20th century, when industrialization seriously altered living conditions.

Geddes demonstrated his theory in his work in Edinburgh's "Old Town." There, in the most deteriorated area, he used associations with relevant thinkers who lived there over the centuries and, like Adam Smith, to open residences. In this area he located his famous Outlook Tower), a museum of local, regional, Scottish and world history.

He collaborated with his son-in-law and prominent architect, Frank Mears, on projects in the Middle East, where in 1919 Geddes provided assistance on the urban development of Jerusalem and created the master plan for the Tel Aviv urbanization of 1925. He was the founder of the College Des Ecossais, an international educational establishment located in Montpellier, France.

Geddes exerted a strong influence on the American urban planning theorist Lewis Mumford, as well as many other thinkers of the 19th century.

Patrick Geddes, born in Ballater, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. He was the son of Janet Stevenson and Alexander Geddes. He studied during his early years at the Perth Academy in Scotland.[2]​.

Later, he studied at the Royal College of Mines, in London, under the direction of Thomas Henry Huxley, between 1874 and 1877, although he never obtained any degree. During the years of 1877 and 1878, he served as a demonstrator in the Department of Physiology at University College London, where he met Charles Darwin in the laboratory of Sir John Burdon-Sanderson.[3] He also taught Zoology at the University of Edinburgh from 1880 to 1888.

He married Anna Morton (1857-1917), daughter of a wealthy merchant, in 1886, when he was 32 years old. With her he had three children: Norah, Alasdair and Arthur. During a visit to India in 1917, Anna fell ill with typhoid fever and died, unaware that her son, Alasdair, had died in combat in France.[4]​.