Ecumenopolis/Legends

"Word of warning - watch your step, or you'll fall for hours."

- Atton Rand, referring to the heights of Nar Shaddaa.



An ecumenopolis (plural ecumenopoleis) was a type of planet, or in some cases a moon, whose entire surface was covered with a single worldwide city.

History


The Human species had become advanced enough to transform Coruscant into an ecumenopolis as early as a hundred thousand years prior to the Battle of Yavin. By 4,000 BBY, Taris became one, having built itself up during the course of only a single century of prosperity; this world, however, still had its oceans, meaning only its landmasses had been completely built over.

One such example of a lunar ecumenopolis was Nar Shaddaa, the largest moon that orbited the adopted homeworld of the Hutts, Nal Hutta. As far back as the Jedi Civil War and possibly long before, it had become entirely covered in kilometers-tall buildings, many of the lower areas of which had become quite decayed.

Ecumenopoleis in the galaxy


There were many ecumenopoleis within the galaxy, most notably:


 * Alsakan
 * Anaxes
 * Ator
 * Axxila
 * Carratos
 * Coruscant
 * Denon
 * Empress Teta
 * Eriadu
 * Gerrenthum
 * Green Coruscant (possibly)
 * Grizmallt
 * Hosk Station
 * Humbarine
 * Karideph
 * Lianna
 * Metellos
 * Nar Shaddaa
 * Skako
 * Taris
 * Trantor
 * Vorzyd V

Behind the scenes
The game Empire at War incorrectly depicts Corulag as an ecumenopolis; however, the only depiction of it as such is in its land map (which is a single cityscape), and that map may take place in the only large city on Corulag. Similarly, Kuat is described as covered in city-sprawl in Rules of Engagement: The Rebel SpecForce Handbook, though later sources have shown that the planet did in fact remain fairly free of urban sprawl.

Ecumenopolis comes from the Greek "οικουμένη" (oecumen) meaning world, and "πόλις" (polis) meaning city, thus translating to "world-city, a city made of the whole world." The term was coined in 1967 by the Greek city planner Constantinos Doxiadis. The term made its first appearance in a Star Wars source in Coruscant Nights I: Jedi Twilight.