Editing Grid plan (section)

==History==

===Ancient grid plans===
[[File:Miletos stadsplan 400.jpg|thumb|right|The grid plan of [[Miletus]] in the Classical period]]
By 2600 BC, [[Mohenjo-daro]] and [[Harappa]], major cities of the [[Indus Valley civilization]], were built with blocks divided by a grid of straight streets, running north–south and east–west. Each block was subdivided by small lanes.<ref>Jane McIntosh, ''The Ancient Indus Valley: New Perspectives''; ABC-CLIO, 2008; {{ISBN|978-1-57607-907-2}}; pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=1AJO2A-CbccC&pg=PA231 231], [https://books.google.com/books?id=1AJO2A-CbccC&pg=PA346 346].</ref> The cities and monasteries of [[Sirkap]], [[Taxila]] and [[Madhyapur Thimi|Thimi]] (in the [[Indus Valley|Indus]] and [[Kathmandu Valley]]s), dating from the 1st millennium BC to the 11th century AD, also had grid-based designs.<ref>{{cite journal|first1=Mohan|last1=Pant|first2=Shjui |last2=Fumo|url=https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jaabe/4/1/4_1_51/_pdf |title=The Grid and Modular Measures in The Town Planning of Mohenjodaro and Kathmandu Valley: A Study on Modular Measures in Block and Plot Divisions in the Planning of Mohenjodaro and Sirkap (Pakistan), and Thimi (Kathmandu Valley)|journal=Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering|pages=51–59|date=May 2005|volume=4|issue=1|doi=10.3130/jaabe.4.51|access-date=18 December 2019|doi-access=free}}</ref>

A workers' village (2570–2500 BC) at [[Giza]], [[Egypt]], housed a rotating labor force and was laid out in blocks of long galleries separated by streets in a formal grid. Many pyramid-cult cities used a common orientation: a north–south axis from the royal palace and an east–west axis from the temple, meeting at a central plaza where King and God merged and crossed.

[[Hammurabi]] king of the [[Babylonia|Babylonian Empire]] in the 18th century BC, ordered the rebuilding of [[Babylon]]: constructing and restoring temples, city walls, public buildings, and irrigation canals. The streets of Babylon were wide and straight, intersected approximately at right angles, and were paved with bricks and [[bitumen]].

The tradition of grid plans is continuous in [[China]] from the 15th century BC onward in the [[Ancient Chinese urban planning|traditional urban planning]] of various ancient Chinese states. Guidelines put into written form in the [[Kaogongji]] during the [[Spring and Autumn period]] (770-476 BC) stated: "a capital city should be square on plan. Three gates on each side of the perimeter lead into the nine main streets that crisscross the city and define its grid-pattern. And for its layout the city should have the Royal Court situated in the south, the Marketplace in the north, the Imperial Ancestral Temple in the east and the Altar to the Gods of Land and Grain in the west."

[[Teotihuacan]], near modern-day [[Mexico City]], is the largest ancient grid-plan site in the [[Americas]]. The city's grid covered 21 square kilometres (8 square miles).

Perhaps the most well-known grid system is that spread through the colonies of the Roman Empire. The archetypal [[Roman centuriation|Roman Grid]] was introduced to Italy first by the Greeks, with such information transferred by way of trade and conquest.<ref name="Stanislawski 116">Stanislawski, Dan (1946).  "The Grid-Pattern Town", Geog. Rev., xxxvi, pp. 105-120, p. 116.</ref>

====Ancient Greece====

Although the idea of the grid was present in Hellenic societal and city planning, it was not pervasive prior to the 5th century BC. However, it slowly gained primacy through the work of [[Hippodamus of Miletus]] (498–408 BC), who planned and replanned many Greek cities in accordance with this form.<ref name="Burns 39">Burns, Ross (2005), ''Damascus: A History'', Routledge, p. 39</ref> The concept of a grid as the ideal method of town planning had become widely accepted by the time of Alexander the Great. His conquests were a step in the propagation of the grid plan throughout colonies, some as far-flung as Taxila in Pakistan,<ref name="Burns 39"/> that would later be mirrored by the expansion of the Roman Empire. The Greek grid had its streets aligned roughly in relation to the cardinal points<ref name="Burns 39"/> and generally looked to take advantage of visual cues based on the hilly landscape typical of Greece and Asia Minor.<ref name="Higgins, Hannah 2009 p. 60">Higgins, Hannah (2009) ''The Grid Book''. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. p.60. {{ISBN|978-0-262-51240-4}}</ref> The street grid consisted of ''plateiai'' and ''stenophoi'' (equivalent to Roman ''[[decumani]]'' and ''[[cardines]]''). This was probably best exemplified in [[Priene]], in present-day western Turkey, where the orthogonal city grid was based on the cardinal points, on sloping terrain that struck views out{{clarify|date=July 2015}} towards a river and the city of [[Miletus]].<ref>Belozerskaya, Marina and Lapatin, Kenneth (2004), Ancient Greece: art, architecture, and history. Los Angeles: Getty Publications, p. 94.</ref>

====Ancient Rome====
[[File:Mapa Caesaraugusta.svg|thumb| [[Caesaraugusta]] Roman city matching the current [[Zaragoza]] city map:<br />
1.- Decumano; 2.- Cardo; 3.- [[Foro romano de Caesaraugusta|Foro de Caesaraugusta]]; 4.- [[Museo del Puerto Fluvial de Caesaraugusta|Puerto fluvial]]; 5.- [[Termas romanas de Caesaraugusta|Termas públicas]]; 6.- [[Teatro romano de Caesaraugusta|Teatro]]; 7.- [[Muralla romana de Zaragoza|Muralla]]]]

The [[Etruscan people]], whose territories in Italy encompassed what would eventually become Rome, founded what is now the city of [[Marzabotto]] at the end of the 6th century BC. Its layout was based on Greek Ionic ideas, and it was here that the main east–west and north–south axes of a town (the ''decumanus maximus'' and ''cardo maximus'' respectively) could first be seen in Italy. According to Stanislawski (1946), the Romans did use grids until the time of the late Republic or early Empire, when they introduced ''[[Roman centuriation|centuriation]]'', a system which they spread around the Mediterranean and into northern Europe later on.<ref name="Stanislawski 116"/>

The military expansion of this period facilitated the adoption of the grid form as standard: the Romans established ''[[castra]]'' (forts or camps) first as military centres; some of them developed into administrative hubs. The Roman grid was similar in form to the Greek version of a grid but allowed for practical considerations. For example, Roman ''castra'' were often sited on flat land, especially close to or on important nodes like river crossings or intersections of trade routes.<ref name="Higgins, Hannah 2009 p. 60"/> The dimensions of the ''castra'' were often standard, with each of its four walls generally having a length of {{convert|2150|ft|m|order=flip}}. Familiarity was the aim of such standardisation: soldiers could be stationed anywhere around the Empire, and orientation would be easy within established towns if they had a standard layout. Each would have the aforementioned ''[[decumanus maximus]]'' and ''[[cardo maximus]]'' at its heart, and their intersection would form the forum, around which would be sited important public buildings. Indeed, such was the degree of similarity between towns that Higgins states that soldiers "would be housed at the same address as they moved from ''castra'' to ''castra''".<ref name="Higgins, Hannah 2009 p. 60"/> Pompeii has been cited by both Higgins<ref name="Higgins, Hannah 2009 p. 60"/> and Laurence<ref>Laurence, Ray (2007), ''Roman Pompeii: space and society'', p. 15-16.</ref>{{failed verification|date=February 2018}} as the best-preserved example of the Roman grid.

Outside of the castra, large tracts of land were also divided in accordance with the grid within the walls. These were typically {{convert|2400|ft|m|order=flip}} per side (called [[Ancient Roman units of measurement|''centuria'']]) and contained 100 parcels of land (each called [[Ancient Roman units of measurement|''heredium'']]).<ref name="Gelernter 15">Gelernter, Mark (2001), ''A history of American architecture: buildings in their cultural and technological context'', p. 15.</ref> The ''decumanus maximus'' and ''cardo maximus'' extended from the town gates out towards neighbouring settlements. These were lined up to be as straight as possible, only deviating from their path due to natural obstacles that prevented a direct route.<ref name="Gelernter 15"/>

While the imposition of only one town form regardless of region could be seen as an imposition of imperial authority, there is no doubting the practical reasoning behind the formation of the Roman grid. Under Roman guidance, the grid was designed for efficiency and interchangeability, both facilitated by and aiding the expansion of their empire.

===Asia from the first millennium AD===
[[File:Sapporo map circa 1930.PNG|thumb|Grid blocks in Sapporo circa 1930, subdivisions are named after the [[Japanese addressing system#Sapporo|numbered roads]]]]
As [[Japan]] and the [[Korean peninsula]] became politically centralized in the 7th century AD, those societies adopted Chinese grid-planning principles in numerous locations. In Korea, [[Gyeongju]], the capital of [[Unified Silla]], and [[Shangjing Longquanfu|Sanggyeong]], the capital of [[Balhae]], adapted the [[Tang dynasty]] Chinese model. The ancient capitals of Japan, such as [[Fujiwara-kyo|Fujiwara-Kyô]] (AD 694–710), [[Nara, Nara|Nara]] (Heijô-Kyô, AD 710–784), and [[Kyoto]] (Heian-Kyô, AD 794–1868) also adapted from Tang's capital, [[Chang'an]]. However, for reasons of defense, the planners of [[Tokyo]] eschewed the grid, opting instead for an irregular network of streets surrounding the [[Edo Castle]] grounds. In later periods, some parts of Tokyo were grid-planned, but grid plans are generally rare in Japan, and the [[Japanese addressing system]] is accordingly based on increasingly fine subdivisions, rather than a grid.

The grid-planning tradition in Asia continued through the beginning of the 20th century, with [[Sapporo]], Japan (est. 1868) following a grid plan under American influence.

===Europe and its colonies (12th-17th centuries)===
[[File:Schéma bastide modèle Gascon.jpg|thumb|right|[[Bastide]] schema in [[Gascony]]]]
New [[Europe]]an towns were planned using grids beginning in the 12th century, most prodigiously in the [[bastides]] of southern [[France]] that were built during the 13th and 14th centuries. Medieval European [[new town]]s using grid plans were widespread, ranging from [[Wales]] to the [[Florence|Florentine]] region. Many were built on ancient grids originally established as Roman colonial outposts. In the British Isles, the planned new town system involving a grid street layout was part of the system of [[burgage]]. An example of a medieval planned city in The Netherlands is [[Elburg]]. [[Bury St Edmunds]] is an example of a town planned on a grid system in the late 11th century.<ref>{{Cite web|title=St Edmundsbury Local History – St Edmundsbury from 1066 to 1216|url=http://www.stedmundsburychronicle.co.uk/Chronicle/1066-1216.htm|access-date=2021-05-18|website=www.stedmundsburychronicle.co.uk}}</ref>

The Roman model was also used in Spanish settlements during the [[Reconquista]] of Ferdinand and Isabella. It was subsequently applied in the new cities established during the [[Spanish colonization of the Americas]], after the founding of [[San Cristóbal de La Laguna]] (Canary Islands) in 1496. In 1573, King Philip II of Spain compiled the Laws of the Indies to guide the construction and administration of colonial communities. The Laws specified a square or rectangular central plaza with eight principal streets running from the plaza's corners. Hundreds of grid-plan communities throughout the Americas were established according to this pattern, echoing the practices of earlier Indian civilizations.

The [[baroque]] capital city of [[Malta]], [[Valletta]], dating back to the 16th century, was built following a rigid grid plan of uniformly designed houses, dotted with palaces, churches and squares.

The grid plan became popular with the start of the [[Renaissance]] in Northern Europe. In 1606, the newly founded city of [[Mannheim]] in [[Germany]] was the first Renaissance city laid out on the grid plan. Later came the New Town in [[Edinburgh]] and almost the entire city centre of [[Glasgow]], and many [[Planned community|planned communities]] and cities in [[Australia]], [[Canada]] and the [[United States]].

[[Derry]], constructed in 1613–1618, was the first [[planned city]] in [[Ireland]]. The central diamond within a walled city with four gates was considered a good design for defence. The grid pattern was widely copied in the colonies of [[British North America]].

=== Russia (18th century) ===
[[File:Homann MapSpb1716-17.png|thumb|The map of St. Petersburg (1717). The grid of 'lines' and 'prospekts' is seen across the whole rectangular [[Vasilyevsky Island]], while actually only the eastern part was built]]
In [[Russia]] the first [[planned city]] was [[St. Petersburg]] founded in 1703 by [[Peter the Great|Peter I]]. Being aware of the modern European construction experience which he examined in the years of his [[Grand Embassy of Peter the Great|Grand Embassy to Europe]], the Czar ordered [[Domenico Trezzini]] to elaborate the first general plan of the city. The project of this architect for [[Vasilyevsky Island]] was a typical rectangular grid of streets (originally intended to be canals, like in [[Amsterdam]]), with three lengthwise thoroughfares, rectangularly crossed with about 30 crosswise streets.

The shape of street blocks on [[Vasilyevsky Island]] are the same, as was later implemented in the [[Commissioners' Plan of 1811]] for [[Manhattan]]: elongated rectangles. The longest side of each block faces the relatively narrow street with a numeric name (in Petersburg they are called [[Lines of Vasilyevsky Island|''Liniya'' (Line)]]) while the shortest side faces wide avenues. To denote avenues in Petersburg, a special term ''[[Prospekt (street)|prospekt]]'' was introduced. Inside the grid of Vasilyevsky Island there are three prospekts, named ''Bolshoi'' (''Big''), ''Sredniy ''(''Middle'') and ''Maly'' (''Small'') while the far ends of each line cross with the embankments of [[Bolshaya Neva River|Bolshaya Neva]] and [[Smolenka River|Smolenka]] rivers in the delta of the [[Neva River]].

The peculiarity of 'lines' (streets) naming in this grid is that are each side of street has its own number, so one 'line' is a side of a street, not the whole street. The numbering is latently zero-based, however the supposed "zero line" has its proper name ''Kadetskaya liniya'', while the opposite side of this street is called the '1-st Line'. Next street is named the '2-nd Line' on the eastern side, and the '3-rd Line' on the western side. After the reorganization of house numbering in 1834 and 1858 the even house numbers are used on the odd-numbered lines, and respectively odd house numbers are used for the even-numbered lines. The maximum numbers for 'lines' in Petersburg are 28-29th lines.

Later in the middle of the 18th century another grid of rectangular blocks with the numbered streets appeared in the continental part of the city: 13 streets named from the '1-st Rota' up to the '13-th Rota', where the [[Company (military unit)|companies]] ({{langx|de|Rotte}}, {{langx|ru|рота}}) of the [[Izmaylovsky Regiment]] were located.

===Early United States (17th-19th centuries)===
[[File:Grid 1811.jpg|thumb|left|[[Commissioners' Plan of 1811]] for [[Manhattan]]|344x344px]] [[File:Savannah Portland NewYork City Blocks.svg|right|thumb|A diagram of three U.S. city grids at the same scale showing the differences in dimensions and configuration]] [[File:American Grid Comparison.jpg|thumbnail|left|Twenty American grids compared at the same scale]] [[File:Map of the Original City of Philadelphia in 1682 by Thomas Holme.jpg|thumb|Map of the Original City of Philadelphia in 1682 by Thomas Holme]]
Many of the earliest cities in the United States, such as [[Boston]], did not start with a grid system.<ref>[[Back Bay]], [[Dorchester Heights]], and [[South Boston]] all have grid layouts.</ref> However, even in pre-revolutionary days some cities saw the benefits of such a layout. [[New Haven Colony]], one of the earliest colonies in America, was designed with a tiny 9-square grid at its founding in 1638. On a grander scale, [[Philadelphia]] was designed on a rectilinear street grid in 1682, one of the first cities in North America to use a grid system.<ref name="crabgrass">{{cite crabgrass}}</ref><ref>[http://www.explorepahistory.com/story.php?storyId=3&chapter=3&page=2 ExplorePaHistory.com<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> At the urging of city founder [[William Penn]], surveyor [[Thomas Holme]] designed a system of wide streets intersecting at right angles between the [[Schuylkill River]] to the west and the [[Delaware River]] to the east, including five squares of dedicated parkland. Penn advertised this orderly design as a safeguard against overcrowding, fire, and disease, which plagued European cities. Holme drafted an ideal version of the grid,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.swarthmore.edu/Humanities/kjohnso1/pictures/tholme1683inch9.jpg |title=Archived copy |access-date=2007-04-08 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070420061427/http://www.swarthmore.edu/Humanities/kjohnso1/pictures/tholme1683inch9.jpg |archive-date=2007-04-20 }} Swarthmore College</ref> but alleyways sprouted within and between larger blocks as the city took shape. As the United States expanded westward, grid-based city planning modeled on Philadelphia's layout would become popular among frontier cities, making grids ubiquitous across the country.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thegreatamericangrid.com/archives/777 |title=The Great American Grid – A History of the American Grid in 4 Minutes |website=www.thegreatamericangrid.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131108174122/http://www.thegreatamericangrid.com/archives/777 |archive-date=2013-11-08}}</ref>

Another well-known grid plan is the plan for [[New York City]] formulated in the [[Commissioners' Plan of 1811]], a proposal by the state [[legislature]] of [[New York (state)|New York]] for the development of most of [[Manhattan]]<ref>Landers, John ''Twelve Historical New York City Street and Transit Maps from 1860 to 1967'' {{ISBN|1-882608-16X}}</ref> above [[Houston Street]].

[[File:L'Enfant plan.jpg|thumb|The [[L'Enfant Plan]] for [[Washington, D.C.]], set out a north–south, east–west grid pattern with diagonal streets radiating out from the [[U.S. Capitol]].]]
[[Washington, D.C.]], the capital of the [[United States]], was planned under [[French-American]] architect [[Pierre Charles L'Enfant]]. Under the L'Enfant plan, the original [[District of Columbia]] was developed using a grid plan that is interrupted by diagonal avenues, most famously [[Pennsylvania Avenue (Washington, D.C.)|Pennsylvania Avenue]]. These diagonals are often connected by [[traffic circle]]s, such as [[Dupont Circle]] and [[Washington Circle]]. As the city grew, the plan was duplicated to cover most of the remainder of the capital. Meanwhile, the core of the city faced disarray and the [[McMillan Plan]], led by Senator [[James McMillan (politician)|James McMillan]], was adopted to build a [[National Mall]] and a parks system that is still today a jewel of the city.

Often, some of the streets in a grid are numbered (First, Second, etc.), lettered, or arranged in alphabetical order. Downtown [[San Diego]] uses all three schemes: north–south streets are numbered from west to east, and east–west streets are split between a lettered series running southward from A through L and a series of streets named after trees or plants, running northward alphabetically from Ash to Walnut. As in many cities, some of these streets have been given new names violating the system (the former D Street is now Broadway, the former 12th Avenue is now Park Boulevard, etc.); this has meant that 2nd, not 1st, is the most common street name in the United States.<ref>[http://www.nlc.org/build-skills-and-networks/resources/cities-101/city-factoids/most-common-us-street-names NATIONAL LEAGUE OF CITIES: Most Common U.S. Street Names at nlc.org] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130216150500/http://www.nlc.org/build-skills-and-networks/resources/cities-101/city-factoids/most-common-us-street-names |date=2013-02-16 }} Accessed 16 May 2017</ref>

An exception to the typical, uniform grid is the plan of [[Savannah, Georgia]] (1733), known as the [[Oglethorpe Plan]]. It is a composite, cellular city block consisting of four large corner blocks, four small blocks in between and a public square in the centre; the entire composition of approximately ten acres (four hectares) is known as a ward.<ref>Wilson, T. ''The Oglethorpe Plan''. University of Virginia Press, 2012.</ref> Its cellular structure includes all the primary land uses of a neighborhood and has for that reason been called [[fractal]].<ref>Batty, M. & Longley, P. (1994) Fractal Cities: A Geometry of Form and Function (San Diego, Calif.: Academic)</ref>  Its street configuration presages modern traffic calming techniques applied to uniform grids where certain selected streets become discontinuous or narrow, thus discouraging through traffic. The configuration also represents an example of functional [[shared space]], where pedestrian and vehicular traffic can safely and comfortably coexist.<ref>Wilson, T. ''The Oglethorpe Plan'', p. 175</ref>

In the westward development of the United States, the use of the grid plan was nearly universal in the construction of new settlements, such as in [[Salt Lake City]] (1870), [[Dodge City]] (1872) and [[Oklahoma City]] (1890). In these western cities the streets were numbered even more carefully than in the east to suggest future prosperity and metropolitan status.<ref name="crabgrass" />

One of the main advantages of the grid plan was that it allowed the rapid [[subdivision (land)|subdivision]] and [[auction]] of a large parcel of land. For example, when the legislature of the [[Republic of Texas]] decided in 1839 to move the capital to a new site along the [[Colorado River (Texas)|Colorado River]], the functioning of the government required the rapid population of the town, which was named [[Austin, Texas|Austin]]. Charged with the task, [[Edwin Waller]] designed a fourteen-block grid that fronted the river on 640 acres (exactly 1 square mile; about 2.6&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>). After surveying the land, Waller organized the almost immediate sale of 306 lots, and by the end of the year the entire Texas government had arrived by [[cart|oxcart]] at the new site. Apart from the speed of surveying advantage, the rationale at the time of the grid's adoption in this and other cities remains obscure.

===Early 19th century – Australasia===
In 1836 [[William Light]] drew up his plans for [[Adelaide]], South Australia, spanning the [[River Torrens]]. Two areas south ([[Adelaide city centre|the city centre]]) and north ([[North Adelaide]]) of the river were laid out in grid pattern, with the city surrounded by the [[Adelaide Park Lands]].<ref name=plan>{{cite web |title=Light's Plan of Adelaide 1837 |date=31 December 2013 |author=Margaret Anderson |url=http://adelaidia.sa.gov.au/panoramas/lights-plan-of-adelaide-1837 |access-date=5 May 2018 |website=Adelaidia |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170818180157/http://adelaidia.sa.gov.au/panoramas/lights-plan-of-adelaide-1837 |archive-date=18 August 2017 |url-status=live |quote=[Includes] a watercolour and ink plan, drawn by 16-year-old draughtsman Robert George Thomas to instructions from Light... The streets were named by a Street Naming Committee that met on 23 May 1837, indicating that this plan must have been completed after that date}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Keeping a Trust: South Australia's Wyatt Benevolent Institution and Its Founder|first=Carol|last=Fort|date=2008|place=Adelaide|publisher=Wakefield Press|isbn=9781862547827|page=37|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HVH5tLjaOe8C&pg=PA37|access-date=22 October 2019}}</ref><ref name=dutton>{{cite book|title=South Australia and its mines: With an historical sketch of the colony, under its several administrations, to the period of Captain Grey's departure|first=Francis|last=Dutton|date=1846|place=Adelaide|publisher=T. and W. Boone|quote=Original from Oxford University; Digitized 2 Oct 2007|page=117|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SdENAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA117|access-date=22 October 2019}}</ref>

[[Hoddle Grid]] is the name given to the layout of [[Melbourne]], Victoria, named after the surveyor [[Robert Hoddle]], who marked it out in 1837 establishing the first formal town plan. This grid of streets, laid out when there were only a few hundred settlers, became the nucleus for what is now a city of over 5 million people, the city of Melbourne. The unusual dimensions of the allotments and the incorporation of narrow 'little' streets were the result of compromise between Hoddle's desire to employ the regulations established in 1829 by previous [[New South Wales]] Governor Ralph Darling, requiring square blocks and wide, spacious streets and Bourke's desire for rear access ways (now the 'little' streets, for example [[Little Collins Street]]).<ref>{{cite book|last1=Lewis|first1=Miles|title=Melbourne: The City's History and Development|date=1995|publisher=City of Melbourne|location=Melbourne|pages=25–29}}</ref>

The city of [[Christchurch Central City|Christchurch]], New Zealand, was planned by [[Edward Jollie]] in 1850.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://resources.ccc.govt.nz/files/ChristchurchCityContextualHistoryOverviewFull-docs.pdf | title = Contextual Historical Overview for Christchurch City| type = PDF|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100522213304/http://resources.ccc.govt.nz/files/ChristchurchCityContextualHistoryOverviewFull-docs.pdf|date=June 2005|archive-date=22 May 2010}}</ref>

====Town acre====
{{anchor|Town acre}}
The term "town acre" (often spelt with initial capital letters) may have originated with [[Edward Gibbon Wakefield]] who, in the 1830s, was involved in various schemes to promote the [[colonisation of South Australia]] and its capital, [[Adelaide]],<ref name=samem>{{cite web|website=SA Memory|url=https://www.samemory.sa.gov.au/site/page.cfm?u=349&startRow=13|publisher=State Library of South Australia|title=Foundation of the Province|date=5 February 2015|access-date=16 Jan 2021}}</ref> and, as founder of the [[New Zealand Company]], the plans for [[Wellington, New Zealand|Wellington]], [[New Plymouth, New Zealand|New Plymouth]] and [[Nelson, New Zealand|Nelson]]. All of these towns were laid out on a grid plan, so it was easy to divide the land into acre plots of one [[chain (unit)|chain]] by one [[furlong]], {{convert|66 by 660 |ft}} (approximately 0.4 ha.), and these became known as town acres.<ref name=encycnz>{{cite web | website=Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand | date= 26 Mar 2015|first=Ben |last=Schrader|title=City planning – Early settlement planning |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/city-planning/page-1 | access-date=16 January 2021}}</ref> Adelaide was divided into 1042 Town Acres.<ref>{{cite web | title=Light's Plan of Adelaide, 1840 | website=Adelaidia|first=Jude|last=Elton|publisher=[[History Trust of South Australia]] | date=10 December 2013 |url=https://adelaidia.history.sa.gov.au/panoramas/lights-plan-of-adelaide-1840 | access-date=16 January 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Llewellyn-Smith|first= Michael|chapter=The Background to the Founding of Adelaide and South Australia in 1836|title= Behind the Scenes: The Politics of Planning Adelaide|pages=11–38|publisher=[[University of Adelaide Press]]|date= 2012|jstor= 10.20851/j.ctt1sq5wvd.8|isbn= 9781922064400|access-date=16 Jan 2021|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.20851/j.ctt1sq5wvd.8}}</ref> Maps showing the divisions of the town acres are available for Adelaide,<ref>{{cite journal | title=Town Acre Reference Map – Map of the City of Adelaide | website=data.sa.gov.au | date=5 June 2014 | url=https://data.sa.gov.au/data/dataset/historic-photos-of-adelaide/resource/4bf498ca-b63f-4ccf-acfe-916055a1c094 | access-date=16 January 2021 | last1=Adelaide | first1=City of }} [http://opendata.adelaidecitycouncil.com/historic_photos/1880_Map_Town_Acres.pdf PDF] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210115030315/http://opendata.adelaidecitycouncil.com/historic_photos/1880_Map_Town_Acres.pdf |date=2021-01-15 }}</ref> Nelson,<ref>{{cite web  | website=Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand| date=1 August 2015|first=Carl|last= Walrond|title=Nelson region – European settlement:Nelson town blocks (1st of 2)|url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/zoomify/28951/nelson-town-blocks | access-date=16 January 2021}}</ref> and Wellington.<ref>{{cite web | title=Town Acre Map of Wellington 1841 | website=Wellington City Libraries |url=https://wellington.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/26 | access-date=16 January 2021}}</ref>

===Late 19th century to the present===
[[File:BCN01.JPG|thumb|[[Barcelona]]]]
[[File:Original design of Barcelona's city blocks.svg|right|thumb|The city blocks and streets of Barcelona as conceived by [[Ildefons Cerdà]]. The blocks include wide open spaces that continue across the street to adjacent blocks.]]
[[Ildefons Cerdà]], a Spanish civil engineer, defined a concept of urban planning, based on the grid, that he applied to the [[Eixample]] of [[Barcelona]]. The Eixample grid introduced innovative design elements which were exceptional at the time and even unique among subsequent grid plans:
* a very large block measuring {{convert|113|by|113|m|ft|abbr=on}}, far larger than the old city blocks and larger than any Roman, Greek blocks and their mutations (see drawing below);
* a {{convert|20|m|ft|abbr=on}} road width (right of way) compared with mostly 3 m in the old city;
* square blocks with truncated corners; and
* major roads, perpendicular and diagonal, measuring {{convert|50|m|ft|abbr=on}} in width.
Cerda formulated these innovations in response to changing functional needs. As cities grew larger, through traffic, travel distance, noise, and pollution from carts became significant issues. Larger blocks with major perpendicular roads enables the creation of a quiet interior open space (60 m by 60 m) and allow ample sunlight and ventilation to its perimeter buildings; the rectilinear geometry, the wide streets and boulevards to sustain high mobility and the truncated corners to facilitate turning of carts and coaches and particularly vehicles on fixed rails.<ref>[https://whc.unesco.org/document/6806 'activity-38-1.pdf' World Heritage Papers 5: Identification and Documentation of Modern Heritage] Published in 2003 by the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, p36 and multiple further pps, Including footnote: "See Ildefonso Cerdá, Teoría general de la urbanización y aplicación de sus principios y doctrina a la reforma y ensanche de Barcelona, Madrid, 1867." Accessed 17 May 2017</ref> As buildings became taller, the new design also permitted a more natural sense of scale to the buildings from the street and reduced wind speeds.<ref name=":0">{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=Lgio_ygetbo. |title=Why Don't Cities Use Hexagon Blocks? |date=2023-10-08 |last=City Beautiful |access-date=2025-04-03 |via=YouTube}}</ref><ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQ7MP2e7Bqk |title=U.S. Zoning, Explained |date=2023-02-28 |last=City Beautiful |access-date=2025-04-03 |via=YouTube}}</ref>

In the early 1900s, urban planners such as New York architect [[Charles Rollinson Lamb|Charles Lamb]], who was one of the first to sketch out a city plan with a [https://hub.paper-checker.com/blog/hexagonal-cities-revolutionizing-urban-design-through-geometry/#:~:text=Hexagonal%20cities%20are%20urban%20layouts,network%20of%20streets%20and%20spaces. hexagonal grid], and Rudolf Muller, Austrian architect who iterated upon Lamb's hexagonal grid system, demonstrated their application and value to city grids. During the 1920s, [https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/cauchon_noulan_16F.html Noulan Cauchon], a Canadian planner and engineer, further refined and optimized the hexagonal model—even showing how it can be integrated into existing cities.<ref name=":0" /> With growing concerns over vehicle flow, this model provided a reduction in collision points; from 16 to just 3 by reducing the 4-way intersection of a traditional orthogonal grid, to a 3-way intersection that allows for better sightline with its obtuse 120° angle.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last1=Ben-Joseph |first1=Eran |last2=Gordon |first2=David |date=October 2000 |title=Hexagonal Planning in Theory and Practice |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/713683965 |journal=Journal of Urban Design |volume=5 |issue=3 |pages=237–265 |doi=10.1080/713683965 |issn=1357-4809}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> However, [https://parks.canada.ca/culture/designation/personnage-person/thomas-adams Thomas Adams] who was "pivotal in making urban planning a separate profession and in codifying residential design practice" <ref name=":1" /> preferred square grids and suburban cul-de-sacs. Adam's rebutted Cauchon's work in his co-authored [[Harvard University|Harvard]] book: ''The Design of Residential Areas: Basic Considerations, Principles, and Methods'' (1934), modifying Cauchon's drawings to disfavour hexagonal grids, despite them being the most efficient grid model.<ref name=":0" /> This publishment received widespread attention, and led to the adoption of square grids in the downtown areas of most large American colonial cities. 

These areas represent the original land dimensions of the founded city, generally around one square mile. Some cities expanded the grid further out from the centre, but maps also show that, in general, as the distance from the centre increases, a variety of patterns emerge in no particular discernible order. In juxtaposition to the grid, they appear random. These new patterns have been systematically classified and their design characteristics measured.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Southworth | first1 = Michael | last2 = Owens | first2 = Peter | name-list-style=amp | year = 1993 | title = The Evolving Metropolis: Studies of Community, Neighbourhood, and Street Form at the Urban Edge | journal =   Journal of the American Planning Association| volume = 59 | issue = 3| pages = 271–288 | doi=10.1080/01944369308975880}}</ref>

In the United States, the grid system was widely used in most major cities and their [[suburb]]s until the 1960s. However, during the 1920s, the rapid adoption of the [[automobile]] caused a panic among [[urban planning|urban planners]], who, based on observation, claimed that speeding cars would eventually kill tens of thousands of small children per year. Apparently, at this early stage of the car's entry into the grid, the streets of major cities worldwide were the scene of virtual "slaughter" as the fatality rate in proportion to population was more than double the current rate.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.factbook.net/EGRF_Regional_analyses_HMCs.htm |title=Estimating global road fatalities – Regional Analyses – Highly Motorised Countries |access-date=2014-12-12 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100704165123/http://www.factbook.net/EGRF_Regional_analyses_HMCs.htm |archive-date=2010-07-04 }}</ref><ref>[https://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/trans/main/wp6/pdfdocs/RAS_2007.pdf Statistics of Road Traffic Accidents in Europe and North America Published: January 2007 or Published: April 2007] Accessed 17 May 2017</ref> In 2009, after several decades of road safety improvements and a continuous decline in fatalities, an estimated 33,963 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes and, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, "Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for children from 3 to 14 years old."<ref>[http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/811291.PDF Early Estimate of Motor Vehicle Traffic Fatalities in 2009 at crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov] Accessed 16 May 2017</ref> Planners, therefore, called for an inwardly focused "[[City block#Superblock|superblock]]" arrangement that minimized through automobile traffic and discouraged cars from traveling on anything but [[arterial road]]s; traffic generators, such as apartment complexes and shops, would be restricted to the edges of the superblock, along the arterial. This paradigm prevailed between about 1930 and 1960, especially in [[Los Angeles, California|Los Angeles]], where notable examples include [[Leimert Park, Los Angeles, California|Leimert Park]] (an early example) and [[Panorama City, Los Angeles, California|Panorama City]] (a late-period one).

[[File:Mittelholzer-ouagadougou.jpg|thumb|left|[[Ouagadougou]] ([[Burkina Faso]], ex [[Republic of Upper Volta|Upper Volta]], [[Africa]]), 1930]]A prominent 20th century urbanist, [[Lewis Mumford]], severely criticized some of the grid's characteristics: "With a T-square and a triangle, finally, the municipal engineer could, without the slightest training as either an architect or a sociologist, 'plan' a metropolis, with its standard lots, its standard blocks, its standard street widths, in short, with its standardized comparable, and replaceable parts. The new gridiron plans were spectacular in their inefficiency and waste. By usually failing to discriminate sufficiently between main arteries and residential streets, the first were not made wide enough while the second were usually too wide for purely neighborhood functions... as for its contribution to the permanent social functions of the city, the anonymous gridiron plan proved empty."<ref>[[Lewis Mumford|Mumford, Lewis]] (1961) ''The City in History: Its Origins, Its Transformation, and Its Prospects''. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. p.425.</ref>

In the 1960s, [[Traffic engineering (transportation)|traffic engineers]] and urban planners abandoned the grid virtually wholesale in favor of a "[[street hierarchy]]". This is a thoroughly "asymmetric" street arrangement in which a residential subdivision—often surrounded by a [[Noise barrier|noise wall]] or a [[gated community|security gate]]—is completely separated from the road network except for one or two connections to arterial roads. In a way, this is a return to [[medieval]] styles: as noted in [[Spiro Kostof]]'s seminal history of [[urban design]], ''The City Shaped'', there is a strong resemblance between the street arrangements of modern American suburbs and those of medieval [[Arab]] and [[Moorish]] cities. In each case, the community unit at hand—the clan or extended family in the [[Muslim]] world, the economically homogeneous [[Subdivision (land)|subdivision]] in modern suburbia—isolates itself from the larger urban scene by using dead ends and ''[[cul-de-sac|culs-de-sac]]''.

[[File:Milton Keynes Sector.jpg|right|thumb|A one km<sup>2</sup> sector in [[Milton Keynes]] framed by major roads in a grid configuration. The road network within the sector uses cul-de-sac streets complemented by bike and foot paths which connect the entire sector and beyond.]]

====Milton Keynes====
{{Main|Milton Keynes grid road system}}
One famous grid system is in the British new town of [[Milton Keynes]]. In this planned city, which began construction in 1967, a system of ten "horizontal" (roughly east–west) and eleven "vertical" (roughly north–south) roads was used, with [[roundabout]]s at each intersection. The horizontal roads were all given names ending in 'way' and H numbers (for 'horizontal', e.g., H3 Monks Way). The vertical roads were given names ending in 'street' and V numbers (for 'vertical', e.g., [[V6 Grafton Street]]). Each grid road was spaced roughly one kilometre along from the next, forming squares of approximately one square kilometre. Each square and each roundabout was given its own name. The system provided very easy transport within the city, although it confused visitors who were unfamiliar with the system. The grid squares thus formed are far larger than the city blocks described earlier, and the road layouts within the grid squares are generally 'organic' in form – matching the street hierarchy model described above.