THE GRID - PHOEBE SNEP

A city’s primary aim is to meet the needs of its citizens. In terms of city design, this is often, and has often been for many centuries, realized through simple and rational planning. The grid is the quintessential and rational city design. It feeds into further development and the walkability of a city.

Stemming from a base design of an orthogonal plan, either as a gridiron of long rectangular blocks or a ‘checkerboard’ of square blocks, the grid can extend or vary to suit the needs of any establishment. From New York’s long, concrete blocks to ancient Chinese cities, such as Suzhou or the Forbidden City, the orthogonal pattern can be personalized and utilized to create varied public and private spaces. These early examples of the grid in action show its longevity, and although it has faced some adversity, it remains the most logical structure of development for new settlements and extensions alike.

Support for the grid comes in the form of arguments for its simplicity and logicality alike, or as was said by Craig et al. in 2008; the grid gives “clear structure, comprehensible order, modularity and expandability”, all qualities that allow one to better understand and move around their city. In the 1811 plan of New York, the grid was utilized for its convenience, but also for its ability to maximise land usage with the view that all land is of value and should not be wasted. Criticisms of this, such as Rose-Redwood’s scathing analysis in 2011 highlight the value of aesthetics and “national grandeur” as important factors of city design, factors that are lacking in the pragmatism of the grid. It is this view of aesthetics that has brought in much of the opposition to the grid, or the support for other designs. In the Middle Ages, after the grid had been used for centuries already, ‘organic’ street layouts came back into usage, although they only lasted a short time until fading back into the backdrop of urban design. Simon Steven’s alternative design, however, has lasted far longer and still sees some level of appreciation. His concentric, radial design was implemented in Amsterdam, a city that is known to this day for its beautiful layout and general aesthetics.

Finally, as Melbourne’s sprawl will tell you, the era of the car has taken roads to vastly longer distances to create crescents and cul de sacs for the idyllic suburban home. Consistently, new plans are created for prettier, quieter streets and varied directions but, as Kostof proclaimed, the grid has always won the war. In America, Washington’s organic street form was soon overwhelmed by the gridded cities surrounding it, and in fact by its own gridded expansion. Acknowledged by Speck (2012), early baby boomers are moving from the once idyllic leafy suburbia to more dense urban areas where amenities are all walkable distances. While the grid is not necessarily a walkability requirement, it is easy to see the usefulness of straight and regular streets to increase accessibility on foot and confidence in getting around the city.

This is perhaps the most valuable result of the grid design in the current day. As cars are flooding cities and sustainability is increasingly becoming an important part of day to day life, the ability to walk or cycle between home, work, shops and other regular use areas is becoming more and more valuable (A Forsyth and K Krizek, 2010). Not only this, but the health benefits of these modes of transport and the culture created by constant human interaction are the largest factors in making a place liveable.  As the proportion of young people getting their licenses is dropping (Speck, 2012) and congestion is still causing huge waits in getting to work, it seems impractical to continue creating these large, spread out suburbs. The grid as an orthogonal structure doesn’t change, however the shape and size of blocks can change, becoming more or less permeable by people travelling on foot or by car, and can be used to create city centres, central squares and similar elements of a settlement.

The orthogonal layout and varying size of blocks are what makes the grid so useful for every city across the board. Got a city on the side of a mountain? All good, just turn that grid to an angle so you’re not travelling straight uphill and you’re set for a good city. Want to create a giant public park for your citizens? Just combine a couple of squares from your grid and this park will fit perfectly. Want to create a busy pedestrian hub with a quieter edge to the south? With a gradual increase in block size, pedestrians will become fewer toward the south, as the walkability of a city also depends on the easy of getting to the other side of a block in decent time. As seen in San Diego (Adams, 2014), however, blocks that are too small can cause similar frustrations to large blocks, with the number of streets pedestrians must cross to get anywhere, and the amount of waiting at traffic lights that entails. As with oversized blocks, small blocks give priority to the car giving it increased access at the impediment to the pedestrian.

In terms of sustainability, in terms of health and efficiency, in terms of liveability, all points call for a simple answer. In fact, the most simple of all options. The grid is more walkable than any other design, and thus more sustainable as it requires less cars; it’s more efficient to use to travel from A to B and can be designed to fit any agendas. Of any and all options to help Melbourne’s development and that of cities around the world, the grid has been shown to be the most effective. Plus, you’re way less likely to get lost.

Forsyth, Ann and Krizek, Kevin, “Promoting Walking and Bicycling: Assessing the Evidence to Assist Planners”, Built Environments 36, no. 4 (2010), 429-446.

Craig, Barry et al., “The Hippodamian Grid: Its Evolution and Role in Planning Walkable Communities”, Journal of Urban Design 12, no. 13 (2008), 163-176.

Speck, Jeff Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2012).

Rose-Redwood, Reuben, “Mythologies of the Grid in the Empire City”, Geographical Review 101, no. 3 (2011), 396-413.

Kostof, Spiro “The Grid”, The City Shaped (London: Thames and Hudson, 1991), 95-123

“Why Downtown San Diego Pedestrians Stop for Cars More Than Any Other City and What to do About it,” Bill Adams, San Diego Free Press, 1/2/2014, http://sandiegofreepress.org/2014/02/why-downtown-san-diego-pedestrians-stop-for-cars-more-than-any-other-city-and-what-to-do-about-it/.