THE GRID

Douglas Kahl, author

Professor Daniel de Riva, instructor

The notion of the grid in terms of city planning has long been a favorite, having

been used all around the world by countless cultures and civilizations across time.

Cities such as Monhenjo-Daru,1

many of the ancient Greek and Roman colonies, as well

as more recent cities and expansions of cities throughout Europe, North-, and South

America have all employed the use and variation of the grid layout. Despite the repeated

use over the course of time, however, the presence of the grid was not as frequent as

one may expect. From the end of Antiquity to the colonial times, the grid was largely

missing from the developing cities of the world. The absence of the grid implies an

organic and step-by-step growth where the presence of a grid suggests a high degree of

planning at the city level. It was not until the 16th

century that the grid began to appear in

North America in early Spanish settlements.2

During the late 18th

century, a virtual grid

was applied across the entire United States when the Land Ordinance Act was

implemented,3

setting the stage for further use of the grid in North America. When the

grid began to gain popularity in planning efforts, its use was seen almost entirely in new

settlements (North- and South America) or expansions to existing cities (Europe); this

1 Dan Stanislawski, “The Origin and Spread of the Grid-Pattern Town,” Geographical Review 36, no. 1

(1946): 108.

2 Stanislawski, “Grid-Pattern Town,” 105.

3 “Land Ordinance of 1785,” Stanford.edu, http://west.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/pager.php?id=49.

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can be seen in the examples of Madrid and Barcelona, among other examples to be

discussed later in the text.

The advantages in using the grid are numerous and it was often done so for

greater space efficiency and ease of control, especially when used in military setups.

The beauty of the grid, in most situations, was that it was able to be extended in all

directions with little modification, except to adjust for terrain and other natural barriers.

In using the grid, the social hierarchies were largely removed as everyone was allotted a

similar-sized plot of land. Even for logistical purposes, the most simplest of measuring

tools can be used to lay out the sites.4

Overall, though, the grid was a way to impart

order on an otherwise order-free environment. Despite the many advantages, there are

several disadvantages in using the grid.

The aforementioned advantage of a lack of hierarchy, in the social aspect, can

also be viewed as a disadvantage when the hierarchy is viewed through a commercial

and civic lens.5

If all the streets are planned out the same with no clear distinction made

in the initial planning process, opportunities, such as a strong city center, can be

missed; a similar situation is seen in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, a city to be discussed

further. The grid has the tendency to increase the density of a city, which is sometimes

desirable, as in the case of Oshkosh once again, but sometimes it increases too much

as seen in the early 20th

century in Washington. In Barcelona, for instance, the efforts

4 Stanislawski, “Grid-Pattern Town,” 106.

5 Ibid.

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were to evenly spread the increasing population across the city, a goal that was largely

achieved.

One of the best-known examples of a grid expansion to a European city was the

Eixample in Barcelona, Spain, by Ildefonso Cerda.6

Barcelona was expanding within its

city walls to the point it was ready to burst, figuratively. Housing, health, and comfort

levels were so low, that something had to be done. With the proposed demolition of the

exterior city wall moving forward, starting in 1854,7

the city was free to grow and expand

outward. To plan for and accommodate such growth in a reasonable and logical manner,

a plan was needed. The Eixample, or the extension, went through a number of iterations

over many years. Several different plans were proposed, aside from Cerda’s expansive

grid, including a radiocentric design done by architect, Antonio Rovira y Trias8

and a

Baroque-inspired plan by Josep Fontsere.9

Cerda’s plan, however, was quite

revolutionary in the scope and scale and was to be an example for other European cities

to follow in the future. The Eixample was an example of comprehensive planning being

applied at a large scale to the planning of a city, as opposed to letting ad hoc growth

take place at the hands of city leaders and the everyday citizen; the plan was a shift in

ideological thinking in the profession of urban planning.10

Though Cerda went through

countless block layouts and arrangements for his proposed extension, the final basic

6 Joan Busquets, Barcelona: The Urban Evolution of a Compact City (Roverto, Italy: Nicolodi Editore, 2005),

122.

7 Busquets, Barcelona, 118.

8 Ibid., 120.

9 Ibid., 122.

10 Ibid., 123.

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block layout adhered to the following measurements: 113.3 meters square blocks

(approximately, and increasing or decreasing where necessary) with 20 meter

chamfered corners, all sitting next to streets 20 meters wide, offering sufficient widths

for the emerging popularity of the automobile.11

A number of building arrangements

were available to be seated on each of these square blocks, including U, L, and H

shapes, most fronts pushed to the street edge with the rear of the buildings, or the

center of the block, open to the elements. That was the key, too, for Cerda, in that there

always had to be some sort of access from the street to the rear or center parts of the

block; never were they to fill the entire site with a full volume building.12

The major

avenues and diagonal routes running through the Eixample were 50 meters in width,

thereby establishing a hierarchy among all the other streets within the city. The ultimate

goals of Cerda’s plan were to provide healthy and hygienic conditions for the citizenry,

improved circulation for traffic and pedestrians, and clear direction for future expansion,

in all directions.13

During the mid-1800s, expansion was a running theme throughout much of

Spain, as well as throughout the world. Cities everywhere were beginning to break the

traditional walled-city setup in favor of an expansive and open arrangement. In addition

to Barcelona, Spain’s capital city of Madrid was moving ahead with similar plans for

11 Ibid., 130.

12 Ibid., 127.

13 Ibid., 129.

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expansion.

14

The goals and end results for Madrid’s own expansion were not as

noteworthy as those from Barcelona. Madrid, too, was expanding at an increased rate,

but being the seat of Spanish government and lacking any major physical barriers in the

terrain, the city was free to expand in nearly any direction, except to the south due to the

poor quality of the river environment. Beginning in the 1860s, Madrid’s own grid

addition and expansion began under the direction of Carlos María del Castro, who was

Madrid’s city engineer, and Carlos Ibáñez de Ibero.15

The population in the city that saw

the most growth was that of the middle class, the people performing the day to day

tasks that allowed for the continued operation of the capital city. The actual grid

expansion of Madrid predated that of Barcelona, but was not implemented until

afterwards. Similarly though to Barcelona, the expansion of the grid sought to increase

the street widths in an effort to accommodate the automobile and the mass amounts of

people that were beginning to use it. Alongside the wide – almost too wide – streets

created in Castro’s grid expansion are rows and rows of trees, intended to increase the

everyday pleasure of the average pedestrian. The blocks were designed in a similar

fashion, in that the buildings were intended to sit along the street fronts. Though there

were center spaces open to the outdoors, it is not clear whether or not there was

required street access, which meant the restrictions for filling the entire block were

lessened and people were free to build as they wished. The grid plan in Madrid also

14 “A View of Madrid: Breaking Out,” Blogspot.com, http://aviewofmadrid.blogspot.com/2009/09/breaking-

out.html.

15 “A View of Madrid.”

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includes the chamfered corners, similar to those seen in Barcelona, but not to the same

scale – the corners are much smaller in Madrid and the enclosed intersections they

create are noticeably different from the large and open ones in Barcelona. But also in a

similar vain to that of Barcelona, the grid expansion joins up to the original city center

with relative ease, even if the differences between the old and new portions of the cities

are quite apparent.

In 1807, nearly 200 years after the island’s discovery, plans for the application

of a grid system over Manhattan were commissioned.16

Despite the former Dutch colony

already having a well-established road system and such, the grid of Manhattan is not

seen in the same light as those from Barcelona or Madrid – it was not seen as the same

type of expansion, but more a concrete establishment of what the city was already

becoming. Four years later, in 1811, it was determined, in a seemingly arbitrary

manner, that there would be 12 north/south streets, running longitudinally along the

island, with 155 cross streets intersecting at 90 degrees. The possibility of over 2,000

city blocks was suddenly possible and despite the fact that there was almost no one

ready to fill the vast expanse of the island,17

the plan was set so that when the time

came, a clear plan was in place to avoid potential chaos. The size of the blocks was

secondary to the accommodation of the number of necessary streets. The resultant was

16 Rem Koolhaas, Delirious New York (New York: The Monacelli Press, 1994), 18.

17 Koolhaas, Delirious New York, 18.

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a city block 200’ x 800’

18

that could be repeated ad infinitum, bound only by the limits

of the flanking East and Hudson Rivers. This is in contrast to what took place in

Barcelona, where the size of the block, and the manner in which it was arranged (or the

possibilities for arrangement) were of paramount concern. New York was often troubled

with poor housing conditions that offered no sunlight or ventilation to its residents.

Perhaps it was because of the conditions in New York that 40 years later Castro and

Cerda made the decisions they did. No such concern existed with the creation of New

York’s grid and block layout. But, in similarity to both Barcelona and Madrid, the grid is

nearly the same across the board, offering no distinction or articulation in design. Such

a situation, in each city, does pose the challenge for architects and designers as to how

they can increase the quality of life through innovative facades and building

arrangements. Additionally, and similarly the Spanish cities, there is forever, as some

believe, limitation to the future development and expansion within the city. Even if

someone were to acquire all properties on a city block, projects are still limited to a set

size due to the dimensions of the city block in which they sit. On the other hand,

because it will be nearly impossible for an individual to overtake huge amounts of

property, an assured sense of variety is granted, in class structure and architecture,

among other variables.

On the other end of the spectrum, far removed from the sea port- or capital

18 Gabrielle Esperdy, “Defying the Grid: A Retroactive Manifesto for the Culture of Decongestion,” Perspecta

30 (1999): 11.

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cities of the world, sits Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Oshkosh was founded in 1853

19

– in the

same era as the expansions of Madrid and Barcelona – as an early settlement for the

expanding lumber industry of the United States’ Midwest region. The location at the

intersection of two major waterways provided convenient and immediate access to

hundreds of thousands of acres of forests. The city’s growth began at the river and

expanded inland, utilizing the grid. Following the town lines dictated by the Land

Ordinance Act, the first main streets through the city were more or less already planned

out. From those north/south and east/west lines, the rest of the grid laid out, but not

necessarily all at once. Individual blocks, or groups of blocks were planned out and built

at separate times, but still following the basic logics of the implied grid. Since the city

was not planned all in one swoop, block sizes vary from street to street.20

This not-all-

at-once approach is a major difference between the three previously mentioned cities.

Had Oshkosh been planned and laid out all at once, present-day issues revolving around

the placement of the highway could have been avoided. Additionally, with exception to

the downtown neighborhoods of the city, nearly all of the buildings in the city stand by

themselves with no adjacent structures on any of their sides. The founders of Oshkosh

often saw themselves as being Midwestern representations of other great cities and

civilizations. For instance, the city was originally referred to as “Athens”21

and the

19 Clinton F. Karstaedt, ed., Oshkosh: One Hundred Years a City (Oshkosh, Wisconsin: Oshkosh Centennial,

Inc., 1953), 15.

20 George Harrison, “Map of the City of Oshkosh, Winnebago County, State of Wisconsin,” 1853.

21 Karstaedt, One Hundred Years a City, 8.

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southernmost neighborhood of the city was called “Brooklyn”

22

due to the geographic

similarities to New York City’s Manhattan/Brooklyn relationship. As such, using the grid

was further encouraged as they were likely seeking to emulate these great city-examples

from history. The grid in Oshkosh is currently working to its disadvantage, though.

Former city centers are no longer easily accessed by the automobile, which the city is

so dependent on. The inclusion of various Baroque city planning principles, such as the

diagonal boulevards, could improve the quality of life within Oshkosh, providing easy

and direct access to and from the major points of interest. To further complicate

matters, in the 1950s, a major highway (previously mentioned) was built that ran along

a north/south line through the city. This highway, though not entirely over-bearing and

intrusive, created a separate world of city-evolution and expansion on the west side. The

west side of Oshkosh is dominated by a suburban atmosphere, completely ignoring the

predefined grid that the rest of the city adhered to. The moves, however, were consistent

with such instructions and advice being offered by entities such as the U.S. government.

Both Oshkosh and Barcelona have unique corner conditions in their city blocks, though

Oshkosh’s were not done by intention as were Barcelona’s. Barcelona’s chamfered

corners provided a more interesting experience at the intersections of streets; the

corners of the blocks in Oshkosh are dominated by small commercial facilities, which

also provide a break from the monotony of residential homes, and thus, offer a more

22 Clarence J. Jungwirth, A History of Oshkosh: The Early Years – Volume I (Oshkosh, Wisconsin: Oshkosh

Public Library, 1993), 106.

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interesting experience for both the pedestrian and driver.

The future of each of these cities is perhaps quite different from what some

may expect. In his 1996 text, Ladders, author and theorist Albert Pope argued that the

days of the traditional grid layout across any given city are numbered. Despite the

popularity or dominance of a grid on a city today, such as in Barcelona or New York,

time will eventually deteriorate those grids by breaking them down, which will involve

the removal of multiple cross-streets and intersections. The result, in plan, will be the

emerging appearance of a ladder – a former grid reconfigured to act very similar to a

traditional suburb subdivision with one point of entry, usually situated within a

superblock. The removal of streets also involves the removal of intersections, which

Pope maintained are hazards to both pedestrians and drivers.

The process of deterioration, to be sure, is a slow one, and the results will not

be fully realized for generations in most cases, but the end results are inevitable if

automobile and pedestrian habits of the present continue. Such results are already

present in smaller cities and towns where parkways systems are being introduced,

cutting off access to crisscrossing streets in order to provide fast-paced – but not

highway fast – traffic flows. In places like New York or Chicago, where buildings sit

within a grid, but not completely restricted by height, the benefits to the numerous

connections between buildings and streets offered by the traditional grid are hard to

ignore or alter. However, in a city like Barcelona, where despite the grid being a highly

dominant aspect from any vantage point in the city, and where height restrictions of

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buildings are a way of life, the removal of a street can easily be imagined. In place of the

former street, increased green space could be provided as well as a continuation of the

building front and street facade, connecting two separate blocks into one, while

maintaining the same center conditions the two blocks exhibit, such as an open

courtyard space. Even in Oshkosh, where the grid is not apparent to the average person,

the removal of a street would have little effect and could easily be accomplished. Since

most of the neighborhoods are residential in nature with one- or two-story homes, the

infill could also be additional green space, but could just as easily be the addition of

another home.

The grid layout has immense possibilities for social advancement and

cultivation, were society (in any region of the world) to remain a pedestrian-friendly one.

More and more the automobile is taking over. The very existence of Barcelona’s and

Madrid’s expansion, in part, was to provide increased room for automobiles. Likewise,

though not practical for most New Yorkers, the auto is ever-present in that city as well.

Finally, in Oshkosh, the automobile is almost necessary to get from one point to

another, especially since public transportation is lacking in extensiveness and

availability. With everyone using automobiles to travel, the grid is not really necessary

for continued growth. As long as an auto drops one off along a storefront or some other

street, there does not need to be a concern for how that street interacts with another. As

difficult, or perhaps unrealistic, as Albert Pope may come across in Ladders, the general

logics of his arguments are plausible. As much as cities like Madrid and Barcelona (not

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so much New York or Oshkosh) want to give the appearance of a pedestrian-friendly

city, they are seemingly more devoted to the automobile. Planners may already be

aware of this as more and more, city expansions follow more suburban-styled layouts

with large blocks that contain large housing and commercial spaces, as well as enough

parking for residents, shoppers, and guests. Both Barcelona and New York are confined

by natural land barriers, but in Madrid and Oshkosh, current expansions have more or

less left the idea of the grid along the wayside. Someday, perhaps, when we lessen our

dependence and likeness of the automobile, we will welcome the grid back into the

cityscape. Until then though, the ideas and concepts of Albert Pope become a reality

more and more every day.