You have just been selected to participate in an ideas competition which is open exclusively to those who finish reading this sentence. Congratulations and thank you for your forthcoming entry. The 21st Congress for the New Urbanism will be May 29 to June 1 in Salt Lake City, Utah, the hometown of the Mormon grid. [...] Read more – ‘Salt Lake City Interrotta: An Ideas Competition’.
During CNU 21 in Salt Lake City, six urbanists will face off in a Lincoln-Douglas style battle to forever settle the Great Grid Debate. Nowhere in the world is the grid as expansive as the US West. As our cities urbanize we will need more design tools to continue redeveloping and intensifying our still young [...] Read more – ‘The Great American Grid Debate at CNU 21’.
The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world. The Geography and Map Division of the library “has custody of the largest and most comprehensive cartographic collection in the world with collections numbering over 5.5 million maps, 80,000 atlases, 6,000 reference works, over 500 globes and globe gores, 3,000 raised relief models, and [...] Read more – ‘Map of Quitman, Georgia, in 1885’.
The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world. The Geography and Map Division of the library “has custody of the largest and most comprehensive cartographic collection in the world with collections numbering over 5.5 million maps, 80,000 atlases, 6,000 reference works, over 500 globes and globe gores, 3,000 raised relief models, and [...] Read more – ‘Map of Bowling Green, Kentucky, in 1871’.
The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world. The Geography and Map Division of the library “has custody of the largest and most comprehensive cartographic collection in the world with collections numbering over 5.5 million maps, 80,000 atlases, 6,000 reference works, over 500 globes and globe gores, 3,000 raised relief models, and [...] Read more – ‘Map of Cheyenne, Wyoming, in 1882’.
This was the first full calendar year for The Great American Grid after it went live at the end of 2011. The site statistics for 2012 are in. The totals include 6,378 visits (123 visits per week) in 96 different countries–from Albania to Zimbabwe. In this article I parse the numbers to try and see [...] Read more – ‘Who Cares About the American Grid?: An Analysis of 2012 Website Data’.
In 1811, John Randel, Jr., picked up his pen for the last time as he finished his drawing for the street plan of Manhattan. The map was filed with the city in that same year. The completion of this monumental work was no easy task. Surveying an area of 34 square miles would prove difficult [...] Read more – ‘William Bridges’s Map of Manhattan, 1814’.
The street plan has always been regarded as the foundation of all city planning. From Olmsted’s address before the Second National Conference on City Planning and Congestion of Population in 1910. Read more – ‘Quoting Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr.’.
I know this is not the USA, but it is our southern continental neighbor. During a perusal of the internet I stumbled across this beautiful map of Lima, Peru, from 1750. Interestingly, I found it within Wikipedia’s entry on the Garden city movement which reads: “Peru’s modern capital, Lima, was designed as a garden city [...] Read more – ‘Map of Lima, Peru in 1750’.
This article has been reposted from Mike Pauls’ excellent website Recivilization. The original article may be found here. *** Hear an American voice in the wilderness, speaking to us from the year 1830. In an anonymous article in the American Journal of Science and Arts (as quoted by John Reps), the writer declares the need [...] Read more – ‘The American Grid’.
This article has been reposted from Mike Pauls’ excellent website Recivilization. The original article may be found here. *** We associate it with modern civilization, and rigid order, but in truth urge to rectangularity has appeared in peoples all over the world, in all times. Neolithic farmers in western Europe often laid out their fields [...] Read more – ‘Origins of the Grid’.
What is a block? Such a simple question does not seem to warrant even a blog post. After all, it is a term that has been used frequently by pretty much everyone—from Jane Jacobs to Jennifer Lopez. And block size is one of the first attributes sought by urbanists when studying a town or city. [...] Read more – ‘What is a Block?’.
This article was written by James W. Earl, a professor of English at the University of Oregon. It is reposted here by permission. Currently, James’ photography is on display at the Eugene, Oregon Airport through July. If you find yourself there, be sure and visit the gallery. For a few years I flew back and [...] Read more – ‘The Art of the Circle Field’.
The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world. The Geography and Map Division of the library “has custody of the largest and most comprehensive cartographic collection in the world with collections numbering over 5.5 million maps, 80,000 atlases, 6,000 reference works, over 500 globes and globe gores, 3,000 raised relief models, and [...] Read more – ‘Map of Princeton, Illinois, in 1870’.
The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world. The Geography and Map Division of the library “has custody of the largest and most comprehensive cartographic collection in the world with collections numbering over 5.5 million maps, 80,000 atlases, 6,000 reference works, over 500 globes and globe gores, 3,000 raised relief models, and [...] Read more – ‘Map of Washington, DC, in 1884’.
The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world. The Geography and Map Division of the library “has custody of the largest and most comprehensive cartographic collection in the world with collections numbering over 5.5 million maps, 80,000 atlases, 6,000 reference works, over 500 globes and globe gores, 3,000 raised relief models, and [...] Read more – ‘Map of South Bend, Indiana, in 1886’.
The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world. The Geography and Map Division of the library “has custody of the largest and most comprehensive cartographic collection in the world with collections numbering over 5.5 million maps, 80,000 atlases, 6,000 reference works, over 500 globes and globe gores, 3,000 raised relief models, and [...] Read more – ‘Map of Kokomo, Indiana, in 1868’.
The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world. The Geography and Map Division of the library “has custody of the largest and most comprehensive cartographic collection in the world with collections numbering over 5.5 million maps, 80,000 atlases, 6,000 reference works, over 500 globes and globe gores, 3,000 raised relief models, and [...] Read more – ‘Map of Palm Beach County, Florida, in 1915’.
The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world. The Geography and Map Division of the library “has custody of the largest and most comprehensive cartographic collection in the world with collections numbering over 5.5 million maps, 80,000 atlases, 6,000 reference works, over 500 globes and globe gores, 3,000 raised relief models, and [...] Read more – ‘Map of Key West, Florida, in 1884’.
The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world. The Geography and Map Division of the library “has custody of the largest and most comprehensive cartographic collection in the world with collections numbering over 5.5 million maps, 80,000 atlases, 6,000 reference works, over 500 globes and globe gores, 3,000 raised relief models, and [...] Read more – ‘Map of Hailey, Idaho, in 1884’.
The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world. The Geography and Map Division of the library “has custody of the largest and most comprehensive cartographic collection in the world with collections numbering over 5.5 million maps, 80,000 atlases, 6,000 reference works, over 500 globes and globe gores, 3,000 raised relief models, and [...] Read more – ‘Map of Ogden, Utah, in 1890’.
The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world. The Geography and Map Division of the library “has custody of the largest and most comprehensive cartographic collection in the world with collections numbering over 5.5 million maps, 80,000 atlases, 6,000 reference works, over 500 globes and globe gores, 3,000 raised relief models, and [...] Read more – ‘Map of Santa Barbara, California, in 1877’.
The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world. The Geography and Map Division of the library “has custody of the largest and most comprehensive cartographic collection in the world with collections numbering over 5.5 million maps, 80,000 atlases, 6,000 reference works, over 500 globes and globe gores, 3,000 raised relief models, and [...] Read more – ‘Map of San Diego, California, in 1876’.
The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world. The Geography and Map Division of the library “has custody of the largest and most comprehensive cartographic collection in the world with collections numbering over 5.5 million maps, 80,000 atlases, 6,000 reference works, over 500 globes and globe gores, 3,000 raised relief models, and [...] Read more – ‘Map of Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1891’.
Fanis Grammenos, a principal of Urban Pattern Associates, recently published an article at Planetizen.com titled “Choosing a Grid, or Not.” The article addresses the question “What should be the preferred layout for a new neighborhood?” while focusing specifically on the grid plan. I encourage you to read the article, but to summarize here are three [...] Read more – ‘Choose the Grid? Absolutely.’.
The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world. The Geography and Map Division of the library “has custody of the largest and most comprehensive cartographic collection in the world with collections numbering over 5.5 million maps, 80,000 atlases, 6,000 reference works, over 500 globes and globe gores, 3,000 raised relief models, and [...] Read more – ‘Map of Port Townsend, Washington, in 1878’.
This amazing fact comes from the Encyclopedia of Chicago: In less than the lifespan of one of Chicago’s earliest residents, Emily Beaubien Le Beau (1825–1919), Chicago grew from fewer than 100 people into being the fourth-largest city in the world. Now that’s amazing. Read more – ‘Amazing Fact in the Annals of Urban History’.
The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world. The Geography and Map Division of the library “has custody of the largest and most comprehensive cartographic collection in the world with collections numbering over 5.5 million maps, 80,000 atlases, 6,000 reference works, over 500 globes and globe gores, 3,000 raised relief models, and [...] Read more – ‘Map of Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1887’.
The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world. The Geography and Map Division of the library “has custody of the largest and most comprehensive cartographic collection in the world with collections numbering over 5.5 million maps, 80,000 atlases, 6,000 reference works, over 500 globes and globe gores, 3,000 raised relief models, and [...] Read more – ‘Map of Great Falls, Montana, in 1891’.
The following article is reposted by permission from Jarrett Walker’s blog HumanTransit.org. You can view the original post here. Why do transit planners love grids? Now and then you’ll even hear one muttering about “grid integrity” or “completing the grid.” What are they talking about? Suppose you’re designing an ideal transit system for a fairly [...] Read more – ‘The Power and Pleasure of Grids’.
I have heard many criticisms about the grid plan–It’s boring, It’s unnatural, et cetera. Having happily visited and lived within gridded towns and cities I have wondered why these perceptions exist. What is so wrong with straight streets? Following, I address some common fallacies in a defense for the grid. Fallacy #1: The grid is [...] Read more – ‘Fallacies Against the Grid’.
The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world. The Geography and Map Division of the library “has custody of the largest and most comprehensive cartographic collection in the world with collections numbering over 5.5 million maps, 80,000 atlases, 6,000 reference works, over 500 globes and globe gores, 3,000 raised relief models, and [...] Read more – ‘Map of Reno, Nevada, in 1907’.
The Greatest Grid: The Master Plan of Manhattan, 1811-2011 is an exhibit on display at the Museum of the City of New York through April 15, 2012. It explores the comprehensive history of Manhattan’s master street plan. Following is a review of this exhibition as well as a critique of a concurrent exhibition titled The [...] Read more – ‘Visiting the Greatest Grid’.
The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world. The Geography and Map Division of the library “has custody of the largest and most comprehensive cartographic collection in the world with collections numbering over 5.5 million maps, 80,000 atlases, 6,000 reference works, over 500 globes and globe gores, 3,000 raised relief models, and [...] Read more – ‘Map of Eureka, California, in 1902’.
The grid has been used continuously throughout the world as a development pattern since Hippodamus first used it at Piraeus, Greece in the 5th century BC. A lot happened over the next 2,000 years after that, but in 1682 William Penn used the grid as the physical foundation for Philadelphia. With that, the grid began [...] Read more – ‘A History of the American Grid in 4 Minutes’.
The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world. The Geography and Map Division of the library “has custody of the largest and most comprehensive cartographic collection in the world with collections numbering over 5.5 million maps, 80,000 atlases, 6,000 reference works, over 500 globes and globe gores, 3,000 raised relief models, and [...] Read more – ‘Map of Topeka, Kansas, in 1869’.
The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world. The Geography and Map Division of the library “has custody of the largest and most comprehensive cartographic collection in the world with collections numbering over 5.5 million maps, 80,000 atlases, 6,000 reference works, over 500 globes and globe gores, 3,000 raised relief models, and [...] Read more – ‘Map of Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1918’.
Block Size: 198 feet x 198 feet or 3 chains x 3 chains Portland Manhattan Google Maps Map from 1879 Walk Score Population Density What is a chain? Read more – ‘The Grid Today: Portland OR’.
The following content has been reposted with permission by Charlie Gardner at Old Urbanist. To view the original post from April 4, 2011 please visit http://oldurbanist.blogspot.com/2011/04/defense-of-grid-part-i-portland-and.html A (Defense!) of the Grid: Portland and 19th Century American City Grids In a lengthy critique of Portland’s street grid, planner Fanis Grammenos argues that the grid makes inefficient [...] Read more – ‘A Defense of the Grid’.
The Great American Grid is an essay by Tamara Thornton published in American Heritage Magazine, Volume 39, Issue 3, April 1988. The urban grid is oftentimes portrayed as a rigid framework that prohibits creativity and lacks humanizing qualities. This is an unfortunate point of view. The grid’s rigidity can manifest in a number of positive [...] Read more – ‘The Great American Grid: An Essay’.
The following content has been reposted from NASA’s website. See the original post at http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=5772. Resembling a work of modern art, variegated green crop circles cover what was once shortgrass prairie in southwestern Kansas. The most common crops in this region—Finney County—are corn, wheat, and sorghum. Each of these crops was at a different point [...] Read more – ‘Crop Circles in Kansas’.
The Museum of the City of New York is hosting an exhibition titled The Greatest Grid: The Master Plan of Manhattan, 1811-2011. In the Museum’s own words, the exhibition celebrates the 200th anniversary of the Commissioners’ Plan of 1811, the foundational document that established Manhattan’s famous street grid. Featuring an original hand-drawn map of New [...] Read more – ‘The Greatest Grid: An Exhibition in Manhattan’.
To reveal the history of the Manhattan grid’s implementation, the New York Times has posted this interactive map. The most compelling portion of this map is found under the Street Openings tab. You can move the slider back and forth through time and see when each individual street was constructed. The display is amazing. While [...] Read more – ‘How Manhattan’s Grid Grew’.
The ubiquitous grid has been utilized across the United States. From small farming towns to mega-cities, from Hawaii to Alaska, essentially the exact same system of right angles is largely responsible for the variety of urbanism in America. Paragonah, Utah and Chicago, Illinois, for example, share the exact same block structure; their grids are almost [...] Read more – ‘Infographic: The Great American Grid’.
This infographic shows the sequential levels of subdivision that are specified by the Land Ordinance of 1785. These levels start at the scale of a state and extend down to a township, a section, a quarter-section, and so on. Shown within the infographic are subdivisions smaller than 10 acres. These are conjectural extensions of the [...] Read more – ‘Infographic: The Land Ordinance of 1785’.
But you have to drive out of Carroll, bisecting the square fields of corn and soybeans, to tell just how strong the presence of [the grid] is here. The roads run due north-south and east-west, and so do the farmhouses, the machine sheds, the barns, and the rows of corn and beans. Go into a [...] Read more – ‘Quoting Tamara Thornton’.
The most meaningful permanences [of the city] are those provided by the street and the plan. From The Architecture of the City Read more – ‘Quoting Aldo Rossi’.
Norman Garrick and Wesley Marshall analyzed crash data for 24 medium-sized California cities. They compiled this data under a classification system based on street network types from grids to cul-de-sacs. Their results were telling. Marshall says: A lot of people feel that they want to live in a cul-de-sac, they feel like it’s a safer [...] Read more – ‘Debunking the Cul-de-Sac’.
At CNU19 in Madison, Wisconsin, I presented a paper on the flaws of street connectivity indicies. The abstract is below. Abstract: Various connectivity indices have been generated in an effort to insure a minimum standard of connectivity in newly developed street networks. While these metrics succeed at simplicity, they fail at consistency. Multiple analyses of [...] Read more – ‘Chicago is Rural: The Inconsistencies and Absurdities of Street Connectivity Indicies’.
