The grid as algorithm for land use: a reappraisal of the 1811 Manhattan grid

Gergely Baics and Leah Meisterlin

Planning Perspectives, 2019, vol. 34, issue 3, 391-414

Abstract: Manhattan’s 1811 street grid defined the spatial framework for urbanization. Existing scholarship, however, has not empirically examined its role in determining land-use geography. By mid-nineteenth century, New York City had grown substantially into its street system, but had not yet instituted comprehensive zoning regulations. We explore interactions between the grid’s morphology and land-use placement on the street in a generally unregulated environment, comparing patterns in the city’s pre- and post-grid halves. Deploying new GIS data and methods, we complement existing interpretations showing that the grid guided Manhattan’s development towards mixed-use commercial and residential avenues with residential and industrial cross-streets. We demonstrate that one set of locational logics drove these patterns pre- and post-grid. The grid amplified the morphological parameters of land use, identified as street connectivity, length, and width. Connectivity, determined by block dimensions, constituted the most critical factor. Lastly, we suggest that our findings and methods on the interactions between street morphology and land use are relevant to other cities, both for historical research and contemporary planning practice.

Date: 2019
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DOI: 10.1080/02665433.2017.1397537

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