American Geographical Society

7KH2ULJLQDQG6SUHDGRIWKH*ULG3DWWHUQ7RZQ
$XWKRUV'DQ6WDQLVODZVNL
6RXUFH*HRJUDSKLFDO5HYLHZ9RO1R-DQSS
3XEOLVKHGE\$PHULFDQ*HRJUDSKLFDO6RFLHW\
6WDEOH85/http://www.jstor.org/stable/211076
$FFHVVHG

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless
you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you
may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.

Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=ags.

Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed
page of such transmission.

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

American Geographical Society is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to
Geographical Review.

http://www.jstor.org
 THE ORIGIN AND SPREAD OF THE
GRID-PATTERN TOWN
DAN STANISLAWSKI

AM AANY geographers
have concernedthemselveswith the studyof
towns, theirdistribution,position,site, function,and anatomy,
and yet, of the innumerablearticlesand bookswrittenon this
subject,none, to my knowledge,hasbeendevotedto the originandspread
of the designthatis now standard throughoutmuchof the world-the grid
patternwith straightstreets(parallelor normalto one another)and rec-
tangularblocks.It is true that some writershave casuallyconsideredthis
pattern,concludingthat it spontaneously recommendeditselfto the town
builderwhoeveror whereverhe mightbe. I likewisemadethisassumption
at first.But the obviousnessof the gridis moreapparentthanreal.In the
recordof its use it seemsto havebeenno moreobviousthan,for example,
the wheel.
My intereststartedin the Spanishtowns of the New World, where I
soonfoundthatnot only did nativetownsfailto exhibitsucha patternbut
duringthe earliestperiodof Spanishsettlementit was lackingalso,1and
subsequentSpanishcities, except when constructedunder direct orders,
were likelyto vary greatlyfrom the simplerectangular design.2It was this
that indicatedthe need for furtherinquiryinto the backgroundof grid
towns. My investigationled me into the MiddleEast and into the third
millenniumbeforeChrist.That the grid may have an even longerhistory
awaitsfurtherarcheologicinvestigation. It mayhavebeena one-timeinven-
tion whichhasspreadfromits sourceregionuntilat presentit encompasses
the globe.
ARGUMENTS FOR AND AGAINST THE GRID

The casualassumptionthat the grid almostautomatically becomesthe

patternof a new settlementcannothold up in the light of the historyof its
distribution.Only those regionsdirectlyassociatedwith, or accessibleto,
areasof earlieruse have shown evidenceof its existence.I know of no
1There is no record of the use of the grid patternfor a generationand a half after the Spaniards
arrived in the New World. They founded many new towns during this period, but the grid did not
appearuntil the third decade of the sixteenth century.
2 After the restrictionswere weakened-for
example, in the eighteenth century-many towns
came into being, but, with examples of the grid all around them, they grew with hardly a suggestion
of that pattern.
Io6 THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

region in the world that will clearly contradictthis thesis. But when once
known and recognizedand fitted into the culturepattern,the grid has both
obvious advantagesand some disadvantages.Let us consider the disadvan-
tages first. From the point of view of the individualthere are many reasons
for a man to place his building,whether it be dwelling or workshopor tem-
ple, at an angle with buildingsnearby and at some distancefrom them rather
than directly in line and adjoining. Such placement offers advantages in
terms of circulationof air and exposure to sunlight, as well as accessibility
of the variousparts,whereasin the grid efficiencyis largely lost without the
alignment and juxtaposition of buildings. Secondly, again as regards the
individual,there are other plans that would have greaterutility. For exam-
ple, the radialplan with streetsleading out from a center like spokes from
the hub of a wheel offers certainadvantagesover the grid in communica-
tion from the periphery to the center. Thirdly, the topography very fre-
quently indicateseasierstreetplanningthan the insistenceupon straightlines
mounting hills and falling steeply into valleys.
To considerthe advantagesof the grid plan is to considera longer, and
from many points of view, a superiorlist. Perhapsits greatestsingle virtue
is the fact that as a generic plan for disparatesites it is eminently service-
able, and if an equitabledistributionof propertyis desirable,there is hardly
any other plan conceivable.It can be extended indefinitelywithout altering
the fundamentalpattern or the organic unity of the city. Property can be
apportionedin rectangularplots fitting neatly into a predeterminedscheme
of streetsand plazas.It can be sketchedon the drawing board and, within
certainobvious limitations,made serviceable.It is also far the easiestplan to
lay out with crude instrumentsof measurement.For a compactsettlement
of rectangularbuildings this scheme is the only one that lends itself to the
efficientuse of space.Moreover, a distinctadvantagefor the,grid-plantown
under certain political conditions is that of military control. This would
apply in the case of subjecttowns to be held under control; for it has been
clearly recognized, not only by the Spaniardsin the New World3 but by
Romans and early Greeks before them,4 that a tortuous street facilitates
3 "Fundacionde pueblos en el siglo XVI," Bol. ArchivoGenerdal de la Nacion,Vol. 6, I935, p. .350,
Sec. iI6.
In these orders of Philip II it is suggestedthat where horses are availablethe wide street is better
for defense. Obviously "defense"meant defense of Spaniards,not of natives, for the former were the
possessorsof horses (caballeros).A narrow, tortuous street would have meant the doom of Spanish
horsemenin a native revolt.
4 Rex Martienssen:Greek Cities, South AfricanArchitectural Record(Johannesburg),Jan., I941,
p. 25 (quoting Aristotle); Vitruvius: The Ten Books on Architecture,translatedby M. H. Morgan,
Cambridgeand Oxford, 1914, p. 22.
 THE GRID-PATTERN TOWN Io7

defenseby individualsand a straightstreetlends itself to controlfrom

without.5
THEORIES OF ORIGIN

One theoryas to the originof the gridis basedon its obviousefficiency

in the use of spacewhererectangular buildingsareinvolved.The reasoning
is seductivebut not borneout by facts.Examplesof strictrectangularity of
buildings with a highly irregularstreet patternare far too common. They
long predatethe firstuse of the grid and continueto the presentin large
areasof the world.6
Anotherpoint of interestwith regardto theoriesof the origin of the
grid-pattern town concernsthe straightprocessional street.Anotherfartoo
casualassumptionwas likewisemadeherethatsucha streetwould suggest
the advisabilityof othersparallelor at rightanglesto it. Thisalsofailsto be
borneout, both in Egypt and throughthe long historyof earlyMesopo-
tamia.7
The theorythatthe gridstemmedfroman orientation towardthe points
of the compass,probablybasedon religion,hasprovedequallyinadequate.
In Mesopotamia, Egypt,andearlyGreecethe orientationof a buildingand
even a streetwas common,but it did not lead to the layingout of other
streetsin accordance.8On the other hand, in Mohenjo-Daro,in north-
westernIndia,therewas obviousorientationof all the streetsandrectangu-
larityof blocks,yet excavationhas shownno temple,and theremay have
beennone.9It seems,then,thatreligioussignificanceas basicto the gridcan
likewisebe writtenoffasinapplicable.
5 It is sometimesassumedthat the grid was the product of militarythought. That it recommended
itself to military thinking is not, however, proof that it was originatedby soldiers.Polybius (The His-
tories of Polybius, translatedfrom the text of F. Hultsch by E. S. Shuckburgh,2 vols., London, I889,
Vol. i, p. 484) says:"The whole camp [Roman]is a square,with streetsand other constructionsregularly
plannedlike a town." Note the lastwords. The priorexistenceof the nonmilitaryorganizationis implied.
6 Throughout the long early history of Mesopotamiathe rectangularbuilding was common (see
S. H. Langdon:Early Babylonia and Its Cities, in The CambridgeAncient History, Vol. i, New York,
I923, pp. 356-401; referenceon pp. 374, 392, and 395). Nevertheless,irregularityof streetsis also typ-
ical (see E. A. Speiser:Excavationsat Tepe Gawra, Philadelphia,1935, Vol. i, pp. I3,20, and 24, Plates
7 and 9).
Egypt, for an even longer time than Mesopotamia, showed, with one exception, this combina-
tion of rectangularbuildings and irregularstreets (see G. Maspero:Life in Ancient Egypt and Assyria,
New York, I892, p. 17; and Armin von Gerkan: GriechischeStadteanlagen,Berlin and Leipzig,1942,
p. 3i; and Martienssen,op. cit., p. 5).
7 Von Gerkan,op. cit., p. 31; T. H. Hughes and E. A. G. Lamborn:Towns and Town-Planning,
Ancient & Modern, Oxford, I923, p. 2.
8 Maspero,
op. cit., p. I96; Langdon, op. cit., p. 374; Speiser, op. cit., p. 24; Von Gerkan, op. cit.,
pp. 31 and 78.
9 Sir John Marshall,edit.: Mohenjo-Daro and the Indus Civilization, London, I93I, Vol. I, pp.
22 and 283.
io8 THE GEOGRAPHICALREVIEW

In weighingtheseadvantages anddisadvantages of the gridpatterncer-

tainthingsseemclear.
I. It is possibleonly in eithera totallynew urbanunit or a newly added
subdivision.This patternis not conceivableexceptas an organicwhole. If
the plannerthinksin termsof singlebuildings,separatefunctions,or casual
growth,the gridwill not come into being;for with eachstructureconsid-
eredseparately the advantagelies with irregularity. Historyis repletewith
examplesof the patternless, ill-formedtown thathas been the productof
growthin responseto the desiresof individualbuilders.Nor is it simpleto
rectifyan oldercity. The difficulty,and probablythe impossibility,of this
hasbeendemonstrated by Von Gerkan.I0
2. Some form of centralized control,political,religious,or military,is
certainlyindicatedfor all knowngrid-plantowns.When centralized power
disintegrates, even if the gridpattern has been establishedit This
disappears.
is indicatedclearlyby medievalEuropeas comparedwith Europeunder
Romanrule.
3. It mayindicatecolonialstatus,not necessarily a situationin whichthe
younger settlement is bled by the older, but more frequentlyan amiable
associationfor mutualbenefitbetweenmotheranddaughtersettlements.
4. Desirefor measuredapportionment of land.
But none of the foregoingcanbe saidto indicatethata stronglyorgan-
ized politicalgroupdesirousof foundinga colonywill, becauseof its obvi-
ous virtues,setup a gridtown. The virtuesareobviousonly when demon-
strated.Thisis confirmedby history.Accordingto the evidence,only those
exposedto the idea will utilize this pattern.Hence anotherrequirement
mustbe added:
5. Knowledgeof the grid.
THE CrrT OF MOHENJO-DARO

The earliestrecordwe have of this streetpatternis that of Mohenjo-

Daro,a city whichflourishedin the firsthalfof the thirdmillenniumbefore
Christ."Thiscity wasnot casuallybuilt.The precisionof its plancouldnot
10Von Gerkan,op. cit., pp. II4 and 115. This fact was recognizedby the Spanishking in his instruc-
tions to Cortes (see "Coleccionde documentos in editos relativosaldescubrimiento,conquistay organ-
izacion de las antiguasposesionesespafiolasde ultramar,"Ser. 2, I7 vols., Madrid, I885-I925, Vol. 9,
p. I77).
II E. J. H. Mackay: FurtherExcavationsat Mohenjo-Daro, New Delhi, 1938, p. 7. The dates here
given-2800oo-2500 B.C.-correct an earlierassumption.But these dates do not indicate the earliestestab-
lishment or the end of the city. It may be far older than these dates suggest and may have continued its
existence for many centuriesafter 2500 B.C.
 THE GRID-PATTERN TOWN 109

have been accidental.It was a well roundedconceptdesignedto fit the

needs of a highly organized,highly urbanizedpeople. The streetswere
straightandeitherparallelor at rightanglesto oneanother,asfarastheinac-
curateinstruments of the time permitted.This was not a placingof build-
ings merelywith the ideaof the individualin mind.The conceptwas that
of an organiccity in which all partswere designedto functionwithinthe
whole.
Tradewas of enormousimportanceto the peopleof the city.'2The very
high qualityof the manufactures makesevidentthatit was indubitablythe
home of men of skillwith a long background of trainingandorganization.
ThatMohenjo-Daro doesnot representthe earliestsettlementof thispeople
maybe indicatedby thefactsuggestedabove,thatthe gridcity is completely
plannedandestablished as a new unit.We can,therefore,postulatethatthe
ancestorsof the people inhabitingMohenjo-Darohad a long historyof
socialorganizationin thisregionor elsewhere.13
Forthe nextknownexamplewe mustseekmuchlatertimes,I4although
theremay be Orientalmaterialthatwill, when known,alteropinionwith
regardto this interveningperiod.Thereis at presentno reasonto suppose
thatany Orientalsettlementwith anythingsuggestinga gridpatterncould
rival Mohenjo-Daroin antiquity.However, Creel15has some interesting
though inconclusivestatementson early Chineseplannedbuildingsand
12
ErnestMackay:The IndusCivilization,London,I935, P1. I75 and I99-200; DorothyMackay:
Mohenjo-Daro and the Ancient Civilization of the Indus Valley, Ann. Rept. SmithsonianInstn. 1932,
Washington, I933, pp. 429-444.
'3 This idea is likewise suggestedby Marshall,
op. cit., pp. I03, io6, 282, and 283.
14 Had this paper been written somewhat earlier, there would have been included the terremare
settlementsof Italy that were originally describedby L. Pigorini (see various publicationsin the Bul-
letinodi Paletnologia Italiana, Parma)and acceptedand furtherdeveloped by many seriouswriters.
The descriptionof how a Bronze Age people crossedthe Alps to the Italianplain and beyond and
took with them, even to Taranto, their pile construction,using it in preciselyplannedtowns, makes a
fascinatingstory, but unfortunatelyit holds little truth. This has been demonstratedby the exhaustive
work of Gosta Saflund (Le terremaredelle Provincie do Modena, Reggio Emilio, Parma, Piacenza,
Acta of the Swedish Institutein Rome, No. 7, Uppsala, I939; reviewed by C. F. C. Hawkes and Edith
Stiassnyin theJournal of Roman Studies, Vol. 30, I940, pp. 89-97).
There is no proof of systematicplanningof the town patternor of most of the other featuresattrib-
uted by Pigorini to the settlersof the second millennium before Christ. No migration from the lake
country is proved, or any connection of Hungarianand South Italiansettlementswith those of North
Italy. David Randall-MacIverrefersto the uneasy feeling he had had concerningthe terremaretheories
and writes in praiseof Saflund'sconclusions(see his "ModernViews on the ItalianTerremare,"Antiq-
uity, Vol. I3, I939, pp. 320-323, and his review of Siflund's volume, ibid., pp. 489-490).
15H. G. Creel: The Birth of China, London, I936. Creel says that buildingsin a settlementof the
fourteenth century before Christ (p. 57) were carefully oriented but that their arrangementotherwise
has not yet been determined (p. 68). He quotes a poet of a later period who, in describingthe city, said
that land was distributedin predeterminedplots and that, undercentralsupervision,houseswere planned
along streetsthat presumablywere straight(p. 64).
IIO THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

streets.The next recordof the gridis foundat the easternMediterranean in

the eighthcenturybeforeChrist.Sargonof Assyria,tiringof his old capital,
decidedto perpetuatehis glory by the establishment of a new one, Dur-
Sarginu.For its sitehe chosethe unimportant and formlesslittle villageof
Magganuba,where he laid out his new capitalpreciselyin termsof the
grid. This was not destined to last, but the gap in time was not to be long
until Hippodamus,and undoubtedlyhis predecessors, would take up the
idea in Greeceand Greeklandsand establishit in suchfashionthat it was
not again to be lost to the record.'6

A CONTINUING TRADrrION IN INDIA?

The questionmay be raisedwhy one shouldattributeto a singleinven-

tion a planthathasappearedin placesfar distantfrom one anotherwith a
gap of long centuriesbetween.The questionis not an unreasonable one. A
furtherinquiryinto Indiansourcesmight yield the answer.The datathat
we haveat hand,althoughinaccurate as to dating,seemto indicatea strong
possibilitythatthe traditionof Mohenjo-Darohasbeencontinuedin India,
perhapsunbrokenly.If one were to acceptthe claimsof recentIndian
writerswith regardto town planningin theircountry,one would need to
seek no further;for it is their contentionthat town planningexistedin
Indialong centuriesbeforethe ChristianEra.'7The brillianceandcomplete-
ness of Indian town planning indicatedin the Silpa Sastrais not an over-
night creation.'8It is the outcomeof the thoughtof many men and must
have evolvedthroughmany centuries.The casualassumptionthat Indian
I6
Babylon and its form are a matter of question. Herodotus credited it with a grid form-or at
least so he seems to imply. Robert Koldewey (The Excavationsat Babylon, translatedby A. S. Johns,
London, 1914, p. 242) says: "The streets,though not entirely regular,show an obvious attempt to run
them as much in straightlines as possible,so that Herodotuswas able to describethem as straight.They
show a tendency to cross at right angles."
wrote glowingly in the third century
17 There is no doubt of the fact that the Greek Megasthenies

of the city of Pataliputra.It was describedby him as an elongated rectangle. (See Linton Bogle: Town
Planningin IndiaToday, Vol. 9, London, 1929, p. I4; alsoJ. W. McCrindle:Ancient Indiaas Described
by Megasthenesand Arrian,London, I877, p. 66.) This was after the invasionof Alexander,but hardly
a long enough time had intervenedfor the constructionof the city by order of the Greeks.
Indian writers, however, would push their dates even further back on the basis of their evidence.
It is unfortunatethat there is a certain "timeless"quality to Indian scholarshipthat casts some doubt
upon its usefulness.The dating of the recordsis far from conclusive. See the following: Ram Raz: Essay
on the Architectureof the Hindus,London, I834; C. P. VenkataramaAyyar: Town Planningin Ancient
Dekkan, Madras, 1916; W. E. Tarn: The Greeks in Bactriaand India, Cambridge, I938, especiallyp.
419; "The Questionsof King Milinda,"translatedfrom the Pali by T. W. Rhys Davids, in "The Sacred
Books of the East,"edited by Max Miiller, Vol. 36, Part 2, Oxford, I894, p. 208.
I8
Concerning this and collateral subjects see "Architectureof Manasara,"translatedfrom the
original Sanskritby P. K. Acharya,Vol. 7, London, 1933. Silpa Sastrais a collective term for numerous
old treatiseson the manualartsof the Hindus.
 THE GRID-PATTERN TOWN III

town planning derives from Alexander's generals, the Greek Bactrian

kings, or Vitruvius and the Romans may not be a fair one, in view of the
great elaborationof Indianthought, and in view of the indicatedcontribu-
tion of architecturaltypes from the Iranianplateauas well as of the possible
development of town planning, even among the Dravidians.'9India may
have carriedthe traditionof this town patternfor all later ages to accept at
their leisure.
One regrets that Sargon, in the eighth century before Christ, did not
recordwhy he chose the grid or where he found his sourcesfor such a plan,
but again, eyes may have been turned to the East. The trade from Meso-
potamia through Persia and even into India cannot be questioned.20That
the East was contributing ideas, specificallyin architecture,which might
suggest a contributionto broaderplanning is shown by Herzfeld'sdemon-
trationthateven the Ionic pillarwas a productof landsto the eastof Greece.2'
To those who question the assumptionof Indian derivation it can be
asked: "Where has the patternof the grid town appearedwithout possible
connections with India?"No part of Europe or Asia except those regions
that had contact with this area of oldest appearancehas given evidence of
the grid pattern.22Nor did any part of Africa exhibit this pattern until
Alexanderintroducedit as derived from easternMediterraneanlands.23
I9VenkataramaAyyar, op. cit.
20
Trade between these countrieswas well establishedat the time of Mohenjo-Daro and probably
even before that. See Langdon, op. cit., p. 362; Ernest Mackay: SumerianConnections with Ancient
India,Journ. Royal Asiatic Soc. of Great Britainand Ireland(London), Oct., 1925; Rene Grousset:Les
civilisationsde l'Orient, Vol i, L'Orient,Paris, I929, p. I3; H. R. Hall and C. L. Woolley: Ur Exca-
vations, Vol. i, Al Ubaid, London, I927, p. 397; Sir Aurel Stein: The Indo-IranianBorderlands:Their
Prehistoryin the Light of Geography and of Recent Explorations,Journ.Royal Anthropol.Inst., Vol.
64, 1934, pp. I79-202; and Sir Percy Sykes: A History of Explorationfrom the EarliestTimes to the
PresentDay, New York, 1934, p. 2.
21E. E. Herzfeld:ArchaeologicalHistory of Iran,London,
I935, p. I5.
22
It has been mentionedabove that new materialon the Orient may yet alterconclusions.But note
the irregularityof Khotan, a settlement of Central Asia earlierthan the ChristianEra (Sir M. Aurel.
Stein: Ancient Khotan, 2 vols., Oxford, 1907, plan 23).
Neither the cities of Phoenicianor her colonies exhibited the pattern (see Von Gerkan,op. cit., p.
30; J. I. S. Whitaker: Motya, London, I921). The grid was not known in Minoan Crete (Martienssen,
op. cit., p. 7) or in Greece during its early centuries.Pre-Roman Spain lacked it (see "Excavacionesde
Numancia, Memoria presentadaal Ministerio de InstruccionPublica y Bellas Artes por la Comision
Ejecutivo," Madrid, 19I2, p. ii), as did pre-Roman France(JosephGantner:Grundformender euro-
paischenStadt, Vienna, I928, p. 44).
23 There is one exception to be noted here, the little settlementof Kahun in Egypt, which was

planned and set up as a unit by PharaohUsertesenII as a settlementfor the workmen on the pyramid
being constructedat that time (see W. M. FlindersPetrie: Kahun, Gurob, and Hawara, London, I890,
pp. 2I and 23). However, this settlement was establishedsome centuries after the establishmentof
Mohenjo-Daro, when the connections of Egypt with Sumeria and those of Sumeria and Mohenjo-
Daro were clear. Moreover, Kahunwas not an organic unit but ratherlike a barracks.
II2 THE GEOGRAPHICALREVIEW

No PROVEN NEW WORLD EXAMPLES

Nowhere did this plan appearin the New World, statementsto the con-
trary notwithstanding. The Chimu city of Chan Chan on the Peruvian
coast certainlywas, it is true, one of straightlines and right angles.24Some
of these lines were maintainedfor a notable length, but they did not carry
on through; the organic quality of the grid plan was broken by irregular-
ities. It was rathera seriesof blocks, many rectangular,but not communi-
cating with other blocks in the functionalway necessaryto the grid.
Many contentions have been made concerning the use of the grid in
Mexican towns, but here again the evidencedoes not supportit. The famous
"Plano en Papel de Maguey," despite some theories to the contrary,25is
obviously a post-Conquestdesign drawn to the order of Europeans.26The
theory that Tenochtitlan had rectangularblocks because of the rectangu-
larity of its temples and temple squaresdoes not stand up, in view of the
fact that so many places in the Old World had squaretemples and corres-
ponding courtyards,with the remainderof the settlement clearly at vari-
ance. Certainly Cortes and Bemal Diaz remarkedabout the straightnessof
the passagewaysleading into Mexico, but nowhere did they suggest more
than the straightnessof single streets.27It might also be indicated that in
their apparentsurpriseat first sight of this straightpassagewaythese Span-
iards, who were used to the tortuous streets of sixteenth-centurySpain,
surely shouldhave been even more struckwith the rectangularityof blocks.
Failureto mention such a condition may well be taken to indicate that it
did not exist.28
According to present evidence, the rectangulargrid was nowhere a
24J. L. Rich: The Faceof South America:An AerialTraverse,Amer.Geogr.Soc.SpecialPubl.No. 26,
1942, photograph 277; Otto Holstein: Chan-Chan:Capital of the Great Chimu, Geogr.Rev., Vol. I7,
1927, pp. 36-6I, Fig. 26.
25 George Kubler: Mexican Urbanism in the Sixteenth Century, Art. Bull., Vol. 24, I942, pp.
I60-I71, footnotes 3 and 59.
26M. Toussaint, F. Gomez de Orozco, and J. Fernandez:Planos de la ciudad de Mexico, Mexico,
I938, p. 36.
Hernan Cortes: Cartasde relacion, Madrid, I932, Vol. i, p. 98 (Map 2): "Son las calles della
27

[referringto Temixtitan-site of presentMexico City], digo las principales,muy anchasy muy dere-
chas."By his limiting phrasehe specificallyexcludesall but the main streetsas being wide or straight.
Also Bernal Diaz del Castillo: Historia verdaderade la conquista de la Nueva Espana, 3 vols.,
Mexico, I939, Vol. i, pp. 309 ff.
28 Note also in "Narrativeof Some
Things of New Spain"by The Anonymous Conqueror,trans-
lated by M. H. Saville (Docs. and Narrativesconcerningthe Discovery and Conquest of LatinAmerica,
No. I, New York, I917, the failure to indicate anything resemblinga grid and also the comparisonof
various cities of Mexico with cities of Spain. This may not be proof that the patternof streetsin Mexi-
can cities was as amorphous as those of sixteenth-centurySpain, but it certainly does not suggest the
striking differencethat would immediately be apparentto a Spaniardif they were straight.
 THE GRID-PATTERN TOWN II3

casual, spontaneousthing. In spite of its apparent obviousness, it would

seem that it was not put into practiceby any except those who had known it
previouslyor who had accessto regions of its occurrence.

THE GREEKRECORD
The continuous record starts in the sixth century before Christ, in
Greek lands.29Before this time the regularpatternwas clearly not a typical
feature of Greek settlement.30There are many examples of earlier Greek
cities showing anything but the regularityof the grid plan, and a definite
record of cities settled at least as late as the middle of the seventh century
before Christ shows that irregularitywas typical. In fact, accordingto Von
Gerkan,as late as the early part of the fifth century some cities were settled
without a standardpattern. Hippodamus, a Milesian, is credited by Aris-
totle with being the planner of the grid-patternharbor of Athens, the
Piraeus,3' but even earlierthan the Piraeus-probably also of the fifth cen-
tury-was the grid design of Hippodamus'own birthplace,Miletus. There
can be no doubt that the plans of Hippodamuswere not born in his brain
but derived from earlier times-there is at least one clear example, Olbia
-and perhapsdistant places. It is interestingto note that the earliestplans
are associatedwith Ionic Asia Minor and settlements by Ionians on the
Black Sea, and not nuclear Greece. So the first appearanceamong Greeks
was in the western extension of Asia, where it could have been based on
earlierknowledge and use.
Long before the time of Hippodamus,Greekshad been expandingtheir
knowledge of the world through their growing trade connections.For sev-
eral centuriesthese connectionswere those of "tramp"traders,who either
settled among "barbarian"peoples, taking more and more control of the
region by reason of their superior training, or merely came temporarily
to these regions to exchange merchaiidise.This did not involve planning.
It was simple contact for the purposesof exchange and profit.
The Greekspursuedtheir course westward through the Mediterranean,
making contacts with the present Italian mainland and islands.Many dif-
ferent groups were involved in this trade until the latter part of the eighth
29 D. M. Robinson andJ. W. Graham:Excavationsat Olynthus, Baltimore, I938, Part 8, p. 35.
30 Martienssen, op. cit., pp. I9 and 33; Gantner, op. cit., p. 37; H. V. Lanchester: The Art of Town
Planning, London, 1925, p. 9; Hetty Goldman: Excavations at Eutresis in Boeotia, Cambridge, I93 I,
p. 50.
31"A Treatiseon Government,"translatedfrom the Greekof Aristotleby William Ellis,New York,
1912; Percy Gardner:The Planning of Hellenistic Cities, Trans. Town PlanningConference,London,
October 10-15, 191o0, Royal Institute of British Architects, London, 1911, p. 113.
II4 THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

century,when Corinthwas infectedwith the virus of what might be termed

precocious imperialism. Whereas before the founding of Syracuse all
Greeks, so far as can be determined, traded with the west, after 734 B.C.
Corinthiangoods became dominant in the market and eventually were far
more importantthan the materialsfrom all other Greektraderscombined.32
Corinth was operatingaccording to a plan. Whereas theretoforesettle-
ments had, presumably,been made rather casually, Syracusewas founded
under authorityfrom the mother city and by settlerswho were dispatched
to the place with orders based on careful planning. These orders included
instructionsfor the division of land for use by the settlers.Here was a clear
indication of the growth of centralizedcontrol. It was likewise an indica-
tion of increasingimportance of trade as well as of a possible pressureof
populationat home.
To the east the Greeks were making other contacts. Miletus sent out
secondarycolonies, particularlyafter the middle of the eighth century, to
take over the trade of the Black Sea. The "great Asiatic mother of col-
onies," like Corinth, was not averse to the use of force to maintain
trade supremacy.She was, however, the greatestcenter of Oriental influ-
ence, and the attainmentsof these Asiatic Greeks are thought by some to
have been far superiorto those of the European homeland. Their contacts
with the interiorof Asia Minor and the countriesof high civilizationto the
east of the Mediterraneanwere a liberaleducation.33
The drive of colonization both in the Mediterraneanand in the Black
Sea was temporarilyreduced during the period of the Tyrants.34During
their regime, however, there was an even greatercentralizationof control,
and part of this remained to contribute to the colonization that increased
again after their decline. After the epoch of the Tyrants, the trade of the
Asiatic Greeksspreadgreatly through the lands of the friendly Lydian king
Alyattes. This monarch controlled a considerablepart of the interior of
Asia Minor and had allianceswith Mesopotamia, Egypt, and others. His
son, Croesus,likewise a Hellenophile,offered continuing opportunitiesfor
Greek traders,which were only partly broken by his defeat at the hands of
the Persiansjust after the first half of the sixth century.
The planningthat is called Hippodamicwas a product of the period fol-
32Alan Blakeway: Prolegomenato the Study of Greek Commerce with Italy, Sicily and Francein
the Eighth and SeventhCenturies,B.C.," BritishSchoolat AthensAnnualNo. 33, SessionI932-1933, Lon-
don, I935, pp. I70-208; referenceon p. 202.
33 D. G. Hogarth: Hellenic Settlementin Asia Minor, in The Cambridge Ancient History, Vol. 2,
New York, I924, pp. 542-562; referenceon pp. 550-55I.
34Idem:Lydia and Ionia, ibid., Vol. 3, I925, pp. 501-526; referenceon p. 515.
 THE GRID-PATTERN TOWN II5

lowing thatof the concentration of powerin the handsof the Tyrants,and

also followingthe periodof greatlyexpandedtradethroughLydiancoun-
try into Mesopotamia and othereasternlandswhereexamplesof the grid
wereto be seen.Olbiawaslaidout in gridformat the end of the sixthcen-
tury,Miletusnot long afterward,in the fifthcentury,afterthe destruction
of the old city by Cyrusof Persia.
By this time all of the factorsfavoringthe grid had come into being:
(i) Therewas centralized control,anda background of town planning.(2)
Totally new units were being founded,with dependent-"colonial"-
status.(3) Knowledgeof the grid was availablefrom the East. (4) Desir-
abilityof the gridas a generalplanwould have been apparent,especially
with regardto the distributionof land, whichwasimportantto theland-
hungryGreeks.
It is likewiseinterestingto note, andperhapsit is the explanationof the
Greekacceptanceof this plan, that its methodicalregularityand orderly
qualitywell suitedthe Greekphilosophicview of worldlyordercreated
out of variety.The ideaof a corporatewhole is typicalof Greekthought
of the period.35 Duringthisperiodthe settlementof townswaswidespread,
andthe gridwasusedby Greeksnot only in theirhomelandbut in western
placesas well. For example,thereis Thuriiin southernItaly, commonly
attributedto Hippodamus;there is Selinusin Sicily, and Naples on the
peninsula.These undoubtedlymade their contributionto, and saw their
continuance in, Romanplanningof a somewhatlaterdate.
EFFECTS OF ALEXANDER'S CONQUESTS

After the period of Hippodamusthe next striking development of the

use of the grid plan is in the Alexandrianage, when it was spreadso widely
by the conquerorand his heirs. Again it is of interestto speculatewhether
the strengtheningof interestin the plan at this time was not a product both
of the backgroundin Greek lands and of further knowledge acquired in
easternlands. Alexander brought in his entourage not only fighting men
but men of intellectualattainmentwho might easily have been struck by
urbandevelopmentsin the lands they visited.
The cities that remain from the time of Alexanderor his successorspre-
sent us with excellent examples of the planning of the period. Many were
founded in Anatolia.Priene,the best known, through the work of Wiegand
and his associates,36is a perfect example of the grid pattern, its buildings
35 A. L. Kroeber:Configurationsof Culture Growth, Berkeley, I944, p. oo00.
36Theodor Wiegand and Hans Schrader:Priene, Berlin, 1904.
II6 THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

preciselyorientedandcarefullyalignedwith the streets.In the moredistant

landsare the citiesof the GreekBactriankingsand thoseof Indiaproper,
which, althoughcommonlyacceptedto be of Alexandrianage or later,
may indeedshowan earlierhistory.
The transferof knowledgealong the Mediterranean by Greeks,how-
ever, was a matterof earlycenturies-longprecedingthe Alexandrian age
-and the techniqueof town planningwas carriedinto landsthat were to
become Roman. Here it becamebasic to later Italiansettlementform.
Greektraderswere in Italycenturiesbeforethe riseof Rome. Duringthis
earlyperiodthe Etruscansarrivedfrom the east and settledin the penin-
sula.37
The earlyEtruscansettlementswere certainlynot neatly plottedgrids,
though,within the exigenciesof the hill locationswhich they chose for
theirsettlements,they may have strivenfor greaterregularitythanappears
at firstglance.
Greekinfluencewas felt throughoutEtruriafrom the outset.Afterthe
middleof theseventhcentury,however,the influencebecamemorestrongly
Ionic.38Thiswas the periodof the firstdefiniteEtruscangridtown,Marza-
botto, builtat the end of the sixthcentury,and perhapsthe firstrealgrid
town in Italy.Here the cardoand decumanus of laterRomancitiesclearly
appear.39
It is to be recalledthatIonicinfluencein Italycoincidesnot only with
Marzabottobut with Olbia,and roughlywith Miletus,all of which used
the grid planthathad had earlierexemplification in partsof westernAsia.
It is to be recalledlikewisethat IonianGreekshad wide experienceand
knowledgeof theseregionsof westernAsia.
In the earlyperiodof Romandevelopmentthereis little, if any, evi-
denceof awarenessof the grid-or of town planningat all. It was the late
Republicandthe earlyEmpirethatsawthe rapiddevelopmentof the form.
Then it spreadthroughRomancoloniesto nearand distantpointsin the
Empire.
THE ROMAN GRID

The grid plan as used by the Romanswas not preciselythat of the

Greeks.It was an adjustmentof theplanusedby Greektradersto the de-
37Probablyin the eighth century.See E. H. Dohan: ItalianTomb Groupsin the UniversityMuseum,
Philadelphia,1942, pp. 105-109.
38 Hans Miihlestein:Die Kunst der Etrusker,Berlin, I929. One of the major divisions of this book
is "Epoche des Ubergangesvom orientalisierendenzum ionisierendenStil: ca. 650-550."
39PericleDucati: Storia dell' Arte Etrusca,Florence, 1927, Vol. I, pp. 372-374.
 THE GRID-PATTERN TOWN II7

mands of a Roman order, perhaps with influences derived from Etrus-

can practices,with an interestingassociationof the Roman block and the
jugerium, the ruralunit of surveying.40The town block was clearly rooted
in history, and linked with the distributionof agriculturalplots.
This rigorous, clear pattern lent itself smoothly to the necessitiesand
point of view of the Roman state. Here was an intense centralizationof
power in the hands of men faced with the pressureof population and the
necessity of protecting exposed frontiers of the Empire. For both these
problemsdaughtercolonies were an obvious solution. Particularlyafter the
civil wars of Sulla, Caesar,and Octavian,who had amassedgreat armiesto
support their causes, there was a pressing necessity for the absorption of
these soldiersinto a peacetimeeconomy. This was largely achievedthrough
the establishmentof newly planned urban units in various parts of the
Empire. Given the necessitiesof the Roman state, the psychology of its
rulers,the backgroundof its history, what was more logical than to estab-
lish the grid wherever new urbanunits were planned?
Following the downfall of the Western Empire the era of city planning
came to a close, and, more important,even those citiesthat were completely
plannedand built before the dissolutionof the Empire fell into other ways
and forms, so that the end of the medieval period saw hardly an example
of Roman planningin the cities that she had established.4'

THE MEDIEVAL COLLAPSE

Following upon the organizedcontrol and planningof the Romans, the

early medieval period saw a degree of collapse in which the factors mili-
tating againstthe serviceabilityof the grid patterntown became dominant.
Centralizedpower, basic to its establishment,no longer existed. Division
of power and localizationof authoritycame into being. No longer was the
broad power present which tends to maintain a single pattern. Secondly,
as has been indicated, defense of the local unit was facilitatedby tortuous
lanes; straight thoroughfares lent themselves to control by centralized
power. Thirdly, with local control each unit used its topography as indi-
viduals saw fit. There was no necessityfor following the rigorous grid plan.
Indeed, for many topographic situations it would have been costly and
excessively difficult, and it served no real purpose in this feudal period.
40R. C. Bosanquet:Greek and Roman Towns, Town PlanningRev., Vol. 5, I9I5, pp.
286-293 and
321.
41OskarJiirgens: SpanischeStidte: Ihre bauliche Entwicklung und Ausgestaltung(Hamburgische
Universitat Abhandl. aus dem Gebiet der Auslandskunde,Vol. 23, Ser. B, Vol. I3), Hamburg, I926,
p. i; Ramon Menendez Pidal: Historiade Espafia,Vol. 2, EspafiaRomana,Madrid, I935, p. 607.
 THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

Fourthly, this was a period in which trade was greatly restricted,and the
grid plan, which had functioned well for a trading center, was no longer
needed for that purpose. Perhapsmore importantthan all others is the fact
that there was no longer the idea of equitablydistributedplots of ground.
This was not a period of small holders assertingtheir rights over definite
recognized portions of territory. The feudal order operated on an entirely
differentbasis.
However, in spite of all these tendenciestoward breakdown,the pattern
was never completely lost in the former Roman lands. Several examples
remain in northernItaly-Turin, for example. Tracesremain in such places
as Braga in Portugal, Chesterin England, Tarragonaand Merida in Spain,
and Cologne and Trier in Germany. Some would place Oxford in this
category, though this now seems dubious.42It has been fortunate for the
plannersof later centuriesthat these examplesremain.
THE RENAISSANCE

If the early part of the Middle Ages saw the decline and almost the
obliteration of this pattern, the later Middle Ages saw its adumbration
again, and the Renaissanceits establishment.Again political conditions had
changed so that central power, planning, and trade re-emerged and local
units existing in the feudal structurebegan to lose their dominance-in
short, the trend again contributedto the utility of the grid.43
Particularlywas there a strikingadvancein the use of the patternin the
thirteenthcentury.In this centuryat least one urbanunit using the grid was
made by Italiansin Sicily. The Germans,in establishingcities on the Slavic
frontiers and beyond, such as some of those in Prussia,Breslau, and Cra-
cow, used this plan as their basis.
THE GRID IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND

But most important during this period was the establishmentin France
of the bastides,the villes-neuves.The record is clear. The site was plotted
into rectangularblocks, divided by streets parallel to one another or at
right angles, in which the main roads running from the gates led to a large
squareor marketplace at the center. Around this squarewere the homes of
the more importantresidents,with arcadesgiving shadeto the walk.44
42 Hughes and Lamborn,
op. cit., p. 73.
43A. E. Brinckmann:The Evolution of the Ideal in Town Planning since the Renaissance,trans-
lated from the German, Trans.TownPlanningConference(see footnote 3 ), p. I71.
44Felix de Verneilh: Architecturecivile au Moyen Age, AnnalesArcheologiques(Paris), Vol. 6,
1847, pp. 7I-88; referenceon pp. 74-75.
 THE GRID-PATTERN TOWN II9

The most importantfoundersof the Frenchbastideswere St. Louis and

his brother, Alfonse of Poitiers. Kings of England who possessedFrench
territoryat this time also built towns of a similarorder in France.
Again the function and desirabilityof the patternare apparentwith the
change in the political and social order. Again power was centralized,and
it was those individualsthat exerted power over a large area of land who
were responsiblefor the establishmentof the towns. Again it is to be noted
that it was not the replotting of existing towns. This is virtuallyimpossible.
These were completely new units founded under the direction of central-
ized power, and all at one time. They were under military control and
functioned as military centers. Also, the plots in town were distributedon
the basis of standardizedunits, and again it is to be noted that the agricul-
tural plots beyond the city were likewise distributedin terms of standard
units.
The situationin England is probablynot as clear as that in France,but
perhaps it is even more interesting. Although English settlement of this
period was clearly influencedmore strongly by Francethan by any other
source,there are still the yet undeterminedpossibilitiesof an earlierdevelop-
ment within Englanditself. As was mentioned above, Oxford is thought by
some to be a Roman foundation.This seemsa dubious postulate.It appears
now that Oxford was clearly later than Roman times, but almost as clearly
it seemsindicatedthat it may have been earlierthan the period of the French
bastides,and may perhapshave reachedback into Saxon times. Ludlow is
another example of a town that was clearly earlierthan the period of the
bastide. It is a foundationof early Norman time, settled during the twelfth
century, and probablyusing the grid plan. This, of course, suggestsknowl-
edge brought in from the continent. It may well have served as a partial
inspirationfor later models.
The real development of towns in England, mostly in the pattern of
the grid, began with Edward I. It should be noted that Edward possessed
territoriesin France,his trainingwas French,his language was French.He
knew well the town plannitig of thirteenth-centuryFrance,and it is clear
that this was the model he had in mind in setting up the so-called Welsh
bastidesand other towns in England. Again the factors contributedto the
utility of this plan; for now England with a centralizedauthorityfelt itself
in need of totally new units and had the experienceof Francebefore it.
With one exception nothing more need be said regardingthe grid in
Western Europe. Its serviceabilityin the period of expanding settlement
both within Europe and in European colonies was obvious. Never has it
I20 THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

towardthe endof the medieval

beenlostsincethe timeof its redevelopment
period.
SPAIN AND THE NEW WORLD

The exception to be noted is Spain. Isolated from the rest of Europe

during the long period when she was involved in internecinewarfare, she
failed for the most part to take part in developmentsof neighboring coun-
tries. It is unfortunatethat she lacked their experience with Renaissance
planning; for it was she that conquered the New World and established
thousandsof completely new settlementsthere. As she was uninitiatedin the
methods of town planning,her settlementswere amorphousfor about three
decadesafter the beginning of her control. Finally she realizedthe necessity
for a plan, and for this she turnedto her neighbors,and beyond them to the
Roman and Greek sourcesfrom which they had profited.But this is a sub-
ject in itself and must be treatedin a separatepaper.