Where Manhattan’s grid plan came from

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Manhattan is famous for its grid - so famous that people take pictures of the way the sun shines through it. But the origin of that grid wasn’t always certain - and not everybody is a fan.
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In this episode of Vox Almanac’s Road Trip edition, Phil Edwards explores the history of the New York City grid, with detours to Philadelphia, Savannah, and Washington, DC. Early city planning around the turn of the 19th century was a contentious and undecided discipline with lots of options and disagreement.
New York City was particularly chaotic and unplanned at the time, after years of catering to developers and, at the same time, ignoring their requests for a more sane city plan. That made the introduction of a new plan in the 1800s a more urgent matter - and a reasonable time to introduce a plan that lacked many of the artistic flourishes of contemporary city plans.
New York was all about building, and building fast - and it’s still that way today.
Want to learn more? The two most helpful papers we found were these:
“The grid as city plan: New York city and laissez‐faire planning in the nineteenth century” by Peter Marcuse and “The Greatest Grid: the New York Plan of 1811” by Edward K. Spann.
You can also find copies of a lot of early maps of New York via the Library of Congress and New York Public Library.
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Опубликовано:

1 авг 2019

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Комментарии : 707

@rtrdedn00b54 5 лет назад

1800s: Let's build the City in rectangular shapes so it's easy and cheap. 2019: Let's sell these easy and cheap appartments for several million dollars

@aturchomicz821 5 лет назад

r/collapse

@rbk2kpro 5 лет назад

Housing used to be human right, now it's almost like a stock

@jonathanpichel4606 5 лет назад

@@rbk2kpro When

@rbk2kpro 5 лет назад

@@jonathanpichel4606 I heard since the 80s

@naveygill1793 5 лет назад

Ever heard of a thing called "supply & demand"?

@MikaelSitumorang 5 лет назад

*takes notes for my city in cities skylines*

@sebastiangebala9958 5 лет назад

Nooo dont do grids do rtgame style roads

@asdsdjfasdjxajiosdqw8791 5 лет назад

American city design really shouldn't be looked at too much for inspiration. Perhaps only for how not to design something.

@rexdarr7874 5 лет назад

Gonna chime in, I usually do grids at first but as I branch out I create flowing roads with curves and swirls. The downtown area ends up being grids but then as you zoom out it looks more natural. Add two main freeways through your city (north/south and east/west), roundabouts, and road hierarchy to help with traffic flow. I'm by no means a guru at the game but I have every achievement on the Xbox version so I've put quite a few hours in. Hope it helps!

@IsThisRain 5 лет назад

The more curves, the better your city looks. I only use grids in the industrial and heavy commercial zones.

@rexdarr7874 5 лет назад

@@IsThisRain Real cities have curves!

@MommaDee23 5 лет назад

I honestly wonder why your episodes feel unfinished...it always gives me the impression there's a part two to tie up the subject.

@rhythmandblues_alibi 4 года назад

I agree. Feels like it needs a little more effort to wrap up and make a meaningful conclusion.

@bored58 4 года назад

Same

@stanmoroncini8825 4 года назад

Lol seriously, it’s like when you have to write a 500 word essay and you’re at 502 word count hahaha

@frankieshane 4 года назад

i feel almost more perplexed at the end of most of his than i did when i started. at least it's not just me.

@charliedemottwildey8575 4 года назад

same, the video ends and I feel like I've been introduced to an interesting idea but I haven't learned anything about it.

@fapeg 5 лет назад

02:07 funny to hear you talk about the chaotic design an irregularities .. I’m from Europe and this looks super organized 😄

@zakaryloreto6526 5 лет назад

fapeg this is unorganized for American standards I believe

@thekoalakingdomshow6319 5 лет назад

European cities are more naturally constructed

@weetikissa 5 лет назад

The Koala kingdom SHOW Both European and American cities were naturally constructed. They expanded because they had demand. It's not like either continent was creating huge ghost cities in the middle of nowhere like China. The only difference is that America had a very top-down approach whereas Europe was built from ground up.

@MexiboyKevin 5 лет назад

@@weetikissa I think what koala means is that the time for European cities to develop is far longer. Most cities have developed for 1000 years and not the 100 years american cities had. Planning was easier and as the Manhattan plan showed it was a lot easier to take the excisting city into account than it is with medieval cities in Europe

@neenimee 5 лет назад

As an European it was very strange seeing the rectangular streets of New York. I was traveling with a plane, landing at night and honestly, seeing all these rigorous street lines made me very uneasy, like if I saw a borg cube. I guess I'm too used to slow-grown radial cities.

@zacharytaylor2983 5 лет назад

The ease of development wasn’t the only consideration, though. At the time (1807-1811) the circulation of fresh air was considered the best defense against disease outbreaks, which were commonplace in early 19th century cities. By drawing long straight streets directly perpendicular to the Rivers, the Commissioners proposed that the air circulation would prevent epidemics. They weren’t quite right, but the later development of skyscrapers turned those straight streets into wind tunnels. Anyone who’s been to New York in the winter knows just how serious that wind-chill index is. That winter wind cuts through all layers of clothes!

@TheGreatCooLite 5 лет назад

These people were smart. They knew it would be difficult to build out a model of the city in Minecraft if it was made out of circles.

@aBitterMelon 5 лет назад

LITERALLY BUILDING ONE RIGHT NOW

@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721 5 лет назад

I would really love to see Manhattan in Minecraft.

@aBitterMelon 5 лет назад

@@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721 Check out the most recent video on my channel! It's almost two years old and it's pretty outdated since I've built a lot since then, but I'm still proud of it! It's museum level accuracy.

@muhammadhafiz_h4 5 лет назад

dude you're everywhere

@aBitterMelon 5 лет назад

@@muhammadhafiz_h4Really? I really don't see that

@XpertPilotFSX 5 лет назад

2:06: "chaotic curved streets" *laughs and cries in Bangkok*

@giubob1862 5 лет назад

That map looks like a normal European city.

@thaisdiniz4507 5 лет назад

Take a look at the Brazilian city Salvador - Bahia

@johnjohn-6256 5 лет назад

Manila

@nishantnepal4927 5 лет назад

Ohh you’ve not seen kathmandu

@wendigo2536 5 лет назад

*laughs and cries in Metro Manila*

@AverytheCubanAmerican 5 лет назад

I like learning more about urban planning, I’ve always been fascinated by it. Thank you for teaching me more about my neck of the woods

@BillKermanKSP 5 лет назад

You. Are. Everywhere but no one really notices i feel like xD

@petertraudes106 5 лет назад

I can recomend Lewis Mumford: the city in history.

@Adamwrightjr 5 лет назад

I SEE U IN EVERY VID

@cesarfabiani7943 5 лет назад

Some cities are very interesting concerning urban planning such as barcelone, brasilia or kyoto

@petertraudes106 5 лет назад

@@cesarfabiani7943 i visited all three cities you mentioned and the most peculiar of the three is Brasilia, a city built in the shape of an aeroplane. As for living conditions i would not want to live there. Too dry, too hot and, unlike other brasilian cities, too boring.

@huxley3043 5 лет назад

"chaotic curved streets" everywhere that isn't the us: 👀

@silverxlightningx262 4 года назад

Bog Creature right

@danii8307 2 года назад

My road to school is more curved than that

@daviddima6067 5 лет назад

vox: *talking about grids* me: *let me try this at cities skylines*

@9airpods917 5 лет назад

David Dima The whole city: grids, and *only* grids.

@PaulFerzoco 5 лет назад

But cities like Boston or London have greater charm and uniqueness but are a pain to navigate.

@elios2296 5 лет назад

I guess you've never been in Rome or Venice

@1karl249 5 лет назад

Plus Rome existed since 753bc and London 2000 year old

@PaulFerzoco 5 лет назад

@@elios2296 That is true!

@PaulFerzoco 5 лет назад

@@1karl249 I was not trying to denegrade London. But Boston is very similar.

@1karl249 5 лет назад

@@PaulFerzocoI know lol i was just saying their old city's and not designed for modern times for car and massive population's

@napoleonibonaparte7198 5 лет назад

Those grids aren’t enough for Basic Services and Amenities in Cities Skylines...

@unfortunately_fortunate2000 5 лет назад

gonna have to space's out a bit more and maybe add a circular road around the circumference of your city(ies) if you're look to emulate this.

@strider029 5 лет назад

And so is Manhattan.

@JamesBond-rb1ln 5 лет назад

You should do a whole series on city design and formation!! My home city of Adelaide has a interesting history

@dementos7806 5 лет назад

James Bond That park around the city center is interesting.

@mitadarbari9142 5 лет назад

How's the water situation there?

@JamesBond-rb1ln 5 лет назад

Dementos The city centre inside the green space, was the original city. As the city grew the parks were intended to be left untouched and the city centre was intended to be one square mile exactly

@JamesBond-rb1ln 5 лет назад

Mita Darbari we’re pretty good. Our water supply comes from several reservoirs both in the city and in the Adelaide hills nearby. We also can pump water from the River Murray (Australia’s largest river). We also have a desalination plant which is largely inactive, but can provide up to 30% of the cities water needs in a severe drought

@darthwalsh1 5 лет назад

Yes, I'd love to learn more about The Mighty Black Stump :D

@kihunipunk 5 лет назад

I wish this was longer. There's so much to learn about New York. Make a part 2!😀

@Blaqjaqshellaq 3 года назад

It would be interesting to learn about how the other boroughs were developed...

@lxverdant1837 5 лет назад

Vox please keep doing these urban planning videos! Being an urban planner is my dream job, and these videos inspire me

@User-xw5mk 5 лет назад

The sunset/sunrise alignment with the east-west streets of the main street grid of Manhattan was not purposefully taken into consideration. That was a work of accident stemming from the city map being aligned with the true north. The phenomena was discovered much later when taller buildings were buit, and was coined by Neil DeGrasse Tyson and he named the phenomena, Manhattanhenge, also called the Manhattan Solstice.

@Slabfish 5 лет назад

As a European who's been around in several NA grids... I hate it. I don't remember NYC much but it felt like an endless chore to walk down a street. LA has the horrible feeling urban sprawl, every intersection is the exact same with 4 different fast food restaurants facing one another. The nicest one i've been to is Toronto where it's irregular, and has frequent parks and car free spaces but still with these never ending roads. I like learning the layout of a European city, you never know what you might find and its irregularity is what makes it beautiful

@redditstop1653 3 года назад

As a resident of chicago where we have grids. I like it better then european style of roads. For traveling it's so much better in Europe. But for living I prefer the american style of way.

@fredsarahsteffen Год назад

@@redditstop1653 I’ve only lived “downtown” in smaller towns with grass boulevards, but everywhere in the US seems to be a N/S-E/W grid. For large cities (not NY, Chicago) it makes walking around difficult to me. Similar sized European cities aren’t as direct to walk, but generally more pleasant even if the streets are narrower and just as dominated by pavement. European parking always seems so limited, walking just makes more sense to me. Suburbs are different of course.

@Weslleeyify 5 лет назад

Vox, we love your videos on cities and urbanism. Please keep them coming ❤️

@jilliangazillion4263 5 лет назад

This was awesome - more content about urban planning and landscape architecture would be really cool. I love Vox's take, and crisp video editing.

@ShirleyitsJohn 5 лет назад

Really starting to enjoy vox, I watch because I know I'm going to learn something. Too often nowadays every channel just wants to cover the american news cycle which consists of "trump is bad", but vox is finally seperating itself from the pack and covering genuinely interesting interesting topics. I saw a mural of the vagabonds in a bar last week and got a little excited knowing what that actually meant now haha

@INEEDMOREZOMBIES115 5 лет назад

Same! I know Vox has political leanings, though, these kind of videos are truly eye opening on topics we take for granted like, Urban Planning. Always gives me a good talking point for get togethers and daily dinners.

@guruspubichair 3 года назад

1800s: Let's build the City in rectangular shapes so it's easy and cheap. 2019: Let's sell these easy and cheap appartments for several million dollars

@JustinY. 5 лет назад

When you play City Skylines yet also have massive OCD

@lmaodead2900 3 года назад

🤢🤢🤮🤮

@yourfriendlyneighborhoodcl4824 3 года назад

Boy oh boy

@iainronald4217 5 лет назад

As an urban planning major who's had a summer away from the course, thank you. This is so interesting!

@kkkk-wg6je 5 лет назад

Love that this is a series and not crammed into one vid. It keeps me coming back for more.

@SupremeLeaderKimJong-un 5 лет назад

Pyongyang had to rebuilt after the Korean War due to American bombings. The US used more bombs in Korea than in the whole Pacific theatre of WW2. My grandpa and father worked together to make the city great

@XxvaxionxX 5 лет назад

All hail the Supreme Leader

@falkerwyscray9067 5 лет назад

So hows your uncle?

@Captain1nsaneo 5 лет назад

How's your brother?

@SagradaMascarita 5 лет назад

Can i get your sisters snap?

@angladepierry1179 5 лет назад

Same

@unit333angel 5 лет назад

I had no idea I would be so fascinated by the history of how a city was planned and built. This was so cool!!!

@rrbaggett7 5 лет назад

Excellent & fascinating, Phil! I frequently paused the video in order to zoom in to pore over the interesting maps & photos. Well done, young man!

@VinylLockup 5 лет назад

Fantastic AE text animations! Very fresh and innovative. Nice work editor! 👌 (great research too)

@nicegan8902 5 лет назад

Look up William Light's 1836 plan for Adelaide, South Australia. The city is a square grid surrounded by parkland with 5 squares inside at the center of the 4 quadrants and in the middle of the city itself. Adelaide still holds to this plan.

@cl69420 5 лет назад

No mention of New Haven, CT the first grid city in North America which Philly got its idea from. Maybe first grid city ever, designed by John Davenport.

@whatsyourstoryindia 5 лет назад

A video on Mumbai's misplanned infrastructure??

@shreyastambat1813 5 лет назад

@Hernando Malinche 😂 🙈 😄

@satriagalih8062 5 лет назад

The videographer would be lost in action 😅😅

@ashyclaret 3 года назад

It was well planned originally if you look at old Bombay. Also one of the best engineering feats ever for a city, when you consider it was seven islands. I think it was just the sheer volume of people who migrated to it in a short space of time that caused the problems.

@lucacoccioli9244 5 лет назад

Glasgow city centre also has a remarkably uniform grid system. I've always wondered how this came to be, especially in an old european city. As far as I can tell the city centre has been a grid since before the 18th century, possibly earlier.

@felipwild 5 лет назад

The grid system is very old. Like ancient old. Also, if you think about it, the idea of a grid system is simpler because topography and other aspects (like protecting certain animal habits and natural springs) are considered when creating cities nowadays. Drawing a grid on a piece of paper was like deciding the border of some states, ignoring what it really meant to have a straight line over a region in real life.

@lucacoccioli9244 5 лет назад

@@felipwild what's peculiar about Glasgow is that the city centre grid is so uniform yet it's on very hilly ground. Vox's new video about suburban design talks about how it's easier to make curved streets that follow the outlines of the terrain, yet Glasgow city centre completely ignores that rule. And it makes me wonder why and when there was such a strong push for a grid design, especially when you consider that it isn't even perfectly aligned with north and south. We don't get a Glasgowhenge effect. Just a bit curious in my opinion.

@felipwild 5 лет назад

@@lucacoccioli9244 exactly, it's easier, cheaper and more convenient to make curved streets that follow the outlines of the terrain, but this knowledge (or idea) is recent if you consider the history of urbanization . Old cities would have the grid system because they didn't care much for the implications of doing so. If Glasgow was to be founded today with our studies on terrain, building roads and whatnot, probably it wouldn't even be a good choice in the first place. I study architecture and urbanism in Brazil. Nowadays, according to the law, you CANT build on terrain with an elevation higher than 15% for that will cause a series of problems with accessibility (specially for the disabled people) and the streets would have to curve too much to avoid being too steep.

@jonhauge816 4 года назад

Downtown Kristiansand (Norway) got the same grid. One of the reasons is that all the houses in a street got nature/ ocean view in two directions, four directions if you live on a corner.

@Twannnng 3 года назад

@@jonhauge816 Surely only 3, unless you can look through your neighbour's wall!

@nadinaaee 5 лет назад

new york wasnt really organized,chaotic. look at indonesias map,

@risannd 5 лет назад

Come to Pademangan, Sunter, or Kelapa Gading in Jakarta. It's a nicely shaped grid.

@gregoriodelpilariii2682 5 лет назад

whats that gotta do with new york? indopride much?

@sarips841 5 лет назад

@@gregoriodelpilariii2682 Proving NYC city plan isnt as organized as in most SEA Cities

@joshmoritty 5 лет назад

Is this sarcasm? Because I haven't found any one Indonesian city that's made up of organized grids. I'm Indonesian.

@nadinaaee 5 лет назад

Adartho its a she

@noahbowie5985 5 лет назад

I like the grid because it pleases my OCD. It's just so perfect

@simplyyjulianna9381 5 лет назад

Do you actually have ocd

@stevenl5049 5 лет назад

move a bit south and then your ocd will kick back in

@progressivelibertarianview8832 5 лет назад

Lol. "Satisfying"

@derrickvineyard7032 5 лет назад

Simplyy Julianna no ocd is trendy like depression for these internet raised children.

@cosmosisrose 5 лет назад

Do you genuinely have OCD or are you just one of those people using it as a trendy joke

@Lobstrique 5 лет назад

i love almanac so much! amazing episode

@Azoryo 5 лет назад

As a European I wonder.. Do rectangular grids feel homely and welcoming to you guys? More homely than organic streets? I think it's a fascinating question because I would certainly answer "no". I wonder how much that has to do with my childhood and the way I grew up.

@mmm59mmm 5 лет назад

same thinking

@kevinlai7524 5 лет назад

my parents recently moved to NYC. My mom loves it there because it's a 10 minute walk to her office. My dad not so much. He much prefers the country side. I really don't think the grids have anything to do with why they love/hate it. Sure, a more "organic" street layout is nice to look at on the map, but i don't think it has a significant impact on how your day to day life is when you factor in all the other things that can influence how "homely" a place feels.

@Hazellites 5 лет назад

Born in NY and I love it. When I go to less populated areas it's nice but only a while. I feel more comfortable when there is lots of people, different communities, and the transportation via subway is pretty great. There's just more to do here than being out in the suburbs and countryside.

@tomasvrabec1845 3 года назад

I would terribly miss plazas and stars, with tress and monuments. It wouldn't make it any less populous

@ms.rstake_1211 5 лет назад

I love this series ❤️ 😍.

@chikeh1 5 лет назад

You should do a video on Haussmann's renovation of Paris. It's awesome and revolutionary for urban planning at that time and at that scale and it still is even for today.

@jltiger97 5 лет назад

How do live with RU-vid not in night mode??

@illaneecorona 5 лет назад

Hmm.... Just switched over. Loving it already. Lol. Thank you for your influence.

@FedoraMiaza 5 лет назад

Hey Vox! Can we please have a schedule from you for the different series you upload (Ex. Darkroom every X day or Almanac every Y day). Thankyou! Btw, love your videos.

@cjthibeau4843 5 лет назад

Super interesting episode! Are there newer designs for cities that are coming out that seem to be more effective/efficient?

@Lords1997 5 лет назад

Great video!! Felt really inspired since I’m a from nyc as well😌❤️

@lagritsalammas 5 лет назад

Loved this episode. Thank you!

@azntitanicboy 5 лет назад

Thanks for another amazing video! Could you guys explore what effects the 1811 grid has on the city today? The most notable example being how the lack of alleys and back streets in that grid causes trash to pile up on all the streets? An example of this is NYC's Ktown on 34th, probably one of the smelliest streets in Manhattan in the summer. Compare that to a city like Chicago, whose alleys make the main streets looks immaculate compared to NYC. Thanks!

@notsure6187 5 лет назад

Isaac Kim Chicago is a very clean city. a lot of neighborhoods outside downtown Philadelphia have alleys so I assume New York has them too outside of Manhattan.

@mossycross3166 5 лет назад

This is my most favorite vox video and it just tells me the history of my own city and how it became what it is today

@mossycross3166 5 лет назад

Tho i wish you guys can work on both Mta history and Landfill History of New York City ...... i thought of multiple ways to refine or restructure the whole system because its slow and inefficient compare to other citys and its not even clean let alone crime and Drug activity i just want a safe,clean happy city thats transportation has no delay

@knockshinnoch1950 5 лет назад

great video, wish it was longer!

@irenesophia7970 5 лет назад

As a town planner students. I must say some country like mine are still agains the rectalinear and rectangular streets. Because of safety reasons . Altho i must say the design of Manhanttan is definitely satisfying to look at. It was one of my favourite city design.

@just_cade 4 года назад

New York's grid is iconic, the map of Manhattan is seared into my brain, it's the greatest place on Earth.

@JasonB95 5 лет назад

This was super interesting. I love urbanism and these types of topics.

@QuantumBraced 5 лет назад

American cities have the most perfect grids and most perfectly aligned with the cardinal directions. It's really noticeable on Google Maps, if you look at a other countries's cities that have grids, the grids are often imperfect.

@stanprysiazhniuk5511 5 лет назад

I wish VOX had actually suggested such a road-trip to all the people mentioned in the end... I'd watch this for sure!

@crazycrackinchick 5 лет назад

“This is a utopia called Philadelphia” Uhhhhhhhhhh

@owenmitchell1469 4 года назад

Morgi Taylor it used to be a utopia

@solar6120 4 года назад

This helped me with class. Thank you

@Riles04 5 лет назад

I enjoy every single vox video I click on but this ones my favorite

@adamiotime 5 лет назад

I've heard that the blocks were organised with more east-west than north-south streets in order to maximise access to the rivers and harbours for goods and logistics.

@kefkapalazzo1 5 лет назад

Yeah there’s like 20 avenues (N/S) and 270 streets (E/W)

@dansanger5340 2 года назад

Maybe so, but it seems like a really really bad choice for optimizing N/S travel.

@chococat746 5 лет назад

Without development, you would not just have the sun. Manhatten was covered with forest prior to settlement.

@blissbliss4168 5 лет назад

Prior to invasion!

@ChrisTheGoodGuy 3 года назад

@@blissbliss4168 settlement

@Wooyi 5 лет назад

Phil putting out episodes like fireworks I love it

@ladytomato7282 5 лет назад

Yay new Vox video!

@MomotheToothless 3 года назад

New York in 1800 : Let's make all our streets uniform and rectangular. New York today : Why are our streets so congested???

@aaronchoi7852 5 лет назад

Amazing work!

@tseekmin 5 лет назад

Juicy content as usual Vox !

@surfie007 5 лет назад

I love this series!

@ratnambordia4452 5 лет назад

Vox is really killing it these days.

@kuromad 5 лет назад

As an European, I always thought the US (especially NY) city layouts were weird. It is beautiful in a sense, but also very inefficient. Put a bunch of rocks in a bucket... if they were all squared bigger blocks, you wouldn't fit nearly as much as when you put rounded rocks of variable sizes in them. But I guess thats why you have a much easier time finding a parking space :D

@tenaciouslyawesome 4 года назад

Unless you have a square bucket

@crazycrackinchick 5 лет назад

Also Phil lining the grey hair! Gives a more “wiseman” look !

@nataliac2734 5 лет назад

Everything ever should be designed and animated by Vox's staff.

@melchizedekpsj 5 лет назад

Very interesting. Thank you!

@mareksicinski3726 5 лет назад

Vox, could you please explain how is it healthier or easier to support a larger population with that other 'graceful' robotic plan as opposed to any normal or sane development like the one we saw in the old street arrangement?

@rozkaz661 5 лет назад

Tldr: cause its cheap and easy to build

@Mr5Stars 5 лет назад

NYC grid system made it so easy to navigate the city when I was a Bike messanger in my college year, late 90's.... Want to head North, watch the street numbers go UP!!!!!

@catscats4427 5 лет назад

Where Manhattan’s grid plan came from

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