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Grids can be fine, if there is some nice topography or some other nice geographical element. Flat grids are less exciting, and flat grids that are surrounded by nothing than more flat land - well that's an uphill battle (yuk yuk) to be interesting.
Yet the most boring man-made landscape in the United States is NOT gridded 99% of the time. For every charming Boston, Lower Manhattan, or even Portsmouth N.H. there are a million suburban sprawl curvy Cul-de-Sacs feeding in to arterials that in turn feed in to highway on ramps. Crap like this will make any reasonable person BEG for a grid with a tree canopy and sidewalks.
But yeah, the old colonial street pattern of Boston is charming and oh so European.
Grids can be fine, if there is some nice topography or some other nice geographical element. Flat grids are less exciting, and flat grids that are surrounded by nothing than more flat land - well that's an uphill battle (yuk yuk) to be interesting.
I find it has more to do with the quality of the place more than anything else. A flat street lined with mature street trees, manicured gardens, front porches, and beautiful homes is a lovely place to take a walk. A new subdivision in Colorado Springs without sidewalks and with huge garage doors fronting every house is not--even though it's "hilly".
I find it has more to do with the quality of the place more than anything else. A flat street lined with mature street trees, manicured gardens, front porches, and beautiful homes is a lovely place to take a walk. A new subdivision in Colorado Springs without sidewalks and with huge garage doors fronting every house is not--even though it's "hilly".
I agree. I was thinking in terms of some very specific examples.
I'm from Boston, we are not grided. Manhattan is and I love it because it is densely gridded. However, I just got back from Phoenix and found it so spaced out, miles of gridded streets. How BORING. everything was the same on every damn corner practically. Roads one way, streets another And avenues another way. Ugh, so structured and robot like. I hated it!
Wanted to know what others thought.
Did you really want to know what others thought, or did you just want everyone to know you're from Boston, while needing an outlet to talk trash about Phoenix? Is that the new trendy thing to do?
Did you really want to know what others thought, or did you just want everyone to know you're from Boston, while needing an outlet to talk trash about Phoenix? Is that the new trendy thing to do?
i'm just giving my opinion and observation. This is a thread about gridded streets. I personally could careless talking trash about a city. But who knows, maybe its "Trendy" to accuse people of doing so. Thanks, AZ.
Some of the older communities within the City Limits of Atlanta are loosely gridded.
Ex.-Midtown, Home Park near GT between 10th st and maybe Atlantic Station,Vine City, Peoplestown/Turner Field/Some of Grant Park, Pittsburgh/Mechanicsville... other than that Atlanta's a mess lol.
I find it has more to do with the quality of the place more than anything else. A flat street lined with mature street trees, manicured gardens, front porches, and beautiful homes is a lovely place to take a walk. A new subdivision in Colorado Springs without sidewalks and with huge garage doors fronting every house is not--even though it's "hilly".
Yes, but all things being equal a hilly place is more visually appealing then a flat one. I find grid patterns boring. But it's also a problem if you can't easily get from point to point because the streets are designed to prevent people from passing through a neighborhood. How about bike and pedestrian paths on the grid system bisecting a convoluted series of curving roads for cars?
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