ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 ส.ค. 2019
- 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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*takes notes for my city in cities skylines*
Nooo dont do grids do rtgame style roads
American city design really shouldn't be looked at too much for inspiration. Perhaps only for how not to design something.
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!
The more curves, the better your city looks. I only use grids in the industrial and heavy commercial zones.
@@IsThisRain Real cities have curves!
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
r/collapse
Housing used to be human right, now it's almost like a stock
@@rbk2kpro When
@@jonathanpichel4606 I heard since the 80s
Ever heard of a thing called "supply & demand"?
I honestly wonder why your episodes feel unfinished...it always gives me the impression there's a part two to tie up the subject.
I agree. Feels like it needs a little more effort to wrap up and make a meaningful conclusion.
Same
Lol seriously, it’s like when you have to write a 500 word essay and you’re at 502 word count hahaha
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.
same, the video ends and I feel like I've been introduced to an interesting idea but I haven't learned anything about it.
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.
LITERALLY BUILDING ONE RIGHT NOW
I would really love to see Manhattan in Minecraft.
@@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.
dude you're everywhere
@@muhammadhafiz_h4Really? I really don't see that
02:07 funny to hear you talk about the chaotic design an irregularities .. I’m from Europe and this looks super organized 😄
fapeg this is unorganized for American standards I believe
European cities are more naturally constructed
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.
@@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
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.
2:06: "chaotic curved streets"
*laughs and cries in Bangkok*
That map looks like a normal European city.
Take a look at the Brazilian city Salvador - Bahia
Manila
Ohh you’ve not seen kathmandu
*laughs and cries in Metro Manila*
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!
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
You. Are. Everywhere but no one really notices i feel like xD
I can recomend Lewis Mumford: the city in history.
I SEE U IN EVERY VID
Some cities are very interesting concerning urban planning such as barcelone, brasilia or kyoto
@@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.
"chaotic curved streets"
everywhere that isn't the us: 👀
Bog Creature right
My road to school is more curved than that
vox: *talking about grids*
me: *let me try this at cities skylines*
David Dima The whole city: grids, and *only* grids.
Those grids aren’t enough for Basic Services and Amenities in Cities Skylines...
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.
And so is Manhattan.
You should do a whole series on city design and formation!! My home city of Adelaide has a interesting history
James Bond That park around the city center is interesting.
How's the water situation there?
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
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
Yes, I'd love to learn more about The Mighty Black Stump :D
But cities like Boston or London have greater charm and uniqueness but are a pain to navigate.
I guess you've never been in Rome or Venice
Plus Rome existed since 753bc and London 2000 year old
@@elios2296 That is true!
@@1karl249 I was not trying to denegrade London. But Boston is very similar.
@@PaulFerzocoI know lol i was just saying their old city's and not designed for modern times for car and massive population's
I wish this was longer. There's so much to learn about New York. Make a part 2!😀
It would be interesting to learn about how the other boroughs were developed...
Vox please keep doing these urban planning videos! Being an urban planner is my dream job, and these videos inspire me
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.
This was awesome - more content about urban planning and landscape architecture would be really cool. I love Vox's take, and crisp video editing.
Excellent & fascinating, Phil! I frequently paused the video in order to zoom in to pore over the interesting maps & photos. Well done, young man!
Vox, we love your videos on cities and urbanism. Please keep them coming ❤️
Fantastic AE text animations! Very fresh and innovative. Nice work editor! 👌 (great research too)
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
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.
@@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.
As an urban planning major who's had a summer away from the course, thank you. This is so interesting!
Love that this is a series and not crammed into one vid. It keeps me coming back for more.
i love almanac so much! amazing episode
I had no idea I would be so fascinated by the history of how a city was planned and built. This was so cool!!!
Loved this episode. Thank you!
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.
Great video!! Felt really inspired since I’m a from nyc as well😌❤️
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
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.
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
great video, wish it was longer!
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.
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.
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.
@@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.
@@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.
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.
@@jonhauge816 Surely only 3, unless you can look through your neighbour's wall!
I love this series ❤️ 😍.
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.
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
All hail the Supreme Leader
So hows your uncle?
How's your brother?
Can i get your sisters snap?
Same
Amazing work!
A video on Mumbai's misplanned infrastructure??
@Hernando Malinche 😂 🙈 😄
The videographer would be lost in action 😅😅
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.
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
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
This helped me with class. Thank you
Juicy content as usual Vox !
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.
This was super interesting. I love urbanism and these types of topics.
How do live with TH-cam not in night mode??
Hmm.... Just switched over. Loving it already. Lol. Thank you for your influence.
I enjoy every single vox video I click on but this ones my favorite
When you play City Skylines yet also have massive OCD
🤢🤢🤮🤮
Boy oh boy
Yay new Vox video!
Super interesting episode! Are there newer designs for cities that are coming out that seem to be more effective/efficient?
I love this series!
Very interesting. Thank you!
New York's grid is iconic, the map of Manhattan is seared into my brain, it's the greatest place on Earth.
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!
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.
Phil putting out episodes like fireworks I love it
More Almanac videos please!
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.
Yeah there’s like 20 avenues (N/S) and 270 streets (E/W)
Maybe so, but it seems like a really really bad choice for optimizing N/S travel.
Without development, you would not just have the sun. Manhatten was covered with forest prior to settlement.
Prior to invasion!
@@blissbliss4168 settlement
I wish VOX had actually suggested such a road-trip to all the people mentioned in the end... I'd watch this for sure!
new york wasnt really organized,chaotic.
look at indonesias map,
Come to Pademangan, Sunter, or Kelapa Gading in Jakarta. It's a nicely shaped grid.
whats that gotta do with new york? indopride much?
@@gregoriodelpilariii2682 Proving NYC city plan isnt as organized as in most SEA Cities
Is this sarcasm? Because I haven't found any one Indonesian city that's made up of organized grids.
I'm Indonesian.
Adartho its a she
I like the grid because it pleases my OCD. It's just so perfect
Do you actually have ocd
move a bit south and then your ocd will kick back in
Lol. "Satisfying"
Simplyy Julianna no ocd is trendy like depression for these internet raised children.
Do you genuinely have OCD or are you just one of those people using it as a trendy joke
Great video
Vox makes me happy
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.
same thinking
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.
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.
I would terribly miss plazas and stars, with tress and monuments. It wouldn't make it any less populous
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.
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.
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?
Vox is really killing it these days.
Everything ever should be designed and animated by Vox's staff.
Also Phil lining the grey hair! Gives a more “wiseman” look !
That was fantastic.
New York in 1800 : Let's make all our streets uniform and rectangular.
New York today : Why are our streets so congested???
@5:23 kudos to the artist who made that.
Excellent video. It would be interesting if Vox could do a video on cities' reconstruction after World War 2
Quite an interesting watch.
I live in Toronto, and I wish the planners and architects had adopted a model like this
In my city we had roundabouts every five mins. I wish our city were this organized
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
Unless you have a square bucket
“This is a utopia called Philadelphia”
Uhhhhhhhhhh
Morgi Taylor it used to be a utopia
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!!!!!
Man that ended way too soon, I was totally invested. I want to know more
thank you
To all people from Manhattan, how do you drive or walk done the street in the morning or evening when the sun is directly in front of you? It is painstaking or not really?
5:23 That's dope
Could you do one on the grid in Ouagadougou?
You could blindfold and drop me anywhere in Manhattan and I could tell you what neighborhood I am in within seconds. I love nyc
As someone living in a 2000 years old city, I prefer the organically grown and therefore interesting structure of my city (especially the inner very well preserved part).
Woooh. Where’s the reference to the example grid system adopted from Whitehaven, Cumbria, U.K??
3:41 China reference, still so true.
Tldr: cause its cheap and easy to build
'chaos', 'chaotic curved streets', 'stuck with', 'order'
lol the distinctly ridiculous air of superiority
Man why tf was this so short? It was much appreciated and I know why but c’mon.
My understanding is that the circles in the plan for D. C. was to inhibit a cavalry charge down the avenues. -. They sure slow down auto traffic.
little that they know its no longer cheap at all build in Manhattan nonetheless to live in regardless of a rectangular street grid
Due to them trying to give NYC some "Charm" and "Character" is the reason it's expensive. If they just accepted the change in scenery, it would all change.
Personally I prefer the more organic approaches to cities like London and Paris - grids make a city feel more boring to navigate
This is true, it’s one of the reasons I preferred Boston over New York
Why not both? Check Navi Mumbai for reference.
Under the plan Hausmann the medieval city of Paris was largely replaced with grid like grand avenues.
Paris isn't organic
I like boring, I came to do things, not get lost. But I do have ADHD and walking around looking can get me frustrated.
I remember when I went to New York, flying in it was so unlike anything I’d ever seen. In the UK the roads, city’s and towns are all a complete mess of winding turns and roundabouts. I do prefer it like that over a grid, feels more natural
Jane Jacobs would love the grid model. It's perfect for walking traffic.
Without development you just have to sun. The buildings make it worth looking at
That a great civil engineering quote right there
Very interesting, Mr Edwards. Can I call you Phil?
You should do one about how Hot Springs, Arkansas got it's partial grid / partial "spaghetti" road map.
Heading into Downtown is set up similar to DC and Times Square, for example, as all roads lead to one.
I'm sure the valley has alot to do with it.
But I'm sure there's alot more than meets the eye.
Please alert me to any videos on this
Seem like such a throw away video. Failed to mention some of the more interesting details of the gird. Off the top of my head
1) 20 blocks equal a mile (short sides)
2) The grid stops at 160th st, partly because above that it's too hard to make the grid (area too hilly) and because the original planners didn't want to make a real estate market (lol)
3) central park was originally planned for the city. They just decided to have one because cities having parks was a big rage at the time.
That's all I can remember off the top of my head.
grids are so intuitive, for people without a sense of direction like myself
American: *sees a curve "Is this disorganization?"