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Uuuh yeah this is just a self own. That squiggly mess is what makes for the kind of city that is inherently interesting, walkable and car resistant. The squareness is why US cities suck ass.
The only true thing you said there is that it makes cities more car resistant
From car resistant follows less and slower cars. Less cars means easier to walk and cycle. Which in turn means that businesses and attractions that cater to those groups can flourish. Everything about good cities is downstream of removing cars.
Sounds like you’re conflating the downsides of cars with straight roads. A grid system doesn’t inherently make a city less interesting or even unwalkable.
The town I grew up in has all bendy roads and it’s devoid of culture. Then I lived in a vibrant city with mostly straight roads for almost 20 years and rarely drove
Counter argument: Eixample in Barcelona
Boston has entered the chat
Just gotta visit New England
I currently live in one of those grid cities and I don’t really enjoy the squareness of it, makes it so every street is pretty much exactly the same. I would much prefer organic cities to processed ones.
Ever heard of a place called Milton Keynes?
Satan’s Layby?
Excellent reference
The home of the franchise currently plying their trade?
It’s also how you end up with roads that completely ignore the topology of the landscape. Sure, drop a straight line on a hilly landscape. Ruler on a map. Really awesome idea there.
You’d love Boston. For a good example of what it looks like speedran check out Seattle. They haven’t been around nearly long enough to be this much of a clusterfuck.
Spent my first 30 years in Tulsa and thought all cities had perfectly straight streets with names crossed by numbers. If you’re on Marion in some neighborhood, you know Harvard is 1 block west, no matter where you are.
Once you know the order of the named main streets and what numbers fall between what major streets, you can navigate anywhere without aid. A single page out of the phone book would get you anywhere. E, W, N, S depends on what side of Main and Admiral you are on.
You can reference this very short webpage and find anything.
Flew in with my ex-wife one night. Looking out the window, “You’re right! It’s a perfect checkerboard!”
Imagine my shock at working a Y2K gig in Wichita. “How the hell am I supposed to know where Green and Broadway is!?”
