Centering on the Square
by Carolyn Ristau
After the Great Fire of 1666, Richard Newcourt and others suggested a new layout for London based on squares or grids to reduce the risk of future devastating fires. This approach did not get used in London, largely due to the existing property owners maintaining their existing property boundaries. However, the square-based plan inspired William Penn and others in laying out towns in what would become the United States.
In creating the plan for Philadelphia, known as the “Holy Experiment,” Penn used a grid pattern of east-west(ish) and north-south(ish) roads, with broader streets for the main commerce-centered thoroughfares. He also provided a public square in each quadrant for green, open space. James Oglethorpe also used squares with grid-pattern streets in the plan for Savannah. His approach included dedicating the lots north and south of the squares for houses and the lots east and west of the squares for religious, civic, or other public buildings.
Squares were also central to the Public Land Survey System created by the Land Ordinance of 1785. This Federal law created the PLSS to divide up land for sale and development in the Northwest Territories — now the Great Lakes Region. The plan was to impose a grid over the entire region with 6 mile by 6 mile squares forming Townships. Each Township was divided into 36 sections (1 mile by 1 mile or 640 acres each). Section 16 was reserved for a public school while Sections 8, 11, 26, and 29 were retained by the Federal government for future sale or use. The remaining sections were to be used to pay soldiers of the Continental Army or sold off. Note: according to the Land Ordinance of 1787, one of the conditions for becoming a state was that the territory must have a public university.
Squares and grids are visible in US cities outside of these three leading plans. Grids were used in Pittsburgh, Birmingham (now part of Pittsburgh’s South Side), and Allegheny City (now several neighborhoods on Pittsburgh’s north side). Pittsburgh’s squares and grids are interesting as two separate plans were created within the triangle formed by the intersection of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers. The joining of these two grids creates some interesting geometries along Liberty Avenue.
Developing on a square clearly took off in the European settlements of what is now the United States, despite there not being precedent for it in Europe. Interestingly, the square had long been used in planning in China, particularly in the capital where large east-west and north-south thoroughfares divide up the large square of the original city with the Forbidden City taking up a significant portion of the northern section of this square.
In the history of the planning profession, it is also important to point out that the squares and grids imposed upon the land in Philadelphia, Savannah, and Pittsburgh, and in the Public Land Survey System were a top-down planning approach. The existing communities that used this land were not consulted by the white men from Western Europe or descended from Western European immigrants who developed and executed these plans.
Source & Inspiration:
Episode 6: “So It Begins” & Episode 7: “Now That We Found Land, What Are We Gonna Do With It?” from the Very Unofficial AICP Study Guide podcast
William Penn’s Philadelphia Plan, The Cultural Landscape Foundation. (accessed April 22, 2023)
Oglethorpe and Savannah’s City Plan. Georgia Historical Society. (accessed April 22, 2023)
Rectangular Survey System. Bureau of Land Management. (accessed April 22, 2023)
Land Ordinance of 1785. American History Central. (accessed April 22, 2023)
