Technology · Form

The grid

c. 2500 BCE · Indus Valley / later Greek
Excavated brick streets and blocks of Mohenjo-daro, the Indus Valley city laid out on a regular orthogonal grid around 2500 BCE
Excavated brick streets and blocks of Mohenjo-daro, the Indus Valley city laid out on a regular orthogonal grid around 2500 BCE · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Saqib Qayyum

What it is

The grid is an orthogonal street layout that divides land into regular rectangular blocks by two sets of parallel streets crossing at right angles. It appears in the planned brick cities of the Indus Valley around 2500 BCE and was later systematised in Greek colonies, where it is associated with Hippodamus of Miletus in the 5th century BCE. Its geometry can be extended indefinitely and surveyed quickly, making it equally suited to laying out farmland, military camps and speculative city blocks.

Why it matters

The grid is the most portable planning device in history, used to express sacred order, to settle conquered territory and to subdivide land for sale. From Roman colonies to Manhattan's 1811 plan, it has structured cities on every continent.

Plans it shaped

See it on the timeline →
hub.toekom.st — History of Urbanism · an interactive timeline of 850 planned cities across 6,000 years.