The invention of a new scale–The paradox of size and configuration in American cities

Abstract

American cities are a subject of sporadic curiosity in space syntax. Over three decades, there are only a handful of notable studies mostly focused on a specific problem in a particular city of the United States. At the same time, European cities remain a subject of intense focus for space syntax. Findings about European cities are broad and substantial while those for American cities are sparse and suggestive. The reasons are many but a key problem is that we have not definitely established how spatial layout in American cities might be similar and/or different from European ones. The paper addresses this problem by presenting the findings of a study comparing 20 American and European urban grids controlled for the number of axial lines, i.e. axial size. American cities are similar in many ways but also different in other important ones. They appear to adhere to the same spatial laws found in European cities but they also differ because of an apparent paradox. They are metrically vaster but configurationally shallower in the horizontal dimension of the plan due to block size and line length, respectively. This appears systematic across multiple American cities. The latter arises out of widespread use of the regular grid, while the former from permissive land management policies. However, both express or find expression in Renaissance design sensibilities originating during the earliest days of colonisation and American Independence. This drives a socio-economic process, based on the efficient and rapid division of abundant land for allocation and/or sale, that gives rise to a distinctive American model of urbanism.