On the anniversary of the map that created New York City, this interesting piece in the New York Times, frustratingly over focuses design intentions on the grid, over the laying down of individual parcel boundaries. We like to believe, its the parcels in blocks, that create or mediate the perception of good or bad communities.
Unfortunately today, zoning and financial economies encourage parcel consolidation within the grid arguing efficiencies are only achived with scale. And the discords stem from mature neighborhoods introducing development over or on top of original platting efforts that are out of sink with the scale of those original parcels. Originally, defining parcels within the grid was the way to provide for multiple, individual (unique), people (stakeholders) to coexist. Today, more often, entire blocks are owned or controlled as one entity. Community can not be established solely block by block. There requires an ingrediant to be in between. Abutting constituents, stakeholders and even vacancy make up the solids and voids inherent in mature successful neighborhoods. Maybe its time to reconsider the block to parcel as an important mediator of community as much as the underlying grid. Time to get back to the future.
...Sign of the times, Denny Regrade, Seattle 1910.
