An opinion regarding the grid layout as a goal and parameter

Abstract

This opinion paper has the goal of offering two opinions as a guide for further and better research on the grid layout motivated by its coming back to planning research and practice. By analytical reasoning referencing relevant researches and real world examples, it gives from a town planner’s perspective an account for both the popularity and resilience of the grid layout. The first opinion is that the grid layout (gridiron (orthogonal/rectangular)) is a default planning option in relation to the town and country layout or pattern of land apportionment. The second and more important, based on two case studies (one from colonial Hong Kong and another from the southern bank of the River Clyde, in Glasgow, Scotland), is that the conversion of an informal and customary layout into a formal grid land pattern and its subsequent modification is, in the word of Libecap et al. (2011), a major “institutional change” that involves high transaction costs measured in terms of time. Seven research issues are discussed.