Urban Planning: Why Wider Roads Bring More Traffic
How cities get their shape, from Roman grids and garden cities to cable cars, superblocks and the surprising math of traffic.
Try 3 questions
1. Many European cities, such as Turin, still have a regular street grid in their historic center. Why?
- They grew from Roman military camp layouts
- Medieval guilds required straight streets
- They were rebuilt after nineteenth-century fires
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Answer: They grew from Roman military camp layouts
Roman colonies were laid out like army camps, with two main axes and regular blocks, and later cities kept building on those lines.
2. Why do so many Spanish American cities share a grid of streets around a central main square?
- Cities in Spain itself all used regular grids
- Indigenous cities there were all grid-planned already
- Royal ordinances prescribed that layout for new towns
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Answer: Royal ordinances prescribed that layout for new towns
Colonial rules, codified in the 1573 Ordinances, told founders to lay out a plaza mayor with straight streets running from it.
3. Why did many medieval European towns end up with narrow, winding streets?
- They grew piecemeal inside tight defensive walls
- Planners designed them to confuse invaders
- Laws banned straight streets as unlucky
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Answer: They grew piecemeal inside tight defensive walls
Most grew incrementally, plot by plot, following paths and terrain within limited walled space; the 'designed to confuse attackers' idea is largely a myth.
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