ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the findings for a survey of regular grid planning in a historical record of American town plans. For this survey, a broadly representative sample of more than 700 American town plans from 1565 to 1961 - a large majority from the 18th and 19th centuries - was compiled from various sources. The purpose is to qualify the extent and frequency of regular grid planning in the United States by identifying formal composition of American settlements as recorded in town plans over time and space, i.e. from early colonization to westward expansion. The regulatory framework imposed by the 1785 Land Ordinance for the practical division and distribution of land only served to intensify the American predisposition towards regularity. In this sense, the American town planning tradition represents the epitome of the Renaissance city ideal. The distribution of activities and land uses has the potential to further intensify - or detract from - the background effects of natural movement.
