ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how widespread use of the regular grid gives rise to an emergent spatial structure that is complex but filled with information based on the patterning of the urban grid for movement in contemporary American cities. It argues that grid intensification is equally relevant for American cities as previously found in other cities of the world. However, the expansive, spare urban fabric of American cities has implications for network analysis. The chapter also examines emergence-convergence in two contemporary American cities lacking a large-scale orthogonal super grid. The focus is metropolitan Baltimore, Maryland and Seattle, Washington. Local topographical conditions in Seattle strongly governed the configurational possibilities for urban growth in that city over time. One of the strengths of space syntax lies in the ability of researchers and practitioners to detect 'deep structures' in spatial networks of all kinds.
