ABSTRACT
ALMOST IMMEDIATELY, CONVERSATION ABOUT RECONSTRUCTION TURNED TO THE RESTORATION OF THE GRID OF STREETS THAT HAD BEEN OBLITERATED BY THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE TRADE CENTER. The elevated podium on which the towers sat had precluded circultion both east-west and north-south across the huge site. Debate was couched primarily in terms of such access, of the renewed possibility for easy connections. While restoring such freedom of movement was and is vital, the foregrounding of the restoration of the street grid was a huge red herring, presenting the grid as if it were the only way to to move comfortably across the site. What remained unspoken was that the street grid was not simply a means for crossing the site, but of organizing it: the re-imposition of the grid would immediately yield a series of discrete parcels, ideal for development but not necessarily yielding the most coherent—or beautiful—community or space.
