Genealogies of the Grid: Revisiting Stanislawski's Search for the Origin of the Grid–Pattern Town*

Abstract

ABSTRACT. As a spatial form, the grid pattern has influenced a range of human activities, from urban planning, architecture, and modern art to graphic design, archaeology, and cartography. Scholars from different disciplines have generally explored the role of the grid within their respective fields of inquiry. One of the earliest geographical attempts to systematically trace the origin and diffusion of the grid‐pattern town was provided by Dan Stanislawski in the mid–twentieth century. In this article I critically examine the limitations of Stanislawski's theory of the grid's origin as a means of challenging the doctrine of diffusionism more generally. I then provide a selective overview of recent approaches to understanding the grid and call for a comparative genealogy of gridded spaces and places.

• diffusionism
• genealogy
• grid
• orthogonal planning
• Dan Stanislawski
• urban form

* I would like to thank the John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress for providing the financial support that enabled me to complete the current study as part of a larger project on the historical geography of spatial rationalization and the politics of calculation. I also received constructive feedback from Michael E. Smith at Arizona State University as well as from two anonymous reviewers and the journal's editor, Craig Colten. Of course, I take full responsibility for any errors of fact or interpretation in the content of this article.

1 Dr. Rose–Redwood is an assistant professor of geography at Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843.

* I would like to thank the John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress for providing the financial support that enabled me to complete the current study as part of a larger project on the historical geography of spatial rationalization and the politics of calculation. I also received constructive feedback from Michael E. Smith at Arizona State University as well as from two anonymous reviewers and the journal's editor, Craig Colten. Of course, I take full responsibility for any errors of fact or interpretation in the content of this article.

1 Dr. Rose–Redwood is an assistant professor of geography at Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843.

Notes

* I would like to thank the John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress for providing the financial support that enabled me to complete the current study as part of a larger project on the historical geography of spatial rationalization and the politics of calculation. I also received constructive feedback from Michael E. Smith at Arizona State University as well as from two anonymous reviewers and the journal's editor, Craig Colten. Of course, I take full responsibility for any errors of fact or interpretation in the content of this article.

1 Dr. Rose–Redwood is an assistant professor of geography at Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843.