Every Major Street Pattern Explained in 9 Minutes（原声文稿）

Organic Pattern The streets of Venice did not appear overnight.

Over hundreds of years they naturally formed around waterways, bridges, and small islands.

This is what an organic street pattern looks like. There is no central planning, no geometric shapes. Only necessity and geography determine everything.

Narrow streets wind their way forward, sometimes ending in dead ends, sometimes opening up to surprising squares. Driving is impossible, but walking is a pleasure.

even GPS gets confused in these streets because its algorithms are designed for regular streets.

Tourists constantly get lost, but that's part of its charm.

In fact this sense of getting lost offers an escape from the predictability of modern life.

At every corner you might discover a new bakery, a small artisan shop, or an unexpected view.

The organic pattern is like a living organism that grows over time.

Fez's Medina, Istanbul's historic districts, and logic.

People settled first, and then the streets took shape according to their lifestyle.

Modern urban planners are now trying to preserve organic patterns because these streets support social life.

Neighborhood relationships are strong and local businesses thrive, but infrastructure development is challenging. Grid pattern.

When you look at Chandigarh from the air, you see a giant chessboard.

Designed by Le Corbusier, this city has a perfect grid pattern.

Every block is the same size and every street runs either parallel or perpendicular.

Manhattan works on a similar logic and is one of the most successful examples in the world.

The old New York planners said, simple is beautiful, in 1811, and they were right.

Finding an address is very easy.

Fifth Avenue, 42nd Street, for example.

Firefighters, police and ambulances can reach any location quickly because they already know the roads.

Laying infrastructure is also easy because everything is orderly and repeatable.

water pipes, electrical cables, and sewage systems are all laid out according to the same logic. But there are drawbacks, of course. Wind corridors form, especially between tall buildings.

The city can appear monotonous, with every corner resembling the next.

This is why modern grid plans are enriched with parks, squares, and buildings of varying heights.

Chicago, Barcelona, and some areas of Toronto use this hybrid approach.

Additionally, the grid plan facilitates land speculation because the plots are standard sizes.

This standardization also promises a certain social equality.

This simple and replicable model played a significant role in America's westward expansion.

Radial Pattern The roads surrounding the center of Moscow spread out in concentric circles, with the main streets dividing the center like a star.

This is a radial pattern that has been widely used throughout history.

There are main arteries leading in all directions from Red Square, feeding the entire city.

Paris' Champs -Élysées also works on this principle, with 12 streets radiating out from the Arc de Triomphe, Washington, D .C. East design is also radial.

Access to the entire city is possible from the important structure, palace, or square at the center.

Because all roads lead here, the center truly becomes the center.

Managing traffic is relatively easy and the center always remains lively.

The commercial, cultural, and political center naturally becomes the heart of the city.

But the problem is that the center becomes too crowded and traffic congestion reaches serious levels.

Moving between neighborhoods is difficult because there are no direct connections.

Sometimes you have to go through the center to get from point A to point B, which is very illogical.

Modern cities are trying to solve this problem with ring roads.

Moscow's MKAD and Paris's Peripherique were built for this purpose.

Irregular patterns San Francisco's streets are wild.

They climb hills, cut through grids, have steep inclines, then level out before starting the grid again.

The reason for this irregular pattern is entirely geographical.

When the city was founded, planners said, let's ignore the topography and impose the grid. The result?

Zigzagging streets like Lombard Street, 40 degree inclines, and the famous car chase scenes from the movie Bullet. This irregular pattern is actually quite common. Most cities are like this.

Istanbul is in a similar situation, the Bosphorus, Hills, Valleys.

Each neighborhood was built according to a different logic.

Baolu is grid -like, Fati is organic, Levent is planned, Rio de Janeiro, Hong Kong and Seattle all have similar mixed structures.

They look very distinctive, and movies are filmed in these cities because they are visually rich.

But navigation is difficult, and infrastructure is expensive because each area requires different solutions.

GPS apps sometimes make amusing errors in these types of cities.

Moreover, there are difficulties in terms of flood risk and earthquake safety. Each neighborhood requires separate analysis.

Loose grid Buenos Aires has a grid system, but it is not as strict as Chandigarh's.

This system, known as a loose grid, maintains the basic geometry but remains flexible.

Some streets are wider, some blocks are different sizes, and there are diagonal streets.

These crossings break up the grid but also ease traffic.

Melbourne, Australia also uses this system and is very successful. The grid is practical but not monotonous.

The city has breathing space because the blocks are not the same size. It is easier to allocate space for parks and squares. There is diversity, but also order.

In other words, it has both modern and organic features. It's actually the ideal solution for planners. Because it's both orderly and not boring, designed on a human scale.

Cities like Portland, Adelaide, and Savannah also use a similar approach.

It works especially well in places with a mild climate because walking is enjoyable.

These types of street plans are also bike friendly.

Suburban It is very difficult to live in Auckland without a car.

This is because the city is built entirely on a suburban model.

Wide streets, large houses with gardens, shopping centres, and everything else is designed with cars in mind.

The streets are generally curved with many dead ends because they were built this way to reduce traffic speed. Most American cities follow this pattern.

Phoenix, Atlanta, Houston, Las Vegas.

It's entirely a product of the car age that began in the 1950s.

The planning was based on the assumption that every family would have a car. The result?

Hours spent in traffic, high fuel costs, and environmental pollution.

There's also social isolation, because there's little chance of encountering neighbors.

But there are also spacious homes, quiet streets, and safety, of course.

Children can play safely and the crime rate is low.

Modern suburbs are now trying to add bike lanes, public transportation, and walking areas.

The new urbanism movement is seeking solutions to these issues.

Cities like Markham in Canada and Milton Keynes in England are experimenting with hybrid solutions, but change is difficult because the infrastructure was already built with cars in mind.

SuperBlock Barcelona's SuperBlock experiment is inspiring the world.

Nine normal blocks are combined to form a huge superblock.

There are no cars inside, only pedestrians and cyclists and children can play in the streets.

Cars can pass through the surrounding roads, but the speed limit is very low. The result? Cleaner air, quieter streets, and increased safety.

Even old parking lots are being converted into parks and gardens, and cafes are opening up.

Cities like Copenhagen and Ghent are also implementing similar initiatives, and the results are very positive. Air quality measurements clearly show improvement.

Of course, traffic on the surrounding roads can increase, which is a cause for concern.

When it was first implemented in Barcelona, it received a lot of backlash.

However, However, in most trials, local businesses have seen an increase in customers because people are more comfortable spending time on the streets.

Paris's 15 -minute city concept follows a similar logic, meeting all local needs without the need for long -distance travel.

This approach is also an important tool in the fight against climate change.

Linear City The line, part of Saudi Arabia's NEOM project, is a straight line 170 km long. Yes, you've heard that right.

The entire city will be built on a single line and will accommodate 9 million people.

The linear city concept actually dates back to the 1800s.

Spanish architect Arturo Sorilla y Mata first proposed it, and a small section was built in Madrid.

During the Soviet era, industrial cities like Magneto Gorsk were also built based on this logic.

The idea is that transportation is centralized on a single line, allowing easy access to any location via train or metro.

Land use is minimal, and damage to nature is reduced.

Because the city does not spread out, it only extends.

Infrastructure costs are also theoretically low because they will be laid along a single line. However, the criticisms are serious.

In the event of a fire or natural disaster, escape routes are limited. How will social interaction take place? Will people only know their immediate neighbors?

Will sunlight reach every area equally, especially if there are high walls? How will wind and airflow be managed?

If NEOM is completed, we will have answers to these questions.

Of course, if the project is actually finished, which street pattern caught your attention the most in this video? Which category do you think your city falls into?

Personally, I think the loose grid is the most balanced solution.

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