| Comment | Not really true. NY's grid began to be laid out a little before Glasgow's got started, but not by much.
The truth is Glasgow's grid came about because so many Glasgow-based merchants and their apprentices lived in the Caribbean, close to their plantations (often they were contracted to do so, as a necessity for gaining entrance into their guilds).
Caribbean towns were being planned with such speed (due to the surge in activity from the trade of slaves and harvested tobacco/sugar/cotton) that they didn't develop organically. They were planned street by street, with planners applying the the grid layout - viewed at that time as symbolic of enlightenment and classical elegance.
Merchants came back to Glasgow, bringing back ideas, goods, and in some cases even slaves. Among the ideas they brought back though, was the Carribbean style grid layout, which could be readily applied to Glasgow as it expanded westwards into what was previously empty fields. |
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