| has gloss | eng: The Fused Grid represents the synthesis of two traditional North American approaches to residential neighborhood planning: the traditional, nineteenth-century grid plan, and the curvilinear pattern of looped streets and culs-de-sac of modern suburbia. This synthesis of inherited, common traditions is accomplished through the application of two practical means: a rectilinear, orthogonal geometry, a key characteristic of the grid, and the use of two street types that have generally been associated with curvilinear geometry. The grid’s second essential characteristic, connectivity, is recaptured through a third element that completes the “system” – pedestrians-only connectors between streets, which usually accommodate all movement modes. These connectors are typically routed through open spaces that occupy central points in a neighbourhood cell. Thus the neighbourhood street network comprises a mixture of streets; some pedestrian dominant and others car dominant. The complete system, though it appears unfamiliar, is composed of entirely familiar and extensively used elements. |
