Promote Agricultural Settlement, and Organize Suburban Settlement, Essay Example

How have grids been used to decide land in rural areas, promote agricultural settlement, and organize suburban settlement?

Grids have been used to divide land in rural areas since ancient times, in which grids were drawn primarily to separate the cultivated fields in a manner that would allow eight families to share one square of land. During feudalism, the lord would be the owner of the square and would be responsible for dividing it up amongst the families that lived on it and cultivated it. Japan and Rome used a similar system, in which plots of land would be provided in square plots of certain measurements. While each country had its own grid method to determine how to divide land in both the past and in modern times, the American colonies were organized in an order that would allow for efficient interaction between rural areas and suburban developments. Rural areas were organized according to the traditional grid system, while suburban neighborhoods were generally formed as less organized clusters, as buildings were typically arranged around a central important area.

The determination of how grids would be used in both rural and suburban development was dependent upon each American state. As a general rule, grids were utilized to demarcate land ownership in both instances, and we currently use these standards to describe acreage of land owned. Suburban and urban areas in some cities and states utilize the grid system to clearly indicate land ownership in order to avoid confusion in terms of ownership law. Furthermore, each locality would charge land owners taxes differently. In some instances, it would be dependent upon the number of grids owned, and in others, it would be dependent on size and income produced.

A grid system is more likely to appear in currently suburban towns that had originally been rural. Furthermore, grid systems in modern suburban areas may appear to be confusing based upon the standard that two formerly unassociated areas may now be considered one location. As a consequence, suburban areas could either appear to be perfectly gridded or form as decentralized clusters, although this is dependent upon the particular locality under consideration.