Block (urban planning)

An area of land enclosed by streets, commonly subdivided into building plots. Its size and street connections shape movement, access, and the arrangement of buildings.

Street: A public route in a built-up area that supports movement and often provides access to adjacent properties. Streets form the edges that distinguish one block from the next.
Perimeter block: An urban block whose buildings form a mostly continuous edge around a shared interior. This block form puts building entrances and active façades along surrounding streets.
Grid plan: An urban layout in which streets intersect in a regular, often right-angled pattern. A grid divides land into repeated blocks and offers multiple route choices.
Manhattan street grid: The street plan established in Manhattan by the Commissioners' Plan of 1811. Its regular blocks show how a city grid can organize expansion across a large area.
Open-block urbanism: An urban design approach that breaks continuous perimeter blocks into separated buildings and open spaces. It replaces the enclosed street edge typical of many conventional blocks.
Building plot: A parcel of land designated for development or occupied by a building. Plots subdivide a block into sites for individual buildings or uses.
Block size: The dimensions or area of a city block, often measured by its street-to-street length and width. Size affects walking distances, route choices, and the scale of development parcels.
New Urbanism: An urban-design movement promoting walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods and traditional town forms. Its street and block patterns aim to support compact, pedestrian-oriented places.
Barcelona Eixample: The nineteenth-century expansion of Barcelona, planned by Ildefons Cerdà with a regular grid and chamfered corners. Its distinctive octagonal intersections modify the shape and function of repeated blocks.
Garden city movement: A planning movement advocating self-contained communities combining urban amenities with access to green space. Its lower-density layouts often replace compact street-bounded blocks with separated buildings and gardens.

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