Like the Roman town grid, the New York plan was laid down on largely empty land, a city designed in advance of being inhabited; if the Romans consulted the heavens for guidance in this effort, the city fathers of New York consulted the banks.
ATTRIBUTION:
Richard Sennett (b. 1943), U.S. social historian. Flesh and Stone: The Body and the City in Western Civilization, conclusion, Norton (1994).
