A STUDY OF THE GRID PLAN DEVELOPMENT IN GLASGOW CITY CENTER

Abstract

In the eighteenth century, in Glasgow, the merchants who run trade business with colonial America proceeded the new town development. This new town was planned with the concept of "point-de-vue", and became known as "Merchant City". After this Merchant City development, the new town was extended to the west, and planned with the concept of grid plan by James Barry. After Barry's plan, the varieties of the new town developments were carried out, and consequently the industrial area north of Clyde River, Trade Town south side of the river, and the new town in Blythwood came into existence. Now the area to the north east of Merchant City is being developed as a residential area. This paper aims to clarify difference of the concept in the grid planning process in so-called Glasgow New Town, particularly for thirty years since Merchant City had been planned at the end of the eighteenth century. The author proposes that this thirty year new town development can be divided into six phases, each of which were planned with different concepts. The main purpose of this study is to analyze these different concepts and the contexts which necessitated the different planning only for thirty years.