City block

Inner city block inDresden

TheEixampleinBarcelona:An example of adistrictthat is predominantly characterized by closed blocks of houses

Acity blockis a block of houses, in a built up area. Usually, it is delimited byroads,pathways, or bygeographicalfeatures, such as arailwayline or ariver.It consists of severalland lotswhich are directly next to each other, and usually privately owned.

View ofManhattan,the different land lots are clearly visible.

A city block is a typical form of inner-city design. Commonly, multi-storeyapartment buildings,semi-detatched houses,office blocks,or mixed-use houses make up the elements of a city block. As all the houses touch each other, this is known as a closed form.

In thesuburbs,there is more space, and the buildings don't usually touch each other. This is known as an open form.

InEurope,cities have grown over centuries, and their layout is different from that of aplanned city.As a result, the city block in a planned city also looks different.

Origin

The design of city blocks started with the emergence of cities, in theMiddle Ages.MedievalHanseaticcities already used city blocks. The design can also be found inbaroqueinner cities, such as the Dutch Quarter inPotsdam.It is typical ofabsolutisturban developmentand thetenementdistricts of major German cities that were built after 1870 during the Wilhelminian era. In response to the housing shortage of the 1920s, housing associations built apartment blocks with largecourtyardsand small apartments. At the same time, however, city planners were also looking for alternatives to theperimeterblock development that was common at the time. What they did was build blocksperpendicularto the road; they would then build footpaths as access. This has the benefit that all apartments get the same amount ofsunshine.It has the drawback, that larger arrangements look monontonus.This kind of city planning was widespread during the reconstruction ofGermanyafter theSecond World War,in the 1950s and 1960s. Another benefit of this model is thatneighborhoodshave a better airflow.

During the Middle Ages, city blocks were often simply chaining buildings, in an unplanned way.

Even inantiquity,there were planned cities. Examples of this are the city ofMiletus,or the model of aRoman city,which both used a regular grid layout. During the Baroque era, citty planning was common: Cities were planned with big geometric layouts, later they were divided into different land lots, before being built.

City blocks are also used for collectingstatistical data onthepopulation structure.When visualizing 3D city models, people oftenuse simplified solid bodies that are supposed to correspond tothe real building blocks.