Swastika Fused Grid

The Fused Grid is a street network pattern first proposed in 2002 and subsequently applied in Calgary, Alberta (2006) and in Stratford, Ontario (2004). It represents a synthesis of two well known and extensively used network concepts: the "grid" and the “Radburn” pattern, derivatives of which are found in most city suburbs. Both concepts were self-conscious attempts to organize urban space for habitation. The grid was conceived and applied in the pre-automotive era of cities starting circa 2000 BC and prevailed until about 1900 AD. The Radburn pattern emerged in 1929 about thirty years following the invention of the internal combustion engine powered automobile and in anticipation of its eventual dominance as a means for mobility and transport. Both these patterns appear throughout North America. “Fused” refers to a systematic recombination of the essential characteristics of each of these two network patterns.