What makes a gridded layout have smaller blocks? I live in a gridded layout and I have a large backyard, as do all those in my suburb. And when I compare with t

What makes a gridded layout have smaller blocks? I live in a gridded layout and I have a large backyard, as do all those in my suburb. And when I compare with the suburbs with the cul-de-sac layout I see their backyards are smaller! This is in Australia, and maybe it's different where you are, but there is nothing in the grid layout stopping larger blocks. On your second point I wouldn't dismiss the articles argument completely. Where I live there are often children playing in the street. Games of football and cricket. Kids skateboarding and roller skating. Cars drive quite slowly because it tends to be local traffic. With all the stop signs it's far more efficient for cars to traverse the suburb on one of the arterial roads, so most of the traffic drives out of the grid to get anywhere. When I find myself driving in cul-de-sac suburbs I find I get frustrated and tend to drive faster, because getting where I am going is a huge convoluted drive. Where I want to go is literally 200 meters away and to get there I have to drive 3 km. It's very frustrating.