Sure, they had a central plan in the 1800s but only to fit a part of the population that came to live there in the coming centuries. A lot of NYC expansion to s

Sure, they had a central plan in the 1800s but only to fit a part of the population that came to live there in the coming centuries. A lot of NYC expansion to support and grow the city was done through displacement[0] and bulldozing[1] of existing buildings. Most of it wasnt done maliciously, but a city doesn't create square blocks, nice and uniform, on its own as it grows from a few hundred thousand to a few million inhabitants. If it grows organically, as in without a central plan driving it and pruning uncontrolled growth, you will get a very heterogeneous city layout. [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Juan_Hill,_Manhattan https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Juan_Hill,_Manhattan [1]The creative destruction of Manhattan, 1900-1940