Manhattan and Brooklyn had a different pace of growth. Because of the Dutch settlement, Manhattan got to developed faster than Brooklyn, which at the time was unused land. After England became the ownership of Manhattan, there was an increase in the size of this little town. It is not until 1811 when the massive urban plan got incorporated and started the grid system that we now knew. Brooklyn didn’t get any urban plan, so they have to follow the original route and creates the grid accordingly.

The Dutch settlement gave Manhattan a headstart in urban growth, but another reason Brooklyn is far behind is because of the terrain. There are many hills and uneven surfaces. Many areas become swamp due to the hills leading the water to the lower areas. The roads are curvy and it takes a long time to trave. The roads are built this way in order to avoid hills and valleys. Unlike Manhattan, most of its roads are straight and even.

The Dutch basically layout the grid system for us, because the 1811 massive plan is just an extended version of it. The growth in population and the needs for space leads to this decision and people are dedicated to layout the grid system. It doesn’t matter if there is an exceeding house or a hill that is on the way, nothing stops them from proceeding the master plan. The more space and building there are, the more money got put into the economy of Manhattan. The master plan didn’t carry along to Brooklyn, so Brooklyn had to lay the grid along the old property lines of the farms. Thus created a chaos grid in Brooklyn.

Although Manhattan and Brooklyn didn’t grow at the same pace and urban plan were not alike, it was the differences that give them their own characteristic.