The word 'granular' is used to describe something that is made up of multiple elements. If the elements are small, we call it "fine-grained," and if the elements are large, we call it "coarse-grained." These are terms typically used in economics, computer science and geology. For example, in computer science, an algorithm is fine-grained if it is divided into many small steps, and coarse-grained if it is divided into few large steps.

But we can also use these terms when talking about cities. I use "granularity" to talk about how the ownership of a city is divided, particularly in terms of the size of the lots that city blocks are divided into. On the right, you can see this illustrated.

There's a big difference between these two types of development and one will create a far better outcome for our cities.

We can also talk about the granularity of an economy; an economy is fine-grained if it is made up of many small businesses and coarse-grained if it is made up of a few large businesses. (Of course, most economies are somewhere in between.)

Having a fine-grained economy made up of many small businesses is generally preferable over a coarse-grained economy made up of fewer businesses because it implies a more resilient economy (if one of the businesses fail, less is the effect on the overall economy) and more distributed wealth (the profit and ownership of the businesses are divided among many, rather than in the hands of a few.)

Cities are the physical manifestation of the economy and our built environment speaks volumes about our economy. It is easier to see this in smaller towns where the economic model is simplified; you can easily spot the difference between a small town dominated by a few large stores and a small town dominated by many smaller stores.

There is often a correlation between the environment that we physically see and interact with, and the underlying economics that built it.

Although much of what I write about could be applied in suburban areas, this article will deal specifically with urban areas. Urban areas — especially downtowns and neighborhoods dominated by apartments and condos and navigated primarily on foot — create a fundamentally different day-to-day experience than auto-oriented suburban areas. Our sense of scale and place changes when we are walking (where there is only so far you can reasonable walk, and you are exposed to your environment) compared to when we are driving (where we can drive for miles with little effort, and we have little interest in how the realm outside of our car feels as we are confined inside.)

Older urban areas in the United States are typically very fine-grained: