Urban planning or the modern city planning movement had its origins in the reaction to the rapid and disorderly growth that characterized the latter part of the 19th century. One of the best known modern plans, the Chicago Plan which began soon after 1900, was based on the desire for more order and beauty in one of the most rapidly growing modern cities. In America the European planning concepts were used but with modifications. More influential layout of the U.S. cities was the rigid grid plan of Philadelphia, designed by William Penn (1682). It is the simplest method of dividing up the surveyed territory which is easy to buy and sell.

In most parts of the world, city plans were based on the concept of a centrally located public space—secretariat, market and the business district. Gradually a comprehensive concept of city planning arose.