Why it looks like this

La Plata was born finished. When Buenos Aires became Argentina's federal capital in 1880, the province needed a new capital city, and engineer Pedro Benoit drew one: a perfect square, with a plaza or park every six blocks and long diagonals cutting corner to corner, all on a fixed rhythm.

The design became famous before the city was even complete — it won gold medals at the 1889 Paris World's Fair as a "city of the future". On the map it is still the purest planned grid you will ever see: geometry first, city after.