Why it looks like this

Peter the Great founded his 'window to Europe' in 1703 on the marshy delta of the Neva, and built it by command: straight avenues, uniform façades, canals draining the swamp. The plan's signature is the trident — Nevsky Prospekt, Gorokhovaya Street and Voznesensky Prospekt all aiming at the Admiralty spire.

The delta makes it a city of islands — dozens of them, linked by hundreds of bridges, several of which still rise at night for ships. A rule capping building heights kept the skyline flat for two centuries, so the map's geometry is matched by an unbroken horizontal city.