Poundbury's Crooked Streets

A few years back when I was in Poundbury, UK, I remember coming across this diagram showing how the planners laid out the streets.

Most communities in the UK and the US first lay out the location of their streets when an area is being newly developed. All the buildings and other features that come afterward tend to be oriented so that they respond to the street. This next sketch helps show what I'm talking about:

 

In Poundbury, the buildings were located where the developer or owner pleased (within reason, of course). The remaining space between the buildings could then be used for streets. This helps create more interesting spaces rather than a continous street wall; therefore, a more interesting street environment:

 

 

Honestly, though, I think Poundbury's streets were probably arranged using a combination of the two methods, though skewed a bit toward the latter one.