It has been some consolation for the loss of Leslie Martin, a major figure in twentieth-century British architecture, to read the special issue of arq (4/4) dedicated to his memory. He was a great Englishman, a rare combination of theorist and teacher, of politician and generous benefactor. His resuscitated article of 1972, ‘The grid as generator’, is a theoretical demonstration of the qualities of the urban grid, and of how it may form the basis for a latter-day return to the problem of controlling urban development. As such it is masterly in its explicative power and in its prescience. And yet it raises some questions as to the role of design in urban design.