[bobthepanda]

The origin of the land grid in the US is to facilitate land transactions with standard land plot sizes.

So while Brooklyn started out as wall to wall sameness it’s very easy, and predictable, for one person to sell and that particular plot to become individual again.

This is not generally true in American subdivisions, where locations are much more varied in shape, available infrastructure, etc. and so development has to be much more context dependent. And of course single use zoning was not introduced into NYC until 1961 so that helps the ease of redevelopment as well.