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| fab |
URBAN GEOGRAPHYCENTER OF THE BIGGEST CITIES OF ENGLAND, GERMANY, FRANCE, ITALY AND SPAIN (at same scale) :LONDON 
BERLIN 
PARIS 
MILAN 
MADRID 
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| fab |
CENTERS OF THE SECOND CITIES (or urban area) OF THE SAME COUNTRIES :
BIRMINGHAM 
HAMBOURG 
MARSEILLE 
NAPOLI 
BARCELONA 
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| fab |
AND OTHER MAIN CITY :
MANCHESTER 
MUNICH 
LYON 
ROME 
VALENCIA 
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| Porthos |
Fab,
Can you see how the cities from the Latin countries look strikingly different from the northern countries, even on the distant aerial view? And even a city as far north as Paris looks markedly different from the English and German ones, don't you think? |
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| Benjamin [inactive] |
Lol, they just look like a lot of ærial views to me. 
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| Fredrik |
But the Romance cities look more densely built. The ærial view of Milano, for instance, seems to confirm the feeling of a stone desert which I got when I was there. | ||
| Porthos |
Yeah, and they have different color paintjobs and rooftops too. My impression of you Benjamin is that you are not very observant or keen with your eyes, both in people and now in architecture, lol. | ||
| fab |
Yes, the southern European cities tend to be much more dense than northern ones. The city centers are generally wide and dense and host the majority of the population of the city, while the suburbian (less dense) parts are quite limited. In northern European cities, especially in England, the dense part of the city is of quite limited size (but can include huge buildings, especially for trade). This "center" is quikly limited by a net of infrastrutures and industries, while most of the population live in suburbian areas made generally of low buildings and lined individual houses.
this northern model has been developped, even much more further in the states, Asutralia and most English-former colonies. PARIS : 
Paris is actually a very densely populated mineral city whose buidings are organised around "cours" as in the mediterranean tradition. Said that, it also have a one of the highest number of trees, mainly thanks to the systematic tree-lined avenues and boulevards. Let's compare to LONDON city center. 
And to BERLIN city center : 
[/img] |
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| Porthos |
Why is it that everything in England seems so drab all of the time? You can tell Paris is a Romance city, but it also looks very different compared to mediterranean citiees like Marseilles. | ||
| Benjamin [inactive] |
Yes. A more extreme example of this sort of thing would be Frankfurt am Main. This is especially noticeable if you arrive there by aeroplane — you see a lot of skyscrapers surrounded by countryside, with a lot of villages which are the suburbs. I really like Frankfurt, actually: 
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| fab |
It is mainly due to the strong presence of grey-blue roofs (zinc and ardoise, I don't know the name in English), that is specific of Paris, and north-west France (in the case of ardoise roofs). We can say that Paris is not a mediterranean city in its geography and its architectural look, but urbanistically it share the structural characteristics of the southern European cities (and a specific way of life that comes with dense cities). down from a Macon-Poitiers line (a bit more above the north/south limit), you'll find instead the "tuiles canal", tipical of all the mediterranean regions, which gave this diferent "mediterranean look" you're talking about. LYON : 
MARSEILLE : 
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| Benjamin [inactive] |
A significant reason for why many of the large cities in England and Germany look rather dull and boring is because they were extensively bombed during World War II. The same is also true for Rotterdam in the Netherlands, which also has a similar look. |
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| Deborah |
If ardoise is the blue-grey roofing material, then it's slate. | ||
| Porthos |
Paris just looks very different from mediterranean cities. They architectural style of the buildings looks very different from what you will find in much of Italy (aside from the far north) and coastal Spain and Portugal, or southern France. It's another reason why a lot of people think of France as being less "mediterranean" than Italy or Spain. Americans often see France only through the eyes of Paris, with its Parisian architecture, while they only think of beach resorts and places like Barcelona when they think of Spain, although northern Spain could almost pass for northern Europe, especially with the weather, and some of the architectural design. | ||
| Porthos |
Honestly, I don't see how American cities look like British cities. To me, they look very different.
One of my home towns: 
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| Porthos |
Among America's big cities, San Francisco is one of the best, offering warm California weather (albeit erring on the side of foggy and mild), a laid-back West Coast vibe, and a metropolitan, bayside setting. Enjoy a variety of ethnic (and authentic) cuisine—when it comes to sushi and Mexican eats, East-Coasters don't know what they're missing. Explore the quirky neighborhoods, head to wine country for scenic driving and happy sipping (but not too much of both at once), and check out the view from the Golden Gate Bridge. | ||
| Porthos |
rooftops where I live currently
[img]Santa_barbara_red_tile_roofs2.jpg[/img] 
Outside of cities in the northeast, like Boston and Manhattan, U.S. cities don't really look anything like the English style. |
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| fab |
I agree that the architestural "ambiance / feeling" you have in Paris is different from what you have in most of Italy, and in a lesser extend to Spain (althought there is so much difference inside each of these countries that it is difficult to generalise, basically most Italian and Spanish cities look quite different). What is the common point, to me, is not superfical architectural things that participate to the ambiance, such as the color of roofs; because in Europe it can drastically change region to region in few kilometer). On the other hand, the way the city is organised, the way the public spaces are designed and used, the dimensions of the streets, and the way of life that comes with it. The functional and socilogical structure of American cities is very similar to English one, and in a lesser extend to Northern European cities in General. American cities are just newer, wider, and posses a specific melting pot of americanized styles more or less inspired by various european ones. And the center (downtowns) have much taller high-rise buidlings. But basically the structure is very similar. Other thing comes in the general ambiance of a city, such as the climate and vegetation. In the case of the "sun-belt" regions of the US it is clearly very different from England. If you go to most of american cities outide of the sun-belt regions, the similarities with english urban model. Basically, in southern France the architecture is not so generally so different from the north, what change is the kind of roof (it is very visible, but basically organised the same way.) Let's look at Marseille façades : The colors may change a bit and the kind of roofs, but, as in Paris Marseille have the same level of urban density. The official buidings have a similar classical architecture : 
The 19th century bourgeoise façades have the same modenatures, 
The "middle-class" buidlings have the same size, and tipical same windows... 
http://www.marseille-sympa.com/laplaine.html In urban sociology we speak about an Anglo-saxon (I know you won't like it)model of cities, where the dense part of the city is relatively small compared to the whole city, is mainly dedicated to business and, in a lesser extend retail. just around this city center (called "downtown" in the USA), lie generally the poorer areas, much less dense, generally little buildings or houses, melted around with industrial zones and huge infrastructures networks, highways, etc. The third "crown" is made of the middle class suburbs, with houses with more gardens, generally open on the street with the car on a special path (especially thru in the US). Ect. Generally speaking more you go far, the more rich areas you find. |
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| Benjamin [inactive] |
Aren't the Dutch cities also like that? |
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| fab |
Yes, quite. Especially Rotterdam and La Haye. Amsterdam have a bit more wide historic center (but still not much densely constructed), so it is a little bit different. socilogically for What I saw it seem be quite true also. |
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| Benjamin [inactive] |
Likewise, one cannot really say that London exactly fits that model either, as it does not really have a small centre dedicated mainly to business and retail as such. Equally, that model only applies to the larger British cities; it does not really fit at all for small cities like Cambridge, Oxford, Exeter, Durham, Canterbury etc. |
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| Uriel |
Albuquerque from the air:
It's a little hard to see through the mass ascension, but it's pretty spread out. You can OD on adobe in New Mexico: 
Santa Fe 
Old Town, Albuquerque 
Las Cruces --note the tastefully xeriscaped yard 
Acoma Sky City -- said to be the oldest continuously inhabited town in the US, although the screen doors may have been added after Coronado passed through in the 1500's |
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| greg in noord-frankrijk |
Très jolies phtos, Porthos. Celles-ci en particulier, je trouve :
Celle-là est trop drôle :
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| Deborah |
What with the missing picture of Albuquerque's Old Town, I thought your comment about xeriscaping went with the picture of Acoma Sky City. That's true xeriscaping!
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| fab |
Oui, c'est vrai que Las Vegas est une ville disons, pour le moins urbainement amusante (à condition de na pas avoir été ruiné...). Une sorte de ville-parc d'attraction sortie du désert...
En ce moment c'est Dubai qui tente de suivre l'exemple Las Vegasien : 
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| fab |
European diversity :
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| Benjamin [inactive] |
So there's just a lot of snow in Poland then? | ||
| fab |
 ...
Actually I'm now beguining to make a little comparative study about the urbanistic organisation in various countries. I'm currently making the cover, but I think it may will change a bit from this one. On this subject we use google earth as a very informative source of urban information. For exemple about the suburbian tissues major cities such as in Paris, Berlin or London; 1. London 
What is the most visible about london suburbian tissues, is the homogeneity of the urban morphology in terms of structure, whatever the social classes and the type of architecture that fits in (big houses, twin houses, lined houses, etc.), ("cités-jardins"). 2. Paris 
In Paris, the suburbian tissue is classifiable in three main types: the former rural village centers (1) that have been included in the suburb; the "pavillonaire" tissue (2) and the "cités" (social housing of the 50-70's), the three are mescling and standing alongside without much coherence. 3. Berlin 
Whatever it is independant houses, lined houses os "siedlungs", the Berlin suburbs firstly show a very low density of construstions, and very strond presence of green. most of these suburbs have been designed as "cité-jardins" in the 19th/early 20th too. |
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| Benjamin [inactive] |
So will your book include lots of cities? I think that Glasgow would be an interesting one to do — will you be including that? | ||
| fab |
I have to make a selection, and to compare what is comparable, that is to say cities of about same population and similar politico-economical weight. I don't know If I'll include Glasgow for the moment. But it is funny you spoke about that city because in the agency where I work since last week I work on a new project concerning the rehabilitation/reconversion of a former portuary district of Glasgow. If you know the city maybe you'll recognise the place (first photo) : 
With the city center; 
Glasgow "suburbian"  [/img]
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| Benjamin [inactive] |
I'm afraid I've never actually been to Glasgow. All I know is that it has a large city centre, a lot of more up-market tenements (appartments in townhouses), and then a lot of very deprived areas further out of concrete blocks of flats which are apparently home to the worst poverty in Western Europe with life expectancies lower than that of the Gaza Strip. | ||
| fab |
I've never been to Glagow either, I've not studies enouth its history, but for what I saw on the photos It seems to look like the urban structure of most industrial British cities with a dense center of about 1,5km wide only surounded by huge suburbian areas of dozens of km wide.
Socially speaking this city is "sinistrée", like the old industrial cities of nord pas de Calais for exemple. But that's an interesting subjext for a urbanist ; "how to create a renewal movement in declining industrial cities?" unlike Edinbourg which is more "historic" and We shoud say much more charming. 
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