When cities become too big?

DO you believe cities become too big to offer a happy life to its residents?

If so, wich cities do you believe are to big and why?


living in paris suburbs , i found that its getting bigger and bigger, worse and worse, more and more overcrowded.
the traffic is a nightmare, especialy where i live , the A4 paris east is simply blocked when its rush hour.
the housing prices are hell. alot of the people are sad and depressed, and stressed.

for example a lot of people have 3 hours commuting a day, because they find jobs at the other side of the city. I did the 3 hours commute today and its insane

that made me think its too big.>

The Horror and Heroic Events Of Sept. 11th 2001

The following photographs depict various activities of rescue/search during the terrorist
attacks at the World Trade Center in New York City.









































Presidential photo op...






Search and Rescue Dogs Killed: 0
"There were rumors that one of the search and rescue dogs died [mortally wounded by falling debris, shot by his handler].

This did not happen. One dog was injured and needed to be transported to a local veterinary hospital but the dog was ok."






Looking for survivors!!








rescue dog taking a rest...




GOD BLESS AMERICA!

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Your City On Video.

I think it would be great if we had a collection of your own self-made videos of your (or other) towns.

I believe that even average videos can transport a city's atmosphere better just as well as the best photos, so we should all try and show video clips in here.

Let me start with something I have done unpurposefully. It shows a part of the way between the southern motorway in Vienna and my home.


Vienna's 23rd district by car.

It's not that special but I'll make sure to do some more intersting stuff in the future.



PLEASE CONTRIBUTE! >

The most organized urban planning & skyscrapers in the world!

Which city in the world has the most organized urban planning & skyscrapers?

Please tell us the cities and please feel free to show its urban layout along with its skyline, thanks!

I present to you of chicago urban planning and skyline in 1996:












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Black people in the E.U

I know there has been lots of these sorts of threads but I was just wondering how many people of Black People actually live in the European Union.>

Mapping Registered Sex Offenders in California

The California Megan's Law website provides pictures and addresses of California's registered sex offenders....here's what they look like by Metro...creepy.
http://www.meganslaw.ca.gov/search.asp

Los Angeles


San Francisco-Oakland


San Diego


Sacramento


San Jose


Inland Empire
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Jakarta Curbs 'Chaotic' Urban Planning

Govt moves to curb 'chaotic' urban planning
3 March 2006
The Jakarta Post

In the quest to create better living conditions, the government has submitted a draft law on urban spatial planning that proposes greater allocation for public facilities and greenbelt areas.

It would replace a 1992 law, which is now considered inadequate in addressing increasing problems of urban areas, including flooding and traffic congestion.

The draft law, formally submitted by Public Works Minister Djoko Kirmanto at a House plenary session last week, was accepted for further deliberation during a working session with the legislature's infrastructure commission Thursday.

"We may revoke their construction permits or demolish the buildings," Djoko said of possible sanctions against irresponsible developers, adding that the lack of strict regulation and supervision had resulted in a "chaotic" situation in urban areas.

All factions on the House's infrastructure commission agreed that harsh sanctions against parties that violate spatial regulations, including government officials who approve projects.

"Sanctions should be imposed not only against developers who violate the law, but also the permit issuers," Abdullah Azwar Anas of the National Awakening Party told The Jakarta Post .

Many developers and urban planners have paid little attention to the loosely enforced planning restrictions.

The conversion of residential areas to commercial usage -- including in Kebayoran Baru and Kemang in South Jakarta -- was ranked the second most common violation after the more frequent but less serious infraction of expanding building lines.

"In the future, we hope that such cases will not happen," Anas said.

According to the bill, the government must allocate 40 percent of the total area of a city as public space, 30 percent of which is designated for greenbelt areas.

Land designated for public space, the draft says, can only be used for "casual" activities, such as sport, recreation and temporary trading.

Djoko said the draft law was also aimed at accommodating the demands of regional autonomy, under which local administrations were given more authority to administrate their regions.

"We will make a clear distinction in the regulatory content of national spatial planning, provincial spatial planning and the spatial planning at regency levels," he said, adding that regulations issued by the central and by local governments should be complementary.

Inconsistency in regulations issued by the central government and those of local governments has often led to violations of planning regulations.

To overcome the problem, the government would implement a zoning system to regulate issuance of construction permits under the proposed law.>

World's 10 Largest Urban Areas 1955-2015

In Millions

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/h...banisation.stm

1955

1. Tokyo 13.7
2. New York 13.2
3. London 8.2
4. Paris 6.2
5. Shanghai 6.2
6. Buenos Aries 8.7
7. Moscow 5.7
8. Chicago 5.5
9. Los Angeles 5.1
10. Osaka 5.1

1965

1. Tokyo 20.2
2. New York 15.1
3. Paris 8.0
4. London 7.8
5. Osaka 7.6
6. Los Angeles 7.4
7. Buenos Aries 7.3
8. Shanghai 6.7
9. Chicago 6.6
10. Mexico City 6.6

1975

1. Tokyo 26.6
2. New York 15.8
3. Mexico City 10.6
4. Osaka 9.8
5. Sao Paulo 9.6
6. Los Angeles 8.9
7. Buenos Aries 8.7
8. Paris 8.6
9. Calcutta 7.8
10. Moscow 7.6

1985

1. Tokyo 30.3
2. New York 15.8
3. Mexico City 14.1
4. Sao Paulo 13.3
5. Mumbai 10.3
6. Osaka 10.3
7. Los Angeles 10.1
8. Buenos Aries 9.9
9. Calcutta 9.9
10. Seoul 9.5

1995

1. Tokyo 33.5
2. New York 16.9
3. Mexico City 16.7
4. Sao Paulo 15.9
5. Mumbai 14.1
6. Calcutta 11.9
7. Los Angeles 11.3
8. Buenos Aries 11.1
9. Osaka 11.0
10. Shanghai 10.4

2005

1. Tokyo 35.5
2. Mexico City 19.4
3. New York 18.7
4. Sao Paulo 18.3
5. Mumbai 18.1
6. Delhi 15.0
7. Shanghai 14.5
8. Calcutta 14.2
9. Jakarta 13.2
10. Buenos Aries 12.5

2015

1. Tokyo 35.4
2. Mumbai 21.8
3. Mexico City 21.5
4. Sao Paulo 20.5
5. New York 19.8
6. Delhi 18.6
7. Shanghai 17.2
8. Calcutta 16.9
9. Dhaka 16.8
10. Jakarta 16.8>

Question about a small town's downtown work force

I live near galesburg, illinois, and i read in an article in the paper that the downtown workforce is estimated to be somewhere between 3000-4000 people. For a town of 33,700 or so, that seemed like a pretty large figure. I was just wondering what you guys thought about this, and if anybody had some numeros to compare these to. Just curious...thanks >

The New York Times: In Ljubljana, the Old Europe and the New Are Still in Balance

EXCERPT:

FROM the 16th-century fortress walls atop Castle Hill, the view of Ljubljana is exquisite: waves of red-tiled roofs, turquoise domes, spires and, here and there, lacy bridges spanning the green Ljubljanica River, stitching the two sides of Slovenia's capital city together. The overall effect is that of a snow-globe town in the foothills of the Alps.

But as lovely as the view is, there is nothing in that macro-shot that suggests the current source of Ljubljana's vivacity - an intrinsic hum of energy that has, in recent months, generated avid comparisons to the city that everyone seems to long for: Prague circa 1995. The evidence, I decided, must lie in the streets below, so, on a recent summer morning, I headed past Ljubljana's weave of medieval, baroque, and Art Nouveau buildings toward Preseren Square, the city's bustling social hub, which is anchored by the 17th-century Franciscan Church of the Annunciation and monastery and the Triple Bridge.

COMPLETE ARTICLE HERE


Source: A. Fevzer and slovenia-tourism.si


Source: Bobo and slovenia-tourism.si


Source: T. Reisner and slovenia-tourism.si>

My question, did you ever heard of the Randstad???

to quote myself:

Quote:>

You forgot the 'Randstad'. Altough it's not really one city, it's promoted as one city (or urban region). They do this because it is actually one big mass of smaller cities (up to almost 1.000.000 dwellers / city) in a small area. In 'Randstad Holland' live more then 7 million people (will grow to more then 8 million in the coming years). Another name for 'Randstad Holland' is 'Delta Metropolis'. More information about 'Randstad Holland': http://www.regiorandstad.com/index_eng.php (there are sort of metro / lightrails being constructed to link teh cities to eachother so it will really act as one city with a green heard (like a park) in the middle of it).

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The Gay Event in Your City

This subject comes to mind as Labor Day approaches and New Orleans hosts its' largest gay celebration of the year, when over 150,000 gay individuals come to New Orleans to celebrate Southern Decadence. The enormous event causes hotels throughout the area to require a 3 night minimum stay at top dollar rates. Needless to say, New Orleans is different than anywhere else on Labor Day weekend.
Two sites to this event:
www.southerndeceadence.com
www.southerndecadence.net
And, here are some pictures of Southern Decadence in New Orleans. It's a wild experience and full of visuals that never cease to end or amaze....










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