Thread: Night cities photos from the space.

ISS astronauts made some shots.
http://realt.onliner.by/2013/10/04/minsk-20/

каир из космоса

Check out those North/South American cities with their square grid patterns! Very practical - no way of getting lost. But also a bit dull.
I guess that people decided some time last century that grid patterns was the way to go, and all cities younger than that have it.

As for the European cities:
I have always heard that Paris is planned like a sort of wheel, with rings and spokes, and with the Arc de Triomphe in the middle. But that's not obvious from the picture at all - or things have moved away from the original design.
i.e. the Roman city layout

Minsk looks much more like that in the picture, and I think I can figure out what's in the middle - the Peace/Victory monument. I read that the whole city had to be rebuilt after the war, but I assume they stuck with the original street pattern. But it's a very Roman layout - despite (I think) Belarus never being under Roman control, right?

It's quite cool when you travel by plane over continental Europe (the crowded parts in the middle!) during a clear night, and you can actually see how the cities grow around a river or port...

Moscow also has something bang in the middle - what is it? I'm guessing Red Square but I have never been to Moscow so it's just a guess.

And btw - I hate light pollution!

• It prevents you from seeing the stars at night in the city.
• It means huge amounts of energy is wasting of lighting up places that most people don't see while they are asleep!
• Wasteful and bad for the environment. So much nicer with dimmer lights, just enough so you can get around at night, if you have to. Nothing more. Plus if you need to walk around at night, you could always bring a torch.
• It's unnatural to turn night into day, the way many large cities do.

Remember often seeing the night skies with constellations, northern lights etc in my childhood. Now I practically NEVER see it.

American cities are called "waffles" here. )

In fact grid pattern is used here too. But it is used inside areas that are historical (villages, etc) so it is not so obvious and cities have ring form in general.

Originally Posted by Hanna

Moscow also has something bang in the middle - what is it? I'm guessing Red Square but I have never been to Moscow so it's just a guess.

Moscow road system consists of concentric circles and radial highways (like spokes in a wheel). First circle - Mokhovaya street/Kremlin embankment goes around very center: Kremlin, Red Square, Manezh Square, "Moscow" hotel etc. Then goes Boulevard Ring, Garden Ring, Third Ring, MKAD (Московская кольцевая автомобильная дорога), Small "Concrete" ring and Big "Concrete" ring (the last two are outside of the city, I live near the Small one). There is also railroad circle called "Окружная железная дорога" and a circle metro line in Moscow. Several years ago there was a project to build Fourth Ring between the Third Ring and MKAD but they cancelled it because it was too expensive (more than a billion USD for 1 kilometer). I think Moscow is the most "ringed" city in the world. That's why Moscow mayor often jokingly called "Lord of The Rings".

Wow, that's really symmetrical. How and when was this approach instigated? It seems very well organised.. Not at all like your average chaotic city growing in bursts over hundreds of years, burns down and is rebuilt..

I have visited two other Russian speaking cities that also felt very "planned" St Petersburg and Minsk. Minsk was rebuilt after the war, with central planning guiding the process, so the explanation is simple. I seem to remember hearing that central St Petersburg was built in one go, a few hundred years ago, 18th or 19th century....

I had no idea Moscow was yet another seemingly well planned out city - I thought it was an old medieval city that had grown chaotically, in a random way, like for example London.
It looks like exactly the "Roman" layout even though the Romans never made it to Moscow as far as I am aware (nobody ever does, lol...)

Originally Posted by Dmitry Khomitchuk

American cities are called "waffles" here. )

Why?

Btw, in case anyone's really concerned with "light pollution" - here's a suggestion map:

Night Light Map of the World - 2012 Imagery - NightLightMap.com

Lots of Asian and African countries, such as Mongolia, North Korea, Chad, Somalia, etc. really welcome "lightphobes", but of course it's up to everyone to draw their conclusions and take decisions.