Thread: Night cities photos from the space.

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.