Active Users:1103 Time:22/11/2024 10:01:18 PM
Depends on the city, I suppose. Legolas Send a noteboard - 14/12/2014 09:08:09 PM

View original postDo the larger cities in Europe have suburbs in the same fashion as the American Urban-Suburban characterization or are larger cities set up very differently? When my wife and I visited Australia, there was a noticeable and sudden difference between rural Melbourne and the city of Melbourne. I was wondering if Europe is similar or if they also have gradual suburban sprawl.

I would say yes, they have suburbs, but then I don't know what you mean regarding Melbourne...

I have seen plenty of European cities and some American ones, I don't see much of a difference in terms of urban vs suburban between the two. The main difference coming to mind is that, as European cities, towns and villages have far longer histories than American (or Australian) ones, there are stronger separate identities - for instance, people living in some place 30 miles from downtown Paris or London, which has long since become to all extents and purposes a suburb of the big city, may still see themselves as citizens of their own town, not Parisians or Londoners. My own hometown is no more than 15 miles from the centre of Brussels, but historically it has an old rivalry with Brussels, and just because Brussels is now more than ten times as big, doesn't mean that that rivalry stops or that the town sees itself as a Brussels suburb.

In a few cases, what you get is one big metropolitan area that isn't dominated by any single city - the Ruhr region in Germany is the best example, it's one of the biggest "cities" in Germany, but it's actually four or five mid-sized cities plus a ton of small ones combined. The Netherlands has something similar where both of their capitals, Amsterdam and The Hague, as well as Rotterdam and a bunch of smaller cities, are arguably all one big metropolitan area.

Reply to message
Do European Cities Have Suburbs? - 14/12/2014 08:42:35 PM 695 Views
Depends on the city, I suppose. - 14/12/2014 09:08:09 PM 630 Views
I think theirs urban areas areblesslikely to be blighted ghettos than ours are. - 14/12/2014 11:59:53 PM 504 Views
What does American busing have to do with European Suburbs? *NM* - 15/12/2014 01:47:45 AM 321 Views
Just that they don't have busing, and thus less incentive to live away from the city - 15/12/2014 02:15:06 AM 572 Views
Seems an unnatural method for describing Europe. - 15/12/2014 02:58:52 AM 581 Views
your brought up the comparison - 15/12/2014 03:08:25 AM 502 Views
True. - 15/12/2014 03:14:10 AM 658 Views
nothing but it has a lot to do with American suburbs - 15/12/2014 03:04:38 AM 535 Views
It's a fair point... - 15/12/2014 10:24:39 PM 519 Views
Now thats just mean *NM* - 16/12/2014 09:32:44 PM 336 Views
What Paul said is my experience too. - 15/12/2014 11:19:13 AM 555 Views
Trick question. - 17/12/2014 05:42:28 PM 523 Views

Reply to Message