Largest urban structure on Earth

03/10/2011 | WesternCulture

[WesternCulture]

Forget about Tokyo.

Anyone having traveled from Paris through Belgium, the Netherlands and the Ruhr District in Germany (like I have) wouldn't be impressed by a small, rural Far-East Asian settlement like that.

However, this part of the World isn't the only candidate to the title.

Some experts would say the largest "cityscape" found on Earth is the Eastern Seaboard Conurbation of the United States of America extending from Maine down to Florida, housing around 110 million inhabitants.

Personally, I've only visited the southern part of it (Fla.) and although there is plenty of farmland between cities like Miami and Orlando, I agree you could actually consider the East Coast of Florida as a more or less coherent urban structure.

A European equivalent of the Eastern Seaboard Conurbation is the so called Blue Banana Corridor of more or less the same number of urban dwellers (110 million) stretching from North West England down to Milan in northern Italy.

For some reason, "The Blue Banana" concept doesn't include Greater Paris/The Île-de-France Region of 11.7 million inhabitants. Maybe because of how some scholars wish to draw bananas..

Personally, I've always loved big cities. While landscapes like that of, for instance, the Tuscan countryside are breathtakingly beautiful, I also feel the bustling city of today's Florence is (Florence, home to the Renaissance, is the largest city in the Italian region of Tuscany. Although Florence/Firenze isn't exactly small, it's not one of the biggest cities throughout Europe). Brunelleschi's magnificent Dome and the medieval quarters nearing it where Dante grew up are extraordinary features of the Tuscan capital all of us ought to experience at least once in our lifetime, but so is also being stuck in endless traffic trying to bring home some bottles of Chianti wine, fresh pane toscano (tuscan bread baked without salt) and pecorino cheese.

One of the most brilliant aspects of human civilization is our ability of creating wonders like Berlin, San Francisco, Madrid, Chicago, Prague, Seoul, Houston, Stockholm and Buenos Aires.

You can bomb a city like beautiful Dresden for decades.

It will rise up and reclaim its identity outliving evil men like Hitler and Stalin.

(For further reading about The Blue Banana, The Eastern Seaboard, Paris and Florence please check out the links I've posted below.)

[WesternCulture]

The Blue Banana:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_banana

The Eastern Seaboard:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Coast_of_the_United_States

Île-de-France:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%8Ele-de-France_(region)

Florence, Italy:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence

[GQuagmire]

[cripplecreek]

I share an opinion of cities with Thomas Jefferson.

[WesternCulture]

Beautiful!

[Moose4]

Realistically, the “Eastern Seaboard Conurbation” drops out south of Petersburg, Virginia. In fact, the Richmond-Washington I-95 corridor isn’t fully urbanized yet, there’s still about 35 miles of relatively empty space between Richmond and Fredericksburg. (North of Fredericksburg, though, all bets are off—it’s been absorbed into the greater Washington area. Stonewall Jackson would weep.)

}:-)4

[fr_freak]

[Retired Greyhound]

Yup, the DC/Baltimore/Philly/Jersey/NY/CT/Boston corridor is pretty big

[WesternCulture]

“I share an opinion of cities with Thomas Jefferson.”

- What did Jefferson say on that subject?

Please enlighten me.

[free me]

Chianti wine, fresh pane toscano (tuscan bread baked without salt) and pecorino cheese
______________________________________________________________

This post is making me hungry.

[WesternCulture]

A great image.

Thanks for posting.

[JimSEA]

City dwellers are totally dependent for their survival on people they look down on and who they ridicule. At an inevitable time of chaos and disaster, which people are most likely to survive?? Who is ultimately smarter?

[The KG9 Kid]

"... Personally, I've always loved big cities"

Me too, but I'm glad I no longer live in them.

Mainly being from Los Angeles for most of my life with 10 years spent in San Francisco, I now prefer the remote Western US mountain town lifestyle.

But until I'd actually seen New York City and explored it, I really hadn't known what a metropolis really means. New York City convinced me that it remains the uncontested center of Western Civilization -- no insult to Paris or Rome intended.

San Francisco is just the miniature golf course version of Manhattan, and that's being generous.

[the_devils_advocate_666]

Zooming in on North vs. South Korea...

[tophat9000]

As a guy from Los Angeles I find this odd to say the largest "cityscape" found on Earth is the Eastern Seaboard Conurbation of the United States of America

The first time I was on the east coast I was expecting to see just what this story states ... a continuity "cityscape" ......

I was shocked as just how much open space you found on the east coast...you get out of the city and your in the sticks

So Cal is just one continuity suburban sprawl ...far more than I saw on the East Coast...that really surprised me

[cornfedcowboy]

I was surprised to see the lights are still on in Detroit.

[cripplecreek]

"The mobs of great cities add just so much to support of pure government as sores do to the strength of the human body,"

-Thomas Jefferson.

[Age of Reason]

I share an opinion of cities with Thomas Jefferson.

ditto and them some.

[Age of Reason]

Looks like the only really habitable place left is Alaska.

[cripplecreek]

I live in the next county over from the arrogant parasite of Ann Arbor. They sneer and call Jackson county “Jacksatucky” as they demand more taxpayer money to support them.