What are the characteristics of a Western European city? Geography in the 21st century has almost "discovered" everything, so it is increasingly focusing on the problems of modern society. Geo-urbanism (the science of cities) is one of its most relevant areas today. This article will talk about how the West European city differs from Russian, Asian or Australian.
A city is ... The main types of cities in geo-urbanism
The city is a large settlement, the inhabitants of which are mainly employed not in the agricultural sector of production. Of course, the use of the epithet "large" in this definition is very conditional. So, in Denmark or Estonia there are cities with a population of 600-800 people. But in Japan, a settlement has the right to be called a city only if at least 50 thousand people live in it.
How else do cities differ from each other? Some urbanists reduce them all to three main models: Roman, Athenian and Jerusalem. Nevertheless, it is customary to distinguish several types of cities in geo-urban studies (depending on the layout and nature of development). It:
- Western European type;
- eastern (asian);
- African;
- North American;
- Latin American
- Australian.
What are the hallmarks of a Western European city? This will be discussed later.
The structure of the West European city
Madrid and Brussels, Rome and Lisbon - all these cities are of the Western European type and have a similar layout and nature of development. Before answering what are the characteristic features of a Western European city, it is first necessary to study the typical features of its structure.
So, the classic city in this region, as a rule, includes the old (historical) part and the new one, where modern development predominates. The center of the "old city" is usually indicated by a spacious square (market) with a town hall and a church. From it, narrow streets diverge in different directions. It is the old city that attracts a huge number of tourists, because almost all historical and architectural monuments are located here.
Around the old city is the so-called middle estate - an area that was built up much later - in the 19th-20th centuries. Even further, on the outskirts, is the belt of new buildings (the new part of the city), consisting of "sleeping" areas.
So, what are the characteristics of a Western European city? Let's try to answer this question in the next section.
Characteristics of a Western European city
Typical cities in Western Europe are very small in area, very "cramped", but at the same time very diverse in architectural terms. What are the characteristic features of the Western European city can be distinguished? Let's try to list them:
- architecture, diverse in styles and age: skyscrapers can adjoin old mansions, baroque buildings - with hi-tech houses, etc .;
- a large number of foreign tourists and labor migrants;
- mandatory presence of the city coat of arms;
- heavy traffic, constant problems with traffic jams;
- the presence of one or more airports (even if the city is small);
- narrow streets and scarcity of green spaces;
- a very large number of architectural monuments - churches, churches, civil structures and sculptures.
Russia and the West: a comparison of cities
The Russian city, according to historian Vladimir Makhnach, is a phenomenon that is only just beginning to be seriously studied. How does it differ from the Western European type of city?
In Western Europe, policies initially occupied the smallest possible area. So it was easier to defend against enemies, fenced off by a system of ditches and stone fortifications.
But Russian cities are more free and spacious. The streets in Western European settlements are narrow, the houses in the old areas are stone or half-timbered, closely attached to each other. In our country, vast land plots have always surrounded houses.
In Russian cities, even in large ones, many residents kept cattle. Therefore, the streets were designed so that animals were easy to move around. And try to imagine a similar picture, say, in London or Vienna. Russian cities have always been much closer to the countryside, which means they are much healthier than their Western European "colleagues."
Conclusion
Now you know what are the characteristic features of a Western European city. It consists of three parts: the old city, the middle area and the new part. Cities of Western Europe, as a rule, are distinguished by great architectural diversity, saturated traffic, narrow streets and insufficient landscaping.