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Now then consider the appearance of a city like Munich, Germany as compared to New York City. The differences are aesthetic as well as architectural. The similar color scheme and construction style that can be seen on many of the buildings is indicative of a European city. It is very rare that you will see such similarities in an American city. The cities in Europe look as though they were planned at more or less the same time, whereas the American city looks like something that just got thrown together as money for various building projects was obtained, which is pretty much how it did happen or at least in terms of the contemporary look of cities. Munich is not the only place you can see this type of planning. Consider also the cities of Italy, or Denmark where cities retain the Old World charm which is absent in America. This picture is of Toledo, Spain. Notice again the lack of "superstructures" as well as the closeness of the buildings. Also the aesthetic quality of the city is striking. The roofs all appear to be made of the same sorts of materials, if not the same color. The colors of the buildings themselves are the same if not similar. These cities are in direct contrast to a city like Chicago where it seems that a great portion of the buildings are skyscrapers. A large part of me puts the differences in cities from America to Europe in terms of religion. The one thing you can clearly distinguish in the pictures of the European cities is the church. It looks as though the majority of the town sprang up around the church/cathedral, you can see the spires above everything else. However when you look at the skyline of Chicago its "steeples" are antennae not to mention the vast amounts of building which are way over the usual 4 to 7 story pattern one sees in the European city. |
Interesting commentary on the unfiformity of certain architectural features in many European cities, something less obvious than relative absence of skyscrapers. You speculate that uniformity could be the result of planning. Could be. Other possibilities are regulation, cultural habit, suitability of building materials, and so on.
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