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BBC article mentions 446 bridges in Pittsburgh, Wikipedia mentions 2,496 bridges in Hamburg, with 1,172 road bridges. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_brid

BBC article mentions 446 bridges in Pittsburgh, Wikipedia mentions 2,496 bridges in Hamburg, with 1,172 road bridges. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bridges_in_Hamburg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bridges_in_Hamburg

owlninja 5y ago
I imagine it is just a quirk of the city and people given it also says "and don't try telling locals otherwise."
notahacker 5y ago
Other obvious comparison points off the top of my head would be Venice (~400 bridges, much smaller than Pittsburgh if you count the island city rather than the broader region), Amsterdam (bigger, but has 1200 bridges apparently) and Birmingham UK (no total for bridges found with a quick Google but there's 100 miles of canal and a lot of elevated urban motorway and railway). But the great thing about being the place with the 'most bridges in the world' is that if you've got an impressive number of bridges, who's counting?
ineedasername 5y ago
It looks like that's still more bridges per capita for Pittsburgh, maybe that's the metric they're using.
- BigJono 5y ago
  This sort of thing always crops up when comparing US cities to cities in other countries. Other countries tend to count more of the surrounding built up areas as part of the city itself. Whereas every time I look at a US city there's places chock full of buildings right next door that somehow don't count. Looking at Pittsburg there's a bunch of "townships" and things which would be considered part of the city in most other countries, which makes it difficult to compare absolute metrics like "number of bridges in the city".
  - tgflynn 5y ago
    That's definitely not true in general, in fact my impression has always been the exact opposite. France, in particular, has a very large number of distinct municipalities (called communes). Paris proper includes only the very high-density central and historical core of the city. The inner ring suburbs still appear very urban. Compared to New York it would be like comparing the 5 boroughs = 1 city with the entire Paris region which probably contains dozens of distinct municipalities.
  - theandrewbailey 5y ago
    US cities are usually considered by their city limits, which are almost always pretty small, and have lots of smaller suburbs surrounding them. The other countries definition seems more analogous to the US Census Bureau metro areas. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_statistical_area https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_statistical_area
jleyank 5y ago
Hamburg is a state in Germany. Pittsburgh is a city in a state that dislikes its two big cities. This might have a difference.
- fuzzy2 5y ago
  It's a city state. Still, according to Wikipedia it covers almost five times the area.

owlninja 5y ago

I imagine it is just a quirk of the city and people given it also says "and don't try telling locals otherwise."

notahacker 5y ago

Other obvious comparison points off the top of my head would be Venice (~400 bridges, much smaller than Pittsburgh if you count the island city rather than the broader region), Amsterdam (bigger, but has 1200 bridges apparently) and Birmingham UK (no total for bridges found with a quick Google but there's 100 miles of canal and a lot of elevated urban motorway and railway). But the great thing about being the place with the 'most bridges in the world' is that if you've got an impressive number of bridges, who's counting?

ineedasername 5y ago

It looks like that's still more bridges per capita for Pittsburgh, maybe that's the metric they're using.

BigJono 5y ago
This sort of thing always crops up when comparing US cities to cities in other countries. Other countries tend to count more of the surrounding built up areas as part of the city itself. Whereas every time I look at a US city there's places chock full of buildings right next door that somehow don't count. Looking at Pittsburg there's a bunch of "townships" and things which would be considered part of the city in most other countries, which makes it difficult to compare absolute metrics like "number of bridges in the city".
- tgflynn 5y ago
  That's definitely not true in general, in fact my impression has always been the exact opposite. France, in particular, has a very large number of distinct municipalities (called communes). Paris proper includes only the very high-density central and historical core of the city. The inner ring suburbs still appear very urban. Compared to New York it would be like comparing the 5 boroughs = 1 city with the entire Paris region which probably contains dozens of distinct municipalities.
- theandrewbailey 5y ago
  US cities are usually considered by their city limits, which are almost always pretty small, and have lots of smaller suburbs surrounding them. The other countries definition seems more analogous to the US Census Bureau metro areas. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_statistical_area https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_statistical_area

jleyank 5y ago

Hamburg is a state in Germany. Pittsburgh is a city in a state that dislikes its two big cities. This might have a difference.

fuzzy2 5y ago
It's a city state. Still, according to Wikipedia it covers almost five times the area.