4 ms·

It's hard for humans to fathom timelines beyond our life span. But over the course of 100s or 1000s of years, cities can be abandoned and population migrates. T

by anonu 4y ago

It's hard for humans to fathom timelines beyond our life span. But over the course of 100s or 1000s of years, cities can be abandoned and population migrates. Think about the Detroit suburbs in recent years where entire neighborhoods were abandoned. https://www.gettyimages.com/photos/abandoned-houses-in-detroit https://www.gettyimages.com/photos/abandoned-houses-in-detro...

hackernewds 4y ago
This seems like the impending future for San Francisco
Mountain_Skies 4y ago
That looks like the City of Detroit, not its suburbs, though I'm sure some of them do suffer some decay, in general Detroit's suburbs are pretty healthy.
- jghn 4y ago
  The definition of 'suburb' has been changing over time. I can't speak to Detroit but for instance with Boston the original 'suburbs' would now be described as "the city of Boston, not its suburbs". Likewise the town I grew up in as a kid (mumble) years ago, I would have been laughed at for calling it a 'suburb' of Boston as it was too far out of the city. Now Wikipedia calls it a suburb of Boston.
  - gs17 4y ago
    I can speak to Detroit, and it's the same. The areas south of 8 Mile but not downtown would by definition be "suburbs" (and structurally resemble the outside of the city), but I'm used to people reserving the term for outside city limits. Now that I'm in Nashville, "suburbs" seem to usually still be inside the city, so I'm guessing it changes as cities grow/decay.
    - Infernal 4y ago
      Nashville has experienced really rapid growth too over the last 20 years, and I think it takes a while for naming conventions to catch up. Given by the fact that what people call suburbs appear to you (as I'm assuming, a relative newcomer) to be "inside the city". My own hometown has experienced rapid growth over the same time span as Nashville, and has annexed large portions of what were commonly known as the suburbs. So there has been a literal change from what used to be suburbs to now be within city limits, in the course of a generation.
      - JeremyNT 4y ago
        Nashville is a bizarre metro. It is a conglomerate that really does include areas that by all appearances are suburbs. The incredibly low population density you can find on Wikipedia reflects the sprawling suburbia that composes the "city."
somenameforme 4y ago
Japan is another great example as they're now seeing population decline by the millions. I think we often forget just how many of us there are on this planet (or even in a given country). Each of those million people all had their own homes, lives, businesses, and so on. And as the country sees population decline, much of that just gets left to rot. Homes that have been completely abandoned, usually because the owner died and left no heir, even have a term - akiya. Here's [1] an image search with all sorts of them. They make up more than 13% of all homes in Japan now. They have more homes than people to live in them! And if things don't suddenly turn around in dramatic fashion, soon there will be tens of millions of these sort of places. In some you may even find the old owner. There's also a term for that - kodokushi [2]. [1] - https://search.brave.com/images?q=akiya%20houses&source=web https://search.brave.com/images?q=akiya%20houses&source=web [2] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodokushi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodokushi

by anonu 4y ago

hackernewds 4y ago

This seems like the impending future for San Francisco

Mountain_Skies 4y ago

That looks like the City of Detroit, not its suburbs, though I'm sure some of them do suffer some decay, in general Detroit's suburbs are pretty healthy.

jghn 4y ago
The definition of 'suburb' has been changing over time. I can't speak to Detroit but for instance with Boston the original 'suburbs' would now be described as "the city of Boston, not its suburbs". Likewise the town I grew up in as a kid (mumble) years ago, I would have been laughed at for calling it a 'suburb' of Boston as it was too far out of the city. Now Wikipedia calls it a suburb of Boston.
- gs17 4y ago
  I can speak to Detroit, and it's the same. The areas south of 8 Mile but not downtown would by definition be "suburbs" (and structurally resemble the outside of the city), but I'm used to people reserving the term for outside city limits. Now that I'm in Nashville, "suburbs" seem to usually still be inside the city, so I'm guessing it changes as cities grow/decay.
  - Infernal 4y ago
    Nashville has experienced really rapid growth too over the last 20 years, and I think it takes a while for naming conventions to catch up. Given by the fact that what people call suburbs appear to you (as I'm assuming, a relative newcomer) to be "inside the city". My own hometown has experienced rapid growth over the same time span as Nashville, and has annexed large portions of what were commonly known as the suburbs. So there has been a literal change from what used to be suburbs to now be within city limits, in the course of a generation.
    - JeremyNT 4y ago
      Nashville is a bizarre metro. It is a conglomerate that really does include areas that by all appearances are suburbs. The incredibly low population density you can find on Wikipedia reflects the sprawling suburbia that composes the "city."

somenameforme 4y ago

Japan is another great example as they're now seeing population decline by the millions. I think we often forget just how many of us there are on this planet (or even in a given country). Each of those million people all had their own homes, lives, businesses, and so on. And as the country sees population decline, much of that just gets left to rot. Homes that have been completely abandoned, usually because the owner died and left no heir, even have a term - akiya. Here's [1] an image search with all sorts of them. They make up more than 13% of all homes in Japan now. They have more homes than people to live in them! And if things don't suddenly turn around in dramatic fashion, soon there will be tens of millions of these sort of places. In some you may even find the old owner. There's also a term for that - kodokushi [2]. [1] - https://search.brave.com/images?q=akiya%20houses&source=web https://search.brave.com/images?q=akiya%20houses&source=web [2] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodokushi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodokushi