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>This is not unheard to have villages dying in Europe This is not a village, it's a city with a population of 120k falling down to 10k. A population of 120k w

>This is not unheard to have villages dying in Europe This is not a village, it's a city with a population of 120k falling down to 10k. A population of 120k would put it as a top-5 city in any medium-sized European country. And it is completely unimaginable that such a city would die this way (unless it were destroyed in a war).

ekianjo 12y ago
No, I think you get the wrong impression here. This is not a city that has grown to 120k over 1000 years and which disappeared in a blink, this is a village that was overgrown because of the coal mine activity in the past 100 years, and just like in all modern countries which made the switch from coal to something else, the economic activity went somewhere else and people with it. So no, it's actually very similar to cities in northen France, West Germany and South Belgium which lived from coal as well and quickly dropped in population as well. And the same thing is happening in Detroit as the auto industry dissappeared as well. It's all the same thing at work.
- 1ris 12y ago
  The coal industry in Germany mostly happened in hughe cities of the Ruhr metropolitan area, and these are far from dying. There might be small villages in eastern Germany turning into ghost towns, but this is a mostly unheard phenomenon. There is no german Detroit. Probably because there are much fewer places to move to instead.
  - nl 12y ago
    I don't think this is a coal mining town, but Sonneberg is used as an example in [1] of a town which seems to be having similar problems: Heiko Voigt, the deputy mayor here, can point out dozens of vacant homes that he doubts will ever be sold. The reality is that the German population is shrinking and towns like this one are working hard to hide the emptiness. Mr. Voigt has already supervised the demolition of 60 houses and 12 apartment blocs, strategically injecting grassy patches into once-dense complexes. [1] http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/14/world/europe/germany-fights-population-drop.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/14/world/europe/germany-fight...
    - 1ris 12y ago
      It's shrinking, but not anywhere near Yubari. Here is the population statistic: [1]. Similar things will happen, but it's not there right now. [1] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonneberg#mediaviewer/Datei:Population_Statistics_Sonneberg.png https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonneberg#mediaviewer/Datei:Po...
xiaoma 12y ago
>A population of 120k would put it as a top-5 city in any medium-sized European country. Europe only has a couple of medium-sized countries—Germany and France. 150k people wouldn't make for a top 5 city in either. 120k people is a town, not a city. Clarification: Examples of large countries (both in terms of land mass and influence) would be Russia, China, Japan, Australia, the US, Brazil, etc
- xorcist 12y ago
  Those are the largest countries in Europe..? That's probably not what jaksemas meant.
- nl 12y ago
  Europe only has a couple of medium-sized countries—Germany and France Not sure what you are using as a definition of "medium sized", but if France and Germany are included you may want to consider the following (with roughly the same size): Spain, Italy, Poland, Ukraine, Russia, United Kingdom, Sweden, Norway, Finland (Turkey of course is large too, but the European part is quite small - unlike Russia, where European part is large)
  - xiaoma 12y ago
    Finland, Sweden and Norway have fewer people and smaller economies than some cities.
    - nl 12y ago
      I'm not sure what your point is? If you are talking population AND area you missed a number of countries too. Incidentally the population of the Tokyo agglomeration (39 million) isn't far off Spain (46 million) or Ukraine (45 million) and is greater than Poland (38 million) as well as much greater than Australia (22 million). All that proves is that there are some cities with very large populations.
nl 12y ago
And it is completely unimaginable that such a city would die this way (unless it were destroyed in a war). That simply isn't true. There are a number of similar sized European cities shrinking - although not quite at the same dramatic rate. For example, Miskolc (in Hungary) has shrunk from 186K to 168K since 2000, and there are a number of other cities with similar problems[1]. Another example which is more directly comparable is the former oil shale mining town of Kohtla-Järve in Estonia. In 1980 it had a population of 90,000 while today it is 37,000[2]. [1] http://www.citymetric.com/chart-eastern-europes-incredible-shrinking-cities http://www.citymetric.com/chart-eastern-europes-incredible-s... [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kohtla-J%C3%A4rve http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kohtla-J%C3%A4rve
muyuu 12y ago
In Europe there are some ex-minery towns that went from 100K+ to a few thousands. I know a couple personally. However, they are very different in that services and safety would be abysmal. Yubari sounds like a place I'd love to move to if it wasn't so extremely cold in the winter. Hokkaido is quite extreme and by looking at its location in the map this town might be even colder than Asahikawa, which is serious stuff. Siberia-like extreme cold.

ekianjo 12y ago

No, I think you get the wrong impression here. This is not a city that has grown to 120k over 1000 years and which disappeared in a blink, this is a village that was overgrown because of the coal mine activity in the past 100 years, and just like in all modern countries which made the switch from coal to something else, the economic activity went somewhere else and people with it. So no, it's actually very similar to cities in northen France, West Germany and South Belgium which lived from coal as well and quickly dropped in population as well. And the same thing is happening in Detroit as the auto industry dissappeared as well. It's all the same thing at work.

1ris 12y ago
The coal industry in Germany mostly happened in hughe cities of the Ruhr metropolitan area, and these are far from dying. There might be small villages in eastern Germany turning into ghost towns, but this is a mostly unheard phenomenon. There is no german Detroit. Probably because there are much fewer places to move to instead.
- nl 12y ago
  I don't think this is a coal mining town, but Sonneberg is used as an example in [1] of a town which seems to be having similar problems: Heiko Voigt, the deputy mayor here, can point out dozens of vacant homes that he doubts will ever be sold. The reality is that the German population is shrinking and towns like this one are working hard to hide the emptiness. Mr. Voigt has already supervised the demolition of 60 houses and 12 apartment blocs, strategically injecting grassy patches into once-dense complexes. [1] http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/14/world/europe/germany-fights-population-drop.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/14/world/europe/germany-fight...
  - 1ris 12y ago
    It's shrinking, but not anywhere near Yubari. Here is the population statistic: [1]. Similar things will happen, but it's not there right now. [1] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonneberg#mediaviewer/Datei:Population_Statistics_Sonneberg.png https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonneberg#mediaviewer/Datei:Po...

xiaoma 12y ago

>A population of 120k would put it as a top-5 city in any medium-sized European country. Europe only has a couple of medium-sized countries—Germany and France. 150k people wouldn't make for a top 5 city in either. 120k people is a town, not a city. Clarification: Examples of large countries (both in terms of land mass and influence) would be Russia, China, Japan, Australia, the US, Brazil, etc

xorcist 12y ago
Those are the largest countries in Europe..? That's probably not what jaksemas meant.
nl 12y ago
Europe only has a couple of medium-sized countries—Germany and France Not sure what you are using as a definition of "medium sized", but if France and Germany are included you may want to consider the following (with roughly the same size): Spain, Italy, Poland, Ukraine, Russia, United Kingdom, Sweden, Norway, Finland (Turkey of course is large too, but the European part is quite small - unlike Russia, where European part is large)
- xiaoma 12y ago
  Finland, Sweden and Norway have fewer people and smaller economies than some cities.
  - nl 12y ago
    I'm not sure what your point is? If you are talking population AND area you missed a number of countries too. Incidentally the population of the Tokyo agglomeration (39 million) isn't far off Spain (46 million) or Ukraine (45 million) and is greater than Poland (38 million) as well as much greater than Australia (22 million). All that proves is that there are some cities with very large populations.

nl 12y ago

And it is completely unimaginable that such a city would die this way (unless it were destroyed in a war). That simply isn't true. There are a number of similar sized European cities shrinking - although not quite at the same dramatic rate. For example, Miskolc (in Hungary) has shrunk from 186K to 168K since 2000, and there are a number of other cities with similar problems[1]. Another example which is more directly comparable is the former oil shale mining town of Kohtla-Järve in Estonia. In 1980 it had a population of 90,000 while today it is 37,000[2]. [1] http://www.citymetric.com/chart-eastern-europes-incredible-shrinking-cities http://www.citymetric.com/chart-eastern-europes-incredible-s... [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kohtla-J%C3%A4rve http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kohtla-J%C3%A4rve

muyuu 12y ago

In Europe there are some ex-minery towns that went from 100K+ to a few thousands. I know a couple personally. However, they are very different in that services and safety would be abysmal. Yubari sounds like a place I'd love to move to if it wasn't so extremely cold in the winter. Hokkaido is quite extreme and by looking at its location in the map this town might be even colder than Asahikawa, which is serious stuff. Siberia-like extreme cold.