# your city's growth



## Slartibartfas (Aug 15, 2006)

*Vienna*

The area of Vienna has allready been continously settled in the stone age, copper age, bronze age and iron age. In the young iron age the era of the celts starts in the region.

To the time when the Romans conquered the region, there was allready a celtic settlement called "Vedunia" (=forest river). In the 1st century AD the Romans founded a Roman city there, in reference to the celtic settlement they called it "Vindobona". No one less than Marcus Aurelius supposedly died in this city.










The from the 2nd century on municipium of Vindobona had at its best times 40.000 inhabitants and it was home to a legion of the empire.



In the 5th century the Western Roman Empire broke apart and due to its border location Vindobona soon became the victim of the destructive age to follow. The Völkerwanderung did not leave one stone on the other. Their are signs suggesting a large fire at the beginning of the 5th century. Nonetheless the town never was abandoned completely. A rest settlement remained even in the hardest times, with Langobardes, Slavics and later on Magyars living their. There are signs of lively trade in form of byzant coins from the 6th century. Also graves report from the dark age in the former Vindobina.

In the year 881 the town reappaers as "Weniam" in writings again, to be exact when the Frank empire battled against the Magyars about it. Weniam came under Frank rule and into a ordered environment again. In the year 976 the Grenzmark called "Ostarrichi" was founded (the birth of Austria) with Vienna being part of it. The Babenberger who where its dutchies consolidated the area. In the 11th century its allready labelled as "civitas" again that indicates a well ordered town, and moreover it became an important trade center once again.

In the year 1156 the town becomes the capital of the dutchy. And for the longest time of the 850 years to come it will remain being capital. The city considerably grew in importance. The kidnapping of king Lionheart brought the city a considerable fortune that financed the foundation of not only but also the proud medieval city walls. In 1200 then Vienna officially became city rights and also the "Stapelrecht" which meant every trader that passed it had to offer his goods in the city. The impact was a further rise of Vienna as trading hub, with contacts to Venice and elsewhere.

A great change took place in the 13th century when after short time of Bohemian rule over Ostarrichi, the _Habsburger _took over the power. The foundations of the Habsburg empire should be laid. In the 14 th century the construction of the Stephans Cathedral is in the ongoing, and Vienna gets an own University.

After a short time of crises, the city reemerged even larger and became the capital of the Holy Roman Empire of German nation. The importance of Vienna and it growth increased even further as Bohemia and Hungary fell to the Habsburgs. Furhtermore Vienna becomes a Bishop seat in the end and the Cathedral is finished.


A great disaster for the town again took place in the 16 century. A large Turkish army attacked Vienna and started to besiege it. The Town itself defended by not more than the centuries old city wall and 20.000 men had to withstand the good organized Turkish army. It was a turning point in the towns history, as the fait of Constantinople was still well remembered. Nonetheless in the end, after a long mining war where more was fought below the surface in digged holes than above, the Turks were defeated.

But to be not enough, the Osman empire tried it once again in the 17th century. This time with an even far larger army and the clear will to succeed this time. Vienna had in the meanwhile constructed a completely new fortress system, making it to one of the best defended cities in the world. 









(Vienna 1640)

Nonetheless it seemed after months as if this time the Turks had the better cards. Vienna could not withstand the force alone, but in the last minutes help arrived from the Reich and Poland. The Entsatzheer under the lead of the Polnish king Sobiesky defeated the Turks and Vienna was saved again.









(Battle of Vienna)

After this last and definitive defeat of the Turks that ultimatively led to the dowfall of their empire, was on the other side the start of an unseen boom of the city of Vienna. Allthough everything else than the inner city that had the fortress walls, was burned down during the battle (the whole surrounding urban area) Vienna was rebuilt in the style of Baroque. 

The 18th century did not only lead to Vienna becoming a baroque city, but also that it vastly enlarged itself, when considering its "Vorstädte" growing together to a belt around the inner city. Those Vorstädte even got a second ring of walls for defence. Mentioiworthy is though a large black plague epidemy in those times. After the population was around 150.000 people after that, it grew fast to above 200.000. The hygiene problem becomes an issue that the authorities try to tackle. The canalisation system come into existance and street cleaning is introduced.

In the beginning 19th century, Vienna gets occupied by Napoleon forces, but the city gets not damaged and Austria remains independant. And in exchange for the degradation through occupation after Napoleons defeat the Viennese Congress is initiated, which made Vienna the most important place in whole Europe for two years. 

The perhaps most important thing for the city itself was probably the tearing down of the city walls (both the inner one and the Linienwall). This amounted to the largest city renewal program in Europe with the construction of the Ringstraße. A really imperial boulevard encircling the inner city was raised instead of the vast fortification. 










(Vienna in the 19th century, city walls have been torwn down right before)

Vienna booms! Towards the end of the 19th century the Ringstraße area is finished in its construction and Vienna nearly explodes in population numbers. The expansion leads to the reaching of the 1 mio mark soon afterwards and the peak of glory comes in 1910 when Vienna broke through the 2 mio inhabitants mark. A mark never reached again since. Vienna was _the 4th largest town in the World_ then.

Than WWI came and the 50 mio inhabitants empire broke apart. Viennas downfall began, but the city consolidated after loosing a few hundred thousand inhabitants again. The war did not cause much damage and the city tried to manage somehow to survive without the lost lands.

After stormy times with Austrifacism and the rise to power of the Nazis, leading to the Anschluss to Germany, WWII began. A tragedy for the city. 28%, nearly one third of all buildings were destroyed in the bomber war, and many inhabitants killed. The population decreased again considerably. It stabilized around 1.600.000 and after the war the city was swiftly repaired.

The famous film "The third man" gives an impression of how the town looked like back then.

In the last decades Vienna continuously decreased in population, until... until the fall of the Iron curtain. Vienna once again became the hub between east and west.

Today Vienna grows slightly again and the economy is in a well condition. Vienna is an international conference city, and home of many central/eastern Europe headquarters of well known companies. Its a major tourism hot spot, with a strong industrial branch. The inner city has been renovated lately, but the growth takes place on former industrial areas, former large railway properties, and in the periphery most notably the Donau City but also at places like Wienerberg, Simmering etc.


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## staff (Oct 23, 2004)

Very nice thread. 
I'll do Copenhagen and Malmo when I got time.


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## brisavoine (Mar 19, 2006)

For those interested in Paris growth, here is an excellent university book about the growth of Paris from 1800 to 2000. Lots of stats, details, scholarly research. The author shows how the anti-city policies of rural France hindered the growth of Paris and prevented any coherent urban planning beyond the Périphérique beltway, which resulted in the ugly and badly planned suburbs that are such a problem to the Paris metropolis today. It's a must read.

Links to the book and picture of the cover page:
on the US Amazon
on the French Amazon


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## brisavoine (Mar 19, 2006)

And here is a nice graph taken from Wikipedia which shows the population growth of Paris since 1800:


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## pricemazda (Feb 14, 2004)

Tubeman said:


> The municipality pretty much _is_ the city thanks to the Green Belt... The GLA boundary pretty much follows the edge of the continuously built-up area. Sure people moved out to New Towns and Garden Cities since the 1930's, but these aren't London really (although they are in the 'Metro area', but let's not even go there!). The Southeast's population certainly grew throughout this period, obviously the people didn't just disappear, but London as an entity (as opposed to whatever 'Metro area' you want to attach to it) contracted in population.
> 
> London declined economically and numerically steadily during the 1970's and early 80's, it really was a shitehole. Traditional employers like the docks disappeared and Inner City areas were gripped by Race riots, it really was a case of people leaving. Obviously prior to this during WW2 swathes of housing were destroyed and London never really recovered, but the flow of people out to Garden cities like Welwyn and Letchworth had begun before WW2 and were a reaction to overcrowded, squalid slums in Inner London.



Apparently though if London was to be everything inside the M25, its population would be closer to 10 million. London has overspilled the Greater London boundary.


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## the spliff fairy (Oct 21, 2002)

Slartibartfas, do you have pics of the damage done to wartime Vienna? Not many people know the city was even bombed.


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## Tubeman (Sep 12, 2002)

pricemazda said:


> Apparently though if London was to be everything inside the M25, its population would be closer to 10 million. London has overspilled the Greater London boundary.


There is no way in hell there are an extra 2.5 million people living between the GLA boundary and the M25. Its mostly Green Belt.

London's population is 7.5 million, end of story


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## Slartibartfas (Aug 15, 2006)

the spliff fairy said:


> Slartibartfas, do you have pics of the damage done to wartime Vienna? Not many people know the city was even bombed.


Vienna was a prominent target of allied air raids. Of course its industry was bombed to dust. But also not a single one of the major railwaystations survived WWII. And the bombardments did not only hit industry and railway, many residentials were hit too, and even the Austrian Parliament building, the huge States Opera house.

I am not sure if I should be surprised that Viennas history is not that well known outside of Austria. After WWI it never was a major scene of world politics anymore. And allthough damage in WWII was really severe, it was not totally bombed out like for example Dresden or some British towns.

Still, Vienna was not only hit severly by areal bombardment in the last weeks of war, but was also the location of a last fight. Hitler mobilized everything he had and even what he did not even have for a last fight against the allieds. From 14 years old to their grandfathers, everone who still could carry a weapon had to fight. A dark chapter in our history, of course not because the allies came, but because it was fought till the end, instead of getting rid of the last warmongering fanatics ourselves.





Its incredibly hard to find photos of post war Vienna. But I can only recommend you to watch the legendary film noir movie "The third man". It plays in the Vienna of 1947 and has been really filmed there. Its not only a great movie but a vast collection of authentic film material showing how Vienna looked like back than. At a time where the streets have allready been cleared, but most buildings and ruins were still untouched and looking like the war ended only days before.

I found two pics on the net though:


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## elfabyanos (Jun 18, 2006)

Tubeman said:


> There is no way in hell there are an extra 2.5 million people living between the GLA boundary and the M25. Its mostly Green Belt.
> 
> London's population is 7.5 million, end of story


I'd say inside M25 could tip over 8 million, just. It's places like Uxbridge and Staines and Dartford that I don't think are GLA area are they?


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## F20B (Feb 23, 2006)

[/QUOTE]

Is that an asian guy fighting in WW2? in vienna?


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## Tubeman (Sep 12, 2002)

elfabyanos said:


> I'd say inside M25 could tip over 8 million, just. It's places like Uxbridge and Staines and Dartford that I don't think are GLA area are they?


Yes, I wouldn't be shocked if there were perhaps 8 million people within the M25, but not many more. You already mention two of the largest settlements within the M25 but outside the GLA boundary (Dartford and Staines), Uxbridge is in the London Borough of Hillingdon. The only other town I can think of of any significance between the M25 and GLA boundary is Watford, which is probably the second largest with 79,000 inhabitants (Dartford has 85,000, Staines 52,000).


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## Tubeman (Sep 12, 2002)

F20B said:


> Is that an asian guy fighting in WW2? in vienna?


He's a Soviet soldier... don't forget the USSR stretched all the way to the Pacific and the indigenous people of the far east are *********.


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## the spliff fairy (Oct 21, 2002)

yep Siberians are East Asian but tall and heavy set -one of the tallest peoples in the world.

-bit of a tangent here...


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## Chicagoago (Dec 2, 2005)

Fun topic...

I'll do CHICAGO

Chicago was first explored by French explorers during the 1680's. During the 1700's the city was popular with Fench hunters and trappers because it was between the Chicago River and Lake Michigan to the east, and the Des Plaines river only a few miles to the west, which drained out to the Mississippi River and thousands of miles away from where the waters of the Great Lakes drain.










By the 1770's the first non-indian person settled in what would be Chicago, and in 1795 the area of Chicago was ceded to the United States from regional indian tribes. A fort was built in 1803, and used for the next few decades until 1837.










After the whole region Chicago was a part of became property of the United States in the early 1800's, a village named Chicago was settled in 1833 with 300 people.










After this the USA connected Chicago to the east coast with canals, and canals through to the Miss. river system. Railways also were built out towards the western frontier of the USA.

The city was early on described as the dirtiest city in America, due to its geography in a swampy bog. In the spring during high waters and rain, most of the city turned to mud, which finally made the city planners build two improved roads to at least get into and out of the city. The first one was built through the "dismal nine-mile swamp" to the southwest of the city.

To help the pollution, disease and water problems, the entire city was raised by 4-7 feet and new sewer lines were laid through the entire city on what had been ground level. The sewer lines were covered with dirt and landfill, and the new "ground level" of the current city is actually 7 feet higher than it should be. Many buildings created front doors on their second levels, and their original first floors were now basements and bricked up. There were vaulted sidewalks built along what had been the first floor where there wasn't enough filler. To this day some of these vaulted sidewalks will fall through although there are VERY few sidewalks like this in the city today.

The city continued to grow very rapidly in the 1840's through 1860's. It grew from the 92nd largest city in the United States in 1840 to the 2nd largest thirty years later.



















In 1871 a massive fire burnt for 2 days, burning around 18,000 buildings, including the entire central area of the city, and the fashionable neighborhoods on the north side. Over 1/3 of the city was homeless, and most of its civic buildings were destroyed. For such a massive size, only 125 bodies were discovered, and estimates of the true life lost range around 200-300. The city capitalized on the fire, building thousands of new buildings with current and modern materials, exploding the city in population and importance.









































































After the fire, Chicago became the fastest growing city in human history. It grew from 300,000 in 1870, to roughly 1,700,000 30 years later. The city was largely populated by Germans, Irish, Italians and Swedish during this time. The city also at this time became the transportation hub of the united states. Through canals, railroads, roads/rail freight, then finally air travel. In 1893 the city hosted the Worlds Columbian Exposition to show off how far she had grown since the great Chicago fire. The exposition drew 27.5 million visitors from around the world to what at the time was the edge of civiliation in many respects. The fair was wildly successful, and put Chicago on the world map.























































In 1900 the growing city reversed the direction of the Chicago River to control the amount of sewage going into Lake Michigan and the city's drinking water. The River was reversed to run from Lake Michigan into canals and out towards the Mississippi river. 

The city hit it's peak in the 1950's when it housed over 3,600,000 people. It was the 5th largest city in the world by this point, and had over 15,000 people per square mile. 





































The cities streetcar and elevated train system was begun in the 1890's and was used by many in the city through the 1950's. The system was consolidated in 1947 into the Chicago Transit Authority. This consolidated all train line companies in the city, and later included the city busses. The city also built expressways from the central city out to the suburbs in every direction. This started an explosion of growth in the suburbs, expanding for miles in every direction from the city of Chicago.

The city went through declining times during the 1960's through early 1990's. Over 700,000 people moved out of the city, including very large numbers of white familes. The 1970's saw the lowest point for the city in terms of people evacuating to the suburbs. Housing projects became horrible areas of crime, poverty and murder, the transit system's service frequency and areas of service were greatly reduced, including the shutdown of some train lines. Many areas of the city experienced riots in 1968, and large areas of the west side of the building were burned. The city took on more of an image of a declining, dangerous midwestern city during the 70's and 80's. During this time though the city built many of it's tallest buildings, the Sears Tower, Aon and Hancock towers. During this time while the central city lagged behind, the suburbs grew by millions of people. By 2005 there were over 6,500,000 people in the suburbs of Chicago.























































In the 1990's and 2000's the city experienced a massive resergence, with gentrification taking over multiple city neighborhoods. The city had regained over 112,000 in populatioin by 2000 since 1990, with the Chicago area growing by around 1,000,000 during those 10 years, with the next census due out in a few years. The city has plans to expand the rail systems, and the city had had dozens of new buildings constructed in the past few years, many of them new residential highrises. The city still has a large crime problem, but homicides are down by over 50% in the past 10-15 years.




























Chicago's biggest factor has been its growth. It was the only city in the world that didn't exist at the beginning of the 1800's to have over 1,000,000 people by 1900. By 1950 it was over 3,600,000, the third largest in the world, and today the metro area is nearing almost 10,000,000 people.


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## Slartibartfas (Aug 15, 2006)

Where has this wonderfull city gone to?



>


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## Chicagoago (Dec 2, 2005)

It was all temporary and torn down after the exposition. The Museum of Science and Industry was the only perm. building to remain. The area is now a large park on the south side of Chicago. While it's a very beautiful park, what was torn down would be a true jewel of architecture in the United States

The University of Chicago was built along the grand midway of parkland that joins Washington Park to Jackson Park in the area where this all took place.


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## Slartibartfas (Aug 15, 2006)

Chicagoago said:


> It was all temporary and torn down after the exposition. The Museum of Science and Industry was the only perm. building to remain. The area is now a large park on the south side of Chicago. While it's a very beautiful park, what was torn down would be a true jewel of architecture in the United States
> 
> The University of Chicago was built along the grand midway of parkland that joins Washington Park to Jackson Park in the area where this all took place.


Yeah it seems that this was the usual procedure at world exhibitions. I never really understood the sense of tearing down all those great exibition halls (the smaller perhaps but the large monumental ones... what a waste of effort to tear them down again)

In Vienna we also had a world exhibition, already in the year 1873. It was not a real economic success even though good visited. So they had no money left for tearing down the main exhibition hall called Rotunde:




















It was used afterwards for fairs etc. It survived even the downfall of the monarchy. But then in the year 1937 it was destroyed by fire, what a pitty. The new modern complex on its place is no worth replacement in terms of style and grandeur. And the rest of the area that survived the fire was bombed to ashes in WWII.



















The modern "Messegel?nde" you find today there:


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## the spliff fairy (Oct 21, 2002)

They NEED to rebuild those Chicago exhibiton halls, beautiful stuff there...


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## Reaperos (Nov 18, 2006)

*Athens*

Classical Period:


















Victorian and Georgian Athens:









Athens ca 1832









Theseus temple ca 1850









North Front of the Parthenon ca 1839









The Agora 1851









View near Athens ca 1834









Photographs: 
















































































1865








1870



















1845

















Νέο Faliro 1920








Piraeus 1909









1950








1944








Faliro 1948








Piraeus 1944








Piraeus (1960) 


















Modern Athens:


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