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I don't live in Seattle. I live in S King County and within a decade I will be gone from here too.
Hey I live there too (Federal Way), Seattle is obviously going to have a lot of issues, it's going through some serious growing pains, the infrastructure is just not meant to handle this many people, give it a couple decades and the infrastructure will catch up, hopefully. There aren't that many cities in Russia that are growing as fast as Seattle except for Tyumen which is just growing like crazy if the numbers are correct
But in the US Cities are more spread out, so in reality Seattle has a population of 3,798,902 if you count all the suburbs which would put it somewhere between St. Petersburg (5,323,300) and Novosibirsk (1,567,087), so tiny Smolensk of 326,861 people isn't really comparable to Seattle, and it probably has more in common with Lincoln Nebraska with a metro area of 326,921
So yes Smolensk in the city center is very beautiful and probably better looking than most american cities, but once you get into the residential districts it gets just as cookie cutter, except I like the american housing stock better for the most part, and the neighborhoods look nicer.
So yes Smolensk in the city center is very beautiful and probably better looking than most american cities, but once you get into the residential districts it gets just as cookie cutter, except I like the american housing stock better for the most part, and the neighborhoods look nicer.
Russian downtowns look beautiful because of the classical architecture. Throw in a couple of onion-domed churches, and you really have a work of art. One reason the Russian private home districts don't look as nice is that many of them have grown helter-skelter, vs. in the US--real estate developers design and build entire neighborhoods. Some are old dacha districts that have been turned into year-round homes.
Also, in Russia, due to crime, people need to barricade themselves behind iron gates and so forth, which detracts from what we call "street appeal", though this isn't true everywhere, but in general, it is. So it's not quite a fair comparison. People have posted photos of new single-family-home developments in Russia, I don't recall exactly--I think it was a Moscow suburb, that looked just as nice as the American ones. To some extent, it's a question of a planned development, vs. neighborhoods that grew organically in older times.
What I like in Russia are the old historical log house neighborhoods. Those were becoming popular when I was last there, because they're warm in winter, and they stay naturally cool in the hot summers. The only drawback is that there's no indoor plumbing.
Last edited by Ruth4Truth; 05-13-2017 at 08:50 PM..
Russian downtowns look beautiful because of the classical architecture. Throw in a couple of onion-domed churches, and you really have a work of art. One reason the Russian private home districts don't look as nice is that many of them have grown helter-skelter, vs. in the US--real estate developers design and build entire neighborhoods. Some are old dacha districts that have been turned into year-round homes.
Also, in Russia, due to crime, people need to barricade themselves behind iron gates and so forth, which detracts from what we call "street appeal", though this isn't true everywhere, but in general, it is. So it's not quite a fair comparison. People have posted photos of new single-family-home developments in Russia, I don't recall exactly--I think it was a Moscow suburb, that looked just as nice as the American ones. To some extent, it's a question of a planned development, vs. neighborhoods that grew organically in older times.
What I like in Russia are the old historical log house neighborhoods. Those were becoming popular when I was last there, because they're warm in winter, and they stay naturally cool in the hot summers. The only drawback is that there's no indoor plumbing.
Ulan Ude (Buryatia) did a very good job of preserving theirs. That whole section of town was very pleasant to stroll through; there were a lot of tall, old shade trees, a riverfront promenade, and the beautiful architecture.
From what I can glean from the internet these days, the neighborhood has developed to some extent; people are taking over the old homes and using them as offices, and it's turning into a commercial district, which is kind of too bad. It was a nice, peaceful area for walking and enjoying the ambience and the scenery.
That photo of the demolition in Irkutsk looks very sad. That one remaining building could be rescued and restored, as an historic and architectural monument. The photo creates the impression that no one values these once elegant old homes. Is there anything like an historic preservation movement in Russian cities?
What I like in Russia are the old historical log house neighborhoods. Those were becoming popular when I was last there, because they're warm in winter, and they stay naturally cool in the hot summers. The only drawback is that there's no indoor plumbing.
Considering Russian winters I would rather be in Seattle. Indoor toilets are good things.
I just want to say that maybe I knock on Seattle a little hard because America is a different society than Russia. The biggest aspect seems to be America and Seattle are newer, we don't have the historical legacy that Russia has. Our style of building is different and in my opinion leaves a lot to be desired. In Moscow you can see all the green spaces, the wide sidewalks and boulevards. It's very people friendly. Seattle is very different, more sterile with less green more concrete and sometimes places to walk and enjoy are more of an afterthought.
Beauty costs, especially if you're trying to create it like here in America. It Russia beauty in many forms was created and preserved over many centuries. Russian cabors are beautiful, and some very old. American churches tend to be dark, brooding piles of brick or rock not in any way inviting like a Russian church is.
I think people who've been there can understand what I'm saying. It's really a great example of one thing Russia and America could learn from one another.
I just want to say that maybe I knock on Seattle a little hard because America is a different society than Russia. The biggest aspect seems to be America and Seattle are newer, we don't have the historical legacy that Russia has. Our style of building is different and in my opinion leaves a lot to be desired. In Moscow you can see all the green spaces, the wide sidewalks and boulevards. It's very people friendly. Seattle is very different, more sterile with less green more concrete and sometimes places to walk and enjoy are more of an afterthought.
Beauty costs, especially if you're trying to create it like here in America. It Russia beauty in many forms was created and preserved over many centuries. Russian cabors are beautiful, and some very old. American churches tend to be dark, brooding piles of brick or rock not in any way inviting like a Russian church is.
I think people who've been there can understand what I'm saying. It's really a great example of one thing Russia and America could learn from one another.
"Sobor", is the word. Cathedral, in English. I agree--there's nothing like onion domes to lend some kind of a lyrical quality to a cityscape. You should visit Austria; there's similar church architecture in the towns and villages there, even though it's not Orthodox.
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