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Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
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50 million people in an area the size of an American state, England (not all of the UK) has a population density similar to Japan and India. It's a very crowded island, as anyone living there will know.
I've never been, but it seems that somewhere that dense, it'd be hard to escape from people altogether. The towns would be close together enough that there would be few real 'breaks' between them, and it seems the countryside is dotted with villages and towns. If you look at a map of the UK it seems these urban conurbations often seem to join up, all the way from London to Newcastle-upon-Tyne, except for a few gaps. The Liverpool to Leeds area is like one big conurbation.
In Asia rural areas seem denser/more filled with life than American or Australian suburbs. I live in a place that is 2.5 million km2, 1/3 the size of Australia and 4 times the size of Texas, with 2 million people so anywhere else seems crowded to me.
Does England often feel like one giant city-urban sprawl? Say if you drove from London to Manchester, would you basically see built-up areas most of the journey? Kinda like Bos-Wash? Or are there still fairly long stretches which seem pretty rural.
As an Alaskan, I am used to seeing empty places.
One of the aspects of the UK that surprised me was just how open and empty some of the areas really are. Especially Scotland-the drive through Scotland in the Inverary/Loch Fyne sort of area was amazing like a drive through the Summit Lake area of the Seward Highway in Alaska. Even in the more populated areas, there was a lot of open space. Not nearly as much as here, of course, but as a whole it's not cheek by jowl by any means. Your perspective may vary.
Does England often feel like one giant city-urban sprawl? Say if you drove from London to Manchester, would you basically see built-up areas most of the journey? Kinda like Bos-Wash? Or are there still fairly long stretches which seem pretty rural.
I doubt it, the Boston-Washington corridor is nearly unbroken development, housing on large lots fills in the gaps between cities. Seems like most cities in England don't take up as much land, from London to Liverpool I remember lots of stretches of countryside. Still seems very populated, and you're always bumping into another town, I imagine it's hard for anywhere in England to feel remote.
In the Northeast US, if you go perpendicular to the corridor you'll get to some land that's rather undeveloped for English standards:
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
24,606 posts, read 55,766,800 times
Reputation: 11862
Quote:
Originally Posted by GnomadAK
As an Alaskan, I am used to seeing empty places.
One of the aspects of the UK that surprised me was just how open and empty some of the areas really are. Especially Scotland-the drive through Scotland in the Inverary/Loch Fyne sort of area was amazing like a drive through the Summit Lake area of the Seward Highway in Alaska. Even in the more populated areas, there was a lot of open space. Not nearly as much as here, of course, but as a whole it's not cheek by jowl by any means. Your perspective may vary.
I mentioned ENGLAND not the UK. I guess outside the actual national park/wilderness areas like the Lake District in Cumbria or the Pennines, it seems their wilderness areas are more like big city parks in Oz or the US.
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
24,606 posts, read 55,766,800 times
Reputation: 11862
Quote:
Originally Posted by nei
I doubt it, the Boston-Washington corridor is nearly unbroken development, housing on large lots fills in the gaps between cities. Seems like most cities in England don't take up as much land, from London to Liverpool I remember lots of stretches of countryside. Still seems very populated, and you're always bumping into another town, I imagine it's hard for anywhere in England to feel remote.
In the Northeast US, if you go perpendicular to the corridor you'll get to some land that's rather undeveloped for English standards:
I've driven the entirety of Bos-Wash and there are stretches which are a bit empty but you're right, one of the world's great urban megapolises. In terms of sheer urban density, however, I think England actually compares quite closely with Bos-Wash in population and area.
England does well by directing her development. The populations are tightly confined to cities with little of that low density suburbia and strip mall sprawl seen in many US states and I'm guessing Australia as well. There are genuine countrysides in England. It doesn't feel like one giant suburb.
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