Germany and the US : differences ?

[oldtobor]

I was looking at maps.google.country (com or de for germany) and comparing random american suburbs with german suburbs. Both countries are similar since it seems that most people live in single family homes (or at most a few families) with gardens or yards around them. However there is alot of insight you can perceive of the differences between the 2 countries just by looking at the satellite images.

 

The US seems to have alot more infrastructure as far as malls and shopping centers go. There are also alot more highways, roads and generally wider and larger roads. The suburbs in the US tend to go on for miles and merge into other towns. Germany doen't seem to have malls, the roads and highways are fewer and smaller, the towns in germany are also smaller but very well organized. They seem to have alot of room for homes like the US but the towns seem much more person friendly as the sizes don't get to large and without any centers. Anyways you can see that both countries are very rich by the fact that the population is well distributed in many towns and suburbs, they are not all concentrated in a few giant cities like in most of the rest of the world. This may really be the secret of creating rich countries, use up all the land available, suburban sprawl creates wealth. Any comments from anyone who knows both countries well ?

 

It makes me laugh to think that countries like Japan are still light years away from this kind of wealth, let alone China and India etc.

[silkworm]

I only know a little bit about southern Germany. Germans are very much into recycling and clean living and the architecture is much older than American architecture, and in urban settings its buildings are continuous for blocks and blocks without regular alleys but paths. They also design their homes to be as energy effecient and self sufficient as possible, every one of them with greenhouses in the back yard and things inside the home like ovens to circulate heat throughout the home.

 

Germans are also pretty secular, but there is a catholic church though with very very old dead people in glass cases - Saints.

[ecoli]

Well, the US is a lot bigger, so we tend to aggregate heavily around urban centers. So, you'll find enormous population densities in cities, but virtually empty states in the midwest.

[silkworm]

The German cities are all pretty massive like Munich and Berlin.

 

An don't say my states are empty because the midwest is so appauling, it's because we use the land here to feed everyone. It's what we do, and I wish more people would respect it (not implying that you did ecoli, though many do).

[ecoli]

The German cities are all pretty massive like Munich and Berlin.

 

An don't say my states are empty because the midwest is so appauling' date=' it's because we use the land here to feed everyone. It's what we do, and I wish more people would respect it (not implying that you did ecoli, though many do).[/quote']

 

In terms of population density, the states are relatively empty. I did'nt mean that they were unimportant in terms of the economy or anything else.

[CharonY]

every one of them with greenhouses in the back yard and things inside the home like ovens to circulate heat throughout the home

 

Uhm, were did you pick that up? I mean some have greenhouses, but more have gardens or nothing in that regard. Modern houses are usually firmly insulated to avoid heat loss, though (energy conversation appears to be a rather big issue).

 

And as Ecoli said in the US are strong aggregations in some urban centres as are in Japan. In Germany this tends to be less the case. At least I think that the there are not that many giant cities as in the US or Japan. Actually I think Berlin and maybe Frankfurt are the only ones that might qualify (and still being dwarfed by, say New York or Tokyo).

On the other hand if I recall correctly the standard of living and especially healthcare is one of the highest in Japan...

[timo]

At least I think that the there are not that many giant cities as in the US or Japan. Actually I think Berlin and maybe Frankfurt are the only ones that might qualify (and still being dwarfed by, say New York or Tokyo).

You´re right except for Frankfurt which actually isn´t that big. The biggest cities in germany are:

Berlin: ~ 3 million people

Hamburg: ~ 1.7 million

Munich: ~ 1.3 million

Frankfurt is only ~ 650k. I´m pretty sure Cologne has more inhabitants, other cities possibly too.

 

EDIT: Thx for the link ecoli. I had supposed that the US cities are bigger but it seems that was just (wrong) intuition.

[ecoli]

US cities - population

[Severian]

I must confess, I didn't like living in Germany at all. I found it very unfriendly, socially conservative, dull, inconvenient and agonizingly beaurocratic. [but of course, that is just my opinion.]

[CharonY]

Atheist, thanks for the correction. I just looked up Cologne. It has ~900k.

Read that Frankfurt is the fifth largest German city, though. Well looked bigger from the plane, whereas Munich appeared to be slightly, well, more rural.

[silkworm]

You´re right except for Frankfurt which actually isn´t that big. The biggest cities in germany are:

Berlin: ~ 3 million people

Hamburg: ~ 1.7 million

Munich: ~ 1.3 million

Frankfurt is only ~ 650k. I´m pretty sure Cologne has more inhabitants' date=' other cities possibly too.

 

EDIT: Thx for the link ecoli. I had supposed that the US cities are bigger but it seems that was just (wrong) intuition.[/quote']

 

I though the Munich metro area was over 10 million.

[silkworm]

Uhm' date=' were did you pick that up? I mean some have greenhouses, but more have gardens or nothing in that regard. Modern houses are usually firmly insulated to avoid heat loss, though (energy conversation appears to be a rather big issue).

 

And as Ecoli said in the US are strong aggregations in some urban centres as are in Japan. In Germany this tends to be less the case. At least I think that the there are not that many giant cities as in the US or Japan. Actually I think Berlin and maybe Frankfurt are the only ones that might qualify (and still being dwarfed by, say New York or Tokyo).

On the other hand if I recall correctly the standard of living and especially healthcare is one of the highest in Japan...[/quote']

 

A great portion of my family is from southern Germany, almost Austrian, on the foot of the Alps. That's the norm ther.e

[ecoli]

I though the Munich metro area was over 10 million.

 

http://www.aviewoncities.com/munich/munichfacts.htm

 

Perhaps if include the suburbs? But technically, that's not part of the city. Otherwise, the population of NY would be a lot higher.

[silkworm]

http://www.aviewoncities.com/munich/munichfacts.htm

 

Perhaps if include the suburbs? But technically' date=' that's not part of the city. Otherwise, the population of NY would be a lot higher.[/quote']

 

I always do, I see the burbs and the metro area as the city itself because those are the people who use the city. You can only cram so many people into one little space before they turn into locusts. There has to be sprawl. What would NYC be then? It's like 25 million right?

[silkworm]

US cities - population

 

See, I just looked at this and I guarantee you there are lot more people in Denver than 550,000. Kansas City, MO is also a lot more than 445,000 (and KC, KS should be included in that because KC is KC no matter what side of the line it's on (although KC, KS is dwarfed by KC, MO (and we are talking about cities here)). Both at least over 2 million. How do they count this? Cities of 550,000 and 445,000 could not support what Denver and KC do.

 

 

There are differences too, a pop of 445,000 won't imply 2 million in the city. Wichita has 300,000 listed as pop, but only about 500,000 metro.

 

I could buy around 400,000 for Colorado Springs however, bascule does that sound right?

 

I think NYC is 20-25 million metro and LA somewhere between 10-18 (I know that's a wide margin but I try to stay as ignorant as CA as possible).

 

Obviously these counts are limited by BS political boundaries and don't truly reflect a city's population.

 

It should also be noted that Germany is the 16th most populous nation in the world (approx 83 million) http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/rankorder/2119rank.html, so where are all these people in such a relatively tiny nation (relative to US which is number 5 with approx. 300 million)? Germany is about the size of Montana in land area, which is not 1/4 of the US in land area.

[Klaynos]

It should also be noted that Germany is the 16th most populous nation in the world (approx 83 million) http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/rankorder/2119rank.html' date=' so where are all these people in such a relatively tiny nation (relative to US which is number 5 with approx. 300 million)? Germany is about the size of Montana in land area, which is not 1/4 of the US in land area.[/quote']

 

I like that link, the EU listed as a country as well as it's constiuate members... But then again it lists World as a country too...

[ecoli]

See, I just looked at this and I guarantee you there are lot more people in Denver than 550,000. Kansas City, MO is also a lot more than 445,000 (and KC, KS should be included in that because KC is KC no matter what side of the line it's on (although KC, KS is dwarfed by KC, MO (and we are talking about cities here)). Both at least over 2 million. How do they count this? Cities of 550,000 and 445,000 could not support what Denver and KC do.

 

keep in mind that is a 2004 estimate. That was two years ago and based off projections from 2000 data.

[silkworm]

I do keep that in mind, but I'm talking about in the past decade. You know, habitually.

[bascule]

"Denver" is technically a city (i.e. one of many contiguous cities in unbroken urban sprawl), however no one really means that when they say Denver. They mean the Denver metropolitan area which includes some 10 counties. It's all just one big city with a ton of different names. Denver. Aurora. Arvava. Thornton. Westminster. Broomfield. It's all Denver.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denver-Aurora_metropolitan_area

 

The combined population of these regions is over 2.1 million.

 

I don't know how many people live in Colorado Springs. If Boulder is a social microcosm of Buddhist and liberal stupidity, then Colorado Springs is a social microcosm of Christian stupidity.

[oldtobor]

Contrary to what most say and think, from the satellite images, it seems that both the US and Germany are quite similar. They both have most people living in single family homes in suburb like areas, granted with some differences, but generally I see similarities and not differences!

 

The differences are that Germany doesn't have malls or large shopping structures, but the towns are really suburbs and do resemble the american style to some degree. I may be wrong but that is the impression I get from seeing them both from above. Also if you look at random suburbs in the US there are all kinds of types many with winding roads and I think many different economic levels whereas Germany seems more monolithic, its towns are quite similar probably implying a not too large economic diversity.