Ugliest city in the world?

[Ziggy Stardust]

Tilburg

I have nothing against it per se, but Tilburg is the only city known to me, where I would not feel comfortable giving someone a tour - on account of their being nothing to see!

http://images.google.com/images?q=tilburg

Damn you six years ago!

 

[Abaddon]

Hull is pretty fugly.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Cities with a lot of slums are ugly. Which one is the ugliest, I cannot say.

 

[Shekwan]

Dublin is really ugly. The most famous song about the place is about how dirty it is.

 

[Formaldehyde]

Pittsburgh PA before it was cleaned up. This photo was taken at 10:55 AM in the 40s...

Spoiler :

This photo was taken at 11:25 AM:

Spoiler :

http://images.library.pitt.edu/cgi-...smoke_all;view=thumbnail;g=imls;med=1;c=smoke

 

[downtown]

^Yeah, it was pretty bad back in the day. They did a great job cleaning it up now though. Downtown Pitt looks awesome.

 

[JonathanStrange]

I thought parts of Detroit were really depressing; large parts of the city seem post-apocalyptic.

I was surprised to find Japanese cities mostly grayish too; but I was only there for 3 weeks traveling through Japan so I'm no expert: but there did seem to be lots of tightly packed greyish buildings (yes, I'm aware that space is at a premium) - but it sure tempered my image of Japan as a green paradise. Loved the visit though and enjoyed the people.

(I went to UC Berkeley and I recall a Japanese student exclaiming "how dirty and crowded" Berkeley was - which now seems very odd since Berkeley does have plenty of room, greenery, the Bay, beautiful mountain views (well...hill views), pleasant climate - I loved living there despite the politics - but I thought perhaps Japan was uber-clean and efficient.)

 

[Oerdin]

Detroit. The city center doesn't look too bad, but the surrounding parts
were pretty ugly.

As bad as Detroit is it doesn't even compare to the 3rd world slums or mideast hell holes I've seen. At least Detroit has indoor plumbing and the sewage doesn't just pore into the streets for everyone to walk through and to dry in the sun so that little crap flakes get breathed in by everyone so that they all get sick.

 

[Oerdin]

Detroit's big problem was that their entire economy was based for 100 years on one industry. An industry which went into steep decline so that the population has collapsed as people moved to other cities to find work and many couldn't sell their homes so they simply abandoned them. Drug dealers and homeless people moved him, thieves stole everything of value, while arsonists burned down what was left.

This is what Detroit needs to do. They need to bulldoze 50% of the city. Just knock it all down, rip up the streets, remove the power lines, pull the pipes out of the ground, and turn that land into parks, open spaces, and urban farmland. The city's main problem is their trying to maintain the infrastructure of a city that is four times the size with a population and economy that is 1/4 the size and they can't afford to do it so just stop trying. Raze the outlying areas and concentrate on redeveloping what is left at the core. This will remove most of the urban blight and actually restore a viable economy (agriculture) to the previous slum areas plus the city will become more attractive for people to move to once there is lots of parkland and green open space around it.

 

[BrendanM]

I'd have to agree with the Newark, NJ comment... in general. The state of New Jersey was an abysmal experience that drained a lot of optimism out of my younger 10 year old self - I wasn't even visiting just passing by to get to Mass!

 

[Flying Pig]

You could always move to Mother Russia.

Or Dresden - it got the twin evils of bombing and Stalin - not sure which is worse . Belfast isn't a nice city, but I have a pretty one-sided view of it

 

[eastsidebagel]

Bombay, India or perhaps Calcutta? Mexico City with its poisonous air is pretty bad too.

 

[Flying Pig]

Mexico City is apparently the most disgusting city according to pollution anywhere

 

[sysyphus]

Luton.

Definitely Luton.

 

[El Koeno]

Bombay, India or perhaps Calcutta? Mexico City with its poisonous air is pretty bad too.

I quite liked Mexico City actually. The old colonial centre that is, haven't seen much else of it.

 

[Arsonist]

Hull, Hull and Hull

 

[eastsidebagel]

I quite liked Mexico City actually. The old colonial centre that is, haven't seen much else of it.

Going outside there on rush hour is close to a suicide attempt though.

 

[dutchfire]

Damn you six years ago!

To be fair, it is one of the ugliest and most boring cities, hardly any history, typical industrial revolution town.

 

[Neonanocyborgasm]

Kansas City, MO-- by far the most wretched city I've ever visited. Much of the city is desolate and abandoned.

 

[REDY]

From Czech Republic industrial cities in Moravian Silesia:
Ostrava, Třinec, Karviná.
Nearly all Czech cities suburbs suffer because panel houses.

From international observation:
Warsaw...sorry Poles
I didnt like London too.
I am not big traveller.