Which city in western Europe do you guys consider the ugliest? I heard Rotterdam is a pretty ugly city, but I want to hear it from you Europeans.

[provoke mode] Paris! [/provoke mode]

Oh boy, fasten your seatbelts everyone. I predict this thread getting locked.

It would probably just be some industrial city of which there are many. Each country has them.

Since I predict the same... Close it.
Hassle's bound to happen, I already smell it.

hmm... Dublin. Or Montpellier (in 1990s - I don't know how it looks today)

Belfast
Cologne
London
Marseille
Milano
Basel
Athens (Don't know the exact definition of Western Europe)

Why only in WESTERN Europe? It is european forum or what?
:dunno:

I don't like British cities...

Duisburg, Charleroi

Right after the ugliest city, the award for 'ugliest avatar in Western Europe' has to go to Quintana.
You're a disgrace to your continent, tea culpa!

Belfast
Cologne
London
Marseille
Milano
Basel
Athens (Don't know the exact definition of Western Europe)

I agree with you about Cologne but what's so bad about these other cities (aside from Belfast). Germany has plenty of butt ugly cities (the entire Ruhrgebiet, Cologne, Stuttgart, Frankfurt...pretty much any large city in western Germany).

Right after the ugliest city, the award for 'ugliest avatar in Western Europe' has to go to Quintana.
You're a disgrace to your continent, tea culpa!

Fuck the continent, I only represent and care about myself.

I will pick Chemnitz or Leipzig, but...is that already Western Europe? :D

I think Leipzig is quite alright. They have plenty of old Gründerzeitbauten.

I think Leipzig is quite alright. They have plenty of old Gründerzeitbauten.

comparing it to Dresden, no chance..
and Dresden has also already many commies surrounding centre, but very nice baroque archicture..

I will pick Chemnitz or Leipzig, but...is that already Western Europe? :D

C'mon, that's not pretty fair. Regarding Leipzig, just take a look at this (http://www.aphforum.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=849&start=0) or this thread (http://www.aphforum.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=857&start=0). They're working on nearly every historical building - they're renovating their whole structural heritage and they already done a whole lot. You can follow a spark of this development at this thread (http://www.aphforum.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1794&start=0). The economy goes well, cash keeps ringing. Ka-Ching!

I rather think it'll be one of the most pleasant (bigger) cities. Everything heads in that direction ;)

honestly i didn't enjoy breda and antverp at all

Benidorm

C'mon, that's not pretty fair. Regarding Leipzig, just take a look at this (http://www.aphforum.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=849&start=0) or this thread (http://www.aphforum.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=857&start=0). They're working on nearly every historical building - they're renovating their whole structural heritage and they already done a whole lot. You can follow a spark of this development at this thread (http://www.aphforum.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1794&start=0). The economy goes well, cash keeps ringing. Ka-Ching!

I rather think it'll be one of the most pleasant (bigger) cities. Everything heads in that direction ;)

Your links and photos on it persuaded me, that it´s a quite a lot of different Leipzig that I have seen 10 years ago..For that I find my opinion quite inaccurate and also impolite I appologize :)

london + british cities

Your links and photos on it persuaded me, that it´s a quite a lot of different Leipzig that I have seen 10 years ago..For that I find my opinion quite inaccurate and also impolite I appologize :)

That was the intention behind posting them, good to see it worked ;)
And that you aren't an ignorant fool (way too much of them on SSC) as well.

Maybe you should go there for a second look, it's rather affordable these days, which might change in some years time I guess :)

dublin

From UK cities Birmingham deffinetly behind is London

That was the intention behind posting them, good to see it worked ;)
And that you aren't an ignorant fool (way too much of them on SSC) as well.

Maybe you should go there for a second look, it's rather affordable these days, which might change in some years time I guess :)
I will and the rest of Germany also, it´s an interesting country..

I'm starting to wonder when someone is going to suggest a city that is actually ugly. At worst some of the ones mentioned are mediocre.

Le Havre in France is not bad, that's the city center

http://www.arikah.net/encyclopedie-francaise/images/4/46/LeHavre.jpg

Berlin-Marzahn?

Yeah, what about Berlin. But I bet the most commies in west Europe are in Paris.

@Quintana: Nice pic ;)

Le Havre in France is not bad, that's the city center

http://www.arikah.net/encyclopedie-francaise/images/4/46/LeHavre.jpg

I never knew that French could build something like that. I relly like French cities, but this one wins the contest for ugliest city. It's a commie paradise. Worst than the Victorian British towns.

Any industrial city. But most industrial cities in Europe are pretty bad. Small villages and towns are usually in the best shape, because they lack the smoke/smog/dirty industry. Especially in mountainous areas.

Since the definition on city is very vague and people will start (or already have) naming tiny cities, let's limit the population to at least 750,000 or more for the purpose of this thread.

Le Havre looks like it's in Donbas :) very nice!

Köln (Cologne) is somewhere in the top class in this tournament, besides its churches it is really mostly buttugly.

I have heart about Charleroi (Belgium) being quite ugly.

london + british cities

Nice balanced opinion, thank you.

UK nominations for this title might include

Stoke-on-Trent

This is the city centre, such as it is.
http://www.webbaviation.co.uk/gallery/d/5992-1/aa01234c.jpg

Middlesbrough

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jul2005/20050721_middlesbrough.jpg

But the king of UK ugly has to be......

Cumbernauld near Glasgow

http://www.johndavies.org/pic-caravangallery-Cumbernauld.jpg

http://www.scran.ac.uk/news/images/cumbernauld.jpg

This is the main shopping street/mall in the city

http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-images/Society/Pix/gallery/2005/12/12/1cumbernauld.jpg

From UK cities Birmingham deffinetly behind is London

Are you mad ... or came to London by coach, did not find a job and went straight back to your mighty Warsaw ?!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/London_360_from_St_Paul%27s_Cathedral_-_Sept_2007.jpg

Nebunul my pc almost crashed, please edit your post, the picture is much too big.

Mine crashed trying to do so :) It's a 360 degrees ... the best I've ever seen

Frankfurt

I don't see anything particularly stunning or beautiful in that shot of London.

Paris!!
the city itself is very nice, but the banlieu's are the ugliest in the world.

Le Havre is not that ugly : at least, it's homogeneous and quite original. Many classical European towns are much more damaged by daily reconstructions with old houses being torn down to make place to standardized buildings with no soul. Le Havre looks like many university campuses.

Le Havre :
http://parisbanlieue.blog.lemonde.fr/files/le_havre_1.jpg
http://l-epeededamocles.blogspirit.com/images/medium_eglise_havre.jpg http://boomer-cafe.net/version2/images/stories/choses/appart/LeHavreLogements.jpg

As for my own experience, many Spanish towns built in the Franco era are terrible. It's quite shocking when coming from France.

Incredible picture of London

Are you mad ... or came to London by coach, did not find a job and went straight back to your mighty Warsaw ?!

Harsh...

And about the photo you've posted.
That's why I think most of people find London repelling. It seems very messed up. London has many fine individual examples of archtecture, but as a whole, the city is very chaotic as it is showen on your picture.
Cheers.

To me, Le Havre doesn't look very appealing from the pictures. The concrete spire looks like something puked up from the 70s. Yuck.

I really enjoyed that pano of London - very nice!

The reason I'm limiting the discussion to western Europe is because I'm going to study abroad there next year. My top choices are Copenhagen and Rotterdam. There is also a program in a suburb of Paris - how are the Paris suburbs in general? Do they vary?

Harsh...

And about the photo you've posted.
That's why I think most of people find London repelling. It seems very messed up. London has many fine individual examples of archtecture, but as a whole, the city is very chaotic as it is showen on your picture.
Cheers.

Well if London is "chaotic" :nuts: ... sorry mate, but you have not done your share of backpacking ... so good luck with it!

http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/2522/london2mi5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/6711/london3fg0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Amazing pic from my side....

I don´t particualy like London but I have to say that this 360º pic is just amazing...

No idea why London appeared in that list. You may don't like it (though I loved it), but the worst in WE? C'mon...

I personally dislike those cities with no personality. Consequently I would place some cities of Madrid or Barcelona metropolitan area on that list.

But the king of UK ugly has to be......

Cumbernauld near GlasgowDamn, this is scary

To me, Le Havre doesn't look very appealing from the pictures. The concrete spire looks like something puked up from the 70s. Yuck.

I really enjoyed that pano of London - very nice!

The reason I'm limiting the discussion to western Europe is because I'm going to study abroad there next year. My top choices are Copenhagen and Rotterdam. There is also a program in a suburb of Paris - how are the Paris suburbs in general? Do they vary?

Take my word for it, pick Copenhagen.

London does look chaotic, but it's a lovely chaos indeed. Of course it is pointless debating with someone claiming it is one of the ugliest cities in WE, so...

As regards this country, there are many quite ugly cities (too bad, especially in the South). Taranto, Gela, Reggio Calabria, Pescara, Messina, La Spezia, Livorno and Latina come into my mind.

I searched for some pics but in fact there isn't really something that ugly to see. They are a soulles expanse of houses with just nothing worth writing home about

Edit: wait, in fact Gela does look horrible.
http://img178.imageshack.us/img178/6741/gela3070609576109ba5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Someone said Milan... well, it is not a wonder but it isn't that bad either. Its only fault is being located in a country that isn't exactly famous for its ugly cities.

5 km far from central Venice

http://img527.imageshack.us/img527/6480/304514729cf2517502ebil1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Take my word for it, pick Copenhagen.

Yeah I probably will. Any reasons why Copenhagen beats out Rotterdam, Maastricht, and Paris?

Copanhagen is really nice town and very cosmopolitan i would choose it over Roterdam, Mastricht always.

As regards this country, there are many quite ugly cities (too bad, especially in the South). Taranto, Gela, Reggio Calabria, Pescara, Messina, La Spezia, Livorno and Latina come into my mind.Those cities are ugly because of XXth century industrial settlements or 'insane' build up with no rules -Reggio Calabria for istance

Well if London is "chaotic" :nuts: ... sorry mate, but you have not done your share of backpacking ... so good luck with it!



Pls, keep on 'offending' London, if it's gonna make nebunul and others
post more photos of this magnificient city!!!

Wow, Gela does look pretty bad (especially compared to so many other Italian cities), what are those blue boxes on the top of every house?

Wow, Gela does look pretty bad (especially compared to so many other Italian cities), what are those blue boxes on the top of every house?

Water tanks.
Drinking water shortages are common in the extreme South during summer.

Those cities are ugly because of XXth century industrial settlements or 'insane' build up with no rules -Reggio Calabria for istance

Reggio Calabria was razed to the ground by the 1908 earthquake. In fact it was rebuilt with a quite good urban planning.

Yeah I probably will. Any reasons why Copenhagen beats out Rotterdam, Maastricht, and Paris?

I wouldn't exactly call Rotterdam a good looking city (the only people who seem to disagree with me on this one are the ones that actually live there). Rotterdam's Erasmus University specialises on Economic Studies if I'm not mistaken, non-Economic studies here might not have the level you are used to (but this is a huge maybe since I'm not sure).

Maastricht is a nice place but rather small (a population of about 120,000). Same is true for its University which is one of the country's lowest scoring Uni's on international rankings.

There is also a program in a suburb of Paris - how are the Paris suburbs in general? Do they vary?

Paris suburbs can be very beautiful or very ugly, it depend the place.
See Paris suburbs only as commies is fully wrong, the vast majority of Paris suburbs are not commies.

I always suprised to see how people can have soo wrong about some place, Do they really think that 80% of Paris urban area pop is poor and live in commies ? :nuts:

Pictures of Paris suburbs.

Urban diversity in the Paris suburbs (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=558849)

Unusual views of Paris (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=404273)

I know a lot more ugly than Paris suburbs in Western Europe.

The only reason some people have suggested "London" is because it's the city that attracts the most envy in Europe. This is clear on many threads on Euroscrapers. Perhaps the most illuminating was the "what country do you identify with?" thread on the DLM. Very few Europeans selected Britain. That says it all. Britain is viewed as part of a different cultural block, "the English speaking world". The Britain/Europe rejection is often mutual. Many Europeans deal with their inferiority complex towards the dominant culture by disaparging the English speaking world at every opportunity. Sad but true. ;)

Central London's West End, and indeed West London in general, have some of the finest and most elegant streets and public spaces in the world That's why billionaires from all over the world go to live there. I think the grand Victorian terraces, garden squares, crescents, parks etc of neighbourhoods like Mayfair, Belgravia, St James's, Victoria, Knightsbridge, Kensington, Chelsea, Holland Park, Notting Hill, Bayswater, Paddington, Marylebone, Fitzrovia, Bloomsbury, Regent's Park, St John's Wood etc are absolutely gorgeous. They have some of the grandest streetcapes in the world. These photos are from a previous thread I posted. I repost them here because this is the only photo thread I have ever prepared on "classical West London". Unfortunately far too many UK forumers have an excessive focus on new developments in places like the City and Canary Wharf and fail to do justice to the metropolis as a whole. However note that this is just one of the many styles of "classcial" buildings, streets, and squares of West London:



Here are some of the famous terraces of John Nash that I was referring to earlier. This is known as the Regency style in London (from the time of the Regency in the early C19th). The Nash terraces are mainly around Regent's Park and The Mall. There are of course hundreds of white collonaded streets in West London - especially around Paddington, Belgravia, and Kensington but the Nash terraces are the simplest and some of the oldest.


Carlton House Terrace on The Mall (close to Buckingham Palace):

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v496/Fatmonkey/London/Regency/Carlton.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v496/Fatmonkey/London/Regency/Carlton3.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v496/Fatmonkey/London/Regency/Carlton2.jpg


Park Crescent (near Regent's Park):

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v496/Fatmonkey/London/Regency/Crescent5.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v496/Fatmonkey/London/Regency/Crescent6.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v496/Fatmonkey/London/Regency/Crescent4.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v496/Fatmonkey/London/Regency/Crescent2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v496/Fatmonkey/London/Regency/Crescent7.jpg


Cumberland Terrace (next to Regent's Park):

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v496/Fatmonkey/London/Regency/Cumberland.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v496/Fatmonkey/London/Regency/Cumberland8.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v496/Fatmonkey/London/Regency/Cumberland5.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v496/Fatmonkey/London/Regency/Cumberland7.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v496/Fatmonkey/London/Regency/Cumberland4.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v496/Fatmonkey/London/Regency/Cumberland3.jpg


Hannover Terrace (next to Regent's Park):

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v496/Fatmonkey/London/Regency/Hannover2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v496/Fatmonkey/London/Regency/Hannover.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v496/Fatmonkey/London/Regency/Hannover3.jpg


Chester Terrace (next to Regent's Park):

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v496/Fatmonkey/London/Regency/Chester.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v496/Fatmonkey/London/Regency/Chester2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v496/Fatmonkey/London/Regency/Chester3.jpg


The London Business School (next to Regent's Park):

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v496/Fatmonkey/London/Regency/LBS2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v496/Fatmonkey/London/Regency/LBS3.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v496/Fatmonkey/London/Regency/LBS.jpg

If you find the above too cold and classical - too antisceptic - then here are a couple of photos from Mayfair and Kensington. These brick Victorian mansion blocks trimmed with limestone are found on thousands of streets throughout Victoria, Mayfair, St James's, Fitzrovia, Marylebone, and are quite common in Belgravia, Chelsea, Knightsbridge, Kensington, Paddington, Holland Park, St John's Wood too (where they are mixed in with white/cream terraces like those above):

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v496/Fatmonkey/London/mandarin_oriental_hyde_park_hotel.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1271/542424493_27f69afe0c_b.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v496/Fatmonkey/London/Kensington.jpg

It would take me half a lifetime to post photos of all the different architectural styles in London and I have no intention of trying. There is endless variety and architectural surprises around every conrner in this huge city. These photos of non-famous non-landmark buildings are just the tip of the iceberg. They show nothing of the gentle beauty of Bloomsbury squares, the Medieval tranquility of the Inns of Court, the pastel coloured houses of Chelsea and Fulham, the deer in the mist in Richmond Park, the stunning greenhouses at Kew etc etc. They're just a few examples of two styles that are commonly found throughout west/central London. However they're hopefully enough to stop anyone pretending that this is "Europe's ugliest city". Actually London is one of the grandest and most magnificent cities in the world which is hardly surprising given its past and present greatness.

I don't know what's the "ugliest" city, but the ugly cities in Western Europe are in general the 19th century industrial cities, especially those that were bombed during the war. Cities that come to mind: Bilbao (save the Guggenheim), Lens, Charleroi, Ruhr, Birmingham, and so forth.

This thread is titled "the Ugliest City in Western Europe". It is not a thread to showcase London's beauty. If you want to do that, start your own thread about how fabulously gorgeous London is. Get over your insecurity. The "penis measuring contests" that go on here on SSC get really irritating. Some people on here are so fervent in their love affair with their own city they'll jump at any opportunity to shove it in everybody's face. It borders on creepy obsession.

Please post pictures on UGLY cities and why you consider them to be the ugliest in Western Europe. We'll go check out a London thread if we want to be educated about it's beauty. :bash:

We need to see pics of Ferraris in London!

BTW, I hope no one is offended but major Greek cities (Athens, Thessaloniki) look like one big mess from what I've seen. Greek Islands and several smaller cities are great though.

EDIT: Is Greece part of "western Europe"?

This thread is titled "the Ugliest City in Western Europe". It is not a thread to showcase London's beauty. If you want to do that, start your own thread about how fabulously gorgeous London is. Get over your insecurity. The "penis measuring contests" that go on here on SSC get really irritating. Some people on here are so fervent in their love affair with their own city they'll jump at any opportunity to shove it in everybody's face. It borders on creepy obsession.

Please post pictures on UGLY cities and why you consider them to be the ugliest in Western Europe. We'll go check out a London thread if we want to be educated about it's beauty. :bash:Well if you could be bothered to read the thread you will see that London has been nominated as an ugly city. It's not a crime to respond when you think a suggestion is ridiculous. Paris and Cologne have also been nominated (also ridiculous) and I wouldn't burst a blood vessel if someone from one of those cities came on here and responded with photos showing the contrary.

Cologne really is quite ugly. I should know...

which contrary? the cathedral? this one is breathtaking, for sure, but one building (or a few other churches) makes not a whole city. I agree with Paris being not ugly though.

IMO my definitely favourite is Duisburg :D

Cologne really is quite ugly. I should know...

Look at your own pictures in your own Cologne thread and tell me honestly that Cologne is the ugliest city in Western Europe. Why do Germans love shitting on themselves?

I chose the most beautiful spots. ;) Don't get me wrong, Cologne is a good place to live in, the atmosphere is nice and the Altstadt is ok because they kept part of old layout (with ugly modern architecture) but it certainly is no architectural gem.

Well if you could be bothered to read the thread you will see that London has been nominated as an ugly city. It's not a crime to respond when you think a suggestion is ridiculous. Paris and Cologne have also been nominated (also ridiculous) and I wouldn't burst a blood vessel if someone from one of those cities came on here and responded with photos showing the contrary.

I did see that, and found it to be equally as ridiculous. It's just when I click on a thread entitled "Ugliest City" I don't expect to see 30+ pics proving the beauty of a particular city. London is not by a long shot the ugliest city. I don't mind refuting someone's choice (as I did for Cologne and now London as well), just relax a little with the photo tour that's all. London, of all places, hardly needs to be defended.

I chose the most beautiful spots. ;) Don't get me wrong, Cologne is a good place to live in, the atmosphere is nice and the Altstadt is ok because they kept part of old layout (with ugly modern architecture) but it certainly is no architectural gem.

I'd love your answer on the second part of my question.

we're realistic :lol:
please give more examples of this shitting, for a better understanding and better answering ;)

we're realistic :lol:
please give more examples of this shitting, for a better understanding and better answering ;)

Oh jeez. That would need a whole thread in itself. In fact, I'm thinking of starting one. Be sure to share your comments when I do.

The German culture of guilt, shame, and self hate is NOT cute. You don't realize how good you have it (or I suspect you do but you don't think it's ok to acknowledge publicly).

Anyway, back on topic (since I just asked someone else to stay on topic). I cannot nominate a city for ugliest because although I've been to Europe ten times, I never saw a really ugly city! We don't come to Europe to tour ugly places. By far the ugliest city I've ever seen was Yoshkar Ola in Russia, but that is not in Western Europe, so it doesn't count.

Athens:



http://farm1.static.flickr.com/56/139933057_0f76b619cd.jpg?v=0


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2135/1553933937_e216e68ec6.jpg?v=0


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2271/2095326061_5b78fa4401.jpg?v=0


http://farm1.static.flickr.com/183/370960277_e2a0c7803e.jpg?v=0

EDIT (too many pics)

EDIT (too many pics).

EDIT (too many pics) .

You want ugly pics of ugly West European cities? Here you go. Charleroi, Belgium. Previously one of the economic engines of Belgium, itself one of the biggest industrial countries during the Industrial Revolution, and now a city deep in crisis, with sky high unemployment and poverty. Probably one of the poorest areas in Western Europe. No offence meant to Walloon people of course, they are very nice people, and it's not their fault anyway, just a general economic decline that occured in all the specialized 19th century industrial cities.

So Charleroi, half a million people in its urban area:

http://diggelfjoer.swalker.nl/photos/charleroi45.jpg

http://diggelfjoer.swalker.nl/photos/charleroi59.jpg

http://diggelfjoer.swalker.nl/photos/charleroi62.jpg

http://www.astrosurf.com/luxorion/Sciences/charleroi-hauts-fourneaux.jpg

General strike in Charleroi. The city is a Socialist stronghold.
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/24/55715643_07ea667301_b.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/186/447049173_7b178ed7d0_o.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3a/Charleroi_tramway_4juni2006.jpg/700px-Charleroi_tramway_4juni2006.jpg

http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/9696/charleog8.jpg

Charleroi court house:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1e/Charleroi-Palais_de_Justice.jpg/900px-Charleroi-Palais_de_Justice.jpg

Charleroi University:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c4/Charleroi_-_Universit%C3%A9_du_Travail_-_Vigie.JPG/900px-Charleroi_-_Universit%C3%A9_du_Travail_-_Vigie.JPG

But then no Western European city is truly completely ugly. There are always little pockets of nice urbanism. Even in Charleroi.

Charleroi city hall:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9e/Charleroi-H%C3%B4tel-de-Ville.jpg/900px-Charleroi-H%C3%B4tel-de-Ville.jpg

Aux Mille Colonnes pub:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1b/Charleroi_-_Mille_Colonnes.JPG/900px-Charleroi_-_Mille_Colonnes.JPG

Art Nouveau house:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/09/Charleroi-Maison_dor%C3%A9e.jpg/600px-Charleroi-Maison_dor%C3%A9e.jpg

Trying to emulate Paris. Charleroi world city!! :D
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d9/Winkelstraat_Charleroi.jpg/600px-Winkelstraat_Charleroi.jpg

Et VIVE LA WALLONIE ! Quand même.

Paris suburbs can be very beautiful or very ugly, it depend the place.
See Paris suburbs only as commies is fully wrong, the vast majority of Paris suburbs are not commies.

I always suprised to see how people can have soo wrong about some place, Do they really think that 80% of Paris urban area pop is poor and live in commies ? :nuts:

Pictures of Paris suburbs.

Urban diversity in the Paris suburbs (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=558849)

Unusual views of Paris (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=404273)

I know a lot more ugly than Paris suburbs in Western Europe.

Nice pics!

What do you know of Cergy-Pontoise? How long does it take to get to central Paris from there? One of my university choices is in Cergy-Pontoise.

Charleroi only needs money to embellish the town. And I'm quite sensible to the University's architecture.

Places like Rotterdam, Middlesbrough, Gelschenkirchen, Lille, Badalona have little appeal to me. Too many post-war depressive buildings.

What I really hate in cities are red bricks being visible on the walls.

This kind of architecture is widely used in the UK, in the Netherlands, in Belgium, in Northern Germany (less extensively) and in the suburbs of Spanish cities.

What? Bricks are beautiful. Plus I can't imagine what German and Scandinavian cities would look like w/o brick architecture.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1367/1299059426_488368ac62_b.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1368/1485957819_a93318ed0a_b.jpg

What? Bricks are beautiful. Plus I can't imagine what German and Scandinavian cities would look like w/o brick architecture.

They would look like Munich and Stockholm respectively (both among my favorite cities)

What I really hate in cities are red bricks being visible on the walls.

This kind of architecture is widely used in the UK, in the Netherlands, in Belgium, in Northern Germany (less extensively) and in the suburbs of Spanish cities.

I love bricks. It beats plastered walls that get battered by the weather and turns green etc.

Major cities (500.000+ inhabitants): Athens, Naples (at least with the current 'problems')

Other cities:

Germany - Ludwigshafen, Duisburg, Gelsenkirchen, Bochum
UK - Too many to mention
Belgium - Charleroi
Spain - Benidorm

I was in Napoli last year and must confess that I never saw an uglier and dirtier city in my whole life (maybe Athens and Jakarta some 18 years ago, but they improved at least). Unbelievable it was the same country as I just stayed a few days before in Milano :(

Also on the list: Charleroi, Dublin (don't know how it is today, but in the early 90s it was a horrible disappointment), Basel (even though improved a lot recently), Ludwigshafen.

It is annoying to hear some forumers say that Basel is an ugly city. Certainly it does not have the charm of Bern of Luzern, but it still looks much better than most European cities of its size.

As for Athens, in order to appreciate it you have to do what I do: move between the historic center, the southern suburbs and the northern suburbs and ignore the rest.

Historic center

http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/4129/monastirakiem0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Southern suburbs

http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/8875/faliroyb0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Northern suburbs

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/1803/thrakomakedonesen3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

I was extremly surprised by Athens when I was visiting it last year. What a development since 1990!!!!! Especially in the center, absolutly great (I was eating in one of these houses on the first pic ;))! The part north of it is still ghetto on the other hand, but has its charme ;)

About Basel: some parts of the old town are really nice, and also some modern architecture, but the city looks very heavy and dark anyway, thanks to the big industry and traffic (all the trucks from Farnce and Germany go through there - although it got a bit better since they opened the tunnel).

Charleroi only needs money to embellish the town. And I'm quite sensible to the University's architecture.

That's where we need to find the ugliest cities : in devasted economical zones added to horrible local climatic weathers !

I was really surprise to see Athens in 1990 compared to today, even if there is lot of works to do, money makes things more beautiful (it's not eastern european cities that will comment about that !)

Economical devasted zones :

South Italy
Wallonia
Old coal areas of Germany, UK, France

and so on...

Dublin is surely not ugly considering economical growth around. Suburbs of european cities are quite similar overall... A city that i found incredibly ugly was A Coruña in Spain, assurely, spanish don't like oceanic weather for sure :op

That's where we need to find the ugliest cities : in devasted economical zones added to horrible local climatic weathers !


Horrible weathers can add to charm. And my opinion is that uglyness is not decay. There are truly terrible towns that could not look beautiful even with much money invested in. Charleroi has good quality and classical buildings. Quite frankly, I think that most buildings built nowadays are uglier than Charleroi. Soulless gaudy pavillions are really no better (mas provençaux in French).

As far as I'm concerned, the worst towns are really in Spain.

5 km far from central Venice

http://img527.imageshack.us/img527/6480/304514729cf2517502ebil1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Venice is one of the world's most beautiful cities, but it still needs some industry, sewage treatment facilities and waste incineration, it doesn't make it ugly.

I saw that some people quoted Dublin. Well, maybe it was ugly in the early 90s but now it is far from deserving to be named amid ugliest cities. For example the dock area wich was a run-down dangerous industrial area is now full of office buildings and high-class residential buildings.

What I really hate in cities are red bricks being visible on the walls.

This kind of architecture is widely used in the UK, in the Netherlands, in Belgium, in Northern Germany (less extensively) and in the suburbs of Spanish cities.

Nothing wrong with bricks, maybe they are overused in NW Europe but they can look really good.

I think all nice cities have its ugly parts and most ugly cities have nice parts too.
There are plenty of ugly cities in Sweden with grey 60s modernism in the city centers...and I think there are many ugly cities in UK and Germany (but also many nice).

^^ i don't know how no one said nothing about portuguese cities :lol:

Povoa do Varzim is Ugly :lol:

^^ i don't know how no one said nothing about portuguese cities :lol:

Povoa do Varzim is Ugly :lol:

Don't say that, Povoa de Varzim holds a special place in the hearts of every Euroforumer on SSC :(

True! Where the hell is PeterGabriel by the way? Don't tell he has a social life now.

^^I think that's unlikely

True! Where the hell is PeterGabriel by the way? Don't tell he has a social life now.

L**L

True! Where the hell is PeterGabriel by the way? Don't tell he has a social life now.

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/member.php?u=95954

Probably been banned from the DLM. What a shame. :ohno:

There are a lot of small-medium english cities ugly as hell.

(Look at Milton Keynes)

That's not a city, it's a new town and these are nowadays really ugly. But there are a lot of nice medium sized cities in England as Chester, Oxford, Eastbourne, Cambridge, York, or even Durham and Sheffield have their charms ;)

Winchester, Bath, Norwich, Brighton, etc.
Medium sized towns in Britain usually looks much better than big cities, except London.

Don't say that, Povoa de Varzim holds a special place in the hearts of every Euroforumer on SSC :(

True! Where the hell is PeterGabriel by the way? Don't tell he has a social life now.

:lol: he has to study for the 4th grade

There are a lot of nice medium sized cities in England as Chester, Oxford, Eastbourne, Cambridge, York, or even Durham and Sheffield have their charms ;)

Winchester, Bath, Norwich, Brighton, etc.

Ahem, are we forgetting somewhere? ;) :D

Perhaps Shrewsbury? :)

Bradford?

Bradford?

Bradford is lovely i'm sure (it is twinned with Skopje, Macedonia and Mirpur, Pakistan) but Darryl is obviously a man of very good taste ;)

Add : Le Havre is declared world heritage city by UNESCO for its work with concrete after WW2 (along concrete works made by Brasilia) :)

http://millesabords.info/photoblog/images/20060426080241_p1030958.jpg

Milton Keynes, is buttugly.

(it is twinned with Skopje, Macedonia and Mirpur, Pakistan)

Wow. :laugh:

Add : Le Havre is declared world heritage city by UNESCO for its work with concrete after WW2 (along concrete works made by Brasilia) :)

http://millesabords.info/photoblog/images/20060426080241_p1030958.jpg

Looks like a set from Star Wars!!

Milton Keynes, is buttugly.

Beautiful Milton Keynes

http://www.concertoplus.eu/projects/cRRescendo/images/image010.jpg

Wow. :laugh:

It's also twinned with Roubaix, France; Verviers, Belgium; Mönchengladbach, Germany; Hamm, Germany and Galway, Ireland

And together they form some kind of premier league of really ugly cities?

Montpellier


Must be some kind of sick joke.

And those pictures suck.

http://www.expedia.fr/daily/reservation/photo/img/montpellier/3.jpg
http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/00/14/59/ef/main-square-montpellier.jpg
http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/00/11/38/77/royal-hotel.jpg[

http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/00/10/52/53/royal-hotel.jpg

http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/00/15/02/de/the-main-street-very.jpg

http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/01/0a/4e/c1/palm-trees-in-january.jpg
http://www.sudfrance.info/resources/Montpellier.jpg

http://www.photos-de-villes.com/photos/Montpellier-photo-20.jpg
http://i1.trekearth.com/photos/61755/urban_agitation.jpg

Perhaps Shrewsbury? :)
Sorry, clear! How can I mention Chester and not Shrewsbury :bash:
Visited both the same week and loved them ;)

I think Ourgrée (Belgium) could qualify:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4a/Ougree_16.jpg/900px-Ougree_16.jpg

^^It's Ougrée, not Ourgrée. And it's not really a city since it's part of Seraing, a suburb of Liège. Despite being a rather ugly area, there are some nice places around as well.

Josh is an expert on Wallonia now? On aura tout vu ! :D

I live in this country so my knowledge about Wallonia is far superior to what you claim to know about Flanders for instance. :D

Athens:



http://farm1.static.flickr.com/56/139933057_0f76b619cd.jpg?v=0


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2135/1553933937_e216e68ec6.jpg?v=0


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2271/2095326061_5b78fa4401.jpg?v=0


http://farm1.static.flickr.com/183/370960277_e2a0c7803e.jpg?v=0
I also suggest the Hellenic Agora for more ugly photos. Yes some parts of central Athens are really ugly, but when you have a 5 million city you must take the overall picture.
northern suburbs
http://www.airphotos.gr/photo/258.jpg

http://www.airphotos.gr/photo2/2755.jpg

http://www.airphotos.gr/photo2/2764.jpg

southern suburbs
http://www.airphotos.gr/photo/997.jpg

http://www.airphotos.gr/photo3/3003.jpg
piraeus
http://www.airphotos.gr/photo/334.jpg

http://www.airphotos.gr/photo/626.jpg

eastern suburbs
http://www.airphotos.gr/photo2/2741.jpg

As for Thessaloniki...Generally it is better than Athens and it'll become even better with the metro. The rule for the Greek cities is: The smaller, the better

http://www.airphotos.gr/photo5/5032.jpg

Outside Thessaloniki (the smaller, the better)

http://www.airphotos.gr/photo/214.jpg

I live in this country so my knowledge about Wallonia is far superior to what you claim to know about Flanders for instance. :D
a- I don't claim anything
b- you say you live in Brussels, this is not the same country as Wallonia, tout le monde sait ça.

Belgium? :dunno:

^^What's that? Is that a country?

By the way, the program on Belgium last night on Arte was interesting, especially when they interviewed local people. I loved the two old ladies in Ostende ("Hilda, come tell them these quarrels are ridiculous").

Belgium is a state of mind.

^^Like watching every single TV program on Belgium?

Belgium is a state of mind.
I guess that's what it is. But lately it is becoming more and more mindless. Lol.

By the way Kampfy, I don't know if you watched the Belgian program last night on Arte Deutschland (maybe they'll rebroadcast it again on cable). There was a debate after the documentary, and one guy was a German speaker from the German speaking part of Belgium. I found what he said quite interesting. At some point the German journalist asked him: "So what's the solution? The Germans go with Germany, the Francophones go with France, and the Flemings go with the Netherlands?" The guy answered something, I don't remember what, then in the end he said to the journalist: "And by the way, we are not Germans, we are German speakers, that's quite a difference, and vive la diversité!" The German journalist answered "Genau." Local sensitivities here...

^^Like watching every single TV program on Belgium?
FYI Joshounet, when I watch TV in the evening, which happens every other day, I usually watch Arte because it's the only serious and interesting channel. And yesterday their main program in the evening was a thematic evening about Belgium, so it would have been hard to avoid it.

Finland is a poor second to Belgium... when going abroad!

Palin underestimated Suomi by far - fortunatly he rethought the topic in his Pole to Pole trip ;)

"And by the way, we are not Germans, we are German speakers, that's quite a difference, and vive la diversité!" The German journalist answered "Genau."


I'm interested in whether the Francophones and Flemings would say the same thing?

we would, we may speak french or dutch but we certainly aren't french or dutch.

Not that any of this really has anything to do with this topic.

Of course the Germanspeakers of Belgium aren't Germans, they're Belgians. Should be pretty obvious.

Yeah, but I think it's because of an ambiguity in the German language: I think the journalist said "die Deutschen", but I didn't hear the original German, only the French translation, so I'm not sure.

I didn't get a very good impression from Naples and southern Italy cities. Though the country is great!
And, although I've never been there, I'm gessing the industrial big cities of the UK like Glasgow and such, aren't very nice either. I've been to London, wich I don't consider a citie of beauty, but it's so interesting and it has so much to do that makes me love it and want to go there again. So that's it, beauty isn't everything ;)

If we regard the suburbs as part of a city many Europen cities are awful. Even renowned cities like Paris or London have the most awful areas. Coming from city airport in London I saw some shockingly ugly areas very close to the rich "city". And the same goes is you drive the peripherique in Paris. Cities that are considered ugly are cities that have no nice historical core often due to a tragic past (war) or just for being very young cities.

Belgium isn't the ugliest country in western europe. Some parts of Walonia perheps.

Flanders:

bruges:

http://www.private-guides.com/newcountry/belgium/bmousny-belgium-393/bruges-peaceful-canals/bruges-guided-tour-peaceful-canals.jpg

Leuven:

http://www.trabel.com/leuven/images/leuven-opener%203.jpg

Gent:

http://blogs.cocoondev.org/crafterm/archives/images/ghent-river.jpg

Antwerp:

http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/arch/belgium/antwerp/antwerp_guild5.jpg

Also nice cities: hasselt,oostende, turnhout

Brussels:

http://www.iho-ohi.org/wp-content/bru-brussels-grand-place-belgium.jpg

Some parts of walonia:

dinant:

http://www.caravanardennen.nl/picz/tijdelijke_picz/citadel_dinant.JPG

luik:

http://www.regio-gulpen-wittem.nl/omgeving/images/luik.jpg

charleroi is indeed one of ugliest cities in western europe. But it is together with some parts in the aglomeration of Luik(liège) an exception. Rest of walonia is beautiful nature.

Flanders:

hasselt (not a architectual wonder, but elected as nicest city in belgium):

http://www.guidovdw.net/Hasselt/hasselt_square2.jpg

http://85.255.195.219/conf/euromedia/euromedia2004/hasselt-japanse%20tuin%2002.jpg

mechelen:

http://www.action2.be/public/org/mja/evs_en_host/images/mechelen2.jpg


brussels, some beautiful building architecture, but the real beauty of brussels is inside the buildings:

concert noble:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/171/400599151_381133e7d3_m.jpg

belgian senate:

http://www.op.gov.ph/newphotos/120906_14jc.jpg

http://www.epgbc.org/images/zoom/BelgianSenate6.jpg

royal palace:

http://www.sculpture.org/documents/scmag04/march04/fabre/fab01.jpg

egmontpalace, hertoginnedal,...

^^ err, this thread is supposed to be about ugliest not prettiest

I always find when arriving in France on the Dover ferry that Calais really lets the country down. The first thing the British see of France is random old polluting factories.

I always find when arriving in France on the Dover ferry that Calais really lets the country down. The first thing the British see of France is random old polluting factories.
You were not very active defending its former glory ...

Calais was very heavily bombed and shelled in a successful effort to disrupt German communications and persuade them that the Allies would target the Pas-de-Calais for invasion (rather than Normandy). The town, now largely in ruins, was liberated by Canadian forces in October 1944.

http://www.nordmag.fr/nord_pas_de_calais/calais/bourgeois_1917.jpg

Yeah but the French were hardly good at defending it either! Frankly it's not one of our towns so why should we care.. ;)

But seriously, you get off the ferry and you just see miles (or kilometres as it is where you are) of industrial crap.

We try to dissuade you from invading our peaceful countryside but unfortunately, Ryanair doesn't make any layover in Calais when going to Dordogne.

Athens:



http://farm1.static.flickr.com/56/139933057_0f76b619cd.jpg?v=0


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2135/1553933937_e216e68ec6.jpg?v=0


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2271/2095326061_5b78fa4401.jpg?v=0


http://farm1.static.flickr.com/183/370960277_e2a0c7803e.jpg?v=0

you can't compare rich northern european countries with southern ones....these pics are stupid.....if you want to show poor areas of south countries to demonstrate that these are ugly cities you're a wrong....if a poor country had the same wealthness of a northern country it would be different...you should consider that when Athens was great in Northern Europe people lived in the caves.

When weasels like SkaNdErBeG find outdated aerial pics of Athens, it really makes me sick because they do not reflect the vast amount of great things this city has to offer nor the different appearance from ground level.

Take this picture of Paris, for example. It looks ugly to me from this particular angle, but we all know the truth about Paris' beauty and it definitely is not represented by this aerial shot!

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2031/2254459369_af2bdbf482_o.jpg


I wish anti-Greek trolls like SkaNdErBeG would show what their cities truly look like from ground level. It wouldn't be too pretty. That much I can assure all of you.

The only reason some people have suggested "London" is because it's the city that attracts the most envy in Europe. This is clear on many threads on Euroscrapers. Perhaps the most illuminating was the "what country do you identify with?" thread on the DLM. Very few Europeans selected Britain. That says it all. Britain is viewed as part of a different cultural block, "the English speaking world". The Britain/Europe rejection is often mutual. Many Europeans deal with their inferiority complex towards the dominant culture by disaparging the English speaking world at every opportunity. Sad but true. ;)


LOL. London is a great city but dont flatter yourself.

Sarpsborg, if it could be called a city. More like dwellings around the factories. Great for childhood though.

http://www.bellona.no/imagearchive/ABorregaards%20anlegg%20i%20Sarpsborg_foto%20Borregaard.JPG

Charleroi was voted as the world's ugliest city by readers of the Dutch Volkskrant daily. Liège came in second.

Leeds is not the ugliest, however, some districts are pretty awfull. Beeston, Armley, Chapeltown - for instance.

Armley
http://l.yimg.com/www.flickr.com/images/spaceball.gif
http://flickr.com/photos/jamesw-bell/472505903/

Beeston
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3082/2294506751_b396a383cf.jpg?v=0
http://flickr.com/photos/10105401@N03/2294506751/

In my opinion it is Tirana, Albania:

http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/1788/1341939658a192750a16olazu8.jpg

http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/781/54054380122abac843fbza2.jpg

http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/7193/540539905ad5c1cf120boy1.jpg

http://img176.imageshack.us/img176/8779/5404313109065ef955ebsn6.jpg

http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/6839/2093012048a56b977591olauc3.jpg

WESTERN Europe.

Liege has a pretty bad reputation but I've heard that things have gotten better. Compared to some German cities nearby it certainly has more potential because of the old architecture that's still there.

WESTERN Europe.

Well if Athenes are WESTERN Tirana is even more...

Well if Athenes are WESTERN Tirana is even more...

Western Europe is a geo-political term, not a geographical one.

Often we categorise cities as ugly, but we forget these same cities give many people work and contribute to the economic greatness of a country. Maybe our sharp photos hurt these people who try their best to contribute to society and to keep their heads above water. These labourers most probably have a tenderness for their homes and surroundings too.

About the cities I know, in my opinion, I think the ugliest are Helsinki (Finland) and Badia del Vallès, in Spain. The first one is one of the most modern cities in Europe, cosmopolite, clean, with money and technology, but with no charming architecture. It's a boring heritage of the russian-comunist architecture.

http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/667/helsinkicentralum1.jpg

In Spain there are cities, like Santa Coloma de Gramenet, that had 1000hab/ha density a few years ago, result of chaotic development of Franco era. There are a lot of cities like that in Spain: Badalona, Alcorcón, Cornellà, etc.

Badia del Vallès (Ciudad Badia before)
http://img74.imageshack.us/img74/5733/a019711yo7.jpg

Santa Coloma de Gramenet
http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/2352/stacoloma1tv7.jpg

Grotlaufen´s ugly-city rule:

If urbanization in a particular country/region didn´t occur until very modern times, then be bent on that the country/region is full of dull towns and cities. This is also true for cities dominated by one industry (mining/steel towns). Scandinavia (with Denmark as a notable exception) is dotted with small, ugly towns where everyone works at the big local industry, praying to the stock market lord that some stockmarket broker doesn´t reshuffle his stocks and force everyone to be on the dole.

Most ugly in Western Europe is probarbly Athens but I also find Helsinki quite "ugly".
BTW, I am generalising with this post because that is all this thread is asking. In truth both Athens and Helsiniki can be very beautiful.

I actually find some street scenes of Geneva and Vienna ugly, is it just me?
Most ugly in Europe would be Tirana, Skopje and to a far lesser extend Bucharest.

I think any city wich is build only to house workers for nearby factories is ugly. Same as new planned cities. Most cities I'm thinking of are in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and the UK but there are a lot more i think...
These cities are ugly in my eyes because their styles are mostly the same, lack colours and differences wich makes it all look pretty depressing.

Most ugly in Western Europe is probarbly Athens


well this is by far the dumbest Ive seen , are you a moron? western europe and athenes greece is pretty close huh?

the ugliest cicties in western europe are certanly those in the UK and Belgium , there are plenty in Belgium , I think the only half descet city is Brussels,.. but ugly as well

Any city in the Ruhrgebiet. Cities like Duisburg, Essen and Dortmund are urban cancer.

Any city in the Ruhrgebiet. Cities like Duisburg, Essen and Dortmund are urban cancer.

If these cities are urban cancer what are the ones like Halle an der Saale or Rostock? There are always cities that are worse! There are cities in the Mediterranean region that do not have trees and have very ugly architecture! I think these ones are worse!

Have you ever been to Halle or Rostock? These cities are 10x better than any city in the Ruhrgebiet.

Halle/Saale and Rostock are defnitely NOT ugly:
Halle:
http://a-deubel.de/Fotos/HAL/02Marktplatz.jpg
http://a-deubel.de/Fotos/HAL/11Hallmarkt.jpg

Rostock:
http://www.adwi.de/unternehmensprofil/images/rostock.jpg
http://www.bau.uni-rostock.de/bilder/rostock.jpg

The cities in the Ruhrgebiet are better than their reputation:
Duisburg:
http://www.duisburg-bilder.de/stadttheater/P110M0014.jpg
http://www.laar-am-rhein.de/duisburg-bilder/innenhafen/INNHM0233.jpg
http://www.laar-am-rhein.de/duisburg-bilder/innenhafen/INNHM0161.jpg
http://www.laar-am-rhein.de/duisburg-bilder/brunnen/RATHM0007.JPG

Essen:
http://www.guenter-pilger.de/media/XXL/Handelshof.jpg
http://www.guenter-pilger.de/media/rwe-turm/RWE-11a.jpg
http://www.guenter-pilger.de/media/essen_ansichten_1/Kettwig.jpg
http://www.guenter-pilger.de/media/essen_ansichten_2/Grafenstr..jpg
http://www.guenter-pilger.de/media/essen-kultur_1/Villa_Huegel_2-u1.jpg
http://www.guenter-pilger.de/media/XXL/Zollverein_Rueckseite.jpg

here we go again

Copenhagen is not ugly..

Hey let us revive the discussion with some food for thought:

Athens: (which geopolitically is in WE)

http://img392.imageshack.us/img392/6908/dsc01415largeal3.jpg

More Athens:
http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/1749/6487855ec0.jpg

...and PARIS:

http://img329.imageshack.us/img329/1339/3325kk3.jpg

Quite interesting comparison isn't it?

british cities and germany's little cities.

Athens is really ugly city :down:

Athens:



http://farm1.static.flickr.com/56/139933057_0f76b619cd.jpg?v=0


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2135/1553933937_e216e68ec6.jpg?v=0


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2271/2095326061_5b78fa4401.jpg?v=0


http://farm1.static.flickr.com/183/370960277_e2a0c7803e.jpg?v=0

Palermo?

NOT bloody Athens... not even close!

Most major cities, in general, have at least districts of pleasing architecture that make them ineligible.

I think Milton Keynes is a real dump of a place, but I'm still not sure if it is UGLIEST in WE.

Athens is western Europe?

why every post AGAINST one city, has to be answered WITH many pics from a guy FROM this city.

not possible just to read here, always pics everywhere


Napoli maybe

Disagree about Naples. Naples is heaven, when compared to Palermo, Messina, Reggio C. or Catanzaro. I actually adore Naples.

correct, but naples is the biggest of em all ... category 750000 or 1.000.000 on

I would say Napoli. Very very very dirty.

I don't like Montpellier in France. And Cologne in Germany isn't beautiful as it is known.

Whata n UGLY place. I went there for work for 1 week and It was so ugly and kitsch that I ended up enjoying it.

And Overprice as well.

Leeds is a tough competitor for the mid size cities.

I agree with Cologne been ugly except the cathedral

napoli so do i.

Strasbour and Dijon

Strasbour and Dijon
Strasbourg? :ohno:
Last month I visited the city for the first time. I was really impressed by its historic center. IMO it is the cutest city among the 3 cities hosting European institutions.

Rotterdam would be a good contender in 500k plus class as well.

Strasbourg

Wrong thread. This city belongs to the league of the "Prettiest City in Western Europe".

It ain't French but German, anyway. ;) Probably that's the reason you don't like it :crazy:

Wrong thread. This city belongs to the league of the "Prettiest City in Western Europe".

It ain't French but German, anyway. ;) Probably that's the reason you don't like it :crazy:

No.Strasbourg is ugliest city of the western Europe.
Thats my opinion,and I stay behind him.

Behind whom?


:crazy:

Sorry,behind my opinion(my english is little strange,but I understand all)

Rotterdam would be a good contender in 500k plus class as well.

You must be kidding?!? Rotterdam is so much more than the Lijnbaan district :bash:

Whata n UGLY place. I went there for work for 1 week and It was so ugly and kitsch that I ended up enjoying it.

And Overprice as well.

Blackpool is shit, i've been there in January and it's even worse.

Not sure about overpriced though, last time I was there I saw places advertising bed and breakfast accommodation for £12.50 (€15.50) per person, that's pretty cheap for this country.

The city only grew as a resort because in the early 20th century, working class northern English people couldn't afford to go anywhere else for their holidays, now they all go to Spain and Greece so the town has no purpose.

I heard Amsterdam is quite ugly, but that's only what I've heard. Many ppl who went there said they were disappointed with the city in general besides drugs and hookers :lol:

I think Amsterdam is nice. Sure it has ugly parts but which city doesn't? It's definitely not the ugliest in WE.

Just came back from Amsterdam,been there 3 times and its far from being called ugly,i find it very beautiful

I reckon Amsterdam is downright beautiful (canals, 17th century built heritage etc) and über-cool, the coolest city in Europe imo!!

I would say Napoli. Very very very dirty. Dirty maybe, but ugly certainly not.

See Naples and die!!

See Naples and die!!
from stink :dunno:

Amsterdam ugly?

Damn, some people gotta live under a friggin stone.

Naples ugly??????

Besides of beying huge and very,very beautiful by people that were there some days ago, with very few garbage in the streets.

I start to think that some people can live in the ugliest place on earth but with a stratosferic level of exigence .

Reminds me, true story, of a woman from Siberia, that when went to visit her daughter in Italy, said that Rome was nothing special.

I see lots of people nominating British cities which i find surprising as most large British cities are quite beautiful and its maybe the British tenancy to be desparaging about their own cities and Europes snobbery (Equal to the british snobbery) that makes them nominate them. the only ugly british city i would say is Coventry (seems very similar to Cologne but worse) and large parts of birminghams city center (whos suburbs are mostly plesent) and som modern towns arnt ugly but are incredibly boring. Of the large british cities id say the prettiest are Glasgow, Manchester and Newcastle. As for my own city there arnt many set pieces outside capital cities that are as well planned as Cardiffs civic center. Check out this thread on best streetscapes of british cities (id start in the middle if i were you as its quite an old thread).

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=405807

Every city has ugly and beautiful parts, but how someone can say cities like Paris and London are ugly when they contain some of the most beautiful architecture in the world really puzzles me, no matter how bad some areas of them are. I wouldnt call Dresden an ugly city i would say it has a higher percentage of ugliness than beauty.

Every city has ugly and beautiful parts, but how someone can say cities like Paris and London are ugly when they contain some of the most beautiful architecture in the world really puzzles me, no matter how bad some areas of them are. I wouldnt call Dresden an ugly city i would say it has a higher percentage of ugliness than beauty.

I think, just this view on Dresden outweighs all Dresden's other uglyness:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v434/bogomil/13343589.jpg

But I agree with you! The city above may be a good example.

Some people in this thread are just too ignorant. Helsinki is not an ugly city. The city centre is grand and beatiful. The suburbs aren´t that much to write home about but you do find beatiful areas in the suburbs as well - not to mention that they´re really green.

London is also a beatiful city. A Roman wall, a medieval castle, tons of old magnificent architecture mixed with modern glass and steel. London has its share of ugly places but imo opinion this has more to do with the failure in planning. Anyway, most of these areas are undergoing redevelopment.

Espoo and Vantaa are at the moment concidered independent cities (they´re actually suburbs of Helsinki). These two "cities" are definitely quite ugly. Greenery, villa districts, random churches and a few interresting modern buildings are all. Most of it are shopping malls, motor ways and nondescript residential areas.

In my opinion it is Tirana, Albania:


http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/781/54054380122abac843fbza2.jpg



Hundertwasser? :)

I think, just this view on Dresden outweighs all Dresden's other uglyness:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v434/bogomil/13343589.jpg

But I agree with you! The city above may be a good example.

Exactly, to call Dresden ugly is to call this view (one of the prettiest in Europe) ugly. I think it is very hard to find an ugly city in Europe, if there is a few of them then most of us would never have heared of them.

Did someone call Dresden ugly? If so, they have their head up their a$$.

tirana is not in western europe idiot , most belgian cities , whole uk , and pretty big number of dutch cities , not to say whole bunch of norway cities pretty much can be one of the ugliest , maybe i missed something tho

I think maybe you are mixing up ugly with styles of architecture you dont like. To declare whole countries as having ugly cities is a bit silly ie for my own country are Bath, Oxford, Edinburgh etc. ugly?

If these cities are urban cancer what are the ones like Halle an der Saale or Rostock? There are always cities that are worse! There are cities in the Mediterranean region that do not have trees and have very ugly architecture! I think these ones are worse!

Sorry but Rostock is a really nice city. Nice harbor, old architecture and beach resorts. Much better than comparable cities such as Kiel or Bremerhaven.

Dresden is pretty city

tirana is not in western europe idiot , most belgian cities , whole uk , and pretty big number of dutch cities , not to say whole bunch of norway cities pretty much can be one of the ugliest , maybe i missed something tho

And where do you come from?

germany's little cities.

The towns of Germany belong to the most beautiful in Europe.
Just think of the Rhein-Mosel region, Franconia, Mecklenburg, Bavaria, Alpine region, Baltic towns / seaside resorts, Saxony, Thuringia / Harz region, alle the timber towns in Hesse / Rheinland-Pfalz, loads of royal residence towns, awesome places along the big rivers and so on...

If you wanna blame Germany having ugly places, go for the bigger ones.
But even those aren't that bad if you keep in mind nearly all of them were bombed to the ground. There are cities that have never seen any war and look far worse than German ones.

My suggestion for Germany's big cities is Leipzig

IMO the ugliest city in Germany is Saarbrücken. But in the past (1990 - 2000) the ugliest city were in East - Zwickau, Halle etc.

You guys gotta be joking.

Leipzig could rather be considered as one of the most beautiful big cities in Germany. Together with Munich and Hamburg. It offers loads of beautiful renovated Gründerzeit architecture.

Just take a look at this (http://www.aphforum.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=849&start=0) or this thread (http://www.aphforum.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=857&start=0). They're working on nearly any historical building - they're renovating their whole structural heritage and they already done a friggin whole lot. You may follow a spark of its development at this thread (http://www.aphforum.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1794&start=0). The economy goes well, cash keeps ringing. Ka-Ching!

Everything heads in the direction of Leipzig as one of the most beautiful cities and there's no way it could be considered as one of the worst in Germany. No way!


(I posted this before - someone also considered Leipzig ugly, but my post turned his opinion the other way round...)

I think this thread is not well brought up. You can speak about cities you know and you don't like, but no one know every city of Wester Europe to say which one is the ugliest. Moreover majority of medium cities are not homogeneus, and if you want to analize them, you have to understand features where it is placed to know why it is of that way and why that city is there.

Anyway, ugliness is a subjective feeling and what you feel about a city can depend on a lot of things. Some people are saying what they consider "ugly cities" like these ones without a lot of "monuments" (denoting with this name artificial buildings or sculptures which try to have an aesthetics function), but I think a city can be beautiful if it is well designed to satisfy necessities of people, this is what a city is for ;)

My suggestion for Germany's big cities is Leipzig

Perhaps you dont like Leipzig, but other people like me love that! My first travel on plane out of Iberian peninsula (and south of France) was to Leipzig, I was 10 days there, and I enjoyed very much walking around all the city, I loved that ...., it has got a lot of beautiful buildings to look, and not only that, gardens (it is a very green city), lakes in its surroundings! (like Cospudener lake), etc. etc. The historical center is small but very pleasant, clean and beautiful!, with families walking and enjoying the streets, enjoying cultural events (about all of classical music). Moreover it has got some gorgeous buildings which symbolized some periods of human history, like the great train station or the incredible Renaissance old home town. And I don't need to speak about the art noveau buildings of Leipzig (it is one of the cities with most modernist buildings I have ever seen), or about the history of Leipzig or about what all the people who have lived there (Bach, Leibniz, ...) has influenced to the world (and yes, what I can feel in a place with so much history can be a beautiful experience too).

If you want an example, I can show you a picture which I took closer from Cospudener lake. I love this kind of places, so beautiful and unknown:

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n165/napolit/IMAG0303.jpg

The picture is old, it was taken 5 years ago, when I had got a bad camera :P.

I will say Brussels :cheers:

And I will say you´re wrong. :)

Brussels was beautifull to me! It had its grubbier moments but some amazing architecture and set pieces. I really can't undersyand how you can call it ugly!

It's hard to vote in a European level, since I have always tried to avoid that so-called ugly cities in my trips.

However, I have been lucky to be in most of the Spanish towns and it's hard to choose the ugliest.

In terms of visual impression, I would vote some towns in the metropolitan area of Madrid (Fuenlabrada, Getafe...) or Barcelona (Hospitalet) for sure. They have nothing appealing for a visitor (despite being above 150,000 inh), but it's maybe a bit unfair to choose them since they were developed only to host the flood of workers emigrating.

Among the big towns (+300,000) I would vote Murcia or Alicante. Bilbao used to be an easy choice here but they did a great job in the last 20 years.

First Greece is not west europe..and ..Athens is the ugliest city in europe... no doubt! Its an waste basket city ...only beton

Agree, Athens is pretyy ugly. also agree on some Barcelona suburbs. don't know the names but was visible from the motorway to France. Looked like third world ghetto.

I expected here some industrial, badly planned places with poor infrastucture
and awful architecture. And what do I find?
Dresden, Leipzig, Brussels, Athens or even "all UK, Belgian, most Dutch cities".
Is it personal bias or simply total ignorance?

I think its both personal bias and ingnorance! Especially seen from a british persons eyes looking at eastern europe (Oxford, Edinburgh, Cambridge, Bath, London, Cardiff, Manchester, Glasgow, Liverpool, Newcastle, Cathedral cities, etc.) compared to soviet estate cities.

Put Mannheim/Ludwigshafen in the top10 over the ugliest city in Wester Europe...

In terms of visual impression, I would vote some towns in the metropolitan area of Madrid (Fuenlabrada, Getafe...) or Barcelona (Hospitalet) for sure. They have nothing appealing for a visitor (despite being above 150,000 inh), but it's maybe a bit unfair to choose them since they were developed only to host the flood of workers emigrating.

Same here, Almere (pop. 185,000, near Amsterdam) and Zoetermeer (pop. 120,000, near The Hague) are pretty large towns and aesthetically not interesting to visit. Since these towns were primarily build to host fleeing city dwellers and not to attract tourists this is fine, families that live here are usually quite happy and found exactly what they were looking for: a house with a garden in a quiet and save neighbourhood.

First Greece is not west europe..and ..Athens is the ugliest city in europe... no doubt! Its an waste basket city ...only beton

This statement shows how ignorant you are buddy. Athens has beton just in one area north of Athens Downtown, while the southern suburbs are a mixture of green and the longest urban coastline of Europe (the Athenian Riviera), the northern suburbs are as green as it gets, just a few city centers have as much green as the one of Athens, it includes seven hills and four large parks.

The problem is mainly found in the western suburbs and a little zone north of the center.

Now have you ever been in Madrid southern suburbs just to mention a city? Moreover Barcelona is overrated in my opinion.

It's unfair how people use to compare Athens western suburbs (instead of the historic center) with other cities' historic centers or beautiful suburbs.

While they do not compare Athens' city center or nice suburbs with the city centers and nice suburbs of other towns. Not to mention that our western suburbs (considered the less expensive in Athens) are much better than the poor areas in other towns across Europe.

And finally, we don't have neither commieblocks nor shanties; so why you don't shut up shkiptario and do some research before posting your bull.

This statement shows how ignorant you are buddy. Athens has beton just in one area north of Athens Downtown, while the southern suburbs are a mixture of green and the longest urban coastline of Europe (the Athenian Riviera), the northern suburbs are as green as it gets, just a few city centers have as much green as the one of Athens, it includes seven hills and four large parks.
prove it^^

In terms of visual impression, I would vote some towns in the metropolitan area of Madrid (Fuenlabrada, Getafe...) or Barcelona (Hospitalet) for sure. They have nothing appealing for a visitor (despite being above 150,000 inh), but it's maybe a bit unfair to choose them since they were developed only to host the flood of workers emigrating.


It depends what the visitor is looking for. I have been visiting some of these towns with tourists who were interested in urbanism (there are very interesting districts, and you can fin in their districts all kind of urbanistic models), modern architecture (some of them have won architecture awards, for example in Fuenlabrada there are a lot of intesting buidings), old architecture too (you can find some interesting things although you cannot believe that, a cathedral in Getafe, beautiful churches, buildings made by Sabatini), parks (among them a huge park: Polvoranca), nice pedestrian streets with a lot of urban life in the center of Getafe or Leganes, art museums (in Móstoles and Alcorcón), cultural centers (a huge one in Fuenlabrada), teathers, etc. Perhaps I am a stragne person who visit these kind of unknown places, but personally I think travelling is the most beautiful thing of the world, and travelling is to discover new things you hadn't read in any book.

In summary, it depends what you look for :), but I am sure that there are a lot of interesting things in these cities if you are interested in some of these things that I have shown you. Of course, these aren't "monumental cities" (not "touristical cities") which keep their appareance of other time periods like Salamanca, Gdansk, Nuremberg or Veneza, neither they have modern district with a lot of expensive and impressive buildings made of great quality materials to host rich people and to show off.

PD These cities have a lot of things to improve too (and some districts which I don't like), not everything is interesting, neither beautiful, of course!, but it happens in some monumental cities and for this reason they don't become in not interesting cities. Beauty is inside of the people, if you want, you can find beauty in any place of the world, and I can say that I have loved walking around some of these cities, I remember some of them like some of the most beautiful days I have lived to this day :).

PD I don't know Hospitalet, but I can seen in some threads that there are a lot of very interestings places there:

Links: http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=546147

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=456580

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=426513&page=39

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=545981&page=8

Athens is one of Europe's most fascinating capitals....far from being the ugliest.

http://flickr.com/photos/21649884@N02/2949082022/sizes/l/

I really liked Athens too!!!!!! Besides looks aren't everything. I'd rather live in a city with nice natural surroundings and generally nice suburbs than in a place with a pretty city centre and horrible suburbs with mundane natural surroundings.
It's all very subjective, and relative to which parts of a city you stayed in and visited while you were there!!!!!!!

prove it^^
And why should he prove it? :crazy:
-------------
Anyway, people always see the center of Athens and not the whole urban conglomerate. Athens suburbs are quite different than the center. Nastyathenian's thread "Athens metro area, places tourists never see (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=399862)" is a nice example of the city's diversity.

That's how the Southern suburbs are:
http://www.airphotos.gr/photo6/6038.jpg
The Northern suburbs:
http://www.airphotos.gr/photo2/2753.jpg
The Eastern suburbs:
http://www.airphotos.gr/photo2/2739.jpg

And that's a blunt airphoto of some of Athens' center parks
http://www.airphotos.gr/photo6/6238.jpg
More photos of those parks here (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=18878416&postcount=7)

Finally, the hallmark of the city. In the photo three buildings from entirely different eras are blended.
http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/6136/364163250559295fe290o.jpg

It's very difficult to present Athens' diversity with 5 photos but I did my best. I'm not saying it's beautiful or ugly since this city is quite different from other European capitals. It's just Athens, like.no.other.

^^ Athens look quite attractive on these pictures, hills, density and coast line are always a good mixture. I wouldn't put Athens between ugliest cities in WE, this is misunderstanding...

^^ i wouldn t put athens between ugliest cities in WE either...athens in western europe?

^^ Geographically speaking it's Southern Europe and Mediterranean.

;) sure...southeastern fits...

We are talking about geography here, if we were talking about politics and culture Hellas would also be Southern Europe, Western Europe, Mediterranean. All of them (except Asian).

Its hard to make a list of the ugliest cities for wetsern europe at all. The differences between the countries are too big to compare for example ugly german cities to ugly cities of portugal. But you can make a list of ugly cities for each countries. Germanys most ugly cities are Gelsenkirchen, Kassel, Gießen, Fulda, Halle.
And even in "beutifull" cities there are really ugly regions. Look at the wonderfull Steilshoop or Mümmelmannsberg of Hamburg
http://typolis.net/static/wohnzimmerWM/images/steilshoop.jpg
http://www.hvv-mobility.com/upload/images/steilshoop-,property=panorama.jpg
http://www.hh.schule.de/gsm/inf13/Stadtteil/haeuser1.jpg

We are talking about geography here, if we were talking about politics and culture Hellas would also be Southern Europe, Western Europe, Mediterranean. All of them (except Asian).

so southern cyprus is WE too?

so southern cyprus is WE too?
It's obvious that your first question "athens in western europe?" wasn't innocent, you had other things in mind. The dialogue who followed proved that.

Second, about your current question. I don't know, neither the international community knows, any country named "southern cyprus".

The only legal country that i and the rest of the world knows in this particular area is the "Republic of Cyprus" or "Cyprus" in short.

So rephrase your question and you will get your answer.

don t wanna fight. bye

No hard feelings see ya.

And even in "beutifull" cities there are really ugly regions. Look at the wonderfull Steilshoop or Mümmelmannsberg of Hamburg

...as well as there are beautiful places in most of the 'ugly' cities. In Halle and Fulda, for example, they are quite easy to find. In Gießen and Kassel it's more difficult, but not impossible. Gelsenkirchen is true crap indeed - at least from what I've seen so far. It's even uglier than most of the other cities in the Ruhrgebiet.

On the other hand, even Munich has suburban areas that are really, really ugly!

Leipzig has often been mentioned here. In this case, I think it depends on when you've been there. 10-15 years ago, it looked terrifying. But Eastern German cities improved a lot since then. Now Leipzig is really worth a trip.

I'd say it is hard to find a city in Europe (or even in the world) that is a pure beauty without any spot. But I'd like to know if there are cities that are 100% ugly. Athens, Paris, London definitely don't belong in this category.

don t wanna fight. bye

:lol: Retreat!! :horse:

I haven't visited all of western Europe but in England where I spend a great deal of my time, unfortunately, there are some really ugly cities.

Guys i thing we should calm down. Other than that, every city has her good and bad parts.

guys, what do u think about 'chaotic mediterranean city wievs'? are they ''bad'' universally or just interesting and sweet??

some from western europa (nicosia); these can explain what i mean:

from southern cyprus side:

http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/8162/nicohcd.jpg (http://img29.imageshack.us/i/nicohcd.jpg/)

trnc side:

http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/9369/lefkosa10.jpg (http://img193.imageshack.us/i/lefkosa10.jpg/)

I would vote for.... BONN!

Bonn? Are you freaking insane? It's one of the more pleasant cities of that size.

You probably mean Bochum.

Right. But many people judge it by the boring post-war buildings of the former Federal Government. A big mistake! Bonn has some really nice places.

Some words about mediterranean cityscapes:
I like that chaos. Sometimes it looks a bit 'rotten' from above, but the street views are mostly nice.

Germany - Ludwigshafen, Duisburg, Gelsenkirchen, Bochum

^^ Good list for Germany but you forgot Wolfsburg, Essen and Pforzheim.

But I think the ugliest city in Europe I have ever seen is Benidorm!

^^ Good list for Germany but you forgot Wolfsburg, Essen and Pforzheim.
Aww, Pforzheim, the "golden city"? We're also missing some other classics, like Offenbach.

First Greece is not west europe..and ..Athens is the ugliest city in europe... no doubt! Its an waste basket city ...only beton

I beg to differ..ugliest city in Europe hands down goes to Tirana.
Just look at some of these fine examples.... :lol:
It's like a children's colouring book..a big mix mash of horendous colours.

http://www.esiweb.org/balkanexpress/images/albania/tirana.jpg
http://miqesia.dk/billeder/Tirana-0412-08.jpg
http://www.eda-zari.de/ak-tirana5_small.jpg
http://bjoerna.net/billeder/ALB-Tirana-2005-162.jpg
Someone thought it would be nice to paint this building with leaves and the one next to it with stripes
http://bp3.blogger.com/_ChWim0WLqeQ/RdcRZxyTB_I/AAAAAAAAAU4/6qaCVmO5hfI/s1600/fireworks+048.jpg
http://img2.travelblog.org/Photos/17055/107157/f/717669-Tirana-s-new-paint-job-5-0.jpg

the lesson here for you shqit, is that unless your capital city is some utopian architectural paradise, you should keep your racist based opinions to your self.
Don't make me embarrass you further.