Comment on Housing crisis: Are you prepared to wait 6 months to rent a studio in Paris? | Euronews
Fried_out_Kombi@lemmy.world 1 year agoYou’re comparing only the cities proper. A better comparison is urban areas, i.e., the contiguous built-up regions, as stats for cities proper are skewed by the arbitrariness of municipal boundaries and stats for metropolitan areas are skewed by often encompassing large amounts of rural areas.
To compare urban area densities:
- Tokyo urban area has a population of 39,105,000 and an area of 8,547 km^2^, for a density of 4,575 people per km^2^
- Paris urban area has a population of 10,859,000 and an area of 2,854 km^2^, for a density of 3,805 people per km^2^
AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Maybe, but people want to live in Paris. Not in the urban area.
Fried_out_Kombi@lemmy.world 1 year ago
The urban area is what people refer to as Paris. A good comparison is Los Angeles. Lots of people say they “live in LA” but in fact live in Santa Monica or Long Beach or Pasadena or any of a million other suburbs that together form the Los Angeles urban area.
When people say they live in Paris, 99% of the time they’re not talking about the arbitrary municipal boundaries; they’re talking about the urban area.
When people say they live in LA, 99% of the time they’re talking about the urban area.
When people say they live in Buenos Aires, 99% of the time they’re talking about the urban area.
When people say they live in Tokyo, 99% of the time they’re talking about the urban area.
“Urban area” is simply a term meant to capture what people mean when they refer to a city, unrestricted by the arbitrariness of municipal boundaries.
AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Those aren’t good comparisons though. You cannot compare cities between them because that’s not how cities work.
afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world 11 months ago
I don’t know why you are saying this. I know areas that are officially part of NYC that are less developed than areas around the city. The line of where a city ends and begins is a government thing not a reflection of where people really live. Just compare say Jersey City to anyone on Staten Island.
AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Don’t compare how a random us city works with Paris. Different cities work in different ways and the people who live there don’t necessarily see things the same way.