It's so weird to think people live in London. That they get up in the morning and look around and think 'this is my home'... London (and New York) are almost as real as Hobbiton in my mind. You must wake up and see people, walk out the door and see people, walk and walk and walk and see people everywhere you go. Do they all just blend into the background? How do you live with so many lives intersecting with yours? Some days I go to <location> and it is busy with people. Having fun, dogs barking, kids shouting. So I think, "You know what, I'll come back later. When there's no one here."
I lived in London for a year. It was the most lonely isolated place I've lived. Also it's not really part of the UK anymore. It's a "world" city - which makes the feeling of loneliness even worse.
I live in one of the largest London boroughs, and I can often walk 10-15 minutes towards the train station - one of the busiest in London - and not see people, even though I leave the house around 8am.
London isn't all that dense, and the density is fairly unevenly distributed. There are forest areas within the boundaries of the city. There's a lake near my house - in the middle of suburbia, where people go fishing. I'm 10 minutes on a tram away from farms.
When I lived at Marble Arch and worked in Holborn (find "Oxford Street" on a London map - one of the busiest shopping streets in the world - and they're pretty much opposite ends) there was people everywhere most of the time, but even then finding quiet spots in the nearby parks, or by walking the back streets, was never hard.
Ha yes we all just avoid eye contact with each other! More seriously though, I actually find I interact with a less diverse range of people here than when I lived in more provincial towns, because you can always find very specific groups of people (ie developer events, climbers, guitarists who are into blues etc) rather than settling for more generic groups.
I've lived in London for 1 year, and Paris for 4 years (density: 55,000 people/mi², almost like Manhattan). You don't actually interact with others. You just cross their paths. And most of them are strangers you'll never encounter again. Or if you do, you won't notice it.
I guess I've become accustomed to the fact of being constantly surrounded, at almost any time of the day or night, although this feeling of permanent busyness is not exactly tangible.
As long as you remain aware of the fallacy of these interactions and don't expect anything from them, you're fine.
Its no different than on the Internet, which is also another "International City". We're all just passive props in an objective play, of which there is only one viewer, in our case .. the reader.
You're right, they do blend into the background somewhat. I can't imagine what it was like before modern devices though. When I get on the bus, usually no matter how crowded it is I can just about manage to squeeze open my phone/kindle with one hand while hanging on to something with the other, allowing me reasonably good escapism from the horror of the situation.
In the 1930's London was more populated than it is now, and there were no devices. It was probably a lot smellier, louder and grimier too. I can't imagine coping in that city.
I never felt like that anywhere and I'm from a small town. My home was really my family and my closest friends. Once these scattered away there was no particular place I'd call home.
And about the last part of your message, actually most places in London are deserted rather soon in the afternoon. It's just a few selected places that are always busy. Honestly there's a lot to this place, but yeah it's a rather stereotypical big city.
Compared to the maps of living-area-by-race in the US [1], it seems like there is much less segregation between black and white people in London. I wonder why this is the case? Also, I wonder why there is still heavy segregation in regards to the Asian populations in London.
I should add that the apparent mixing between blacks and whites could be because the grey and blue dots look too similar in the London map, but I still think there is more mixing than in the US.
The social housing policies in the UK deliberately tried to tackle social segregation. You would see council blocks 2 streets away in the poshest of the areas.
South Asian and Caribbean populations are overrepresented as users of social housing in London as the jobs they were brought in to do don't exist anymore.
Theres a much heavier contingent of Asian (specifically Indian) immigrants to the UK. People tend to cling to familiarity in foreign lands. As for the Black/White dynamic i have no idea.
I live and work in London. I was born and grew up here but lived away for a while too. It's a great city but for anyone wanting to do something entrepreneurial it's not possible to live too cheaply and so quitting a job to focus on a start up is difficult unless you already have funds or support.
As a recent transplant to London I was surprised at how 'cheap' it is. Obviously it's more expensive that other places but not prohibitively. I'm living in a decent flat share in Zone 2 and with rent, food, and travel to/from work each day it's costing about £1000 per month. Working from home working on a startup I could shave about £250 from that. And my living conditions are much, much better than some of the people I've read about on HN trying to get a startup off the ground in SF living off noodles and sharing a room with several people.
"What passport do you hold" seems to deny the existence of post-soviet states and Russia. Are they tucked under "other european"? Same for tweets maps.
Well, Turkey is included in Europe even though most of it is in Asia, so Russia should be included under Europe too. Unless the number is so insignificant that it's just bundled with "Other Europe".
In my experience there is very little sense of community in London.
For example, I once travelled on the tube in London and on the underground in Liverpool on the same day. In Liverpool people were chatting with fellow passengers.
I don't know why you're being downvoted. It's true. If you want community, don't live in a city. Live in a small town or village where everyone knows everyone else.
It happens in London as well, mostly outside of commute time.
But yeah, there's no real sense of community in London, or in any big city really. Neighbours don't even know each other more often than not. There's pros and cons to this "anonymity" but it's nothing new nor exclusive to London. A lot of people actually like it this way.
Distribution by marital status is interesting. I always thought it was a bit of a stereotype, young-trendies near the city centre, happily-marrieds out in the 'burbs. All borne out by the data though.
[+] [-] monk_e_boy|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bollix|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] vidarh|11 years ago|reply
London isn't all that dense, and the density is fairly unevenly distributed. There are forest areas within the boundaries of the city. There's a lake near my house - in the middle of suburbia, where people go fishing. I'm 10 minutes on a tram away from farms.
When I lived at Marble Arch and worked in Holborn (find "Oxford Street" on a London map - one of the busiest shopping streets in the world - and they're pretty much opposite ends) there was people everywhere most of the time, but even then finding quiet spots in the nearby parks, or by walking the back streets, was never hard.
[+] [-] kitd|11 years ago|reply
I wonder to what extent human psychology is prepared to cope with such relationship overload after 10s of millenia in small communities.
[+] [-] clearly|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bbx|11 years ago|reply
I guess I've become accustomed to the fact of being constantly surrounded, at almost any time of the day or night, although this feeling of permanent busyness is not exactly tangible.
As long as you remain aware of the fallacy of these interactions and don't expect anything from them, you're fine.
[+] [-] fit2rule|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fredley|11 years ago|reply
In the 1930's London was more populated than it is now, and there were no devices. It was probably a lot smellier, louder and grimier too. I can't imagine coping in that city.
[+] [-] muyuu|11 years ago|reply
And about the last part of your message, actually most places in London are deserted rather soon in the afternoon. It's just a few selected places that are always busy. Honestly there's a lot to this place, but yeah it's a rather stereotypical big city.
[+] [-] irremediable|11 years ago|reply
I spend most of my time in the office/lab, which are far less busy, and go a long way towards alleviating any feelings of suffocation.
[+] [-] fractalsea|11 years ago|reply
I should add that the apparent mixing between blacks and whites could be because the grey and blue dots look too similar in the London map, but I still think there is more mixing than in the US.
[1] http://www.wired.com/2013/08/how-segregated-is-your-city-thi...
[+] [-] hcho|11 years ago|reply
South Asian and Caribbean populations are overrepresented as users of social housing in London as the jobs they were brought in to do don't exist anymore.
[+] [-] Cuuugi|11 years ago|reply
Source:My Butt
[+] [-] ajeet_dhaliwal|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] k-mcgrady|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] guard-of-terra|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gambiting|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] muyuu|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] custardcream|11 years ago|reply
Bring on SVG for this sort of stuff.
[+] [-] dmacedo|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] barking|11 years ago|reply
For example, I once travelled on the tube in London and on the underground in Liverpool on the same day. In Liverpool people were chatting with fellow passengers.
In London there was silence.
[+] [-] bollix|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] muyuu|11 years ago|reply
But yeah, there's no real sense of community in London, or in any big city really. Neighbours don't even know each other more often than not. There's pros and cons to this "anonymity" but it's nothing new nor exclusive to London. A lot of people actually like it this way.
[+] [-] chrisseaton|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kitd|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] muyuu|11 years ago|reply