How is the biggest city in the world arranged
In one city will accommodate the population of the whole Ukraine! Tokyo? Mexico City? Seoul? Unknown to most Chongqing earthlings in the depths of China has overtaken them and continues to devour space uncontrollably. Excitement and horror - these are the feelings that I constantly felt in this cyclopean man!
You probably haven't even heard about this city. Megapolis, which may soon overtake the largest city in the world in terms of population - Tokyo. It is the 35 millionth city of Chongqing in China. Only here old quarters can disappear in one night, and in their place as quickly grow new ones - huge, higher, providing a roof over the head of the constantly growing population.
This city is dotted with bridges of unimaginable size, which somewhere else would become its business card and the main tourist attraction. But there are too many of them, and their main function is to transport millions of people to their place of work.
Today, the second most populous city in the world, Chinese Chongqing, located in a very beautiful place - between the mountains, on the banks of two rivers Yangtze and Jiangxiang, until 1997 was the most ordinary city. Its area is 82 thousand square kilometers, which is more than the territory of Austria. But on the other hand, after neighboring districts were added to the municipality in 1997, 97% of its territory became rural areas where most of the population lives. To accelerate urbanization, the local government plans to move 500,000 people into cities each year over the next 20 years.
In 2017, according to various data, 35 to 40 million people live there (for comparison, 46.5 million live in the whole of Spain). Yes, it is true! But here's a paradox: Chongqing's area is 82.5 km2 with Chongqing administratively divided into 26 districts, 8 counties and 4 autonomous counties. The city itself consists of 26 districts (only 11 of them are considered urban, the rest are suburbs), while other territorial units such as counties, let alone autonomous ones, are endowed with relative autonomy and even their own local self-government bodies.
Residents of rural areas from western and central China began to migrate to Chongqing on a massive scale. The city's privileged position facilitated the rapid development of metallurgical, engineering, construction, chemical and textile industries, food processing and trade.
Although it is certainly worth clarifying that the population only the city of Chongqing (administrative center) is only about 7 million people, quite a modest number for the city in China.
The rest of the population lives in a huge agglomeration, whose name is the same as the city.
Today, Chongqing is a huge construction site. Because of its specific location - between hills and rivers - the city can only grow in height. Terrace glazing is the only opportunity for city residents to create their own small corner of nature in this stone jungle.
Skyscrapers, six-story junctions, giant glowing advertisements, subway overpasses: the Chinese metropolis has reached its limit here. Hmm, has it reached its limit? Won't there be a hundred million inhabitants here in a few years? And what: these - can.
And it continues to be actively built up, both in the center and in the suburbs. Are they still not enough? This is where the real "rubber" city is! The whole city is composed of several tiers, the buildings are communicated by pedestrian bridges or elevators. The mountainous terrain also contributes to this.
At the same time with the rapid construction, which is everywhere in Chongqing, infrastructure is actively developing. The highway network has entangled the entire city. Wide overpasses are being built here, which can withstand a large traffic flow. Modern bridges allow you to quickly get from one bank to another. Chongqing runs shuttle buses, which can go anywhere, but because of the fact that all the inscriptions and signs are only in Chinese, in this huge city is easy to get lost. Even locals may not know all the stops and street names.
Quickly move around the city will help 4 branches of monorail and 3 branches of the subway. So far 128 stations are operating, and the length of all the branches is 212 km. There is a project to create new underground and monorail lines, so the map of Chongqing subway will soon become much more complicated. Once you go underground, you will see stalls with various goods, shoe cleaning machines and McDonald's kiosks.
In Chongqing, there is no room for old buildings, only huge skyscrapers, which can accommodate the city's growing population, are being built here.
Chongqing is too big, massive, overpopulated city, which may soon become the most populated metropolis in the world. And only the people in this concrete jungle seem so tiny and touching.
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