31 Before-And-After Pics Showing How Famous Cities Changed Over Time
Believe it or not, but the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world counts its existence for 11,000 years as of today. The town, Damascus, is the Syrian capital city, and astonishingly enough, not much has changed behind this ancient city's walls. However, not many towns keep the same faces for such a long time, often changing and evolving. Sometimes the city development makes it even more beautiful, but as it is in a more often case, the alluring greenery and historical houses have to make way for skyscrapers in the ever-changing city skyline.
The world has increased over the last 100 years that it's difficult to imagine just how much things have changed during that time. Many of the world's most famous cities and country capitals - like Kuala Lumpur for example, or Hong Kong - bare little resemblance to their earlier selves, and cities such as Dubai didn't even exist at all until relatively recently.
Take a look at these before and after pictures of beautiful cities to see what we mean. Compiled by Bored Panda, they're sure to give you a fresh perspective on how you look at the world's biggest cities and settlements.
This post may include affiliate links.
Seoul, South Korea - 1900 And Now
Vilnius, Lithuania - 1900 And Now
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates - 1970 And Now
Tokyo, Japan - 1945 And Now
That's impressive. Especially since they've had to rebuild after a dozen Godzilla attacks.
Sydney, Australia - 1932 And Now
Toronto, Canada - 1930 And Now
Berlin, Germany - 1945 And 1990s
Jakarta, Indonesia 1960 And Now
I guess the "before" picture was taken after 1960 as the hotel (on the left) was ready to operate in 1962.
Melbourne, Australia - 1920 And Now
London, The Great Britain - 1920 And Now
Try to be accurate, this is basic geography. There is no "the" before "Great Britain", it's either "Great Britain" or "The United Kingdom", depending on which parts you are including in the reference.
Istanbul, Turkey - 1905 And Now
Los Angeles, Usa - 1940 And Now
The 1940s photo of Los Angeles appears to be a view of the Fairfax district with the Park La Brea residential complex (built in 1944) highlighted in the center. And the "Now" photo is of downtown Los Angeles, several miles away, with several of the more recent buildings missing. The Now photo is at least 5 years old.
San Francisco, Usa - 1947 And Now
Dubai, United Arab Emirates 2005 And Now
Every other place has changed over a period of 40, 50, 100 years... But UAE changed drastically over a period of 10 years!
Hong Kong, China - 1980 And Now
And all this at the cost and suffering of poor Mother Nature and the wildlife,what a cruel world!! :,(
In fairness, if you lived in one of those cities during the 1900's you wouldn't have been able to philosophise about Mother Nature because you would be busy stashing up on coal so you could survive the winter. Many of your friends would have died prematurely due to malnutrition, tuberculosis, war or some other disaster that that plagued the world at the beginning of 20th century. Only now, due those megapolises and the life-saving infrastructure they provide one can afford the economic security and intellectual liberty to philosophise about pollution, wildlife and mother nature.
Well said.
u r right. these photos show the peace that we lost. some idiots will tell u to live in wildlife. just ignore. the 1900 year photos show houses too. but it had a balance with nature. the 2010 photos show our greed and the killing of nature and wildlife. only reasonable brain can understand that. ignore idiots.
If you're so concerned for "poor mother nature and wildlife" go get a tent and live your life right there - in the wildlife.
These actually make me sad...
I find the changes horrible. The older pictures have a certain peace and quiet about them but with sh1tloads of skyscrapers everywhere, it looks claustrophobic and polluted. That's no development in my opinion.
like a cancerous tumor growing out of control
Lol, how could you missed Warsaw in Poland? There was no brick left on another bricj after Hitlers rampage in 1943, and look at it now! Even comparing 2000 to 2016 is enormous step to the future.
Buildings grow too...
It would be nice to see more before/after photos from different cities.
These pictures illustrate what can be done if there is will. Thereby, they also hint to what could be done (to mitigate pressing problems in any area and to advance mankind) if there was will.
Amazing!! thanks for sharing.
Astana in 2005 and now should be here. Capital of Kazakhstan.
Tunis - Tunisia 1950 and 2015 bored-pand...c3acfd.jpg
Where's Vancouver Canada?
Panama city in Panama could be in the list , has changed a lot in the last 10 years.
Panama City in Panama could be in the list too, big change.
Some of the photos look like they were taken from a different direction. That really throws off the perspective.
Human civilisation is a cancer on the Earth
when was this published?
This is disgraceful
This is disgraced ful
Planned high density urban development is a far better alternative than sprawl. If you really want to help, don't have any children.
You should definitely make a comparison of Warsaw; just after the war and now.
warsaw 1945 and now?
I was so tense that I'll see the old and new versions of Istanbul... Thank god, the disgrace is not revealed...
except cities destroyed by the war and then rebuilt, I prefer BEFORE. Now everything looks the same, and many of that is unsustainable (China, Arabic peninsula...)
I saw no improvement.
Russel Peters (talking about buildings in United Arab Emirates): those buildings are empty no one is in there (he was quoting done other guy). I hope i got his name right... This comment is a disaster :(
And all this at the cost and suffering of poor Mother Nature and the wildlife,what a cruel world!! :,(
In fairness, if you lived in one of those cities during the 1900's you wouldn't have been able to philosophise about Mother Nature because you would be busy stashing up on coal so you could survive the winter. Many of your friends would have died prematurely due to malnutrition, tuberculosis, war or some other disaster that that plagued the world at the beginning of 20th century. Only now, due those megapolises and the life-saving infrastructure they provide one can afford the economic security and intellectual liberty to philosophise about pollution, wildlife and mother nature.
Well said.
u r right. these photos show the peace that we lost. some idiots will tell u to live in wildlife. just ignore. the 1900 year photos show houses too. but it had a balance with nature. the 2010 photos show our greed and the killing of nature and wildlife. only reasonable brain can understand that. ignore idiots.
If you're so concerned for "poor mother nature and wildlife" go get a tent and live your life right there - in the wildlife.
These actually make me sad...
I find the changes horrible. The older pictures have a certain peace and quiet about them but with sh1tloads of skyscrapers everywhere, it looks claustrophobic and polluted. That's no development in my opinion.
like a cancerous tumor growing out of control
Lol, how could you missed Warsaw in Poland? There was no brick left on another bricj after Hitlers rampage in 1943, and look at it now! Even comparing 2000 to 2016 is enormous step to the future.
Buildings grow too...
It would be nice to see more before/after photos from different cities.
These pictures illustrate what can be done if there is will. Thereby, they also hint to what could be done (to mitigate pressing problems in any area and to advance mankind) if there was will.
Amazing!! thanks for sharing.
Astana in 2005 and now should be here. Capital of Kazakhstan.
Tunis - Tunisia 1950 and 2015 bored-pand...c3acfd.jpg
Where's Vancouver Canada?
Panama city in Panama could be in the list , has changed a lot in the last 10 years.
Panama City in Panama could be in the list too, big change.
Some of the photos look like they were taken from a different direction. That really throws off the perspective.
Human civilisation is a cancer on the Earth
when was this published?
This is disgraceful
This is disgraced ful
Planned high density urban development is a far better alternative than sprawl. If you really want to help, don't have any children.
You should definitely make a comparison of Warsaw; just after the war and now.
warsaw 1945 and now?
I was so tense that I'll see the old and new versions of Istanbul... Thank god, the disgrace is not revealed...
except cities destroyed by the war and then rebuilt, I prefer BEFORE. Now everything looks the same, and many of that is unsustainable (China, Arabic peninsula...)
I saw no improvement.
Russel Peters (talking about buildings in United Arab Emirates): those buildings are empty no one is in there (he was quoting done other guy). I hope i got his name right... This comment is a disaster :(