Most and least dense European countries

[Velvet_Highground]

Originally Posted by kool maudit

I would distinguish some of those. The UK and parts of Benelux are something different, with a focus on rowhouses on narrow lots versus the courtyard apartment buildings favoured in Germany, the Nordics and the Austro-Hungarian cities. France, like you said, points more towards Italy than the other Northern countries.

Copenhagen and Stockholm are interesting in the sense that they were both very small and restricted by walls/water for most of their history. In the second half of the 19th century, though, they both saw a huge wave of speculative building in the Viennese courtyard-block style that occurred all at once as restrictions on land outside the old cores were lifted.

It really only lasted about twice as long as the current Toronto condo boom, despite these areas now being seen as bastions of "traditional", "historical" buildings.

In both cities, but moreso in Stockholm due to the geography, this "European" style ends very abruptly, transitioning into single-family homes on fairly large, irregular lots. Swedish people have come to call the inner-city, Viennese-style quarters "stenstad" or "stone town". I think this usage representing something distinct or noteworthy reflects the very sudden historical shift that created these places.

Both of the big Nordic cities actually have pretty extensive 19th-century cores for their size. They are some of the larger cities of this type not to have been touched by WW2 bombings. They are not dense from a statistical perspective, though, because household sizes are so small. I think Sweden is the country with the highest percentage of one-person households in the world.

Bit thought provoking for all the debate about governance and culture the aftermath of war perhaps shows up much more so than we think. The devastation and socioeconomic/political turmoil caused by war either being subjugated to the aftermath of and or the drain on resources even in the winners. The Scandinavian countries were among the least effected by the world wars with Norway, Sweden & Denmark all being neutral in the first and Sweden being neutral in the second while Denmark and Norway were occupied very quickly. The relatively little damage in comparison to the obliteration seen in British and Axis cities by bombing or from heavy fighting. Not to mention the combination of both heavy bombardment and heavy artillery centric fighting seen in Eastern Europe. Certainly there are cultural, political, social, economic and many many other factors some of which make up the foundation of why Europe is such a fascinating place which can be seen reflected in city development. Though this topic could stretch back to the peak of the Spanish Empire and absolutely could be its own thread by which I mean European City development history, patterns & styles. The strain of decolonization and shift into the landing ground for decolonize(d)ing empires that the role played by Europeans Economic Community in terms of providing stability and opportunity for growth is another fascinating and important subject that plays into this topic.

Britain being blocked during the formative years of the ECC imo is represented by the Thatcher period of policy of rapid deindustrialization in favor of a financial system based economy, being a signatory of Brettan Woods as well as colonial connections to Arab Oil powers plays a major role in the development of the tax haven islands which were a keystone of competition with the U.S. in the global financial system. Though the modernization of the British financial system goes hand in hand with this time period as well muddying the waters a bit. The protection of major industrial institutions in France while Germany played its traditional role in the post ww1 20th century of being the major manufacturing power for smaller countries while importing raw materials. The Benelux countries partially due to being the largest ports in Europe I would argue play a role in the more British style of development as well as Luxembourg being a financial hub / tax haven nation factor in.