Comments on: Which capital city's gardens are we looking down on?

By: Tom Turner

Tom Turner — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 08:54:11 +0000

Well done Christine, sorry Carter. I think (1) the sheer waste of land makes it unlikely that the layout could be in east Asia, particularly because the aridity of the landscape would make it north-east Asia (2) there is something taş kafa ('stone head' - a popular Turkish insult) about the road layout (3) there is a certain lack of enthusiasm for enclosed gardens in Turkish culture, as though the ancient nomadism of the Ottomans was stronger than the veneer of Islam acquired from the Persians. The greatest surviving Ottoman garden, at Topkapi, is modelled on the layout of a tented encampment.

By: Carter

Carter — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 07:05:03 +0000

Ok, my last guess is Bucharest, Romania.

By: Christine

Christine — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 05:57:41 +0000

So most probably not Hanoi.[ http://maps.google.com.au/maps?hl=en&biw=948&bih=614&q=capital+of+vietnam&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=Hanoi,+Vietnam&gl=au&ei=OJAqTfWkJYH5cYfnreoB&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBUQ8gEwAA ]

Could it be Istanbul? [ http://www.flickr.com/photos/brewbooks/3714105631/in/photostream/ ]. Tom density as you can see from this photograph can vary across a city/developments so it can be a misleading clue. (Also not the current capital of Turkey).

However Turkey shares the continents of Europe and Asia.[ http://studytourscy.com/turkey/about-us.html ]

Yeah, its Ankara. SNAP! [http://boardgames.about.com/od/cardgames/a/snap.htm ][ http://www.flickr.com/photos/brewbooks/3626427170/in/set-72157619438658089/ ].
(I guess that is cheating…)

By: Tom Turner

Tom Turner — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 19:18:18 +0000

Good guess but it is not Astana and I don’t think they do red-tiled apartment blocks in Astana.

By: Carter

Carter — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 22:10:29 +0000

I understand we’re looking for a national capital, not a provincial capital. I’m gonna guess it’s Astana, Kazakhstan. It’s population is growing rapidly and it has a dry climate. Maybe there’s a bit of a Soviet feel to the buildings in the photo too.

By: Tom Turner

Tom Turner — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 19:06:32 +0000

The clues are: architecture, vegetation, road layout and density.

By: Tian Yuan

Tian Yuan — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 08:25:24 +0000

Oh yes, I has misunderstood the word: capital city. Now, I may need to read some books about landscape/city planning. Oh,,,,How silly of me!

By: Tom Turner

Tom Turner — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 07:20:41 +0000

Robert, sorry about putting some of the blocks in the road but I still think I might have given more thought to my layout than the engineers gave to their layout! Yuan, sorry if I implied it was in China but your reasoning is correct: the climatic conditions are much drier than south China and most of South East Asia. But you missed an important clue: it is a section of a capital city, which rules out Shanghai, Wuhan, Guangzhou, Shenzhen etc. Australia has some arid zone cities but I think Christine has, correctly, ruled out Canberra.

By: Tian Yuan

Tian Yuan — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 06:31:27 +0000

Ah, Sorry about waiting. Honestly, I donot have confidence to make a guess regarding to this picture.Is it a garden? Where is the garden?

In a professional view, I cannot distinguish whether it is China. Let’s make a hypothesis: it is in China. But I will try to say something using exclusive method.
(1) Beijing:impossible.
Reason: the urban plan of Beijing has a chessboard-development form.

(2)Shanghai, Wuhan, Guangzhou,Shenzhen( south China): impossible.
Reason: most the cities in southern China has sufficient water and vegetation source.The map will have more” green” and “blue” space if it is in southern China.Moreover, the southern Chinese city may have more landforms variation.

Although I cannot give the answer, I will try to do some condition guess.
(1) It may be an industrial city
(2) It may not be a heritage city
(3) It may be in a city which is not sufficient in water and have plain landform.
(4) It may not be a “Garden-city”

What do you think , Tom?

By: Tom Turner

Tom Turner — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 18:27:11 +0000

I’ll wait for Yuan’s comment on China before offering another clue.