American urban sprawl is rarely seen as attractive or even interesting, but see it from the air and the story changes.
Images © Christoph Gielen
These amazing images come from photographer Christoph Gielen, a German photographer who has captured the strange characteristics of urban development and visual impact of the mass developments around the world for years. Taken from a helicopter, Gielen manages to capture the true architectural essence of what these urban developments are all about. Master planning and geometry.
Images © Christoph Gielen
Whatever may catch your eye about these images, it is a stark reminder of what can happen when humans plow-on with progress without stopping to think about what the best collective urban solution for the future might be. Blinded by the vast areas available in a country as big as the US, developers and local authorities seem to have barely stopped to think about the global consequences of housing people further and further away from town center. Suburbia causes the need to spread like viruses over vast uninhabited landscapes for a bit of comfort and a bit of private garden. What they fail to realize is that these intricate ‘networks’ of suburban pockets carry a great burden to this planet. There is a need to travel further for groceries and basic services like water and sanitation have to be unnecessarily diverted and stretched beyond their needs. At a time where the car is being scrutinized and put under pressure to change the ‘old’ mentality of fuel for something cleaner, such as electricity, maybe it is time that architecture in the United states begin to acknowledge its part in this oil dependency mess.
“Sprawl is a really careless use of new land. I want people who look at my photos to start a reconsideration of how they live through my art”
Christoph Gielen
Image © Christoph Gielen
Image © Christoph Gielen
Images © Christoph Gielen
Images © Christoph Gielen
Images © Christoph Gielen
Images © Christoph Gielen
Images © Christoph Gielen
For more amazing images visit the artist’s website or just fly over Las Vegas on Google Earth… it’s frightening!
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