We often see movies where cities are depicted as crumbling masses of concrete and steel. In most of those movies, humans are still around, sometimes even occupying buildings. However, with no humans left on Earth, no human maintenance, how long would it take for cities to turn into piles of rubble? And of course there might be a concrete column still sticking up, but consider when the city is really little more than a pile of rubble. Baron Max
There was a series on that, on cable, and it doesn't take long for things to go to hell, less than a decade with out proper maintenance from what I remember. The really interesting thing is the fact that the abandoned pet dogs form packs and hunt any thing that comes across their territory. Cats begin to grow in size, and it is a hunters world.
Weathering. So, potentially within 200 years, If the nuclear radiation from the plants spreads far enough. Power will be out within the first year, so heat, cold, the elements will take care of the rest.
I saw a thing on Discovery about just that topic. I think it was like 100 years or something before the bridges and buildings started falling apart. And honestly, the cities wouldn't last very long as rubble. Eventually they'd become earth again. I remember them saying that eventually, if an alien race were to come here, they'd think the Egyptians were the last people to live here.
I've read articles on that in the past and 100 years seems to be an accepted time for things/buildings to ...begin... to disintegrate. But how much longer until they actually fall into rubble? Another 100 years? Baron Max
I'm also leaning towards 200 years, but I have little to base that on. I think the first 100 years would cause lots of deterioration, but it might take as long as another 100 years for all human structures to actually fall. What nuclear radiation? I'm not talking about war or anything ...just one day all humans vanish from the universe. No wars, no aliens, no civil strife, no starvation, no diseases, ..., nothing but ...POOF... all humans gone. Baron Max
I found the documentary in full on Google video, 'Life after People': http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4939078184096254535 I've just started watching it, so I cannot offer any opinion of it yet.
If we leave our nuclear power plants and all other energy equipment on, then they will break down and cause pollution on an unimaginable scale. The environment will accelerate the degradation. In that case, I'd say 150 years. Because the environment takes a long time to heal/clear toxins.
Well, some things wouldn't even take 100 years. The link I followed said the Eiffel Tower would fall after just decades. For total rubble, though? Probably somewhere between 100-200 years. He's talking about the nuclear power plants breaking down from neglect. It would call pollution. I also remember seeing in that docudrama that the Hoover Dam electricity plant would be among the last working ones in the world, so some of the last light visible from space would come from there.
I just finished watching the ninety-minute documentary. It could have been compressed into thirty minutes easily, as it was apparently aimed at the 90-IQ average History Channel audience, and so there was a lot of statement of the obvious, and replay after replay of the same visual effects, etc. It is also very American and human-centric, and the frivolous narrator speaks the entire time as though he is phoning in a cinematic trailer for a low-budget horror film. They play all of the 'special effects' in the introduction anyway, so the first one or two minutes should provide a good summary of the high points.
Bitumen roads are interesting, as it doesn't take long for plants (weeds) to spear through them, even in use. Breaking them apart wouldn't take too long, so the road network would look pretty dicey after a year or two. Concrete road base would be different.
I agree with that. In my mind, most of the surface areas of the world would be broken up in a very short time ...even some of the heavier, more permanent concrete surfaces. But big, concrete and steel buildings aren't really on the surface. Sometimes the foundations go quite deep into the ground. A big building would be destroyed by the ravages of weather, by the freeze/thaw cycles, and by general rain and wind. I envision that taking much, much longer. And don't forget that there are buildings now that are still standing even if they've been long abandoned. The inner city buildings are a good example ...and they're still standing. Baron Max
These days, buildings are deliberately not built to last. City planners assume that their density will continue to increase and that all buildings will be demolished to be replaced by taller ones. They're planned for a service life of something like forty years, so there's no point in incurring the unnecessary expense of building them to last longer. Heck, that will probably make the demolition more expensive too.Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
I worked as an architect for some 40 years, Fraggle, and I've never heard of such a plan in any city anywhere in the USA. In fact, in all of the cities I've ever had projects, no one ever, never, asked us to plan for a short building life-span. But, never mind, ...your post didn't actually address the question anyway. Without humans, how many years would it take for all of the manmade structure to be reduced to rubble? Baron Max
That issue of building to last is an bit of a dilemma, even for the standard domestic dwellings. I can't say if the plan is purposeful obsolescence, but they won't last anywhere near as long as houses built 100yrs ago, timber or brick. Back to the road network, compare that with Roman era roads, built with stones sometimes one metre deep! Still there 2000yrs later.
Why do you say that? On what are you basing your opinion? Aren't the same forces of nature at work against both? The same deteriorating forces work on brick and mortar as on concrete - mostly freeze-thaw cycles as well as water incursion. I don't understand the differences? I agree with you on the roadways ...the thick, deep concrete highways will last "forever". But that's not what this thread is about ....it's about the buildings. Baron Max
I think it will take a lot less time than people tend to think. I'm all for it, by the way. I suspect the roads will be undergrowth in a few years time. Trees and plants, together with the elements, will begin to tear down standing constructions. I think it will take a few decades for nature to reclaim its territory. But to get rid of everything human-made (if you meant that) may take several centuries. My guess is it will take anywhere between 500 and a thousand years before every sign of human habitation will be gone. Maybe even longer. And then there are things like plastics and steel constructions that will last a very long time, albeit it probably out of view.
Roman concrete was a bit stronger than todays though. Besides, they may have survived but not without maintenance or getting buried.
