Humans are social animals. They are brazen
adventurers willing to go to any length to seek out the resources necessary to
not just survive, but thrive. On the other hand, they can also be lazy and
unimaginative, contented with little effort and the creature comforts of
civilization. These opposing facts, taken together, can't sufficiently explain
why the following metropolises exist.
These are cities in areas of the Earth where
humankind clearly was not meant to be. Some are quite successful - heralded as
exemplar world cities both as destinations and as places to live. In others,
residents and visitors still constantly face the threat of death by
dehydration, isolation, or exposure.
Cities aren't always located in the most
comfortable locations. These are the wettest, driest, coldest, hottest,
highest, most isolated, least accessible & windiest.
These are the cities in the world’s most
inhospitable locales:
1. Yakutsk,
Russia – World’s Coldest City
Yakutsk, located in Russia’s
SakhaRepublic, has a yearly mean temperature of -8.8o C. That
number is deceiving as summer in Yakutsk brings several relatively warm months
during which life thaws (though the ground doesn’t – Yakutsk is also the
largest city built on permafrost) and temperatures can exceed 30o C.
This means that during Yakutsk’s long winter the thermometer often dips below
-40o C (the mean lows in December and January are -40.4o
C, and -41.5o C respectively), with the coldest temperature ever
recorded being -64.4o C.
In the winter months, the 269,000 people in
Yakutsk (understandably) spend as little time outside as possible. When they do
venture into the cold, they are bundled in insulated clothing and/or animal
furs, and possibly sipping vodka from a thermos. When they need to use a
vehicle in the extreme cold, they will keep it running all day to prevent the
battery from dying, making steering wheel locks a must. Vehicle exhaust, in
addition to factory smog, and the breath of residents creates an ethereal haze
that cloaks the city throughout the season.
2. Kuwait
City, Kuwait – World’s Hottest City
Kuwait City has a
metropolitan population of 2.4 million who can somehow stand the blistering
heat and sandstorms that plague this middle-eastern capital city each year. The
city has an annual mean high temperature of 34.3o C, with the months
of June, July and August averaging highs between 45-47o C. In 2012,
nearby Sulaibya set the record for the highest temperature ever recorded in
Asia at 53.8o C (128.8o F).
Kuwaitis beat
the heat during the summertime by going to the beach; visiting ‘Aqua Park’, the
largest water park in the Persian Gulf region; or hanging out
at ‘The Avenues,’ the largest shopping mall in Kuwait, where you’ll find
western chains such as Dolce & Gabbana, FatBurger, Footlocker, and Texas Roadhouse.
Unrelenting heat to this degree can be
deadly. The government imposes an outdoor work ban June through August from
11am to 4pm. However, the ban is rarely enforced for foreign workers who make
up nearly a third of Kuwait’s population. Kuwait has also been criticized for systemic
abuse of foreign domestic workers, who have reportedly been forced into
slavery. Because of this, countries like Indonesia, Nepal,
and Sierra Leone have banned its citizens from conducting
domestic work in the Middle Eastern nation.
3. Aswan,
Egypt – World’s Driest City
Aswan is the world’s driest city with
less than a millimeter of rainfall annually. Despite a dearth of precipitation,
there is access to water. Aswan is located on the Nile and just south of
the city lies the world’s largest rock-filled dam (High Dam, or commonly
referred to as the Aswan Dam) which creates one of the world’s largest man-made bodies of water, Lake Nasser.
The city's name reeks of irony, as
"Aswan" is an old Nubian word which roughly translates "too much
water". This isn't intentionally funny; it was named due to the flood
cycle of the Nile River.
4. Buenaventura,
Colombia – World’s Wettest City
More than twenty feet of rain (6,275.6 mm)
falls annually on Colombia’s largest port city; Buenaventura.
Many neighborhoods on the waterfront of Golfo Tortugas (Turtle Gulf) are
primarily comprised of shacks built on stilts. Buildings located away from the
bay, around the city’s undulating hills, are an array of weather worn concrete,
corrugated steel roofs and awnings, and the occasional crumbling wooden façade,
rotted through due to non-stop rain and consistent moisture in the air. Rain
has become a way of life in Buenaventura. As Colombia’s largest port city it is
one of South America’s largest hubs for drug trafficking.
5. Wellington,
New Zealand – World’s Windiest City
At 29 km/h, ‘Windy Wellington’ has average
wind-speeds 11 km/h higher than America’s better known ‘Windy
City’, Chicago. Wellington is located in the ‘Roaring Forties’ or the
‘River of Wind’, a meteorological phenomenon which occurs between 40 and 50
latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere. Here, hot air from the Equator meets
the polar vortex with the only land masses present to break the gusts being the
southern tip of South America, and, Wellington (as
well as the rest of New Zealand’s South Island).
6. El Alto,
Bolivia – World’s Highest City (Altitude)
Located 4,150 meters (more than 2 ½ miles)
above sea level, the city of El Alto is located in the Altiplano
plains region of Bolivia. It started out in the early
20th century as an inconveniently located slum of Bolivia’s
administrative capital La Paz, located in the valley below.
It has since surpassed La Paz in size and population, and is now the second largest
and fastest growing city in Bolivia with 1.18 million residents.
7. Perth,
Australia – World’s Most Isolated City
To drive from Perth to the next
(relatively) large city in Australia, you would need to make a
two day trek through desert climate, along one of the most desolate stretches
of road in the world across the Nullarbor (no tree) Plains to Adelaide,
South Australia. It is such a feat that there are bumper stickers which commemorate
the accomplishment.
It is home to the headquarters of the world’s
largest diamond mine, boasts a 4.3% unemployment rate, and is routinely named
one the best cities in the world to live in.
8. Iquitos,
Peru – World’s Least Accessible City
The only way to get to the Peruvian ‘Capital
of the Amazon’ Iquitos is by boat or plane. Small ships can reach the city
from the Atlantic Ocean, some 3,600 km of travel up the Amazon River, or short flights from Lima, Peru, or Panama City, Panama service
the city most days of the week. The city is so remote, very few cars have been
transported here, so the city relies on buses, and smaller, motorized
rickshaws for transportation.
Have you ever visited any of them, then add
your experience by commenting.
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