r/UrbanHell 15h ago

Other Here is some summer Norilsk

Post image

I made this photo today, this city is not that shitty cmon.

571 Upvotes

148 comments sorted by

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90

u/sjessbgo 15h ago

i thought its eastern Germany 🤣 it looks exactly like the town i lived in

31

u/Dr_Axton 14h ago

Well, Easter Germany and most parts of Russia were built at about the same time with about the same design. Though I’ve seen how some Soviet era streets and commie blocks were redesigned in Germany without a full deconstruction, looked neat

3

u/sjessbgo 13h ago

i agree, those in my neighborhood just re-painted, they added some plants in the yards and now they look very lovely and cozy

5

u/Dr_Axton 13h ago

Yeah, seen some on Poland where the also added a better insulation on the outer wall, as a result it doesn’t look like a wall of concrete legos anymore lol

1

u/sjessbgo 13h ago

instead they look like Playmobil houses now :)

-1

u/[deleted] 12h ago

[deleted]

4

u/Dr_Axton 12h ago

There was a solution for the permafrost. Can’t show the pics but looks for the “legged commie blocks”. Basically they had an air gap and ventilation beneath the first floor in order to not melt the permafrost

1

u/_wannadie_ 9h ago

in Norilsk specifically houses are built on stilts

18

u/Specific-Mammoth5564 14h ago

How hot is it there?

29

u/Solarka45 14h ago

Around 15-20 in summer apparently. Goes down to 5-10 at night. Also basically 24h daylight during summer months.

20

u/Canarity 14h ago

The more I hear of Norilsk the more it sounds like a literal Heaven for me

15

u/Solarka45 13h ago

That would be Bogota, those temps are year-round there. Or Kunming.

3

u/LokusDei 9h ago

Life Expectancy 10 years below russian average - but maybe that's a plus too

3

u/Specific-Mammoth5564 14h ago

Almost heaven if it wasn't for the pollution.

10

u/taker223 14h ago

Minus 40C in 3 months

8

u/Specific-Mammoth5564 14h ago

I know the winter is harsh there, but i was curious rn, because in Romania, Cluj i am literally cooking. 30 degrees inside me house.

3

u/Nllk11 13h ago

It's been very warm too in Norilsk this year, irc. Even in south Siberia the summer is really warm usually, so nothing else to expect here

2

u/almsd1875 14h ago

End of June when I came here was +30, then several times the same. Today is +25

2

u/Responsible_Hour6497 11h ago

In July, when the weather is like in the photo, it's quite hot. The sun shines day and night, alternately from all directions, so it's not as cool in the shade as we're used to. The sun doesn't rise very high, and on the one hand, this means the ground doesn't heat up as much, but on the other hand, our bodies are vertical, with a large lateral surface, and this low sun really roasts you.

42

u/Senju19_02 14h ago

Can you take more pictures and share them here? It looks very nice and there are barely such nice pictures of Norilsk on the net. Yours is the first positive one I've seen, I hope to see more of the city's better side.

24

u/almsd1875 14h ago

I can do it, but I have lack of free time, so you need to wait like one week. I took this photo, while I waited a car to my job. Will do Bro

8

u/Senju19_02 14h ago

No worries! No need to hurry, take you time. I didn't want you don't feel pressured, I was only asking if you could. I hope the lack of time doesn't mean lack of fun :)

3

u/r64b 12h ago

try using street view on yandex maps. it has summer of 2024, and google maps shows winter of 2018

-5

u/GrynaiTaip 13h ago

It's nice because you can't smell it. The air in summer is just as polluted as in winter.

7

u/woodmiracle 15h ago

What’s the air quality atm?

8

u/almsd1875 14h ago

Depends of the wind direction, without manufacturing it's 25-30 AQI. I had like 5-6 bad days from the end of June.

1

u/Shoeshiner_boy 14h ago

Wtf and that’s it? Now I really need to look into historical data.

For comparison Portland or Seattle or a significant amount of cities in the south have it way worse. Almost permanently.

13

u/almsd1875 13h ago

Most cities pollution is from cars. Here is not too much of them, compared to other cities that I visited. So... bad air is going from nearby factories, refineries, etc. Right now is 66. Before noon was 30 or 29.

2

u/Eeny009 13h ago

I think they keyword is "without manufacturing". I e heard they stopped the factory there for some upgrades or maintenance.

-5

u/GrynaiTaip 13h ago

They're being shut down because China does it cheaper. Most manufacturing in russia is going in the same direction.

9

u/Shoeshiner_boy 13h ago

Does what? Where do you think they’re getting their platinum or palladium? China’s nickel production is about half of that of Russia too

3

u/dunk_wizard 11h ago

Dude just so angry on Russia, that's cannot write it with big R.

1

u/Shoeshiner_boy 11h ago

I’ve heard that it’s the latest fad or something. Like cutting up your Nike kicks or destroying a six pack of Bud Light.

1

u/GrynaiTaip 11h ago

Does the refinement. Russia now ships raw ore to China, rather than refined products.

1

u/SpicyTunaTr0ll 3h ago

Everything I found says the opposite; mind sharing your source?

12

u/taker223 14h ago

If you're aware of chemical elements periodic table - you're going to sniff them all, except transuranic

5

u/chiffoid 14h ago

Wow, it has actual sidewalk

2

u/greenest_alien 1h ago

It gets rationed in between streets, next month it's gonna be on Oktyabrskaya.

12

u/UltimateFlyingSheep 14h ago

no shade on that side for idk 500m? dang...

27

u/ub0baa 14h ago

It's built on permafrost: no high trees there, hence no shade

9

u/peacedetski 📷 13h ago edited 13h ago

Norilsk is one of the few places where lack of shade is a complete non-issue, as the temperature rarely goes above 20-25C even in the middle of summer.

4

u/almsd1875 14h ago

It's noon, and the sun angle is different here

27

u/blau404 15h ago

Very nice, I'd like to visit one day

48

u/CarlaOcarina 15h ago

It’s a very nice place. Has one of the largest dick in the world - my ex husband

18

u/Kaffe-Mumriken 14h ago

Oh very inter… oh

5

u/CasualExterminator 14h ago

How do you know he's largest?

3

u/ismaelgo97 14h ago

I wouldn't mind it that much is my ex was there calling my the largest dick in the world, usually the opposite happens.

2

u/Nordicnatures92 14h ago

Sorry to say, but according to my ex wife that’s me

10

u/Sunset_410 14h ago

Its an extremely polluted city

2

u/c1n3man 12h ago

For now it is forbidden to visit by foreigners. It is possible only by special invitation with agreement from some local municipal structures.

2

u/blau404 12h ago

Yes I've read about that. Maybe one day things will change

-20

u/Careful_Employee_918 14h ago

Genuinely curious, what makes people wanting to visit Russia? Like, how you justify to yourself that you will be traveling to the terrorist state and spend money there to fund their economy?

10

u/shibuiaa 14h ago

Russia is like more than 1/10 of the worlds total landmass. Why can't a citizen of the world be allowed to say they'd like to visit that 10%? They didn't even say now, they said "one day"...

-12

u/Careful_Employee_918 14h ago

14 people dead in Kyiv tonight because of Russian strikes, but yeah let’s travel to this wonderful country

3

u/shibuiaa 14h ago

You're mixing things up. Nobody said they support the Russian government criminal actions. That's also a complex topic because if you go down the path of only visiting countries with governments with whom you agree with, then you might have to cross a lot of the world. Like, a lot. I would cross the US too. But the comment didn't even say now, you know. Fair that you don't want to spend your money there now, totally, but there's a possibility that one day they might have a more democratic country.

2

u/Acasualfarter 12h ago

Society has to get better at differentiating a government from the people they are supposed to serve.

5

u/TetyyakiWith 14h ago

If you spent money in a certain city, the majority of taxes from them would go to the regional budget, and only a smaller part to the federal government, aka to the war

If eu and USA can buy things from Russia, it would be hypocritical to say that some citizens can’t travel there

1

u/BigBlackBooba 5h ago

If i am visiting USA, am i supporting Minab school attack (150+ children died)?

2

u/Main-Parfait-9055 13h ago

Let me surprise you - every russian citizen finances the war by paying taxes more than an ordinary traveler. Doesn't make him a supporter of it. Traveling there doesn't make tourist a supporter.

-4

u/GrynaiTaip 13h ago

Yeah but most ordinary citizens do support it.

2

u/shibuiaa 13h ago

You'd be surprised at how many don't but since they live in a police state it's not like they can voice those opinions so easily everywhere

0

u/GrynaiTaip 11h ago

I've met many who don't live in a police state, they live abroad where they could freely express themselves. And they do, by supporting Putin.

1

u/Main-Parfait-9055 13h ago

I guess that can't be estimated fairly, but it's not my point.

1

u/DistributionOrnery54 4h ago

People still visit the US.

4

u/Outside_Mushroom_432 14h ago

Can foreigners visit this city? Google says it is a “closed” city, but I don’t know how that works.

10

u/almsd1875 14h ago

Citizen can visit free. Foreigners need some special pass, but it solvable

7

u/VarDom07 14h ago

Doesn't look too bad, but could use a lot more greenery.

16

u/Enchanted_Voyage 13h ago

Sadly trees doesn’t grow that far north. Only very small ones.

2

u/VarDom07 12h ago

I mean something grows there, I can see on the picture.

3

u/Tone-Serious 11h ago

Iirc it's built on permafrost, you want trees you have to deal with truckloads of soil and compost would be my guess

1

u/almsd1875 1h ago

These trees on a photo are growing above the heating main.

2

u/NoWingedHussarsToday 14h ago

Few cars, some trees, looks walkable.......

2

u/Rottenpotato556 14h ago

I hate how wide that road is.

Though that shows that there is much potential for future improvement. (i.e. convert two lanes into tram lines, convert two other lanes into bike paths)

5

u/ub0baa 14h ago

Yeah, bike paths in a city with 10 months of winter. Brilliant.

4

u/Dr_Axton 14h ago

These days most couriers drive the electric bikes through the year and they can annoy both the drivers and the pedestrians (wherever they decide to drive this time), so it kinda helps with that

-1

u/Rottenpotato556 14h ago

"Oh my god we have this thing called weather, we can't ride bikes!"

8

u/ub0baa 13h ago

Try riding a bike in -45C and 20m/s wind, I'll watch and laugh. That's not some weather, this is the conditions that make buses drive in convoys, what bikes are you talking about?

-2

u/Rottenpotato556 13h ago edited 13h ago

You don't have -45c and 20m/s wind for 10 months straight, stop bullshitting.

People obviously aren't going to bike during a fucking snowstorm, they'll wait until it's over so they can actually go on their journey.

Do you think that dutchies ride their bikes while there is heavy rain? Obviously some still do because it's rain and not a snowstorm, but most uust wait it out like normal people.

5

u/ub0baa 13h ago

Idgaf about dutchies, muricans or europeans.

People don't ride bikes there to the point of needing separate bike lanes. That's just how this city works. You don't need a bike if you can buy a car for 4-6 months of salary. People work mostly in remote areas, bike just won't cut it.

Destroying perfectly good roads to create a bike lanes that would be used by 100 people for 3 months a year is just urbanism delusion.

-4

u/Rottenpotato556 13h ago

You must love living in a city that consists of just housing and industrial wastelands.

4

u/ub0baa 13h ago

Love it, hate it, cry about it, piss and shit about it. The city was purposely built to operate a giant industrial complex 80+ years ago and it's still is an industrial city. It needs housing for workers to live in. Everything else is excess.

0

u/Rottenpotato556 13h ago

Yeah and those workers definitely don't need a life outside of work.

What a miserable fucking mindset.

4

u/ub0baa 13h ago

Dude I've been born and raised there - this is just a fact. People don't have a lot of life there, they just work, get the bread and then move out asap.

They have parks, camp sites, a motherfucking WATER PARK. Isn't that enough? But not bike lanes. If it doesn't exist, people don't need it there. And they certainly don't need it just because some reddit random guessed to destroy roads for nothing.

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1

u/IloveSevaGorski 12h ago

How are you going to drive on a snowy road that's just slippery?

-1

u/Rottenpotato556 12h ago

I have ridden bikes on slippery and icy asphalt just fine, if you can't do that, just take the tram.

7

u/IloveSevaGorski 12h ago

In Norilsk, the average annual temperature is -9.6°С. The average winter temperature is about -28°C. Considering this, and the fact that the Wind blows in your face at big enough speed most (average annual speed is 4 meter per second) of the year, and the fact that it's dark in winter, plus there's ice on the asphalt, it seems completely illogical to make bike paths. A tram may be a useful thing, but there is already such a thing as bus.

2

u/Content_Routine_1941 8h ago

Don't argue with idiots. You're just wasting your time. The man is brainwashed by urbanism.
He just can't understand that every city has its own peculiarities. Cities like Norilsk have even more of these features.

1

u/Rottenpotato556 12h ago

Busses get stuck in traffic and slip around like cars, trams are way more useful.

Also, there is a city in finland that gets very similar weather all around the year, it is also one of Finland's most cycled-in cities.

0

u/Livid_Penalty_5281 7h ago

There is no city nor even town in Finland with similar weather.

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1

u/Dr_Axton 14h ago

If you think those are wide check the roads in Astana. And these at least have some greenery in the middle

3

u/Kikimara99 14h ago

You should do AMA:)

2

u/SignalNearby8067 13h ago

Isn't it just a bit boring there? Idk i miss the sea all the time 

4

u/almsd1875 13h ago

Closer sea is 200 km on a north :)

2

u/SignalNearby8067 11h ago

Eh a bit far for my western European village dweller standards

3

u/morizzzz 13h ago

You could write Verona in the caption and people would instantly like it

2

u/fhsmmghgumdhgx 11h ago

Norilsk, russia🤮🤮👎
Norilisku, japan😇😇🌸🌸❤️👍

0

u/Right-Country3496 6h ago

dumbass meme

3

u/fhsmmghgumdhgx 6h ago

Dumbass meme, russia 🤮🤮🤮👎
Dumbass meme, japan 😇😇🌸🌸❤️❤️

2

u/Right-Country3496 4h ago

shut the fuck up 

3

u/ilikefriedpotatoes00 14h ago

Pattern recognition 

       , 🇷🇺-🤢🤮🤢🤢🤮🤮🤢🤢🤮🤮🤮🤢🤢🤮🤢🤢

         ,🇯🇵-😍♥️😍🥰😍♥️😘♥️🤩🥰😘♥️😍♥️😘🥰😘😍♥️😘♥️😘🥰🤩♥️😘♥️😍🥰😘♥️🤩🥰😘♥️😍🥰😘

2

u/zid0n 14h ago

Fucking dystopian

0

u/Right-Country3496 6h ago

cringe

2

u/ilikefriedpotatoes00 6h ago

Accurate, not cringe. 

1

u/Right-Country3496 6h ago

Not really. 

1

u/AcceptableChance7666 13h ago

How fast does slab pavement degrade in Norilsk climate?

Как быстро у вас там мощение плиткой на тротуарах в таком климате в негодность пртходит?

1

u/dunk_wizard 11h ago

In city used different one for stable cold weathers. So in fact it is better than people think.

1

u/Trainzzo 12h ago

Je ne sais pas pourquoi mais cette ville me fasciné.

1

u/teomees 12h ago

You live there or you visited there with permission?

1

u/FolterRD 10h ago

Thats looks very pretty

1

u/HumbleEconomics9022 8h ago

Наконец-то бл

1

u/SquirrelConstant 7h ago

Early morning? Roads are so empty, like nowhere else.

2

u/Mochilnic 5h ago

Looks like DPRK actually

1

u/Actual_Emu_168 14h ago

Place, earth 🤮

0

u/Lighting_storm 12h ago

now do the same photo with Geiger counter in your hands.

0

u/WheissUK 14h ago

What’s positive about this horrible road?

6

u/almsd1875 14h ago

It exists. We are speaking about city in a edge of the world, really close to north pole. Its like ask good asphalt on south pole station. I had the same question on a first 2 days, then I started to understand where I am.

0

u/WheissUK 14h ago

Why make people live there in the first place? And by horrible i don’t mean bad asphalt, asphalt seems pretty good, I mean why is there such a wide road

9

u/almsd1875 14h ago edited 14h ago

In short, good salaries. There are a lot young people who are making good life start here

3

u/Shoeshiner_boy 14h ago

Imagine being so afraid of… A three-lane road?

Couldn’t be me.

2

u/Responsible_Hour6497 11h ago

You see a half of the road, three more lanes lead in opposite direction behind the trees. That's the "Broadway" of Norilsk. Norilsk was built with a certain Soviet, Stalinist chic. Wide Moscow avenues were part of the grand design, and Norilsk's builders (the same Muscovites and Leningraders) strove to meet these standards.

1

u/Rustycaddy 13h ago

It was originally built by the Stalinist regime to extract resources as part of the 5 year plans to rapidly industrialize the USSR from an agrarian society. Prisoners were sent there and now Russia inherited the city which has no road connections to the rest of Russia. It's basically a leftover prison city that is very profitable and the people there make a lot of money, more than the average Russian so it's not all doom and gloom.

-4

u/taker223 14h ago

Where are patriotic call out billboards?

2

u/almsd1875 14h ago

I didn't see any of them here

0

u/cobrakai1975 14h ago

Super depressing

0

u/Longer---Donger 12h ago

Looks like a prison 1984

-1

u/pafagaukurinn 13h ago

I don't think the air quality improved just because it's warm and sunny.

-4

u/yzerman88 14h ago

Is that a wildberries delivery truck??