The canal system of Amsterdam — known as Grachten — is the result of considered urban planning. In the early 17th century, when immigration was at a peak, a comprehensive plan for the city’s expansion was developed with four concentric half-circles of canals emerging at the main waterfront. In the centuries since, the canals have been used for defense, water management, and transport. They remain a hallmark of the city to this day.
Chilean authorities stated that the initial eruptions of the Calbuco Volcano in southern Chile released approximately 210 million cubic meters of ash into the air. Striking infrared satellite images taken in recent days show the town of Ensenada, located at the based on the volcano, covered in a thick layer of gray dust.
Canola flower fields cover the mountainous landscape of Luoping County, China. The crop is grown for the production of oil, which is extracted by slightly heating and then crushing the flower seeds.
New York City’s Central Park spans 843 acres. That’s 6% of the island of Manhattan.
Rub' al Khali or The Empty Quarter is the largest sand desert in the world, covering 650,000 square kilometers in Saudi Arabia, Oman, Yemen, and the UAE. In the center of the region there are a number of raised, hardened formations that were once the sites of shallow lakes thousands of years ago.
The Forbidden City in Beijing, China was built from 1406 until 1420 by more than one million workers. The palace complex, which contains 9,999 rooms, is surrounded by walls and a moat that are 26 feet high and 171 feet wide, respectively.
Superkilen is a public park in the Nørrebro district of Copenhagen, Denmark. The colorful space aims to celebrate global diversity, designed as a universal exposition with ideas and artifacts gathered from over 50 countries around the world.
Chains of bungalows extend over the water at the Four Seasons Resort in Bora Bora, French Polynesia. In addition to the bungalows and beachfront villas, the complex is also home to the Ruahatu Lagoon Sanctuary — a research facility with more than 100 species of marine life.
The lush fairways of the Sun City Palm Desert community in the Palm Springs area of California sit in stark contrast to the surrounding, barren desert.
The Lollapalooza Music Festival takes places each year at Millennium Park by Lake Michigan in Chicago, Illinois, USA. The event hosts more than 160,000 people over a three-day period.
Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta, Indonesia is the 9th busiest airport in the world, serving approximately 57.8 million passengers each year. The boarding pavilions are examples of classic Indonesian architecture with roofs built in the Javanese stepped-roof style.
The Great Pyramids of Giza are located on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt. Dating back to 2580 BC, the Great Pyramid, the largest structure at the site, is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient world and the only one to remain largely intact. With an estimated 2,300,000 stone blocks weighing from 2 to 30 tons each, the 481 foot pyramid was the tallest structure in the world for more than 3,800 years.
Malé is the capital and most populous city in the Republic of Maldives. With more than 47,000 residents per square kilometer, the heavily urbanized city constitutes the fifth most densely populated island in the world.
Port Hercules, the only deep-water port in Monaco, provides anchorage for up to 700 vessels. Monaco has an area of 0.78 square miles and a population of 36,371, making it the second smallest and the most densely populated country in the world.
One of the Sydney's most popular destinations, Bondi Beach gets its name from the Aboriginal word “Bondi” that means waves breaking over rocks.
Seaweed farms on Nusa Lembongan – a small island located southeast of Bali, Indonesia – have an average harvest of 50,000 pounds per month. Once the seaweed is extracted from the water, it is dried by the sun for 3-7 days.
Makoko is a floating village in Lagos, Nigeria. Residents, approximately 85,000 in total, use wooden canoes to navigate the narrow canals and move about the neighborhood.
Radiating streets surround the Plaza Del Ejecutivo in the Venustiano Carranza district of Mexico City, Mexico.
Glastonbury Festival is a five-day music event attended by more than 135,000 people every year in Pilton, Somerset, England. The population of Pilton on the other 360 days of the year is 998.
Palm tree plantations surround the city of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Oil-producing palm trees were introduced to the country in the 1970s in order to diversify the local agriculture, which was heavily reliant on the rubber tree at the time. The trees are cultivated in terraces, cut into the contours of hills, to avoid erosion caused by streaming water. Malaysia is now one of the world's largest suppliers of palm oil, exporting nearly 18 million tonnes per year.
Overview of the urban plan of Brasilia. The city was founded on April 21, 1960 in order to move the capital from Rio de Janeiro to a more central location within Brazil. The design — resembling an airplane from above — was developed by Lúcio Costa and prominently features the modernist buildings of the celebrated architect Oscar Niemeyer at its center.
The medina quarter in Marrakesh, Morocco is characterized by its winding, maze-like streets. Because the intricately connected honeycomb of alleyways narrows to less than a meter wide at certain spots, the area is generally free from car traffic.
Venice, Italy is situated upon 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by bridges. With tide waters expected to rise to perilous levels in the coming decades, the city has constructed 78 giant steel gates across the three inlets through which water from the Adriatic could surge into Venice’s lagoon.
Residential communities are seen here in Delray Beach, Florida, USA. According to the 2010 census, 20.4% of the town’s 34,156 households are vacant.
This Dutch "star fort" in Bourtange, Netherlands was built in 1593 during the Eighty Years’ War when William I of Orange wanted to control the only road between Germany and the city of Groningen. Star forts were constructed in the manner you see here so that an attack on any of its five walls could be aggressively counteracted from the two adjacent star points.
Port Grimaud is a seaside town located on the French Riviera by the Gulf of Saint Tropez. The development consists of French “Fisherman” style houses built upon channels in a Venetian manner.
Niagara Falls is the collective name for three waterfalls that straddle the border between Ontario, Canada and the United States. The falls have the highest flow rate of any waterfall in the world, with a vertical drop of more than 165 feet (50 m). The Maid of the Mist boat, visible here, has carried passengers into the rapids immediately below the falls since 1846.
Angkor Wat is a temple complex in Cambodia and the largest religious monument in the world (first Hindu, then Buddhist). Constructed in the 12th century, the 820,000 square meter site features a moat and forest that harmoniously surround a massive temple at its center.
