GoldenScorpions
He/Him- 3,093
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I'm trying to estimate the size of a city in a Light Novel series, and I'd like some help.
It is surrounded by peripheral roads (undivided expressways), something that generally only exists around cities that have some size to them. Some of the characters were driving in a car on said road for at least 20 minutes before stopping at a restaurant, at which point they hadn't made a full circle yet. Speed limit on Japanese undivided expressways is 70km/h. It's mentioned they're going fast, so let's use that. If in 1 hour, they'd cross 70km, in 1/3 of that time, they'd cross 1/3 of the distance, so 23.3km. Considering they still were nowhere near the other end of the peripheral expressway, it's longer than 23.3km.
For comparison, Thessaloniki, the 2nd biggest city in Greece has a peripheral road of 31km.
Based on several descriptions of the city in the book, it is said to be very wide, but also a bit rural with a medium density of population, though important enough to have multiple high-schools and a university, at least one line of subway, a large train station and many large multi-story buildings, such as hotels.
For another comparison, Catania, a city in Sicily, has a subway system of a single line with 10 stations; the city is 182.9km2 large.
In order to destroy such a place entirely and "leave nothing but shadows and dust" (wording used in the book), how do you think this should be treated as? It sounds like a semi-urban city, so maybe Small City?
It is surrounded by peripheral roads (undivided expressways), something that generally only exists around cities that have some size to them. Some of the characters were driving in a car on said road for at least 20 minutes before stopping at a restaurant, at which point they hadn't made a full circle yet. Speed limit on Japanese undivided expressways is 70km/h. It's mentioned they're going fast, so let's use that. If in 1 hour, they'd cross 70km, in 1/3 of that time, they'd cross 1/3 of the distance, so 23.3km. Considering they still were nowhere near the other end of the peripheral expressway, it's longer than 23.3km.
For comparison, Thessaloniki, the 2nd biggest city in Greece has a peripheral road of 31km.
Based on several descriptions of the city in the book, it is said to be very wide, but also a bit rural with a medium density of population, though important enough to have multiple high-schools and a university, at least one line of subway, a large train station and many large multi-story buildings, such as hotels.
For another comparison, Catania, a city in Sicily, has a subway system of a single line with 10 stations; the city is 182.9km2 large.
In order to destroy such a place entirely and "leave nothing but shadows and dust" (wording used in the book), how do you think this should be treated as? It sounds like a semi-urban city, so maybe Small City?
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