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The World's Dirtiest Cities

Arsenic-laced drinking water, lead-contaminated soils and choking air pollution are sadly just the start in some of the world's dirtiest places

By Jason Daley Posted 6.11.08 at 1:40 pm 7 Comments

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Milan, Italy
CodeClimber
Ah, Milan, home to great shoes, high fashion and more pm10s—small pollution particles that can cause cancer and breathing problems—than any other city in Europe. In fact, according to a study by Italian environmental group Legambiente, Milan has more smog than any other city in Europe and the continent’s second-highest level of ozone. Most of the problem comes from the city’s love of driving, but that’s changing quickly: Congestion pricing in downtown Milan implemented in January has dropped traffic by 26 percent and, residents hope, will lead to drops in smog as well.
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The Environment, dirty cities, environment, future of the environment, jason daley
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Norilsk, Russia
Blacksmith Institute/Hans Wendel
According to a study of the world’s most polluted places by environmental think tank the Blacksmith Institute, Norilsk, Russia—home to 134,000 residents and the world’s largest heavy-metal-smelting firm, Norilsk Nickel—makes the top 10. Norilsk’s Soviet-era plant spews tons of heavy metals like nickel and cobalt into the air, leading to severe respiratory and throat diseases in children and a life expectancy 10 years below the Russian average for plant workers. But the company says it’s taking measures to clean things up, investing in technology to sequester heavy-metal dust, and says it plans to move the smelter outside the city limits in the near future.
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The Environment, dirty cities, environment, future of the environment, jason daley
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7 Comments

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wkmmarfa

from Marfa,, TX

06/14/08 at 7:05 am

The surface has only been scratched. There are many, many more cities that have filthy air. Another is Novosibirsk, Siberia. Denver, Phoenix, etc. A huge amount of work and billions of dollars is needed to correct these problems. If they can be corrected - I am sorry to say.

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wkmmarfa

from Marfa,, TX

06/14/08 at 7:06 am

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greatgan

06/16/08 at 12:51 pm

how many city considered highly contaminated? more than a hundred i presumed.. the third world country is always suffer the worst.. :(

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nerd.herd

06/23/08 at 12:17 pm

the third world may be bad, but are we that much better. Huge factories, overconsumption, everything is bad.

the.nerd.herd.group.googlepages.com

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jemiller226

06/26/08 at 1:56 pm

Could you have picked a more misleading picture for Pittsburgh if you'd tried? Follow the link to the photographer's Flickr page, and you'll see that the title is "Pittsburgh under an unusual morning fog". The vantage point for the picture, near the intersection of Penn Ave. and 34th St., is kind of run down, explaining the appearance of the buildings in the foreground, and there's a river between there and downtown, which would account for the fog in the picture.

Why not use this picture instead?

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/1201423

or this?

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/311608

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graphguy

06/27/08 at 1:51 pm

Having been in virtually every city in the USA and in many different provinces in China. There is no compare, China from the soil to the clouds is by far, 100 years behind, filthy country. From healthcare, food sanitation, environmental controls, personal hygeine, the list goes on it is terrible.

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romokwany

from PROSSER, WA

06/27/08 at 4:28 pm

I have not been to Pittsburg or any of the cities named therefore not qualified to critique the classification and/or comments posted by other members. But on a general observation, those who claim Pittsburg is not dirty should consider whether they are making that observation based on what they SEE or scientific measurements. Some pollutants are invisible to eyes. Also whether the pollution comes from somewhere else is immaterial. The issue here is that this city IS polluted. From here we can discuss how to stop the pollution coming in.