BadgeIsBack

Melbourne looks 'dirty' in winter, but no more than any other European city - infact I am amazed how dirty London looks by comparison.

It's all relative.

Buzzy--Bee

I don't think your or my bit looks dirty in winter! CBD might perhaps???

BB

bcworld

My street looks horrendous a lot of the time. Local residents don't appear to give a damn about what no longer wanted possessions they dump on the street which are inevitably vandalised, used to vandalise, placed on the tram tracks or even set on fire recently! It's a far worse problem than any area of London I lived in.

Seriously...how many CRT TV's can there be left in the world!

sr71

I just spent a month in the US, last two weeks in LA and coming back to Melbourne it really is a bit of an eye opener. Graffiti on anything that they can physically get access to (even vehicles like road repair one), particularly bad on train lines and freeways. But the other thing was the sheer amount of litter on the freeways and just general civic pride that that is lacking in many places.

BadgeIsBack

It has to be variable. Some streets were like that in London I recall.

For me it has to be whether you are literally talking about graffiti, dirt, litter or 'greyness'.

Yes Melbourne is grey in winter - but factor in sunny winter days.
Yes Melbourne has graffiti. I have always found Australian cities have less litter than UK cities but I won't fight anyone for it. There is a school of thought that interesting cities have litter because their citizens have better things to do...(etc). I found Melbourne grey in cloud compared to Sydney and was delighted to see the inner East - a sort of Islington with wide tree-lined avenues - 'green'. You could exchange these streets with London's and only the number plates and kerbs might give it away.

I am surprised to hear that LA fares better. But I won't fight you for it.

When I see photos of London - especially South London, I see grey, litter and 'dirt' - well old crooked jerry-built shops and houses.

I can pick particular streets in Melbourne and see the equivalent. Abbotsford, Collingwood. Overall, I see Melbourne a fraction ahead of London comparing demographic areas with demographic areas - and I would put this down to 2
factors, the roads are wider, and it might be sunnier. London shops don't have those awings that add a bit of colour to a streetscape.

So for me, it's all about the area and maybe the weather. I can tell you that my area looks grey when the sun is out. On some days it's only the euculypts that give away the fact I am not in Hampshire. We even have houses in our street that could be UK, Italian - you name it.

sr71

I think my definition of grey is more about drabness and architecture in Melbourne rather than the weather. Grey skies don't bother me too much and Melbourne definitely does not have those oppressive overcast days that Northern Europe gets. Despite the bad reputation I think Melbournes weather is actually good and there is plenty of sun.

BadgeIsBack

I agree - I look at some architecture in Melbourne in winter and I see a mixture of 'cool' skyscapers, and some old 19c architecture. I can't really complain. It looks grey but not as grey as London.

What I do feel is drab is those suburbs full of 1950/60s/70s weatherboard and brick veneer houses, found in traditional blue-collar suburbs West, (and indeed East). Not the traditional worker's cottages either but far 'newer'.

Some of the nicer ones tend to be used in TV adverts to sort of depict the man in the street who is in need of car insurance, motor oil or a new mower.

The advertising and film-making industry also show these houses when they flit back to backyard cricket and domestic scenes...showing sepia tones...when they want to show the 1970s.

Zen10

Thing about LA is it's pretty big and there are wildly different areas. I've been to LA a couple of times and there's a big difference between Santa Monica and Compton.

Never been to Melbourne so can't comment on graffiti. Graffiti is a problem in Adelaide bit so much in the CBD, mainly train lines and metro stations etc.

Edit - just had a look at a few random locations in Melbourne CBD on Streetview and it looks really nice.

RedDragon2008

Well it makes up for it in summer

There are some down right dirty dirty looking women on the high street and Glen Ferrie today