What If? WI: All Of The Worlds Urban Areas Vanish?

[Free-Stater 101]

So tomorrow TDOB (That Damn Omnipotent Being) decides to mess with humanity by making all Urban centers of the world and their people to simply vanish.

TDOB however is completely without mercy as those who have been vanished from urban areas are sent to a utopian world to sustain them, and in our world while he has vanished all factories and most building's he has left city railyards, major roadways, landmarks, and hospitals standing.

How would this upset everything? How would history record the 'vanishing' a literal event which makes biblical feats seem relevant?

 

[ShadowArxxy]

Considering that urban areas contain the vast majority of critical infrastructure *and* the skilled professionals required to operate, maintain, and construct them, and that the surrounding rural areas are highly dependent on that infrastructure for day-to-day functionality, the consequences would be pretty dire.

 

[ShadowArxxy]

No, I'm serious. While urban areas are ultimately dependent on rural areas for food, modern farming is just as dependent on the infrastructure that comes out of the urban areas. The *sudden*, act-of-plot removal of that infrastructure with no time to prepare or transition to more independent, smaller-scale methods would be catastrophic.

 

[Bear Ribs]

World stabilizes having decayed to maybe 1920s technology. There's people in the country that know how to build but those people are usually focused on what they can build themselves in their garages and machine shops rather than advanced technology. We won't regress to the stone age but the loss of most infrastructure will hurt.

Third World nations will be greatly improved compared to more advanced countries. A much large rpercentage of their population is rural so they won't lose as many people. Those nations are also often focused on agriculture or resource extraction rather than manufacture so they won't lose as much of their productivity. Granted they lost most of their market.

Comparatively Singapore basically ceases to exist, it's population is 100% urban. Japan loses 91% of it's population. The US and Mexico lose about 80%, and Rwanda loses about 17%.

The insane geographical advantages of the United States ensure it will eventually become at least a Great Power again, it will probably eventually reach Superpower status. It's still going to have around 60-70 million people scattered about, it will take a lot of time to recover.

 

[Buba]

Quite a few countries cease to exist (some suprising entries near the top :

Urbanization by country - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[History Learner]

So tomorrow TDOB (That Damn Omnipotent Being) decides to mess with humanity by making all Urban centers of the world and their people to simply vanish.

TDOB however is completely without mercy as those who have been vanished from urban areas are sent to a utopian world to sustain them, and in our world while he has vanished all factories and most building's he has left city railyards, major roadways, landmarks, and hospitals standing.

How would this upset everything? How would history record the 'vanishing' a literal event which makes biblical feats seem relevant?

What do we define as an urban area? Any town of at least 1,000 people per square mile?

 

[Free-Stater 101]

What do we define as an urban area? Any town of at least 1,000 people per square mile?

Anything larger than Cheyenne Wyoming in total population. (64,000) So some small towns will still exist, but barely.

(We wouldn't want all the industry in the world gone would we?)

 

[History Learner]

Anything larger than Cheyenne Wyoming in total population. (64,000) So some small towns will still exist, but barely.

(We wouldn't want all the industry in the world gone would we?)

The balance of population and economics in the United States would thus, ironically, shift to Appalachia. West Virginia, East Tennessee, and Southwest Virginia would be largely unaffected, sans the loss of Knoxville. The Tri-Cities would probably be the largest unaffected metropolitan area in America.

 

[BlackDragon98]

A big chunk of China and India goes poof.
Climate Change instantly ceases because the main sources of carbon emission has vanished instantly.

 

[ShieldWife]

Quite a few countries cease to exist (some suprising entries near the top :

Urbanization by country - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Using that as an example, we lose 82.7% of the USA, from 331,000,000 to 57,000,000. This would be pretty devastating, though certain aspects of the USA would survive.

Western Europe would be in trouble too. Germany goes from 83.8 million to 18.9 million, France from 65.3 million to 12.4 million, the UK from 67.9 million to 10.9 million, and Italy 60.5 million to 17.5 million. These reductions are just on the first day, there would of course be massive numbers of death in the following months as infrastructure breaks down.

China goes from 1,439 million to 555 million. Still the 2nd largest nation, in fact it's even bigger in relation to other nations than in the real world. Instead of being 4 times as populous, like in the real world, now China is 10 times as populous as the USA. Some of the truly impoverished rural areas of China may in fact be more self sufficient than rural communities in the West are. India is now the largest nation, going from 1,380 million to 744 million.

There would certainly be some kind of religious interpretation of this event. Especially since rural people tend to be more religious and they are the ones that are left. Maybe sinful city dwellers are destroyed, maybe the message from God(s) is that cities are evil.

 

[Buba]

China goes from 1,439 million to 555 million. Still the 2nd largest nation, in fact it's even bigger in relation to other nations than in the real world. Instead of being 4 times as populous, like in the real world, now China is 10 times as populous as the USA. Some of the truly impoverished rural areas of China may in fact be more self sufficient than rural communities in the West are. India is now the largest nation, going from 1,380 million to 744 million.

Thanks for confirming my suspicions about Chinese and Indian populations.
The Amish are confirmed to have been correct. The cheaters - i.e. those subsects arguing that an Amish can use a tractor, but it must have steel wheels - are clearly identified as having ... strayed.

 

[History Learner]

Using that as an example, we lose 82.7% of the USA, from 331,000,000 to 57,000,000. This would be pretty devastating, though certain aspects of the USA would survive.

Western Europe would be in trouble too. Germany goes from 83.8 million to 18.9 million, France from 65.3 million to 12.4 million, the UK from 67.9 million to 10.9 million, and Italy 60.5 million to 17.5 million. These reductions are just on the first day, there would of course be massive numbers of death in the following months as infrastructure breaks down.

China goes from 1,439 million to 555 million. Still the 2nd largest nation, in fact it's even bigger in relation to other nations than in the real world. Instead of being 4 times as populous, like in the real world, now China is 10 times as populous as the USA. Some of the truly impoverished rural areas of China may in fact be more self sufficient than rural communities in the West are. India is now the largest nation, going from 1,380 million to 744 million.

There would certainly be some kind of religious interpretation of this event. Especially since rural people tend to be more religious and they are the ones that are left. Maybe sinful city dwellers are destroyed, maybe the message from God(s) is that cities are evil.

One thing of note is that the rural areas of China and India are both more comparable to Subsaharan Africa in terms of economic development. I have no doubt in this scenario the United States is still the world's most powerful nation, and would probably recover pretty quickly once the infrastructure network is repaired.

 

[Buba]

I suspect that most of non-urban area dwellers in the USA, Europe, developed countries like Japan or South Korea actually are sub-urbanites. Both they and genuine farmers die of hunger due to lack of fuel and fertiliser.
In order to function industrial farming needs industrial support. Which is located in urban areas ...
Only "crazies" like Amish or survivalists survive. Well, the Amish probably are wiped out by hungry hordes, which then die once they've eaten all there was. Or they enslave the Amish.
Whereas the more primitive the village, the higher the survival rate.
Highly developed countries will simply be wiped out.
The Draught Animal Using Peasants and Hunter-Gatherers Shall Inherit the Earth!

 

[History Learner]

I suspect that most of non-urban area dwellers in the USA, Europe, developed countires like Japan or South Korea actually are sub-urbanites. Both they and genuine farmers die of hunger due to lack of fuel and fertiliser.
Only "crazies" like Amish or survivalists survive.
Whereas the more primitive the village, the higher the survival rate.
Highly developed countries will be wiped out.
The Peasants and Hunter-Gatherers Shall Inherit the Earth!

The earlier statement that cities of around ~64,000 in size remain fine makes me doubtful of such. Why I think Appalachia is poised to do good is the general absence of cities much larger than that limit (beyond exceptions like Knoxville and Pittsburgh) within it, ensuring minimal disruption comparatively to other places. Case in point is the Eastman Chemical company, which remains in the 54,000+ city of Kingsport, Tennessee and could thus retool to provide fertilizers/chemicals in general.

Some mad lad also created a list of the 1,000 largest American cities by population. Near as I can tell, Idaho, Vermont, Wyoming, Maine, and West Virginia are some states that don't lose any cities. There will obviously be a lot of disruption in general and excess mortality as a result after the event, but total collapse of civilization seems unlikely and as soon as the infrastructure has the holes in it fixed I'd imagine society at large-at least in the United States-would continue apace.

 

[WolfBear]

Considering that urban areas contain the vast majority of critical infrastructure *and* the skilled professionals required to operate, maintain, and construct them, and that the surrounding rural areas are highly dependent on that infrastructure for day-to-day functionality, the consequences would be pretty dire.

No, I'm serious. While urban areas are ultimately dependent on rural areas for food, modern farming is just as dependent on the infrastructure that comes out of the urban areas. The *sudden*, act-of-plot removal of that infrastructure with no time to prepare or transition to more independent, smaller-scale methods would be catastrophic.

Completely agreed. Also, since most global elite science production is based in urban areas, global scientific and technological development is likely to slow down to a crawl in this scenario. When it might recover from this, I have no idea.

 

[Sergeant Foley]

So tomorrow TDOB (That Damn Omnipotent Being) decides to mess with humanity by making all Urban centers of the world and their people to simply vanish.

TDOB however is completely without mercy as those who have been vanished from urban areas are sent to a utopian world to sustain them, and in our world while he has vanished all factories and most building's he has left city railyards, major roadways, landmarks, and hospitals standing.

How would this upset everything? How would history record the 'vanishing' a literal event which makes biblical feats seem relevant?

Now that's very scary prospect in that scenario. However, there would be less crime across the world though 😕

 

[mspence]

No factories means no new materials for a long time, a world with a much lower lifespan, no means of producing medications for said hospitals (what happens when medications expire?) no new farm equipment, no fertilizers etc. Several governments will collapse around the world. There's also no more global or national communication.
What about military bases? I assume nuclear weapons and launch silos, et, are still around?
Where do aircraft still in the air land without major airports?
The vanished past might actually seen as a golden age by future generations in comparison.

 

[ATP]

USA survive as state,but Deep State is gone.The same goes for other western countries.
Becouse China without Pekin could cease to exist,and Russia withour Moscov and Petersburg would be gone,too.
Their elites live there,renove both cities and you have 10-20 states instead of Russia.

World at 1920-1950 tech level.And better Poland - our bigger cities are magnet for idiots.