For a number of reasons, natural and human, people have recently evacuated or otherwise abandoned a number of places around the world—large and small, old and new. Gathering images of deserted areas into a single photo essay, one can get a sense of what the world might look like if humans were to vanish from the planet altogether. Collected here are recent scenes from nuclear-exclusion zones, blighted urban neighborhoods, towns where residents left to escape violence, unsold developments built during the real estate boom, ghost towns, and more.
A World Without People
Hints:
View this page full screen.
Skip to the next and previous photo by typing j/k or ←/→.
-
- Read more
-
- Read more
- Read more
-
- Read more
-
- Read more
- Read more
- Read more
-
- Read more
-
- Read more
- Read more
-
- Read more
-
- Read more
-
- Read more
- Read more
-
- Read more
- Read more
-
- Read more
- Read more
-
- Read more
- Read more
-
- Read more
-
- Read more
We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com.