On my visits to Warsaw, I have always been struck by the translucent advertising entirely covering the sides of new-ish office buildings. Now I know how/why this is possible.
Example (hard to find because no-one takes photos of the ugly buildings in Warsaw):
Nah Detroit has some beautiful architecture and really surprised me when I visited last year. Also being on a river and next to a lake is a nice feature. I've been to plenty of more depressing places in the US
Mostly any ex-steel based industry town in the rust belt except Detroit, only because it has been the focus of overt development to directly impact its image as a wasteland. Not sure what took its place.
In Bucharest in the last years the mayors fought back quite successfully against those all-covering billboards. However enjoy it while it lasts - we just had local elections and the old mafia got back in office, so I bet the billboards will be back very soon (and cables hanging off every pole and expensive concrete wastelands and and and).
Really? I thought the old area along the west bank of the Vistula was nice. I didn't see much of the rest of the city, but most cities are uninspiring outside of their central areas.
It's corruption. On paper it's probably construction or renovation and there is some fraudulent deal between inspection department in city hall and marketing agency. Fuck you, Coca Cola.
