In reply to pneame:
> Some lovely then and now pictures - it's refreshing to see that there are places on the planet where people live that don't become totally urbanised
I guess it's relative, those places have still probably tripled their population. Villages are more like towns etc.. The bigger difference is the space around houses as they are built, a detached house is detached, not just a wind tunnel wide enough for a wheelie bin.
Oslo has held onto some history, but their new concrete road tunnel system is pretty grim.