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. [41 photos]
A tree grows from the top of a chimney in an abandoned factory yard in Luque, on the outskirts of Asuncion, Paraguay, on October 2 , 2011. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)
- abandoned satellite dishes
- Abruzzo
- Adam Wolfberg
- Alan Spearman
- Alexis Madrigal
- Amber Hunt
- America
- Andrew Cohen
- Andy Clark
- Anis Mili
- Arab Socialist Union
- Arizona
- Asuncion
- Atafona
- Atafona beach
- Athens
- Beijing
- Ben Bernanke Saved
- Benghazi
- Benghazi
- Benghazi Cathedral
- Berlin
- Brazil
- British Columbia
- Bulgaria
- Cabiati Ferrazza
- Cachagua Valley
- California
- Carmel
- cement mixers
- China
- China Daily
- Ciudad Juarez
- construction site
- Coolidge
- County Leitrim
- Dangcheng
- Daniel Fromson
- David Gray
- David Mdzinarishvili
- David Rohde
- Detroit
- DIMITAR DILKOFF
- Dina Esfandiary
- Drumshanbo
- Dylan Martinez
- East Germany
- empty Pennhurst State Hospital
- Eric Thayer
- Ernest McCluskie
- European Union
- FILIPPO MONTEFORTE
- Gary
- Georgia
- Getty Images
- Getty Images
- gif
- GLEB GARANICH
- Greece
- Guido Ottavo
- Hiro Komae
- HMS
- India
- Indiana
- Internet Kasia Cieplak-Mayr von Baldegg Presented By How Journalists Reported Hitler Jennie Rothenberg Gritz
- Iraq
- Ireland
- Iron Curtain
- Isaac Brekken
- Islamic Republic of Iran
- Japan
- Jeff Bullis
- Jennie Rothenberg Gritz
- Jharkhand
- Jiangxi Province
- John Campbell
- Joplin
- Jordan Weissmann
- Jorge Saenz
- Jose Luis Gonzalez
- Joshua Lott
- Julie Barnes
- Kasia Cieplak-Mayr von Baldegg
- Komoshtitsa
- Las Vegas
- Libya
- Libya
- London
- Lucas Jackson
- Madrid
- manufacturing plant
- Maria Popova
- Mark Blinch
- Mark Bowden
- massive construction site
- Matt Slocum
- Matthew O'Brien
- Megan McArdle
- Memphis
- Mexico
- Michael Fiala
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Misrata
- Missouri
- Moby-Dick
- Molly Ball
- Moon Enceladus
- Nasiriyah
- Nevada
- North Africa
- North Dakota
- Olympic Games
- Osoyoos
- Paraguay
- past mining dreams
- Paul White
- Pennhurst State Hospital
- Pennsylvania
- phenomenal real estate crash
- Philadelphia
- Poyang Lake
- Prypiat
- Quyang
- radiation
- Ranchi
- real estate boom
- Rebecca J. Rosen
- Red River
- Reuters
- Rio
- Rio de Janeiro
- river Thames
- Roger Lowenstein
- satellite receiver
- Scenic
- Sergio Moraes
- Shannon Stapleton
- Sirte
- Sofia
- South Dakota
- Spain
- Spring City
- Susana Vera
- Tbilisi
- Tennessee
- Tennessee police
- Terrence McCoy
- the 2004 Olympic Games
- The Commercial Appeal
- the Olympics
- Tripoli
- Twila Merril
- Uganda Catholic Church
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Villa Sant
- Vladimir Lenin
- Voynitsa
- Wendy Kaminer