Jenny Vernon obituary

My friend Jenny Vernon, who has died aged 75, was a museum curator who worked at Gainsborough Old Hall in Lincolnshire and later became keeper of Lincoln Castle. But she also had a keen interest in, and knowledge of, Arctic Canada, which she nurtured throughout her adult life.

Jenny was born in Bromley, Kent, to George Vestey, a metallurgist, and Violet (nee Grant), a clerical worker. She spent most of her childhood in Hertfordshire, where she went to school in St Albans. After studying geography at Manchester University she landed a job in 1966 as a geographer with the Canadian government, carrying out field work in the maritime provinces and publishing reports on settlement patterns.

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‘The next era of human progress’: what lies behind the global new cities epidemic?

The urge to build cities from scratch is not new – but this time they are being conceived by private multinational corporations as gilt-edged tax-exempt gated communities

At 8.30 every morning, an announcement is piped though a speaker in the ceiling of Kim Jong-won’s apartment, barking the daily bulletin in a high-pitched voice. The disembodied broadcaster details new parking measures, issues with the pneumatic waste disposal chute and various building maintenance jobs to be carried out that day.

“There’s no way of turning it off,” sighs Kim’s wife, Jung-sim, as she prepares breakfast. “I hate technology but my husband is an early adopter. He has to have everything first.”

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Quiz: can you identify these world cities from their density maps alone?

The LSE Cities Urban Age Programme has created density diagrams showing the number of people living in each square kilometre of a 100km by 100km area for cities around the world. Can you identify them?

Which city is this?

Dhaka

Chicago

Shanghai

Lagos

Which city is this?

London

Paris

Rome

Madrid

Which city is this?

Buffalo

Accra

Marseilles

Brisbane

Which city is this?

Islamabad

Kabul

Karachi

New Delhi

Which city is this?

Mumbai

Cairo

Jakarta

Hong Kong

Which city is this?

Los Angeles

Vancouver

Cape Town

Taipei

Which city is this?

Recife

Newcastle

Havana

Dar es Salaam

Which city is this?

New Orleans

Malaga

Melbourne

Rio de Janeiro

Which city is this?

Toronto

New York

Sao Paulo

Barcelona

Which city is this?

Buenos Aires

Mexico City

Nairobi

Beijing

10 and above.

Well done!

3 and above.

Oh dear

4 and above.

Not bad

2 and above.

Oh dear

0 and above.

Oh dear

1 and above.

Oh dear

LSE Cities says: “Residential density measures how closely people live together. More compact cities have higher densities, while cities that sprawl and have wide open spaces between buildings have lower densities. The pattern of streets, squares and urban blocks – as well as how many people live in residential units – determines the density of a city alongside the height of individual buildings.

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