Want to visualise inequality? View cities from above

Aerial pictures of adjoining neighborhoods reveal how cities around the world are unevenly developed.

By Sydney Combs
photographs by Johnny Miller
Published 25 Mar 2019, 09:48 GMT
A slum lines the Mithi River near the National Stock Exchange in Mumbai. The city is ...
A slum lines the Mithi River near the National Stock Exchange in Mumbai. The city is home to both a 27-story, $1 billion palace and the largest slum in Asia.
Photograph by Johnny Miller

From the air, drone photography exposes the economic divide within cities. Roads, canals, and fences become barriers that split the land separating the rich and poor.

Stark images from Johnny Miller’s series “Unequal Scenes” highlight the uneven development of cities. Makeshift shacks butt against developments in Mumbai. Lots sit empty in Detroit while an adjoining neighborhood flourishes. An electric fence buzzes around an affluent community in South Africa. The landscape shows how barriers—both man-made and otherwise—reinforce the disparities in urban centers.

Johnny Miller is a photographer based in South Africa. For more of his work see his website and follow him on Instagram @millefotosa.
loading

Explore Nat Geo

  • Animals
  • Environment
  • History & Culture
  • Science
  • Travel
  • Photography
  • Space
  • Adventure
  • Video

About us

Subscribe

  • Magazines
  • Disney+

Follow us

Copyright © 1996-2015 National Geographic Society. Copyright © 2015-2024 National Geographic Partners, LLC. All rights reserved