Two things struck me about the urban landscape in Geneva:
Parts of he city seem to be very transparent: There are many, large glass-surfaces. Besides the shop windos, most shops (and residential homes) also have doors that consist of an iron/steel frame with a single pane in it.
No further bars, rods or reinforcements visible. Walking down Rue de Carouge every single shop had the same type of narrow glass doors (from L. to R.: haberdashery, Korean Restaurant, Vietnamese Restaurant, Kebab-Shop, dry cleaning, travel agency, jeweller, corner shop:
I am not saying that this is a sign for an open or liberal society, but having lived in London for the last weeks, it was something surprising to see. I would say that the average size of unfortified glass surface area is a lot smaller in London than in Geneva. There seems to be less vandalism and/or more trust with the Swiss shopkeepers as they see no need to install more safety devices.
The prevalence of glass showed also that most residential building are highly illuminated at night. Walking down Rue Dancet I took these pictures:
People's houses are often emblazed at night, but in other countries and other cities, the lights are behind light-proof doors. Here, an atmosphere of (irrational?) safety is created. I did feel very safe, even while taking these pictures in the middle of the night.
