Design Around the World: Metro Maps

Every city looks and feels unique. Regional culture, typography, dialect, local customs and many more factors play a part in defining a city’s differences.

Those differences determine how that city sees its citizens and how it wants to represent itself to others.

For each city with one, the metro plays a part in defining those differences. The metro maps in this post show the skeletons of these cities. Each map explores the paths taken by the residents of that city.

The design and style of the maps appears reflective of the particular place. They may be seen as not only maps, but individual expressions of a local identity.

Here’s a great compilation of metro maps from around the world…

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Athens, Greece

Atlanta, United States

Barcelona, Spain

Baltimore, United States

Bangkok, Thailand

Beijing, China

Berlin, Germany

Boston, United States

Brussels, Belgium

Bucharest, Romania

Buenos Aries, Argentina

Bursa, Turkey

Busan, South Korea

Caracas, Venezuela

Cleveland, United States

Copenhagen, Denmark

Deagu, South Korea

Delhi, India

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Helsinki, Finland

Istanbul, Turkey

Kiev, Ukraine

Kyoto, Japan

Lausanne, Switzerland

Lima, Peru

Lisbon, Portugal

London, England

Madrid, Spain

Manila, Philippines

Medellin, Colombia

Mexico City, Mexico

Miami, United States

Milan, Italy

Montreal, Canada

Moscow, Russia

Munich, Germany

Naples, Italy

Newcastle-Sunderland, England

New York, United States

Nizhny Novgorod, Russia

Novosibirsk, Russia

Oslo, Norway

Paris, France

Porto, Portugal

Pyongyong, North Korea

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Rotterdam, Netherlands

San Francisco, United States

Santiago, Chile

Sao Paulo, Brazil

Seoul, South Korea

Shanghai, China

Shenyang, China

Shenzhen, China

Singapore, Singapore

Stockholm, Sweden

Taipei, Taiwan

Tashkent, Uzbekistan

Tokyo, Japan

Toronto, Canada

Vancouver, Canada

Washington, DC, United States

Wuhan, China

Compiled exclusively for WDD by Jon Szczur

What do you think of these metro maps? Do they accurately reflect the city that they belong to? Share your views below…

WDD Staff

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