Timeline for Is roof-hopping through a city realistic?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
12 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 1, 2016 at 8:27 | comment | added | Angelo Fuchs | @Bergi Good to know! Still sloped roofs though (even though that can't be seen on the image you linked, but e.G. here. I'll keep my mind more open to that structure type. | |
| Aug 31, 2016 at 19:19 | comment | added | Joshua | I have personally seen the running jump clear well in excess of 10 feet, but you'll never clear the road gap either way. | |
| Aug 31, 2016 at 12:03 | comment | added | Bergi | @AngeloFuchs Maybe "block" has a slightly different meaning in America, but even in Germany blocks are well-known. And while in suburban areas blocks might be comprised of free-standing houses, in the town centres the buildings are certainly are adjacent to each other and would often facilitate roof-hopping. Have a look at this rooftop view of Wasserburg in Bavaria for an example! | |
| Aug 30, 2016 at 22:28 | comment | added | Raydot | I used to be able to get pretty far in the town I went to college in walking on the rooftops. Can't believe I was ever that young. But yes, was usually (but not always, especially if there was a tree or two involved) stopped by the streets. I've been to some towns in Europe though -- most recently Neufchatel Switzerland -- where it looks like you could get a lot farther. I would also think in the favelas in Brazil you could too. | |
| Aug 30, 2016 at 16:37 | comment | added | KRyan | As a New York native, I think you could be a little more optimistic: there are many blocks that are stuffed from one end to the other with buildings of consistent height (e.g. five-story brownstones are common in some areas since that is the maximum height for a walk-up). I grew up on a block you could run on roofs from one end to the other jumping nothing more than waist-high dividers between buildings’ roofs. Jumping across 1st or 2nd Avenue on the ends, of course, would never happen. But it could work for a short-ish chase (and even does, in say Law & Order). | |
| Aug 30, 2016 at 11:52 | vote | accept | Pants | ||
| Aug 30, 2016 at 7:38 | comment | added | Angelo Fuchs | As European I can tell: This concept of "blocks" is virtually unknown here. In some parts of the planned cities of Eastern Germany it happens, but even there its seldom and looks odd. So, this answer considers only "modern American urban areas" and is not applicable elsewhere. | |
| Aug 30, 2016 at 0:38 | comment | added | Todd Wilcox | Washington DC would also not allow much roof-to-roof jumping. At the same time, my brief experience in Venice, Italy leads me to believe that not all cities are equal in this regard. European cities in particular, with many roads predating the invention of automobiles, may have many extremely narrow streets and closely crowded buildings. In general, I agree to that you can't go far on rooftops in most cities, but there may be some old world cities where it is much easier. | |
| Aug 29, 2016 at 19:14 | comment | added | Ethan | This might be made a bit easier in cities on a slope traveling in the downhill direction. Since each roof is a bit lower (but not leg-breakingly) lower than the one before it, it might be more feasible than running if you are going downhill and the streets are otherwise twisty/turny (perhaps switchbacks to help carts/cars navigate the slopes). This doesn't really enable getting back that way, though, but works for a one way chase scene. | |
| Aug 29, 2016 at 16:58 | comment | added | Rory Alsop | For leaps across wide spaces, drops of 1 or 2 stories are actually ideal... | |
| Aug 29, 2016 at 15:55 | comment | added | nijineko | Also check out "Vector" phone app game. Fun, but fairly implausible jumps and drops are staple. I would say it depends on your setting - if you are going for heroic, then yes, absolutely. If you are going for realism, then no, not so likely, unless your city is built differently than modern ones. | |
| Aug 29, 2016 at 15:45 | history | answered | Avernium | CC BY-SA 3.0 |