# Nature's Reclamation (DD-066)

> The Reel retells a famous thought experiment popularized by journalist Alan Weisman's 2007 book The World Without Us. In his version of New York, the first big change comes underground: about 800 pumps that keep groundwater out of the subway would stop, and tunnels would flood within days. Freeze-thaw cycles would crack pavement for weeds and then trees, corroding steel would undermine streets and buildings over decades, and forest would cover much of the city within a couple of centuries. There is a real-world test case: Pripyat, near Chernobyl, abandoned in 1986, where trees are taking over streets and wildlife is thriving.

- Department: Nature (also Locations)
- First published: 2025-10-28
- Last updated: 2025-10-28
- Permalink: https://detailenjoyer.com/case/natures-reclamation/
- Author: Marcus Easterling (DetailEnjoyer), The Detail Department

## On the timeline

- **1986**: Pripyat, near Chernobyl, is evacuated
- **2007**: Alan Weisman's The World Without Us lays out how a city empty of people would go green
- **2015**: Studies find 20 tree species regenerating in Pripyat and abundant wildlife around Chernobyl

Full timeline: https://detailenjoyer.com/timeline/?case=natures-reclamation

## Quick facts

- **DD-066-F01**: If New York lost power, its subway pumps would stop and the tunnels would flood within days. _(Write-up · Exhibit B (Days: the subways flood))_
- **DD-066-F02**: In Pripyat, abandoned since 1986, trees are regenerating along streets and wildlife populations are abundant. _(Write-up · Exhibit E (A real test case: Pripyat))_

## Write-up

If people vanished, the city would go green. Pumps would fail within days, weeds would come within a season and forests within centuries.

1. **A thought experiment**: Nobody can test this directly. The Reel follows a scenario Alan Weisman laid out in The World Without Us (2007), built from interviews with engineers, ecologists and city workers.
2. **Days: the subways flood**: New York's subway sits below the water table. About 800 pumps move some 13 million gallons of groundwater a day; without power they would stop, and tunnels would flood within days.
3. **Years: cracks become gardens**: Freeze-thaw cycles widen cracks in pavement, and seeds and soil collect in them. Weeds come first, followed by shrubs and trees.
4. **Decades to centuries: steel gives way**: As water reaches steel supports, rust weakens them. Weisman suggests streets above flooded tunnels could buckle within decades and many steel-framed buildings would fail over the following decades to centuries, while stone and concrete structures last longer.
5. **A real test case: Pripyat**: Pripyat, near Chernobyl, was evacuated in 1986. A 2015 survey found 20 tree species regenerating, mostly in street-side and grove plots, and a separate census found abundant elk, deer, boar and wolves in the exclusion zone.

## Related case files

- [Water Forest Park (DD-027)](https://detailenjoyer.com/case/water-forest-park/): Trees growing where you wouldn't expect them: about 10,000 cypresses standing in a Hangzhou lake.
- [Bethlehem Steel (DD-010)](https://detailenjoyer.com/case/bethlehem-steel/): What's left when the people go: America's second-largest steelmaker went bankrupt in 2001 and was dissolved in 2003.
- [The Line (DD-031)](https://detailenjoyer.com/case/the-line/): The opposite experiment: a city planned from scratch in the desert, which fell far short of the pitch.
- [Tanzanian Half-Moons (DD-664)](https://detailenjoyer.com/case/tanzanian-half-moons/): Another case about land turning green again
- [Resting Rosie (DD-709)](https://detailenjoyer.com/case/resting-rosie/): Another case about places left to decay
- [Canadian Wildfires (DD-730)](https://detailenjoyer.com/case/canadian-wildfires/): Another Nature case about landscapes changing

## Reel vs. record

- **Context**: it's a thought experiment, popularized by Alan Weisman's The World Without Us (2007). Pripyat, empty since 1986, is the closest real-world example. [Scientific American; Lacan et al. 2015]
- **Note**: Missing the fastest change: the first big failure is underground. About 800 pumps that keep New York's subway dry would stop, and tunnels would flood within days. [Living on Earth]
- **Note**: Roughly right but compressed: weeds 'within days' is quick. Freeze-thaw cracking and plant growth take seasons to years, as Pripyat's pavement and street-side plots show. [Living on Earth; Lacan et al. 2015]
- **Timing**: skyscrapers wouldn't all wait centuries. Weisman expects flooded steel and buckling streets to start failures within decades, while masonry and concrete can last far longer. [Living on Earth; Scientific American]
- **Footage note**: the overgrown streets and water towers look CGI- or AI-stylized rather than real abandoned cities. [frames]

## Video: Nature's Reclamation: If People Vanished, the City Would Go Green

- Duration: 21.6 s · Published: 2025-10-28
- File: https://detailenjoyer.com/assets/videos/DQXEZpjETSv.mp4

### Transcript

DID YOU KNOW? If humanity vanished overnight nature would begin reclaiming cities almost immediately. Grass and weeds would sprout through cracks in pavement within days. Within a few years, trees would take root in sidewalks and rooftops, and vines would cover buildings as ecosystems rebalance. Within a few centuries, skyscrapers would collapse from rust and erosion, and dense forests or wetlands would replace the urban sprawl. NOW YOU KNOW!

## Questions & answers

**Q: Whose 2007 book popularized this thought experiment?**  
A: The book is The World Without Us. _(Source: Write-up · Exhibit A (A thought experiment) · An Earth Without People: interview with Alan Weisman (Scientific American, 2007); Imagining a World Without Humans (NPR, 2007))_

**Q: What would fail first in New York?**  
A: About 800 pumps keep the tunnels dry. _(Source: Write-up · Exhibit B (Days: the subways flood) · The World Without Us: interview with Alan Weisman (Living on Earth, 2007))_

**Q: What opens pavement to weeds?**  
A: Seeds and soil then collect in the cracks. _(Source: Write-up · Exhibit C (Years: cracks become gardens) · The World Without Us: interview with Alan Weisman (Living on Earth, 2007); An Earth Without People: interview with Alan Weisman (Scientific American, 2007))_

**Q: What weakens steel buildings once people are gone?**  
A: Streets over flooded tunnels could buckle within decades. _(Source: Write-up · Exhibit D (Decades to centuries: steel gives way) · The World Without Us: interview with Alan Weisman (Living on Earth, 2007); An Earth Without People: interview with Alan Weisman (Scientific American, 2007))_

**Q: Which abandoned city offers a real-world test case?**  
A: It was evacuated in 1986 after Chernobyl. _(Source: Write-up · Exhibit E (A real test case: Pripyat) · Lacan, McBride & De Witt, Urban forest condition and succession in the abandoned city of Pripyat (Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 2015); Deryabina et al., Long-term census data reveal abundant wildlife populations at Chernobyl (Current Biology, 2015))_

## Sources

- [The World Without Us: interview with Alan Weisman (Living on Earth, 2007)](https://loe.org/shows/segments.html?programID=07-P13-00032&segmentID=4)
- [An Earth Without People: interview with Alan Weisman (Scientific American, 2007)](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/an-earth-without-people/)
- [Lacan, McBride & De Witt, Urban forest condition and succession in the abandoned city of Pripyat (Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 2015)](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2015.09.009)
- [Deryabina et al., Long-term census data reveal abundant wildlife populations at Chernobyl (Current Biology, 2015)](https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(15)00988-4)
- [Imagining a World Without Humans (NPR, 2007)](https://text.npr.org/14241572)

## Cite this case file

Easterling, Marcus. "Nature's Reclamation." The Detail Department (DetailEnjoyer), case file DD-066, last updated Oct 28, 2025. https://detailenjoyer.com/case/natures-reclamation/