Does every city have its own specific smell?

[Arloest]

This is something someone I know brought up the other day. She asserted that every city has its own distinct smell, and I thought this couldn't be true because so many different things create so many different scents. But I wanted to hear what other people thought.

[Foxchild]

It definitly holds true. Subtle changes between cities, such as climate, residential/industrial ratio, and certain other factor's can lend a specific smell to a place.

Frederick, MD, for example, will occasionally smell like sour bacon on autumn mornings. This is because the military medical research base is burning the monkey corpses =x (really? we don't have a green disgusted face?), but I digress. In addition to the smog around DC, the fact that it is built all on former marsh land and the weather has maintained conditions that would promote such, you get a musty smell. Pittsburgh, you can smell the river for blocks and blocks away, Baltimore's humidity lends it's own as well.

Granted, these details are very very subtle, and are often influenced by temperature and other climate factors (high/low pressure, breeze, etc.)

[klimt]

yes very much so. so many different things make so many different scents, and you'll never get the same combination of these things from city or town to city/town.

[Maggot Brain]

Albuquerque smells like sewage and peppers

[GatMcNapalm]

Not sure about all citys, i have only been in the south west, southern California, and when REALLY little mexico, but I have noticed subtle changes.

[Doc Sigma]

Different parts of Boston have different distinct smells. Hell, different parts of Boston's subway system have different distinct smells.

[Caoimhin]

My town smells like fields and cow manure (except where the rednecks live... that smells trashy). Then again its not a city .

[osprey]

I would say yes, though obviously the smell of the city differs depending on what area of the city you're in. But it is true, very subtle differences lend entirely different scents to different cities, for instance, to compare places I've lived, the salt water in Vancouver gives the city a much different smell than the fresh water in Montreal. Even things as small as that lend different smells.

[Baconsticks]

Different parts of Boston have different distinct smells. Hell, different parts of Boston's subway system have different distinct smells.

From what I gathered while I was visiting there, the whole place smells like the prince spaghetti company.

(+1 reference)

[Doc Sigma]

Hah! Some parts of Causeway Street still smell of molasses.

[Foxchild]

Different parts of Boston have different distinct smells. Hell, different parts of Boston's subway system have different distinct smells.

Same holds true for the Washington DC Metro system.

[Rooster]

Every street in a city smells different to me. For example, Oxford Road in Manchester smells of diesel fumes and vomit, whereas Wilmslow Road (which is what Oxford Road is called after a certain crossroads) smells of oak leaves and vomit. The worst is Archery Terrace in Leeds, which smells of open sewers. We call it "Shyte Street".

[Liz]

Saskatoon smelled really nice compared to where I live right now. It's the nicer, cleaner air that must've contributed to it. But I can hardly remember the exact smell due to being inside most of the time :o

[osprey]

Saskatoon smelled really nice compared to where I live right now. It's the nicer, cleaner air that must've contributed to it. But I can hardly remember the exact smell due to being inside most of the time

Smells like saskatoon berries hurr hurr hurr.

[Extreme-Speed]

Cities do not have smells therefore different cities do not have different smells.