As an engineer, I completely agree with your points on bad road and neighborhood design. It's what I've said for years -- we could have cities and towns that both have what people need close by and don't destroy the environment. It just takes designing them right.
but but that's a liberal agenda that takes away from my freedum… I need a parking space in front of my house becuz my 2 car garage is full of crap I bought and never used! why would I want a corner store within walking distance when I can waste gas and not get exercise to get my food?! besides we don't want that riff raff (everyday people who aren't white) hanging around!!
Sorry chief, I don't want to live next door to a shopping mall and an Applebee's. I don't want to live next door to anything or anyone. And oh yeah it's the little tiny car engines destroying the environment, not general overpopulation, ocean liners and airplanes. Incredible.
@@charlesbrown4483 Sorry chief, there's 8 billion people in the world and they're not going anywhere, so we can't design society around your desire for seclusion. Besides, ocean liners and airplanes may be bad for the environment, doesn't mean the billions of cars aren't tho.
@@LeSpeederus 8 billion people hardly cover a fraction of Earth’s landmass. So too bad for you, I’ll stay on my nice secluded property. Your desire to force me into a city to act as a socialist worker ant will never come to fruition. Ban the cars, ban private property, ban everything. I’ve still got horses and guns and I can survive without you. You’ll just have to kill me, I won’t be a part of your regime.
@@charlesbrown4483no one is asking for ugly big box stores to be next to houses. The stores and businesses would have to compact, with low parking and in the format of downtown
@@Zalis116That's not the point of his comment though. Yes, when comparing societal health from today to the 1920s, today clearly has it better. In terms of civil engineering/urban planning, though, the 1920s is the winner.
The UK minimum wage is £11.40, which at current exchange rates is $14.19. Denmark doesn't have a minimum wage law but it has strong unions and as such the current hourly pay rate for McDonald's workers in Denmark has an exchange rate value of $23.10.
@@charlesbrown4483 I'm not sure what Anglo is referring to. Denmark is not Anglo in anyway. But overall numbers aren't relevant, it is the per capita numbers that count. Denmark is popular with illegals, or was, they are learning.
People that keep wanting to raise the minimum wage is the problem. It's no wonder those states that raised the minimum wage are having mass lay off and fewer workers. The problem is the FED and inflation. We have to get rid of the fed and get rid of paper currency that is inflationary for gold backed
Great Video. It perfectly explains why I as a german always felt so weirded out by American suburbs. It just seems so lifeless, non inspirational and not aesthetic. Even in the worst suburbs in germany I dont get a feeling like this, there is always shops, restourants plants and trees nearby that don't seem unnatural, people walking around or taking the bike and it's always full of life no matter what.
I live in the suburbs in the USA. I'm too tired from working to walk around and enjoy life. I go home, sit in my she-cave for several hours, then go to bed. Get up the next morning for work, and repeat. After dealing with people at work, I don't want to deal with people after work. I want to rest well away from other people.
We like privacy. We’re not any colony drone-people like Europeans. I don’t live in the middle of fucking no where so I can have a department store built next to my house and have idiots trampling over my property 24/7. I live in the middle of nowhere so I can avoid people.
@@laurie7689That's antisocial behavior, dealing with people outside of work is different. It's laid back and more chill. Also not walking leads to obese unhealthy people and unhealthy people leads to not being able to handle people or having a sour mood that leaves with poor relationships
I've been a cyclist in LA for a year and a half and love it more every day while seeing more and more how unpleasant and dangerous cars are. Great to see another urbanist on TH-cam. Subscribed.
I hated growing up in suburbia. Always felt like I was being watched by someone peeping out the window, looking for even the slightest hint of trouble to report to their personal army, the police. So everyone just stays in doors and it almost feels questionable to walk around. Like why would you walk around when you have a car and a house? No need for walking so are you looking to burgle a place? It just sucks.
Maybe you grew up in a crap suburb. I grew up on Long Island. Manhattan was 52 minutes by train, Jones Beach was 15 minutes and the Hamptons an hour and skiing an hour and a half. I'm sorry you grew up in a crap suburb of a crap city, you're pretty damn ignorant if you think all suburbs are the same!
I grew up in "suburbia". Looking back most of our trips were within 5 miles of the house and yet we needed a car to reach them. I now live in Chicago in a neighborhood with access to a 24/7 train line, bike share stations, etc and yet there are shortcomings. I'd love more inviting PUBLIC spaces to make friends and acquaintances. Yes we have parks and such in Chicago but most of them lack seating and restrooms which I consider basic/ the floor. I'd also love heat lamps or fire pits so we can enjoy our parks more in the winter. My point is, even in cities typically seen as great American cities, there's still plenty of room for improvement.💜 Great video. Loved that you showed what we're missing in the United States. It's sad how few people realize what we're being deprived of. If people don't know about better options, they can't demand better.
@@LucasDimoveoYup Chicago is being stretched thin right now because republicans think it's funny to send influxes of migrants that we would never get if the incoming migrants were dispersed more evenly throughout the country like they should have been. Also many parks and public spaces in Chicago go neglected, especially on the south and west sides. I'd much rather see those parks get some treatment, but we absolutely need more bathrooms everywhere
@@carstarsarstenstesenn I'm not a Republican, but I agree with what they have been doing in this instance. The illegal immigrants/asylum seekers weren't being dispersed evenly throughout the country. The Feds were dumping them off in the States that they entered which are all located on the border. The resources meant for citizens in those States were being depleted and this had been going on for years now. The other States weren't doing their fair share in taking in and caring for the immigrants. Bussing them elsewhere has brought our pathetic border policy the attention it has been needing for a long time. Now citizens NOT in the border States have a better understanding of the trouble that our Federal immigration policy has wrought. It has brought communities together to stave off the influx of immigrants. People are more aware of the resources and of the amenities, such as parks, that serve their communities. The saying: "You don't know what you have until it's gone" applies.
@@laurie7689 They're still no being "dispersed" evenly, they're disproportionately being sent to NY and Chicago which are both known for their freezing winters when they could be sent more evenly to other dem areas, especially areas that don't go below freezing
@@carstarsarstenstesenn Those two areas have more pull from the current White House than some of the other areas. If we want things to change, we need the folks in those places making their complaints heard. The Feds turned a deaf ear to the Border States long ago.
"When your destination is far enough that you have to drive": I heard the story from someone (possibly Bill Bryson) telling how his neighbours said they'd call round, and they literally got in their car, backed out of their driveway, and drove round to next door and parked in his driveway 😬
Great video! I like your take on the subject at hand with liminal spaces. It always felt like a wasteland living in the suburbs even though their are hundreds of people living near me. Just to get a coffee, get groceries, or go to the gym requieres me to go 10s of miles in traffic, when this should be just be a 20 min bike ride at the most. Going from one air conditioned box to another doesn’t live up to the expectation of the American Dream that’s sought after. It’s is genuinely a chore to live a healthy lifestyle in these communities. Keep up the great work, creators like you raise awareness of this issue. It keeps giving the movement momentum!
For some reason I find your videos so fascinating, even though I don't even live in North America but in Europe. As someone who's gone down the TH-cam rabbithole of terrible urban planning many times before, much of the information you present I've encountered before in some way. Though you condense it all in a pretty unique and appealing way, which I find not many channels do when making videos on these subjects. I think your content is very well digestible for the average Joe and I hope you will keep up with it as I really enjoy your style and the high quality of your videos!
This is not really a design issue. This is a policy issue. You see, regulations like minimum parking requirements make it expensive to open up businesses. Small businesses don't have as much capital to meet the parking requirements, and so big businesses dominate as they can open up more stores with less profit for longer periods of time. Small businesses provide variety and individual flair while big corporations must standardize and be uniform to take advantage of economies of scale. When you have policies that abort small businesses from forming, all we have left are McDonalds, Chilis, Holiday Inn, Walmart, Target, Best Buy, Office Depot, Home Depot, etc etc etc in an endless loop. Contrast this to a mix-used neighborhood before parking requirements and you get more mom and pop restaurants and shops, some with interesting store fronts. When employees and customers live walking distance, parking isn't as needed. Small businesses can thrive with regular patrons that live close by.
Yet people chose to patronize Wal-Mart when they moved into small towns that had pre-existing local/main-street businesses -- those weren't killed off by parking and setback requirements. Turns out people like going to one store that's likely to have everything they need, instead of spending more time and money at 5 different stores. A landscape dominated by corporate monopolies isn't ideal, but I am skeptical that merely changing the regulations and building mixed-use developments would spawn new small businesses, especially when people don't have money sitting around to start them. Not to mention the challenges of securing health coverage.
@@Zalis116 of course they were killed by parking requirements, zoning, car centric infrastructure. As the town developed over the years, people were zoned further away from Main Street. Roads were built to accommodate car centric travel. Newer people lived further away from Main Street and therefore had to drive there. Housing close to Main Street were redlined. They weren’t allowed to build taller building on or close to main street which would have provided housing for workers and customers. The town was prohibited from growing vertically and densifying. A shopping mall or a Walmart is pretty much equivalent to a Main Street one must drive to. Don’t forget that these Walmarts and shopping malls are feed by freeways which are massively subsidized by the Federal Government. Not only this, parking requirements force many Main Street from expansion (in the same layout). Main Street ends when regulation abiding businesses with lots of parking start so those places are quaint little islands of walkability one must drive to. Cities also force parking requirements on Main Street which forces business to destroy existing buildings to abide by the regulation. This kills the appeal of Main Street even more. If you look at old pictures of American cities, there were more buildings in downtowns and not nearly as much parking lots and parking structures. Prospective business that do no have the funds to do this don’t get to start. Many Main Street store fronts simply remain vacant for lack of off-street parking to satisfy the requirements. Walmart doesn’t do nearly as well in Europe and Asia. Walmart is great only if you have a car. The local grocery store might be a little more expensive but if it’s walking distance, then you save by not having a car. Of course, you won’t have a car for work and other things either which only is feasible in a sufficiently walkable town.
@@Zalis116 each regulation imposes a financial penalty on a business. Some of these are justifiable like building codes, health codes, fire, and other safety concerns. If people don’t have a lot of money to begin with, then imposing more costly regulations not helpful. And the more costly the regulation, the more infeasible a business venture becomes. Parking requirements forces businesses to shoulder the cost to providing parking. It’s not so much the cost of construction but rather the opportunity cost of the space itself. In a car dependent area, this regulation is redundant as providing sufficient parking makes sense on its own. Businesses will die without parking for customers. In walkable neighborhood, this regulation is punishing. That parking space could have been more restaurant or retail space that could be used to service more customers and generate more revenue. Small businesses are more profit sensitive so capping revenues is bad. Big businesses have more resources where they can lose money on some locations for a longer time. In a regime of excessive regulation, entrenched business with expertise and resources will be the only ones left while most new aspirants without substantial starting capital are aborted from the start. If you go to any walkable neighborhood, you’ll see way more diversity of businesses and not so many chains. If you go to a car dependent area, it’s almost all chain businesses.
@@Zalis116 Yes, I prefer stores that offer more variety which small stores can't. I want one-stop shopping that I can quickly get what I want and get the heck out. I don't want to shop around. I want to get back to my home and away from other people. Some of us don't want to be around other people after we are done with our work.
@@Basta11 Most of my ancestors here in the USA were farmers. We live in suburbs now. We've never lived in walking distance of anything, ever. Going downtown has always meant driving whether it be automobile or horse and wagon. Being around people is tiring and not something we like. We don't want to live in walking distance of shops, people, etc. We just don't have a choice anymore because all the frigging city people moved out of the cities into our turf. The suburbs are as close to the city as we're willing to move and THAT is too many people for us, too.
When I went to America (I’m British) I wanted to love it. I really wanted to, but half of my time was spent in a car, and not a single neighbourhood felt real. I became so homesick and depressed, the only place I didn’t feel like that was NYC. I don’t understand why Americans are so delusional abt cars. 😕
Everything is built around cars. If you don’t have a car, you’re basically dead. Can’t have a job, can’t go really anywhere or do anything. When an American gets their license, for the first time in 2 decades they have the “freedom” to leave their home. This false freedom tricks the average non-critical thinking American that cars are cool and good because they allow us to go literally anywhere that isn’t our suburban neighborhood. I personally have friends who say they “enjoy driving” but appear constantly frustrated or their eyes are glazed over when they drive. My theory is that no one actually enjoys driving they just “enjoy” this false freedom
It's not just ugly or badly designed buildings that make a city 'ugly' ;but poor or badly designed public transit networks too. Too few sidewalks or none at all - so that walking becomes impossible without endangering your safety (cars and trucks passing close by at speed). It's also the calibre of politicians that a city has that either makes them better places to live, or terrible places to live based on what their priorities are, and the decisions they make. The US still has a long way to go in all these areas, particularly when compared with European cities.....and the people who run them.
Instant sub for another outspoken Canadian armchair urbanist. We really need to update these stupid 70 year old street design standards and zoning laws. We don't even have to re-invent the wheel here just go and copy the Dutch or Denmark road design manual. I think some of them even have english versions too.
When i lived in Mexico I always was meeting with friends, neighbour, being in walkable places like restaurants, plazas parks alway connected, and my mental health was great, my social skills were on top, but when I’m living in America i feel socially awkward or introverted, when I see my American neighbours most of them don’t even make eye contact, or they just say nod to be polite but there’s never a sense of connected communities. Yes the car infrastructure is making everyone isolated and miserable, and the safest part is the we know that car center cities are causing problems in all endeavours like mental health, addiction, physical health, societal problems, but no one really wants fix problems. When it comes to traffic jams, developers are not doing anything to build efficient transportation, but are creating a driving tax, and fast lanes that charge to used them but don’t work. I guess capitalism without morality is just as bad as communism,
Amazing video! A lot of smaller urbanist channels feel very amature-like, but this could have been uploaded by a channel with >100k subs, very professional and well made.
I've always felt that when civic leaders tout "sustainability" and "climate goals" as priorities, oh, and "getting people out of their cars" when launching transportation projects they are completely missing the mark in a huge way. Those talking points are nonsense and meaningless to a pretty significant population. If we simply design our cities to be "nice" and "beautiful" and "economically efficient" I believe we would have less pushback. After all, world-class cities that are beautiful, comfortable, and efficient will by default be sustainable and meet our climate goals. Perhaps it's as simple as, "Make our Cities Beautiful Again!"
Nearly half of America lives in rural places, like myself. I don't care what you do in your cities. Ban cars outright in the city for all I care. The problem is that the laws you vote for in effort to do XYZ to your city also effect people who live outside your city. So for example, the massive voting power of Cincinnati and Cleveland will dominate rural Ohio. If the urbanites vote to halt all new road construction, reduce the size of roads, and increase taxes on personal vehicles, that might be great for Cincinnati and Cleveland. But it does nothing other than hurt everyone living in rural Ohio whose conditions are nothing whatsoever like that of those major cities. But it's not really about improving the cities and we all know that, it's about control. Removing personal transportation to make the masses dependent on state operated transportation.
@@charlesbrown4483 we don't want to ban cars, we want multiple modes of transportation to ease congestion and make our community spaces more vibrant. That is freedom, having to use the car as our only choice is not. As for rural, of course the car is the ideal transport
@@richardalvarez2390 Uh huh whatever you say. I don’t care what you want or what you do. You can live in Hong Kong cages for all I care. Ban cars, demolish all the roads, go the full 9 yards. I still won’t take part in your urban micro-lifestyle like some party loyalist worker ant. I have 80 acres, natural gas reserves, my own central power pumpjacks, horses, river access, stocked ponds… I can live perfectly fine without the modern world.
5:50 -- Well, when you're forced to run cross-country Interstate traffic on a surface road because the quirks of toll-road rules and local politics won't let you build actual freeway connections, then yes, you get a truck-clogged stretch of a "highway with stoplights" like I-70/US-30 in Breezewood, PA.
Dude i moved from nyc to boston ! And boston has NO PUBLIC RESTROOMS! And few third spaces. Because of this work to home back and forth the only people in the city are students and it causes a horrible strain on the local culture :|
A community is only ugly because it reflects the character of the inhabitants of the community. A suburb is sterile because the people who live in those cookie cutter homes & cookie cutter streets are more concerned about maximizing the return on their "investment" than they are about enjoying life & getting to know their community. Suburbs are like near death experiences, which always reflects the local culture that the the individual who had the NDE was exposed to while growing up. For instance Christians or Muslims never report experiencing the afterlife of a Hinduism of Buddhism, and a Buddhist who grew up in a Buddhist community would never report experiencing the afterlife of Judaism. The only way for the country to stop being so sterile is for the nation to experience a foundation shaking event such as the great depression 2 & ww3. It's like expecting someone who grew up in Corn Town USA to become a Buddhist after rejecting Christianity in general, more likely they'll become atheist instead of adopting another religion after rejecting theirs. In urban planning sense they're more likely to move to another sterile corn town than to support the idea of mass transit.
@@kagakai7729 Making fun of retail workers huh? That’s interesting. You ultra-left wing people are always going on and on about the working class, but that’s what you really think of them lol.
commenting from germany because our geography teacher showed us this video, subway surfers and all. absolutely loved watching this in class, humour 10/10. thanks for making our geography class not so boring lmao
Great topic! This video does however neglect the fact that suburbia can certainly be beautiful, and that it seems like all of the images were cherry picked. And in some cases urban design can be even worse than suburbia.
My city is Philadelphia and it’s definitely not ugly. Top tier urbanism and skyline. Even the suburbs are more urban and dense then most sunbelt cities.
Philadelphia is a historical city. Your lucky it has kept some of its old urban fabric. Can't say the same is true for more sprawling or newer cities. San Francisco and LA literally paving paradise with highways and sprawl in what is one of the best climates to live and do farming.
@@Amir-jn5moSF is hardly sprawling. It’s one of the most walkable cities outside the northeast/Chicago and has suburbs that are generally walkable, and the mountains/water have made LA-style sprawl pretty much impossible
great video, please keep making more, very interesting and informative, living in Canadain city is the same hell place they call suburb with all the car infested street who has nothing to offer but a pass through roads, it's not only ugly, it's inaccessible without car and unlivable for normal humans
Don't live anywhere where it snows; that's number 1. Also, please ensure that your home is within walking distance of 15 minutes or less from a park, grocery store, school, and shopping center with multiple stores. Also, please ensure that your home has a picturesque view of the mountains and that you are at least a 15-minute walk from a body of water you can swim in. I got that for less than $229,000 in California, and my nearby park is 286 acres with 7 lake ponds, pickleball courts, tennis courts, an Olympic size swimming pool, baseball fields, softball fields, soccer fields, a 1,500-seat amphitheater, and a 30,000 sqft community center.
Look at how much area is concreted for roads. Areas where rainwater cannot even drain properly. How many square kilometers is that? What a waste. What a terribly ugly sight. And this massive sealing of huge areas brings with it completely different problems yet.
would be interested in a video on rural america vs countryside europe. i feel like people compare city design between USA and EU often but not sure if i've seen anyone talk about spaces outside of city/suburbs.
The corporate mind is bland, plain, no room for anything but churning out profits. Profits don't have time for aesthetics. Day to day life in America is total monotonous garbage.
NYC is the only place in america where you truly dont need a car to live their. some other american cities are walkable to some extent, but no where near the walkability of nyc. i moved from north jersey where the neighborhoods are walkable for the most part and their are urban centers sprinkled through out the area that are within walking distance, to tampa fl. the main reason for the move was because cost of living in jersey was really high compared to tampa when it came to housing, taxes utilities, etc. i've lived here for 2 years now and their are rarely any walkable neighborhoods. luckily the city is putting in a lot of effort to improve walkablility with new buildings and infrastructure, but the tampa bay area as a whole as a long way to go when it comes to walkability and transit.
Finally someone who shares my point of view. I have been arguing with wife and friends about how shity these places look. My grandparents old town in Mexico looks like the palace of England, except for the wealth, compared to these shit hole so called suburbs. Good luck if you plan on retiring on these boring nothing but consuming crap you don't need. Good video 👍👍
I hate planned communities. They plop all the houses in a clump and all of the commercial (third places) in the same place. We have a local town that’s all planned. The restaurants and shops have 6 lane roads around them. My suburb is not planned. We have shopping within 1 mile and have a center of town with local shops and restaurants. Supermarkets and other restaurants and stores have organically been built. Which is close to different parts of the town.
The Netherlands's "25% of all trips are by bicycle" and we all know what the other 75% are from 👀👀 There are so many reasons why I'd like to live in that country.
Kids who grow up in suburbs waste their first 16 years of their life. They can’t do anything or be independent until they get a car. If they can afford one. It forces parents to have to do everything for them which I’m sure the parents hate. So why do parents move from the most exciting cities in the world to boring ass suburbs?
I bet your mother thinks you're filling your head with nonsense. Either way, I think it's great you're making monetized, thought provoking content. Keep it up
I love living in the suburbs but looking forward to moving even further out into a rural area. Cities have become so dangerous and filthy at worst, loud and crowded with noise & light pollution at best. Living in quieter, less falsely lit areas are proven to be healthier. Small towns also have higher trust rates (yes, even when you have to drive 10-20 minutes to go to the store) because there’s very people to get to know. We’re a tribal people. Our tribes are meant to be smaller, not to have thousands of people.
Another huge factor is the same for having trains. Only cities that were designed during the horse and buggy days works for rapid transit. All of these types of cities have mixed use real estate because by definition, were walkable cities.
I liked the addition at 2:36. people have very low attention spans nowadays. But next time you gotta put some gta gameplay as well along with 10 other screens of nonsense.
Hot take: if American highways had easier access to and more towns along them or if there were more alternative routes buses would be more viable because most people where I am (UK) won't bus around for more than 2 hours.
It took us 75 years to totally fuck it up, ie, our built environment by basing our entire society around the automobile, and it's going to take us over 100 years to fix it. A great book on the subject of logical town and neighborhood planning is, "Suburban Nation" by new urbanists Andre Duany and Liz Zyberk, with input from architect Jeff Speck. All thinking Americans and Canadians should read it. It's a fascinating read, but most of you won't read it, as you just watch videos.
I think your videos are great but at the same time very tragic. I agree with 99% of what you say but I think its tragic that only people will watch and listen to you which already share your opinion.
I don't know, from a European point of view, I find American cities (as of today) more interesting. But I guess it's just because they are culturally different.
American cities are interesting but a lot of them are decaying. Almost every big city in the USA has poor/dangerous side of town that looks like a ghost town from the 1970s.
@@kagakai7729 Taller Downtown buildings/more skyscrapers/more impressive skylines. Grid street plan (for me its much easier to navigate where I am or should go on that way) either walking or by car. Less dirty old non-maintained buildings with bad smell and crumbling facades.
@@doriancroatia2054 Huh. I think your experiences might be limited to newer developments like central Austin and Seaport, Boston- if you hung around the older parts of our cities you'd see a lot of the same stuff. We just have less of them because we regularly demolish the old town to build another 8 story parking labyrinth. For what it's worth, I've been in the banking areas of London and Paris, and they've been as impressive as any American city.
@@kagakai7729 I agree about the parking lots fact - there are more of them in your part of the world and they are larger. I think it is the big factor. For the information, so far I've only visited Montreal and Calgary regarding North America, therefore my opinion should be taken accordingly.
The people who blame crime or negligence purely on individual behavior concern me. When they talk about it like a problem without an external root cause, they are ultimately claiming that there doesn't need to be an incentive to commit dangerous acts or develop dangerous behaviors. And while they may be be saying this in an attempt to other certain groups of people they deem criminals, the reality is they are admitting that they to think it that the natural state of humans is selfish and inconsiderate behavior... and these are the people making our laws and running out countries, demonizing a starving vagrant or an overworked driver whilst willingly making life tough for said people. Basically a self report of narcisistic sociopathy.
i grew up in lewisville texas. its a shit hole with high crime and i hated going outside. I lived right behind a gas station and walmart that lead to a highway. I moved to denton for a year when i was 7 and it was even worse. The houses all looked the same, it smelled like dust from the construction everywhere. Only place I liked living was flower mound. Cities are dirty as fuck and you cant walk around at night without getting jumped
American cities are awfull. One of the main reasons I refuse to ever move in north America is that it is so hard to find a pleasant place to live. And the few lefts are just too expensive. It's really that hard to ask for a place where you want to take an ice cream outdoors under a few trees? I mean, f*ck, a basic village in Europe allows for this.
The city of Lost Wages is horrible in this regard. There could me a small gas station market around the corner.... but to walk there, you have go far to get around the Trump type walls that divide housing projects.
@allergy5634 Your right, I should have said initially they are built for tax generating purposes, after that they end up costing the city too much to maintain.
@allergy5634 Yep, the politicians get elected, put up huge developments, get paid under the table, generate a lot of tax income initially, call it a huge win, then the next politician gets to take care of the mess they made and only make things worse. Its a downward spiral that ends up 3rd world like were living in right now.
North American cities are garbage. Too many people and too many stressors. Europe is different. I absolutely loved spending time outside and talking to new people when I was in Germany.
I'm from rural Scotland, lived in London for a decade, I currently live in Pennsylvania I like the American 'standard' - It maybe doesn't work for people who to struggle through life renting property and paying delivery fees (because they don't own a car) and I can't walk to "the" restaurant any more than I could in I lived back in a rural place. But sorry, I prefer the setup. And that's why the situation won't change. People *like* suburbs, they don't want to live in a 500 sq ft apartment and be locked in place.
@@jalifritz8033 Because there are two types of people in the World: those who seek out socialization and those who don't. I avoid socialization. I prefer suburbs and rural living. I would never live in a mixed use neighborhood. It isn't my thing. I don't want to run into people and be expected to chat with them. That isn't me. Those who seek out socialization are the people who desire mixed use neighborhoods. More people are social than are not, so there is more demand for them. They are more willing to pay premium prices for amenities, too. Those folks, like myself, who avoid social interaction don't have as much use for amenities.
As an engineer, I completely agree with your points on bad road and neighborhood design. It's what I've said for years -- we could have cities and towns that both have what people need close by and don't destroy the environment. It just takes designing them right.
but but that's a liberal agenda that takes away from my freedum… I need a parking space in front of my house becuz my 2 car garage is full of crap I bought and never used! why would I want a corner store within walking distance when I can waste gas and not get exercise to get my food?! besides we don't want that riff raff (everyday people who aren't white) hanging around!!
Sorry chief, I don't want to live next door to a shopping mall and an Applebee's. I don't want to live next door to anything or anyone.
And oh yeah it's the little tiny car engines destroying the environment, not general overpopulation, ocean liners and airplanes. Incredible.
@@charlesbrown4483 Sorry chief, there's 8 billion people in the world and they're not going anywhere, so we can't design society around your desire for seclusion. Besides, ocean liners and airplanes may be bad for the environment, doesn't mean the billions of cars aren't tho.
@@LeSpeederus 8 billion people hardly cover a fraction of Earth’s landmass. So too bad for you, I’ll stay on my nice secluded property. Your desire to force me into a city to act as a socialist worker ant will never come to fruition. Ban the cars, ban private property, ban everything. I’ve still got horses and guns and I can survive without you. You’ll just have to kill me, I won’t be a part of your regime.
@@charlesbrown4483no one is asking for ugly big box stores to be next to houses. The stores and businesses would have to compact, with low parking and in the format of downtown
looking at american cities in the 1920’s before car dependent infrastructure is a dream
That era had its share of perils too, like dying of tuberculosis in over-crowded tenement buildings.
My city looks like a blown poophole
@@Zalis116That's not the point of his comment though. Yes, when comparing societal health from today to the 1920s, today clearly has it better. In terms of civil engineering/urban planning, though, the 1920s is the winner.
but the low riders though
@@Zalis116 how come Europe is not dying from tuberculosis now but still saved old architecture and vibrant cities? :)
The American dream has been dead ever since minimum wage stopped allowing you to afford basic necessities
sigh this is a fact and I wish it wasn’t.
The UK minimum wage is £11.40, which at current exchange rates is $14.19. Denmark doesn't have a minimum wage law but it has strong unions and as such the current hourly pay rate for McDonald's workers in Denmark has an exchange rate value of $23.10.
@@maxisussex Denmark is also a tiny little anglo-country that DOESN'T have 1,500 illegal immigrants entering it's borders every single day.
@@charlesbrown4483 I'm not sure what Anglo is referring to. Denmark is not Anglo in anyway. But overall numbers aren't relevant, it is the per capita numbers that count. Denmark is popular with illegals, or was, they are learning.
People that keep wanting to raise the minimum wage is the problem. It's no wonder those states that raised the minimum wage are having mass lay off and fewer workers. The problem is the FED and inflation. We have to get rid of the fed and get rid of paper currency that is inflationary for gold backed
Great Video. It perfectly explains why I as a german always felt so weirded out by American suburbs. It just seems so lifeless, non inspirational and not aesthetic. Even in the worst suburbs in germany I dont get a feeling like this, there is always shops, restourants plants and trees nearby that don't seem unnatural, people walking around or taking the bike and it's always full of life no matter what.
I live in the suburbs in the USA. I'm too tired from working to walk around and enjoy life. I go home, sit in my she-cave for several hours, then go to bed. Get up the next morning for work, and repeat. After dealing with people at work, I don't want to deal with people after work. I want to rest well away from other people.
American suburbs have people out and about all the time
We like privacy. We’re not any colony drone-people like Europeans. I don’t live in the middle of fucking no where so I can have a department store built next to my house and have idiots trampling over my property 24/7. I live in the middle of nowhere so I can avoid people.
Ok cool story Nazi. But did you know America isn't just suburbs? Guess you're not as cultured as you thought you were.
@@laurie7689That's antisocial behavior, dealing with people outside of work is different. It's laid back and more chill. Also not walking leads to obese unhealthy people and unhealthy people leads to not being able to handle people or having a sour mood that leaves with poor relationships
I've been a cyclist in LA for a year and a half and love it more every day while seeing more and more how unpleasant and dangerous cars are. Great to see another urbanist on TH-cam. Subscribed.
I hated growing up in suburbia. Always felt like I was being watched by someone peeping out the window, looking for even the slightest hint of trouble to report to their personal army, the police. So everyone just stays in doors and it almost feels questionable to walk around. Like why would you walk around when you have a car and a house? No need for walking so are you looking to burgle a place? It just sucks.
Maybe you grew up in a crap suburb. I grew up on Long Island. Manhattan was 52 minutes by train, Jones Beach was 15 minutes and the Hamptons an hour and skiing an hour and a half. I'm sorry you grew up in a crap suburb of a crap city, you're pretty damn ignorant if you think all suburbs are the same!
I grew up in "suburbia". Looking back most of our trips were within 5 miles of the house and yet we needed a car to reach them. I now live in Chicago in a neighborhood with access to a 24/7 train line, bike share stations, etc and yet there are shortcomings. I'd love more inviting PUBLIC spaces to make friends and acquaintances. Yes we have parks and such in Chicago but most of them lack seating and restrooms which I consider basic/ the floor. I'd also love heat lamps or fire pits so we can enjoy our parks more in the winter. My point is, even in cities typically seen as great American cities, there's still plenty of room for improvement.💜 Great video. Loved that you showed what we're missing in the United States. It's sad how few people realize what we're being deprived of. If people don't know about better options, they can't demand better.
It is hard to have those sorts of aminenties without first dealing with the homelessness issue
@@LucasDimoveoYup Chicago is being stretched thin right now because republicans think it's funny to send influxes of migrants that we would never get if the incoming migrants were dispersed more evenly throughout the country like they should have been.
Also many parks and public spaces in Chicago go neglected, especially on the south and west sides. I'd much rather see those parks get some treatment, but we absolutely need more bathrooms everywhere
@@carstarsarstenstesenn I'm not a Republican, but I agree with what they have been doing in this instance. The illegal immigrants/asylum seekers weren't being dispersed evenly throughout the country. The Feds were dumping them off in the States that they entered which are all located on the border. The resources meant for citizens in those States were being depleted and this had been going on for years now. The other States weren't doing their fair share in taking in and caring for the immigrants. Bussing them elsewhere has brought our pathetic border policy the attention it has been needing for a long time. Now citizens NOT in the border States have a better understanding of the trouble that our Federal immigration policy has wrought. It has brought communities together to stave off the influx of immigrants. People are more aware of the resources and of the amenities, such as parks, that serve their communities. The saying: "You don't know what you have until it's gone" applies.
@@laurie7689 They're still no being "dispersed" evenly, they're disproportionately being sent to NY and Chicago which are both known for their freezing winters when they could be sent more evenly to other dem areas, especially areas that don't go below freezing
@@carstarsarstenstesenn Those two areas have more pull from the current White House than some of the other areas. If we want things to change, we need the folks in those places making their complaints heard. The Feds turned a deaf ear to the Border States long ago.
"When your destination is far enough that you have to drive": I heard the story from someone (possibly Bill Bryson) telling how his neighbours said they'd call round, and they literally got in their car, backed out of their driveway, and drove round to next door and parked in his driveway 😬
Great video! I like your take on the subject at hand with liminal spaces. It always felt like a wasteland living in the suburbs even though their are hundreds of people living near me. Just to get a coffee, get groceries, or go to the gym requieres me to go 10s of miles in traffic, when this should be just be a 20 min bike ride at the most. Going from one air conditioned box to another doesn’t live up to the expectation of the American Dream that’s sought after. It’s is genuinely a chore to live a healthy lifestyle in these communities.
Keep up the great work, creators like you raise awareness of this issue. It keeps giving the movement momentum!
The personal automobile is the #1 ill of USA society and is the root cause of most of our misery
The car centric infrastructure is the problem not the car itself
@@railroadforest30 yeah that plus capitalism
@@railroadforest30 This. Cars should be viewed as an widely accessible luxury and not a necessity.
@@yourunclejohn exactly
Cars reduce misery and connect people.
For some reason I find your videos so fascinating, even though I don't even live in North America but in Europe. As someone who's gone down the TH-cam rabbithole of terrible urban planning many times before, much of the information you present I've encountered before in some way. Though you condense it all in a pretty unique and appealing way, which I find not many channels do when making videos on these subjects. I think your content is very well digestible for the average Joe and I hope you will keep up with it as I really enjoy your style and the high quality of your videos!
Your humorous and well-read style is such a level up from so many platforms on here. Subbed!
This is not really a design issue. This is a policy issue. You see, regulations like minimum parking requirements make it expensive to open up businesses. Small businesses don't have as much capital to meet the parking requirements, and so big businesses dominate as they can open up more stores with less profit for longer periods of time.
Small businesses provide variety and individual flair while big corporations must standardize and be uniform to take advantage of economies of scale. When you have policies that abort small businesses from forming, all we have left are McDonalds, Chilis, Holiday Inn, Walmart, Target, Best Buy, Office Depot, Home Depot, etc etc etc in an endless loop.
Contrast this to a mix-used neighborhood before parking requirements and you get more mom and pop restaurants and shops, some with interesting store fronts. When employees and customers live walking distance, parking isn't as needed. Small businesses can thrive with regular patrons that live close by.
Yet people chose to patronize Wal-Mart when they moved into small towns that had pre-existing local/main-street businesses -- those weren't killed off by parking and setback requirements. Turns out people like going to one store that's likely to have everything they need, instead of spending more time and money at 5 different stores. A landscape dominated by corporate monopolies isn't ideal, but I am skeptical that merely changing the regulations and building mixed-use developments would spawn new small businesses, especially when people don't have money sitting around to start them. Not to mention the challenges of securing health coverage.
@@Zalis116 of course they were killed by parking requirements, zoning, car centric infrastructure. As the town developed over the years, people were zoned further away from Main Street. Roads were built to accommodate car centric travel.
Newer people lived further away from Main Street and therefore had to drive there. Housing close to Main Street were redlined.
They weren’t allowed to build taller building on or close to main street which would have provided housing for workers and customers. The town was prohibited from growing vertically and densifying.
A shopping mall or a Walmart is pretty much equivalent to a Main Street one must drive to.
Don’t forget that these Walmarts and shopping malls are feed by freeways which are massively subsidized by the Federal Government.
Not only this, parking requirements force many Main Street from expansion (in the same layout). Main Street ends when regulation abiding businesses with lots of parking start so those places are quaint little islands of walkability one must drive to.
Cities also force parking requirements on Main Street which forces business to destroy existing buildings to abide by the regulation. This kills the appeal of Main Street even more.
If you look at old pictures of American cities, there were more buildings in downtowns and not nearly as much parking lots and parking structures.
Prospective business that do no have the funds to do this don’t get to start. Many Main Street store fronts simply remain vacant for lack of off-street parking to satisfy the requirements.
Walmart doesn’t do nearly as well in Europe and Asia. Walmart is great only if you have a car.
The local grocery store might be a little more expensive but if it’s walking distance, then you save by not having a car. Of course, you won’t have a car for work and other things either which only is feasible in a sufficiently walkable town.
@@Zalis116 each regulation imposes a financial penalty on a business. Some of these are justifiable like building codes, health codes, fire, and other safety concerns.
If people don’t have a lot of money to begin with, then imposing more costly regulations not helpful. And the more costly the regulation, the more infeasible a business venture becomes.
Parking requirements forces businesses to shoulder the cost to providing parking. It’s not so much the cost of construction but rather the opportunity cost of the space itself.
In a car dependent area, this regulation is redundant as providing sufficient parking makes sense on its own. Businesses will die without parking for customers.
In walkable neighborhood, this regulation is punishing. That parking space could have been more restaurant or retail space that could be used to service more customers and generate more revenue.
Small businesses are more profit sensitive so capping revenues is bad.
Big businesses have more resources where they can lose money on some locations for a longer time.
In a regime of excessive regulation, entrenched business with expertise and resources will be the only ones left while most new aspirants without substantial starting capital are aborted from the start.
If you go to any walkable neighborhood, you’ll see way more diversity of businesses and not so many chains. If you go to a car dependent area, it’s almost all chain businesses.
@@Zalis116 Yes, I prefer stores that offer more variety which small stores can't. I want one-stop shopping that I can quickly get what I want and get the heck out. I don't want to shop around. I want to get back to my home and away from other people. Some of us don't want to be around other people after we are done with our work.
@@Basta11 Most of my ancestors here in the USA were farmers. We live in suburbs now. We've never lived in walking distance of anything, ever. Going downtown has always meant driving whether it be automobile or horse and wagon. Being around people is tiring and not something we like. We don't want to live in walking distance of shops, people, etc. We just don't have a choice anymore because all the frigging city people moved out of the cities into our turf. The suburbs are as close to the city as we're willing to move and THAT is too many people for us, too.
"and just so you guys don't click off" pulls up laptop with background gameplay. You sir are funny as shit
When I went to America (I’m British) I wanted to love it. I really wanted to, but half of my time was spent in a car, and not a single neighbourhood felt real. I became so homesick and depressed, the only place I didn’t feel like that was NYC. I don’t understand why Americans are so delusional abt cars. 😕
Everything is built around cars. If you don’t have a car, you’re basically dead. Can’t have a job, can’t go really anywhere or do anything. When an American gets their license, for the first time in 2 decades they have the “freedom” to leave their home. This false freedom tricks the average non-critical thinking American that cars are cool and good because they allow us to go literally anywhere that isn’t our suburban neighborhood. I personally have friends who say they “enjoy driving” but appear constantly frustrated or their eyes are glazed over when they drive. My theory is that no one actually enjoys driving they just “enjoy” this false freedom
They just need them to get around since it’s a big country. What makes a neighborhood feel real?
@@TH-cam_Tags_Suck High speed Rail? Some are being built but they tend to be money pits.
@@TH-cam_Tags_Suck I didn’t know that but it does not surprise me
Because "U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!"
It's not just ugly or badly designed buildings that make a city 'ugly' ;but poor or badly designed public transit networks too. Too few sidewalks or none at all - so that walking becomes impossible without endangering your safety (cars and trucks passing close by at speed).
It's also the calibre of politicians that a city has that either makes them better places to live, or terrible places to live based on what their priorities are, and the decisions they make.
The US still has a long way to go in all these areas, particularly when compared with European cities.....and the people who run them.
HAHA AMERICA BAD EUROPE GOOD
Instant sub for another outspoken Canadian armchair urbanist. We really need to update these stupid 70 year old street design standards and zoning laws. We don't even have to re-invent the wheel here just go and copy the Dutch or Denmark road design manual. I think some of them even have english versions too.
Dude your videos on urban planning are SO GOOD and well researched
Currently binge watching a few of them
When i lived in Mexico I always was meeting with friends, neighbour, being in walkable places like restaurants, plazas parks alway connected, and my mental health was great, my social skills were on top, but when I’m living in America i feel socially awkward or introverted, when I see my American neighbours most of them don’t even make eye contact, or they just say nod to be polite but there’s never a sense of connected communities. Yes the car infrastructure is making everyone isolated and miserable, and the safest part is the we know that car center cities are causing problems in all endeavours like mental health, addiction, physical health, societal problems, but no one really wants fix problems. When it comes to traffic jams, developers are not doing anything to build efficient transportation, but are creating a driving tax, and fast lanes that charge to used them but don’t work. I guess capitalism without morality is just as bad as communism,
Amazing video! A lot of smaller urbanist channels feel very amature-like, but this could have been uploaded by a channel with >100k subs, very professional and well made.
I'm from Maine. Every time I visit Boston, it's a paranoid over-stimulating nightmare.
I've always felt that when civic leaders tout "sustainability" and "climate goals" as priorities, oh, and "getting people out of their cars" when launching transportation projects they are completely missing the mark in a huge way. Those talking points are nonsense and meaningless to a pretty significant population. If we simply design our cities to be "nice" and "beautiful" and "economically efficient" I believe we would have less pushback. After all, world-class cities that are beautiful, comfortable, and efficient will by default be sustainable and meet our climate goals. Perhaps it's as simple as, "Make our Cities Beautiful Again!"
Nearly half of America lives in rural places, like myself. I don't care what you do in your cities. Ban cars outright in the city for all I care. The problem is that the laws you vote for in effort to do XYZ to your city also effect people who live outside your city.
So for example, the massive voting power of Cincinnati and Cleveland will dominate rural Ohio. If the urbanites vote to halt all new road construction, reduce the size of roads, and increase taxes on personal vehicles, that might be great for Cincinnati and Cleveland. But it does nothing other than hurt everyone living in rural Ohio whose conditions are nothing whatsoever like that of those major cities.
But it's not really about improving the cities and we all know that, it's about control. Removing personal transportation to make the masses dependent on state operated transportation.
@@charlesbrown4483 we don't want to ban cars, we want multiple modes of transportation to ease congestion and make our community spaces more vibrant. That is freedom, having to use the car as our only choice is not. As for rural, of course the car is the ideal transport
@@richardalvarez2390 Uh huh whatever you say. I don’t care what you want or what you do. You can live in Hong Kong cages for all I care. Ban cars, demolish all the roads, go the full 9 yards. I still won’t take part in your urban micro-lifestyle like some party loyalist worker ant. I have 80 acres, natural gas reserves, my own central power pumpjacks, horses, river access, stocked ponds… I can live perfectly fine without the modern world.
Thank you for sharing !
We don't have the cities we deserve, we have the cities we settle for.
5:50 -- Well, when you're forced to run cross-country Interstate traffic on a surface road because the quirks of toll-road rules and local politics won't let you build actual freeway connections, then yes, you get a truck-clogged stretch of a "highway with stoplights" like I-70/US-30 in Breezewood, PA.
Dude i moved from nyc to boston ! And boston has NO PUBLIC RESTROOMS! And few third spaces. Because of this work to home back and forth the only people in the city are students and it causes a horrible strain on the local culture :|
As soon as I turned 18 I left my parent’s house and moved into the downtown - inner city. Can’t stand the suburbs.
A community is only ugly because it reflects the character of the inhabitants of the community. A suburb is sterile because the people who live in those cookie cutter homes & cookie cutter streets are more concerned about maximizing the return on their "investment" than they are about enjoying life & getting to know their community.
Suburbs are like near death experiences, which always reflects the local culture that the the individual who had the NDE was exposed to while growing up. For instance Christians or Muslims never report experiencing the afterlife of a Hinduism of Buddhism, and a Buddhist who grew up in a Buddhist community would never report experiencing the afterlife of Judaism.
The only way for the country to stop being so sterile is for the nation to experience a foundation shaking event such as the great depression 2 & ww3.
It's like expecting someone who grew up in Corn Town USA to become a Buddhist after rejecting Christianity in general, more likely they'll become atheist instead of adopting another religion after rejecting theirs. In urban planning sense they're more likely to move to another sterile corn town than to support the idea of mass transit.
"Everything I don't like is sterile, stupid and pointless. Be like me or else."
@@charlesbrown4483 Shouldn't you be on the clock at Walmart, right now?
@@kagakai7729 Making fun of retail workers huh? That’s interesting. You ultra-left wing people are always going on and on about the working class, but that’s what you really think of them lol.
commenting from germany because our geography teacher showed us this video, subway surfers and all. absolutely loved watching this in class, humour 10/10.
thanks for making our geography class not so boring lmao
Great topic! This video does however neglect the fact that suburbia can certainly be beautiful, and that it seems like all of the images were cherry picked. And in some cases urban design can be even worse than suburbia.
I recognize the song in the "3rd place" chapter of the video. Lukrembo really knows how to make relaxing songs.
My city is Philadelphia and it’s definitely not ugly. Top tier urbanism and skyline. Even the suburbs are more urban and dense then most sunbelt cities.
Top tier urbanism? The majority of the city doesn’t even have proper bike lanes and SEPTA is a joke(for now).
Philadelphia is a historical city. Your lucky it has kept some of its old urban fabric. Can't say the same is true for more sprawling or newer cities. San Francisco and LA literally paving paradise with highways and sprawl in what is one of the best climates to live and do farming.
San Francisco is not sprawl. It’s dense and walkable. I live here and I know.
@@Amir-jn5moSF is hardly sprawling. It’s one of the most walkable cities outside the northeast/Chicago and has suburbs that are generally walkable, and the mountains/water have made LA-style sprawl pretty much impossible
I definitely am in the "don't talk to anyone" category in pubs!
great video, please keep making more, very interesting and informative, living in Canadain city is the same hell place they call suburb with all the car infested street who has nothing to offer but a pass through roads, it's not only ugly, it's inaccessible without car and unlivable for normal humans
solid piece of content, cant wait to see what you do next bro :)
How this has so little views? Bro spittin facts
The TH-cam algorithm
these videos make me so depressed, confirming everything I already knew, despite having no way to change it
I don't know what beauty even looks like.
Don't live anywhere where it snows; that's number 1. Also, please ensure that your home is within walking distance of 15 minutes or less from a park, grocery store, school, and shopping center with multiple stores. Also, please ensure that your home has a picturesque view of the mountains and that you are at least a 15-minute walk from a body of water you can swim in. I got that for less than $229,000 in California, and my nearby park is 286 acres with 7 lake ponds, pickleball courts, tennis courts, an Olympic size swimming pool, baseball fields, softball fields, soccer fields, a 1,500-seat amphitheater, and a 30,000 sqft community center.
Where in California is this?
Dude I drive around San Antonio & everything is run down & SHIT
Look at how much area is concreted for roads. Areas where rainwater cannot even drain properly. How many square kilometers is that? What a waste. What a terribly ugly sight. And this massive sealing of huge areas brings with it completely different problems yet.
You realize there are drains on the roads, yeah?
I've been to cities in Europe, and they are so much nicer and more aesthetic than in America.
A wise man once said:
"Life is a simulation"
the subway surfers had me dead
would be interested in a video on rural america vs countryside europe. i feel like people compare city design between USA and EU often but not sure if i've seen anyone talk about spaces outside of city/suburbs.
The corporate mind is bland, plain, no room for anything but churning out profits. Profits don't have time for aesthetics. Day to day life in America is total monotonous garbage.
NYC is the only place in america where you truly dont need a car to live their. some other american cities are walkable to some extent, but no where near the walkability of nyc. i moved from north jersey where the neighborhoods are walkable for the most part and their are urban centers sprinkled through out the area that are within walking distance, to tampa fl. the main reason for the move was because cost of living in jersey was really high compared to tampa when it came to housing, taxes utilities, etc. i've lived here for 2 years now and their are rarely any walkable neighborhoods. luckily the city is putting in a lot of effort to improve walkablility with new buildings and infrastructure, but the tampa bay area as a whole as a long way to go when it comes to walkability and transit.
Nothing more lame and depressing like suburbia 🏘️
Subscribed
Finally someone who shares my point of view. I have been arguing with wife and friends about how shity these places look. My grandparents old town in Mexico looks like the palace of England, except for the wealth, compared to these shit hole so called suburbs. Good luck if you plan on retiring on these boring nothing but consuming crap you don't need. Good video 👍👍
I hate planned communities. They plop all the houses in a clump and all of the commercial (third places) in the same place. We have a local town that’s all planned. The restaurants and shops have 6 lane roads around them. My suburb is not planned. We have shopping within 1 mile and have a center of town with local shops and restaurants. Supermarkets and other restaurants and stores have organically been built. Which is close to different parts of the town.
These city problems are not fixable
Perhaps the best thing you can do is find a small town that is walkable
The Netherlands's "25% of all trips are by bicycle" and we all know what the other 75% are from 👀👀 There are so many reasons why I'd like to live in that country.
As a San Franciscan my city doesn’t suck. Just most people in America, their cities suck,
Kids who grow up in suburbs waste their first 16 years of their life. They can’t do anything or be independent until they get a car. If they can afford one. It forces parents to have to do everything for them which I’m sure the parents hate. So why do parents move from the most exciting cities in the world to boring ass suburbs?
I bet your mother thinks you're filling your head with nonsense. Either way, I think it's great you're making monetized, thought provoking content. Keep it up
Best places I've lived in were places that i could walk to a store, even if it was the hood bodega.
I love living in the suburbs but looking forward to moving even further out into a rural area. Cities have become so dangerous and filthy at worst, loud and crowded with noise & light pollution at best. Living in quieter, less falsely lit areas are proven to be healthier. Small towns also have higher trust rates (yes, even when you have to drive 10-20 minutes to go to the store) because there’s very people to get to know. We’re a tribal people. Our tribes are meant to be smaller, not to have thousands of people.
Another huge factor is the same for having trains. Only cities that were designed during the horse and buggy days works for rapid transit. All of these types of cities have mixed use real estate because by definition, were walkable cities.
Unfortunately a lot of people that live in cities/urban sprawls tend to be on anti-depressants due to the lack of nature and space.
you summed it up perfectly! keep up the good work :)
I liked the addition at 2:36. people have very low attention spans nowadays. But next time you gotta put some gta gameplay as well along with 10 other screens of nonsense.
And some other brainrot
Canada is in the same boat with this stuff, unfortunately.
Hot take: if American highways had easier access to and more towns along them or if there were more alternative routes buses would be more viable because most people where I am (UK) won't bus around for more than 2 hours.
It took us 75 years to totally fuck it up, ie, our built environment by basing our entire society around the automobile, and it's going to take us over 100 years to fix it. A great book on the subject of logical town and neighborhood planning is, "Suburban Nation" by new urbanists Andre Duany and Liz Zyberk, with input from architect Jeff Speck. All thinking Americans and Canadians should read it. It's a fascinating read, but most of you won't read it, as you just watch videos.
I like your use of Mario SFX
While I used to think that Russian cities and ex-Eastern Bloc country neighbourhoods were the worst.
Ohmygoodness please be safe. Don’t get hurt making these videos for us.
What abt nz
I think your videos are great but at the same time very tragic.
I agree with 99% of what you say but I think its tragic that only people will watch and listen to you which already share your opinion.
I think suburbia 🏘️ looks amazing I like when things look nice and clean
2:43 ah man!!! what happened!? it was working lol
.....oh! it's back! WAIT! now it's gone again? 😥
@@Titoroski187LMAO I FEEL YOUUUU 😭😭😭😭😭
Poor Kimberly 2:19
I don't know, from a European point of view, I find American cities (as of today) more interesting. But I guess it's just because they are culturally different.
American cities are interesting but a lot of them are decaying. Almost every big city in the USA has poor/dangerous side of town that looks like a ghost town from the 1970s.
Please name something interesting about our cities that yours don't have. I'm genuinely curious.
@@kagakai7729 Taller Downtown buildings/more skyscrapers/more impressive skylines. Grid street plan (for me its much easier to navigate where I am or should go on that way) either walking or by car. Less dirty old non-maintained buildings with bad smell and crumbling facades.
@@doriancroatia2054 Huh. I think your experiences might be limited to newer developments like central Austin and Seaport, Boston- if you hung around the older parts of our cities you'd see a lot of the same stuff. We just have less of them because we regularly demolish the old town to build another 8 story parking labyrinth. For what it's worth, I've been in the banking areas of London and Paris, and they've been as impressive as any American city.
@@kagakai7729 I agree about the parking lots fact - there are more of them in your part of the world and they are larger. I think it is the big factor. For the information, so far I've only visited Montreal and Calgary regarding North America, therefore my opinion should be taken accordingly.
Amazing to see everyone griping about higher density living when they were all scrambling to get away from it three years ago...
helsinki is not ugly :( ok maybe it is but we have a cathedral which is cool
Exactly. It’s homogeneous, monochromatic, monotonous, depressing.
And totally my vibe.
@@laurie7689 We know.
I am Not American
The people who blame crime or negligence purely on individual behavior concern me. When they talk about it like a problem without an external root cause, they are ultimately claiming that there doesn't need to be an incentive to commit dangerous acts or develop dangerous behaviors. And while they may be be saying this in an attempt to other certain groups of people they deem criminals, the reality is they are admitting that they to think it that the natural state of humans is selfish and inconsiderate behavior... and these are the people making our laws and running out countries, demonizing a starving vagrant or an overworked driver whilst willingly making life tough for said people. Basically a self report of narcisistic sociopathy.
both closer places to shop and higher density housing need to be built except for only one of those ever does causing gentrification
i grew up in lewisville texas. its a shit hole with high crime and i hated going outside. I lived right behind a gas station and walmart that lead to a highway. I moved to denton for a year when i was 7 and it was even worse. The houses all looked the same, it smelled like dust from the construction everywhere. Only place I liked living was flower mound. Cities are dirty as fuck and you cant walk around at night without getting jumped
American cities are awfull. One of the main reasons I refuse to ever move in north America is that it is so hard to find a pleasant place to live. And the few lefts are just too expensive. It's really that hard to ask for a place where you want to take an ice cream outdoors under a few trees? I mean, f*ck, a basic village in Europe allows for this.
First time I’ve ever heard of high crime in Lewisville. I been to Flowermount once and it looked cool and also expensive.
@@bluecyclone7077 depends where in lewisville
Yeah the “left” leaning cities are now too expensive for average Joes. That’s why Texas and North Carolina have grown so much.
@@notapaypal I doubt that. I stay in oak Cliff
Why do you not have more subscribers?!
Very close to 1k
Wish I kept my house.
american urban planners should be ashamed.......no idea how to create communities
Social Capital , no more.
Trust me, Europe is NOT better...
why? and what part of europe? which country...
I'm thoroughly already an urbanist but this video was so good it got me again
The city of Lost Wages is horrible in this regard.
There could me a small gas station market around the corner.... but to walk there, you have go far to get around the Trump type walls that divide housing projects.
not new orleans or brooklyn
oh bro you come to Pakistan the neighbors always fighting each other
Nothing but strip malls, with huge empty lots.
Suburbs exist to generate taxes and that's about it.
@allergy5634 Your right, I should have said initially they are built for tax generating purposes, after that they end up costing the city too much to maintain.
@allergy5634 Yep, the politicians get elected, put up huge developments, get paid under the table, generate a lot of tax income initially, call it a huge win, then the next politician gets to take care of the mess they made and only make things worse. Its a downward spiral that ends up 3rd world like were living in right now.
Well this is the reality goes for 😐🇺🇸
North American cities are garbage. Too many people and too many stressors. Europe is different. I absolutely loved spending time outside and talking to new people when I was in Germany.
HURR HURR AMERICA BAD EUROPE GOOD
@@charlesbrown4483 You clearly failed reading in school. I said cities in America are terrible. That's why most people prefer suburbs or rural areas.
@@charlesbrown4483 exactly. see you're getting it
The only thing I dislike about walkable environments is you don't see places like Costco or Walmart which are my favorite places to shop at.
@gardenstatePR Oh great, nothing sounds more appealing than living in a walmart.
Vancouver is ugly except for the nature .
😢 😢😢😢
I prefer Europe!
So basically, redlining.
I agree with some, but mostly, you are being judgmental. Your desire may not be another's. We are not the rest of the world. We are America.
I'm from rural Scotland, lived in London for a decade, I currently live in Pennsylvania
I like the American 'standard' - It maybe doesn't work for people who to struggle through life renting property and paying delivery fees (because they don't own a car) and I can't walk to "the" restaurant any more than I could in I lived back in a rural place. But sorry, I prefer the setup. And that's why the situation won't change. People *like* suburbs, they don't want to live in a 500 sq ft apartment and be locked in place.
Than why are mixed use neighbourhoods the most expensive place to live in?
@@jalifritz8033 Because there are two types of people in the World: those who seek out socialization and those who don't. I avoid socialization. I prefer suburbs and rural living. I would never live in a mixed use neighborhood. It isn't my thing. I don't want to run into people and be expected to chat with them. That isn't me. Those who seek out socialization are the people who desire mixed use neighborhoods. More people are social than are not, so there is more demand for them. They are more willing to pay premium prices for amenities, too. Those folks, like myself, who avoid social interaction don't have as much use for amenities.