Density Matters, So Let's Make Every City a 5-Minute City (Not 15)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 มี.ค. 2023
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If you're anything like me, you're already tired of how the "15-minute city" idea has been co-opted into the culture wars. It's really this simple: all things being equal, having more stuff that you need and want on a day-to-day basis within a reasonable walking distance is better than not having it. I suppose whatever argument there is is over what "all things being equal" consists of.
Today I take you on a tour of Valencia, Spain, and talk about how Valencians enjoy something more like a 5-minute city, probably without thinking about it (or even considering it argument-worthy) at all. Hope you enjoy!
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Previous CityNerd Videos Referenced:
- Pickup Truck Madness: • Why Absurdly Large Tru...
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Resources:
- Adam Something on US vs European suburbs: • American vs. European ...
- Not Just Bikes on why suburbs are a scam: • Why American Cities Ar...
- Climate Town on suburban housing sucking: • The Suburbs Are Bleedi...
- www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/0...
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falles
- www.oregonmetro.gov/sites/def...
- www.seattle.gov/documents/dep...
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I already have it & watch it there too!! Love the channel sorry I couldn't use your code, Knowing better got me 2 months ago lol.
What rght to do you have to impose your urban planning preferences on the public? #fightNewUrbanism
@@daveanderson8927 ...wtf are you babbling about 😄?
That depends on the types of sponsors are on board. Some of those are scams. Watch out for them.
Hey, loved the video. I was wondering if you could do a video on Buenos Aires? It's a city that interests me a lot in terms of urban planning (things like biciscendas, the subte, villa urbanization plans, etc.) but doesn't seem to covered by urbanism-related content in youtube at all, which is a shame because it's such a big and interesting city.
I have a confession to make. When I first got into urbanism, I subbed to a whole bunch of channels, and didn't realise that CityNerd and CityBeautiful were different channels. I just thought sometimes you were happier than others :(
I laughed so hard at this 😂
😂😂😂
This is hilarious
This made me lol
This is amazing 😂😂😂
As a housing planner, I've actually pivoted from talking about 'density' in favor of 'choice' and 'diversity'. I've noticed the former REALLY freaks people out, and often elicits some pretty problematic stereotyping about what that means. But when you show folks pictures, that doesn't happen (because obviously, density is not the literal end of society).
Like people panic at the idea of changing a zone from allowing 8 du/ac to 32 du/ac, but when you show them a picture of a quadplex, most folks don't think twice (they might not even notice it's a quadplex).
I've also found it to be helpful (especially in more conservative areas) when I frame this as choice for the property owner - to either open a business or build much needed housing on the land they own. As capitalistic as it sounds, it's pretty important for rhetorically making the case for actually changing policy in US cities.
I also have some major issues with the idea of 'maximum density' as a regulatory tool, but I recognize that's not the topic of today's video.
The TH-camr 'Life Where I'm From' said the same thing about Japan's land use policy: it's arguably more capitalistic than the U.S.'s, since landowners are free to use their property for almost any kind of building, and supply + demand dictates where businesses and housing should be located. Whereas America's strict zoning is rather anti-American, since it forces everyone in a certain neighborhood to all build the same land use, regardless of personal choice or market demand.
Here in Austria, Zoning actually dictates both minimum and maximum density. That basically prevents rich people from creating sprawl by building a mansion on a giant plot.
This is a great point! In channels like this, we're essentially preaching to the choir. None of us are scared by words like "density," "urbanism," and "transit-oriented development." But we have to remember the vast majority of America still needs to be convinced, if that means using different language that communicates the intent and spirit rather than triggering hang-ups, then that's what we have to do!
@@InventorZahran +1 for Life Where I'm From video on Japan zoning. Their one size fits all national zoning is so lax that they have some of the craziest looking buildings. He mentioned that Japan employes the highest number of architects per capita of any G7 country due to the freedom they have in designing buildings.
@@asgdhgsfhrfgfd1170 getting into this space has given me a lot more sympathy for the right. "oh the government does make really really bad regulation some times, I see"
I'm an American, living in France (with a Masters Degree in architecture and some urban and regional planning coursework in my experience). I live in a village of mostly detached houses with gardens around them. Despite a description that probably sounds "suburban" to many Americans, and unpleasant to those who view the American suburb as an urban planning disaster, I can walk to several markets, parks, the beach, cafes, etc. I don't even own a car. I don't need one to satisfy the functions of daily life. There is a bus I can take into the nearest "big city" (pop. 80,000). But I just go there for fun every few weeks.
My point? We don't have to live in highrise apartment blocks, with no access to private outdoor space; we don't need to sacrifice having gardens; we don't have to sacrifice wildlife habitat; in order to create a local environment that does not rely cars on a daily basis.
I think this was more oriented towards what the inner core of a city should look like. Its a 15 minute city not a 15 minute town
That's a lovely way to live. I'm lucky enough to be in a similar position in the UK. But I couldn't afford it until I was in my fifties. My first home was a one bed ex drug den apartment next to a railway station. For three years I had two jobs, no social life, and when my car died I couldn't afford bus fares. Luckily someone gave me an old bicycle so I could get to work. Later because of a housing boom I made a profit, and moved to a mobile home park for 10 years, a much happier time. My truth is, I needed affordable housing, transport and community, near my job, to survive, be happy, and improve my lot, even in the suburbs.
If true thaaaannkkk youuuu. 1000%
But they don't want to hear you.
I appreciate your comment. Although I believe density has the advantages he explained, I also believe walkability and livability can still happen if we pay attention to other important aspects such as not zoning land uses into giant homogeneous blobs that make travel between them impractical on foot.
I think mixed zoning is huge. I live in a suburb in Utah. Single family homes are prolific in my area, but we are in 2-story townhouse right now. We're adjacent to a 3-story townhouse development and a duplex development. The hardware store is a stone's throw away and the library is within a 2 minute walk. We live behind a shopping development that's more car-centric, but that doesn't stop me from walking 4 minutes each way to get a haircut or get some groceries from the supermarket.
Even very meager transit has made a difference. The nearby stroad is, well, stroady, but there is a bus stop which is within half a mile scooter ride from my house. My work is within a quarter mile of another bus stop/transit hub. My specific bus route is very infrequent but it's made it possible for me to forgo using a car.
So even though where I live is far from an urban paradise, every bus stop and mixed use area counts. I'm enjoying and benefitting from the small dose of urbanism I do have. So while we may not be able to apply the maximum urban treatment to every community in the country, I feel like putting no-brainers (mixed zoning, basic transit) in appropriate areas (like the suburbs I live in) goes a long way.
What do you have if millions of city inhabitants opt for small village life like yours? USA mega suburbs.
There's an unforgivable oversight regarding Spanish urban dogs: The differences in socialization between one of those urban dogs and what we find in midwestern suburbs almost make them seem like a different species.
Your typical suburban midwestern dog tends to have minimal interactions with other dogs, or people outside of the family unit. Some might consider a walking passerby to be a threat, others might bark just out of loneliness, as they are stuck in their backyard, with minimal socialization. Even when they are walked, they tend to meet absolutely nobody, and just get to bark at other dogs behind fences. Compare this to the Spanish urban dog: They cross paths with other urban dogs every time they go for a walk. Humans? they see hundreds, if not thousands, on every walk. Barking at any child that comes nearby? At every dog? No, there's too much of that. They'll approach you to play if you show them any attention, possibly while their friendly human is sitting down at the park, but they are just so much more flexible.
So yes, we need more density, just to help the dogs.
Yes! Our dog is so much happier living in a city. He can come with us to dog friendly cafes, play twice a week with dogs at the dog park, and have much more interesting/social daily walks in general.
I also think this extends to humans too though. Americans don't realize they're antisocial, but their skepticism of public transit, fear of density, and belief they don't need access to more third places - all stem from not being socialized!! Yes, they probably have friends from work, college, whatever. But their tolerance of loose social encounters is really low.
Exactamente son antisociales en su burbuja 😂
I live in NYC, and in my experience that doesn't help anyone, let alone the dogs. Dogs need space to roam and to play, they need a backyard and they need to have access to the outdoors. Too many people here keep large dogs cooked up in their tiny apartments and only let them out once a day. Their pets then have to hold it till their owners get home. On top of that we get all these lazy and irresponsible dog owners who don't pick up their pets' droppings and just leave it on the sidewalk. I played a game of counting the number of dog poops I found in one block one time, it was over ten.
So yeah, help the dogs.
@@evillink1I mean I live in a pretty rural area and there are often dogshits left on sidewalks, shitty dog owners are everywhere.
same, here in Chile the difference in behavior between community dwelling dogs on campuses or high transit places in cities and dogs in residential neighborhoods is immense with the former being almost always more relaxed and friendlier. People owning dogs in my parents' neighborhood are so bad at it even golden retrievers and border collies are aggressive.
The sarcasm meter is at its raging apex in this video. #loveit
and I am loving it!
Deadpan Sarcasm takes many decades to master.
Yes, a bit higher in this episode, but the straight face continues..
"Eh, everybody wins."
Truly we have reached Peak City Nerd Sarcasm.
One of the best things about when we lived in Munich was the first floor of our apartment building had a drugstore, my bank, nice restaurant, book store, cafe, chocolate shop. Across the street was a bakery, another cafe, green grocers, pub, other shops. Oh, and the closest tram was across the street and the UBahn was 50m around the corner. Now, I feel fortunate to have place to go within 2 miles of my house in TX.
If you dislike TX, why live there?
@@winstonsolipsist1741 ah yes, the good old "If you don't like it here you should move" trope. Right up there with "poor people should just work harder". Where did I say I dislike living here?
@@gingermany6223 My bad. I misread your comment. Full apologies.
As to my "trope", I moved to my current home because I didn't like it where I was and feel the move made a huge difference in my quality of life so I am interested in reason why people would choose to remain in a place they don't like. The most common reason people have given me in the past are financial reason, which I guess I can understand as not everyone can be a digital nomad or find their chosen line of work in different places but quality of life should be part of the equation. I myself, did take a decrease in discretionary spending when I moved but, to me, my quality of life increase offset my losses. The second most common reason I have heard for staying has been to remain close to family and friends. This seems a bigger quandary because you obviously can't find new family if you move and family figures into many people's quality of life. Lastly, it is fascinating to me why many of the people making and commenting on urbanist videos, seem to spend more time complaining about where they used to live as they do praising the place they currently live.
Again, sorry for the misread. No hard feelings?
As a Berliner all I hear about Munich here is how much it is disliked 😄😄😄 at some point I'll have to go see for myself though - even the "worst" here is better than most of the US.
Disclaimer: I say this as a former Texan whom thinks there is still much to love about the state in spite of its awful administration.
Except for Dallas, which is just as bad as Phoenix IMHO.
Why'd you leave Munich????
This is such a dramatic and welcome twist in this channel. So happy that you're enjoying Valencia. Hope you get to check other parts of Spain with wonderful cities. I miss so much my hometown Santiago de Compostela from Austin TX 😭
Santiago is so walkable! Good luck surviving Austin. Sending good vibes your way!
@@Frostbiker Thank you! God it's so lonely here
RIP 😵
Yes, visit Santiago, I loved it when I visited it. Barcelona and Bilbao are also nice
Yeah, I hope to continue to keep everyone on their toes! I'm very nomadic right now, which is a bit unsettling, but tons of fun.
That ultra-dry delivery of "I'm a goofball" :D
As a European, since I started watching all these urbanist channels I've increasingly come to appreciate the density and mixed-use zoning of the cities I've been living in. It's not just supermarkets five of which are within a five minute walking distance from my apartment, the same goes with my doctor's office, my hair salon, several bus stops and cafés. And my neighborhood is still considered mostly residential. But I'm not ignoring the downsides, and channels like this have helped me realize where there's still room for improvement.
How can we make proper city design marketable? Money is the only motivating factor in america as far as actually getting stuff done, so how can we trick the people (with money) into a proper city design the same way we were tricked into the terrible city designs we have now? fire with fire
I think I see some developers trying to do this. Which is nice. But it results in these huge block apartments (often Texas Donuts) and if the ground floor has retail/restaurant space, it’s not owned by the business and the building charges crazy rents, such that many of these storefronts I see are empty.
I’m not sure how you make the small-scale granularity of a Seville or a historic US Main Street widely “marketable” to US developers, but I hope it can be!
@@Tacsponge Ok that still doesn't add anything to this comment or give an answer. Those videos identify that there is a problem, but how do we as a public frame our wants in a way that "fools" the people with the capital into believing it will be beneficial to go ahead & make it more of a priority, because sitting here & hoping they will do it isn't working. We need a way to market these needs to them as being financially beneficial enough to do it.
You can start by just placing building better on lots, and having better aesthetic standards. That's really it.
The rest will take care of itself via a change in culture.
That's considered boring, and doesnt involve bashing single family homes and cars, so few Neo-Urbanists care about that.
@@ryanevans2655 Maybe we could start a fake culture movement online. Like find a city thats designed ok & make it "mainstream" like a fad.
@@WillmobilePlus Right but can we do it in reverse? start a culture movement that forces the hand
By American standards, I'm in a crazy dense neighborhood. My block has a mix of single family homes on small lots, duplexes, triplexes, and 3 story apartment buildings. The nearest supermarket is 2 short blocks away, there are 5 more within a mile, not to mention all the other businesses nearby.
Compared to Valencia, my neighborhood is in the boondocks!
My neighborhood in Seattle has a few old houses, lots of 3 story apartment buildings, newer 6 story buildings, and the newest are 25 stories. We have a subway stop two blocks away. Years ago we had one supermarket (a Safeway that I hated). Now we have none! But, we have over 30 restaurants within 5 blocks. I've concluded all the young tech folks who have moved into the neighborhood mostly eat out, or eat takeout/delivery, and buy their supermarket stuff online and have it delivered.
@@blubaughmr , not sure where on the light rail you are, but it's possible they're now using that to get groceries. I'm up by the Roosevelt stop and I sometimes see people heading to the Whole Foods. The Safeway is also walkable though I suspect many would opt to bus up from the light rail and maybe walk back if they had a cart. This grocery shopping by subway was pretty common when I lived in NYC, so while it's a bit of a bummer there's not as much density of grocery stores in some neighborhoods (I suspect you're at least partially right and many young professionals eat out for many meals or get something like Hello Fresh delivered), it may be that they're utilizing the new transit instead.
@Emma H I use the Safeway for small loads on the bike on the way home. My main grocery store was the QFC where the Roosevelt station is now. For big loads, I take the car down the the U Village QFC.
Not really. That’s how almost every neighborhood in my town is. My town has like 13000 ppl. It’s just normal density. (Im American btw)
@@papaicebreakerii8180 , in what part of the country do you live? Because while that may be normal for you, that's certainly not my experience of America. The biggest barrier to living car-free is often the grocery store. After living in NYC, I lived in North Jersey (Newark) working in housing and travelled all around looking at our properties; the vast majority across dozens of cities were in densely populated food deserts. In college, I lived in the downtown area of a Midwestern city with a bunch of restaurants and apartment complexes but, again, there were two tiny bodegas (one of which closed while I was there...) in the entire downtown area so you had to drive 5+ mi for a grocery store and 7+ mi for a normal one. Where I grew up in another Midwestern city, all the houses were single family on quarter acre lots by law unless you were within a couple of miles of downtown (again, no grocery stores down there, just a 7/11 for milk and bananas/apples). Same deal in another smaller city I lived in in the upper Midwest--dense downtown that quickly de-densified into single family only with the rare grocery store only accessible by car.
In much of the country, by statute, duplexes and triplexes are not allowed. With low profit margins (theft is huge, competition high), grocery stores rarely place themselves so close to one another as Liz experiences. Indeed, nationally, the rate is 0.17 stores per 1000 people or 5882 people per store. For 6 stores to be in 1 mile, that's a population density of 35294 people/sq mi, which is almost the rate of Hoboken, NY--the fourth most densely populated incorporation town in the US. Anyway, Liz is right she'd be in a crazy dense neighborhood assuming the grocery stores did their market research correctly, assuming we're all counting the same things as grocery stores (and not bodegas).
I first got into urbanism while studying/living in Valencia. One of the craziest things I found about the city was how it just ended on the north side, going from dense neighborhoods with metro service straight to farmland. I have no idea how that kind of land use happens and can't imagine seeing it here in the US.
That's interesting. Seems to be common around Europe.
Check out a satellite view of Ljubljana, if you'd like. You'll see a clear line to the north between city and farmland, and to the west between city and forest.
Las ciudades y pueblos europeos existen desde la prehistoria muchas de ellas, y sus habitantes no iban en metro ni en coche al huerto o a ordeñar las ovejas o vacas. De ahí la proximidad.
Estados unidos se urbanizo con el caballo y los carromatos, no a pie, como los romanos hicieron y los neandertales.
I think it's because of the way that cities grew here (Spain) in the 20th century. After our devastating civil war in the 1930s, we had a huge migration wave from the impoverished countryside to the cities, so these had to expand quickly. What they did was just take the agricultural lands around the ancient, compact city centres, pour some concrete/asphalt and build residential blocks there.
The result was new neighbourhoods expanding quickly over former farmland, without a proper transition between them, and cities growing exponentially in a matter of decades.
For example, my hometown of Pamplona-Iruña went from 60k inhabitants in 1940 to a whopping 180k in 1980, a 300% growth in just 4 decades. Most of this growth was indeed achieved by expanding blocks into the surrounding fields, and you can also see dense neighbourhoods that end abruptly into wheat fields even today :D
PS: I have seen old pictures of my neighbourhood in the 1950s and the area consisted of small farms and vegetable gardens. By the time I was born in the 1990s it was all 10+ story blocks. The transition was brutal and relentless
@@anacasanova7350 👋
I've lived in a place with 5 minute access to every basic need, 15 minute access, and 30 minute access. The difference between 30 and 15 (or even 20 and 15) is way bigger, but especially on a bad day I really wish the grocery store was a bit closer.
Living in a '5 minute city' is the kind of crazy luxury that I just can't describe to anyone who hasn't lived it, and something I'd choose over almost anything else I could get in my life. The level of freedom is the best part.
This is so true and I miss it so much.
The level of freedom from having your own house on your own property is much better.
Id rather commute 30 minutes for groceries and come back to a couple acres of land with my own house on it, than take a 5 minute grocery trip back to my apartment with annoying kids running around on the floor above me
@@PTMG what about living in ur own oldtown city house, 5 minutes walkable distances to supermarkets, market places , and still hv a small, cosy atrium garden to call ur own? Sounds good right? I enjoy it…
I feel it I just lived in Wellington NZ for 2months and where I stayed in the CBD felt like a 5-15 min city and it was great compared to back where I live in the NE US
@@PTMG that’s fine. That is your choice. You feel better and enjoy having a house on your own property but some of us here like the other choice.
I lived in the Upper East Side of Manhattan for a bit. 100,000 population per square mile. It actually didn’t feel crazy at all. Very lively of course. Being next to Central Park helped a lot.
Helps to live in one of the wealthiest zip codes in the US.
@@MelGibsonFan The wealthy can afford to live anywhere they want, and a lot of them choose to live in the upper east side. The ultra-high density is a feature not a bug.
@@ThreeRunHomer I’m not saying it’s a bug. To the contrary I’m saying that many of the upwardly mobile are actively pursuing high density and advocating for associated policies.
@@MelGibsonFan Density should be attainable without catering to the wealthy. But, this is America so who am I kidding 😂
And contrary to what some might assume based on that density, the Upper East Side is really quiet and peaceful.
That bike network looks absolutely GLORIOUS. Like bikes are actually considered an equal mode of transportation and not just an afterthought.
Most tourists when visiting spend a LOT of time biking around. Lots of companies aimed at tourists renting out bikes for a day, discounts for a week, that kind of thing. (Locals have their own of course)
You mean to say a 3 foot wide lane for bikes directly placed on a highway with a 60 mph speed limit is an afterthought!?
@@nicholasbeck2649 My favorite is the bike lane near my office that goes up a STEEP highway overpass, ends halfway to make room for the highway express lane entrances, continues on the other side, and then ends a few streets before the bikeshare terminal. Clearly this was a very well thought out and implemented design. If you kill/deter all the bikers you won't have to deal with them!
The scaled-down bike network for kids was absolutely adorable.
@@nicholasbeck2649 Valencia is actually activiely seperating bike lanes now with a kerb line between cycle lanes and car lanes. At first they had just painted the lanes differently now they are moving to the next step to really create safe cycle lanes throughout the city!
It was an afterthought but now much more becoming a forethought!
even less dense cities can have a real nice setup. I studies abroad in Matsuyama Japan and their density is ~3100/sqmi. they had trains going to it, streetcars, a lively downtown where they even have a ferris wheel. restaurants everywhere. and biking anywhere is really easy. I would say for the little time I did spend there, it was one of the most perfect cities I could imagine for its size. all the amenities of a big city but was really slow and relaxed.
This, also most Japanese live in single family homes, but still have walkability and great transit
While Japan definitely does things better in terms of urbanism, Matsuyama's city limits appear to include a lot of uninhabited area. Doing some quick measurements of the visibly populated areas on Google Maps gives me a density of something closer to 10,000/sqmi.
@@limabean5652 So, in sq. km. that should be roughly 3,300 then? That is like upper mid density suburban. Japan has more of a transit focused culture though? US. Cities still have some denser areas even if a lot of it is just meh density suburbs. If you meant 10,000/sq.km. then that is really good for an avg. for the developed land. At that kind of range, single family town-homes on small lots and such. As well as single family rowhouses can still be a decent portion of the land.
Overall, since they have a listed pop arround 500k people that is like 2/3 the size of the examples given in the video.
Overall, I am a fan of dense single family and low family homes. Like town-homes, or stacked duplexes and triplexes.
With stuff like that you can generally get like 8,000/km. technically you can do that with really tight detached single family + a couple decently large low-rise apartment buildings too though.
But, removing front yards, having smaller streets with more bike infrastructure, and less parking and you can cut quite a bit of space there. Often yards are 2/3 of a lot. If you cut front yards and just keep little back ones that can get a decent chunk of results.
Ultimately, single family detached only in a neighborhood can't support much more than maybe a bus service though. Although, if you mix in some low rise apartments, townhomes, etc. Then, you can still have a fairly free enviroment and get many of the benefits of a higher density. If combined strategically with mid-rise apartments around train station. I could see something like that making transit within an easy bike even for those living in single-family homes theoretically.
@@jonathanlochridge9462 Density isn't the end all be all. Actual land use is arguably more important than density. You can have the densest city in the world, but if people need to travel miles to get to the nearest grocery store, then it's not a walkable city. Japan does not regulate use to the same extent the US does, which allows businesses/residences to be built where they need to be built.
At the same time, use isn't everything. Houston doesn't regulate use, but its a sprawled mess because of form based zoning restrictions such as set backs, lot minimums, parking minimums, and the epic amount of stroads makes it very car centric and hostile to pedestrians. However, even then it's probably more livable without a car compared to other US cities because anemities are still kinda within walking distances, it just sucks because everything is scaled for cars.
@@taoliu3949 Good point, landuse is important. Ideally they kind of work together. But, to an extent most landuses are needed. Although, too much of something in the wrong place can be pretty bad.
Large parking lots can be useful in the right place. Although, at a certain point it is always bad. Making a park and ride train station for commuters and then also putting some apartments in a clump arround it is a lot better place to put some parking lots than in downtown.
In Citynerd's video from 3 days ago he goes over how often state capitals effectively create a "crater" of poor land use in cities. As they make massive parking lots arround the capitol and such.
To an extent, density usually naturally leads to higher access and better walkability. Since, the more people in an area, the more businesses that area can support. So then there is more incentive to put them closer rather just clumping it together and trying to get people to come in from a bigger area.
But, with good land use, even a suburb can be relatively walkable. However, most likely that only extends to a couple restraunts/coffe places, grocery, haircut places, and maybe a dentist at best in a strip mall. And it is still likely on the upper end being like 15-25 minutes of walking away.
As long as you don't have stroads and the commercial areas are on 4 lane roads lower speed roads that isn't terrible.
Particularly, if linear parks, small setbacks, high connectivity, and traffic calming and other techniques are used effectively.
But, even in the best cases, a large portion fo the people who live a suburb have to commute to work. Which naturally drags down density and results in more need for parking in most cases. Although, if it was built dense enough around transit, then that factor can be significantly reduced.
I love Valencia! An amazing medival Spanish city. I also love their greenbelt. It's such a walkable place. I spent a week in Spain with my mother. Landed in Madrid, took the high speed train to Valencia for a couple days. Then the rest of our time exploring Barcelona. I'd totally retire to Spain.
I know the green belt of Vitoria, Spain. It is one of the most awarded in Europe. an admirable example
The first year I lived in the Netherlands, the nearest (small) supermarket was in my backyard. My appartement was in a row house building, with a courtyard behind it. The supermarket building extended into the courtyard. Google said it was a 40 meter walk from my building's front door to the door of the supermarket. It was great! My doctor's office was about four or five blocks away. My physical therapist was about the same distance but in a different direction. If I needed to go downtown, there was a bus stop outside my building and a tram stop about a block away.
Density isn't everything. Mixed use zoning and good transit planning can make a less dense city much more walkable than a denser city. A lot of people appreciate having a bit of space but also not having to drive their car for every single trip.
Yeah this guy really doesn't get it.
Man, as a person with health problems being forced to drive everywhere is just an awful experience. Our nearest grocery stores are only a 5-minute drive away which is considered very close by American standards, yet that means a 35-minute walk. More and more I'm becoming convinced that it's actually more freeing not to have to rely on vehicles for everything, both financially and physically. Yet I can only dream about that living here.
You would hate spanish cities though. The average spaniard walks way more than 35 min a day, which isnt compatible with health issues that impede a 5 min drive.
@@verybarebones You can still own a car in spain if you need it, and cities have special parking spots for people with disabilities so they can park in many places where most people cannot. Also, public transport is accessible, with lifts in most metro stations and buses with deployable ramps.
It's not about cleaning up the environment the subtraction of cars is a scam to take away privacy + independence of the travellers.
I hear you, I'm epileptic and I'm basically disabled due to living in a car dependent city. Meanwhile it wouldn't even cross my mind living in a decent city. The maddening part is not that my city is so sprawlic. It's that the denser areas of the city are so neglected/crime ridden and transit so undesirable. I mean downtown/east end is perfect of me, but my wife will need a shaparon to walk to the bus stop. Keeping in mind I need to wear steal toed boots to protect my feet from aids needles, and I'm 6 foot 4. It's crazy we have perfectly walkable areas, but students etc can't live there because of singularly the security issue. Liberals keep granted homeless junkies more and more rights, while the conservative do everything to keep the homeless in ghettozied walkable neighorhoods with no work.
5 min by Car? here in Europe I would consider any supermarket at over 5min by walking to be too far away
In Spain, living in an apartment is synonymous with:
Live close to everything.
Not needing any kind of transportation to go to work or to buy food, clothes, etc. You can go walking.
Go outside and enjoy a positive environment.
Have nice parks nearby.
Having hundreds of shops, bars and restaurants full of people with a good vibe.
Living in the center means: Having quality of life.
In the USA, living in the center has other, very different connotations.
I fully subscribe to your comment I live in an apartment in a city of just over 50000 inhabitants in eastern Spain 8 km. the Mediterranean Sea with good sunny weather almost all year round and all are advantages, bars restaurants supermarkets, all within 5 minutes walk is wonderful to live so my health center 2 minutes, the regional hospital even 20 minutes walk this is quality of life. Greetings from Villarreal in the Valencian Community Spain.
And I prefer to wake up to birds and hate loud towns... I would rather travel to work...
@@quicktips9106 Yeah, you're not getting any quality sleep in a European city. Why is no one mentioning that fact. European cities are loud. The goal of every European is to move out from the city into a house in the countryside.
@@independentthought3390 "The goal of every European is to move out from the city into a house in the countryside."
Ridiculous.
@@mindstalk You must be young. Wait until you are over 30 with young kids.
As a Spaniard, it's so strange that Americans are surprised by the shops on the ground floor of apartment buildings xD. In the mornings the habit of going to buy fresh bread at the supermarket (fresh bread is sacred), to take the children to school, the older people taking a walk for a while having a coffee, gives the city a rhythm. Mornings, happy hour, afternoons, nights, the city changes its routines, and gives it life.
It is not a chaotic life. Quite the opposite. Whoever says that cities with densities like Valencia are chaotic and crowded places like in the Solient Green movie, doesn't know what they're talking about. Spanish cities are very calm, predictable, and safe places. The rhythm of Valencia makes it a tremendous place to live a very good life. It also has a good connection by HSR so in a few hours you can be in the center of other cities. You can go shopping or take a walk in Barcelona (for pure pleasure), and come back and you'll have a day left over for other things.
On the other hand, it is also so rare to see with the eyes of a foreigner how beautiful our cities are. I walk through one every day, and I'm so bad used to its architecture that sometimes you forget how beautiful it is and how careful everything is in general. Of course, everything can be improved and we Spaniards love to criticize and make drama out of almost everything, including drama itself (how am i doing now lol).
Valencia is a beautiful city but in Spain there are so many beautiful cities and towns, they are unique pearls (all European cities are).
Also, good video, I hope you are having a good time, relaxing and taking good naps with that Mediterranean air.
I’m lucky enough to be half a mile from a convenience store, but having them in the ground floor of the building is next level! I’d love that. But then I’d probably also go shopping in my pyjamas lol
@@kaitlyn__L I have never gone down the street in pyjamas lol although almost, since I had a bad tooth and I have the dentist right in front of my apartment building. But going down the street in flip flops and shorts, after a shower, to buy pastries at your neighborhood bakery, is a very undervalued luxury. I'm eating them now, I bought them this morning before going to work xd
No one is surprised. Don't believe the internet.
Stop being so modest! You make my favorite urbanist videos on TH-cam.
Yup he's the best
True he’s so harsh on himself and his content. He creates just as good content as other urbanist channels.
I lived in Valencia myself. I did not know how convenient a city could be until I lived there and I am from New York City! It truly is a five minute city. Love the content. Keep it up!
As someone who lives in one of the least dense cities in the world (Oklahoma City), I envy the cities you feature on your channel. I picked to live in one of the densest areas in OKC. Thankful, my tract is at nearly 5k people per square mile, but the area is still unfortunately very car centric. The city as a whole is just at 1k people per square mile. Mind blowing.
Visited OKC this past weekend. Seems like it’s gotten some infill and some better streets in Midtown/Downtown areas than it had a few years back. I like the new tram too! Trending up I hope
@@ryanevans2655 Thanks for the reply! Always nice to hear a visitor's perspective. Midtown/Downtown have really improved with infill over the past few years. It's nice seeing more mixed use projects springing up in the urban core. Population is nearing boom levels (nearly 20% since the last census), but most of that growth is contained in the far western and northern suburbs, unfortunately.
As someone living in Tulsa I definitely feel the same. It's got the potential to up its density and they have put in and are expanding on the river parks system which is cool. The only problem is downtown while small enough and has some businesses for maybe 8 or so blocks, is still so voided by empty parking lots and you barely see anyone walking around. Downtown is almost exclusively priced for high income earners relative to the area and so many of the units sit empty. When I visit OKC I've always just been reminded how much it's like Houston or Dallas in how insanely sprawled it all is.
@@raphaelkinney also in Tulsa. I do like how the Riverside path & the Midlands Valley Trail are basically cycling highways through the city. Helps make some things accessible by bike at least (if you can brave the crossing of Riverside Drive..). REALLY need to infill some of those empty parking lots downtown though
@@ryanevans2655 Completely agree. It's a great system mainly if you live directly next to it. I live down by 81st and even though I'm only a couple blocks east of the path, just the journey to get to Riverside alone is miserable to say the least. The roads are so high speed for vehicles that the narrow sidewalks (if they exist) are massively uncomfortable.
And now I'm missing Spain again. It's been 5 years since I was there. I want to go back!
Maybe next year.
Where I'm at in Northern Virginia is getting more dense. They're building a lot of luxury townhouses, but on fairly small lots, so there's like 30 or 40 of them in a spot that was taken up by a small church and its parking lot (of course, they're starting at $700,000). They even built a big block of student housing right in the center of my town, which could really help the businesses there, without adding a ton of traffic to the roads...in theory. Unfortunately, they're not doing anything to bolster the infrastructure. Or very little, anyway. Some lip service about traffic calming and safer cycling on a few roads, but little concrete action, and no expansion of bus service, in spite of surveys saying ridership has gone up drastically & the need has grown.
NoVA resident here too! And yeah I agree. Super hopeful that the growth will be done sustainably and will be used as an opportunity to improve the area. Tysons is supposedly "America's next great city" and is building a lot of new dense, mixed-use areas which is great, but nothing's being done about those nasty stroads everywhere. Fingers crossed....
@@ericw.1620, Yeah, for all the work and money they're throwing at Tysons, they're not really doing anything to make it actually livable. Last time I was there, I had to go to a building that was only maybe a 15 minute walk from the Metro station, and most of my trip was spent walking on the side of a strode, because there wasn't a sidewalk. Not to mention having to cross a mega-parking lot to actually get to the building I needed. A medical facility no less. So, that's not great.
I avoid Tysons as much as possible, because it's basically just car sewers cutting through vast planes of parking lots. All their walking & cycling promises have come to naught.
You make a good point about kids needing to walk to get places. Without chauffeuring to keep them busy, parents will have unhealthy amounts of free time and who knows what sort of antisocial activities they may get up to. Idle hands are the devil's plaything afterall!
As an American who has recently moved to Vienna, walkable European cities really are that much better than nearly anything the US has to offer. I have watched plenty of urbanist content and even then, Vienna has exceeded my expectations.
Welcome to my city! Glad you’re enjoying it here, still plenty of room for improvement though :)
That city has my heart. Hope you enjoy your time there. Definitely visit each of the parks. My favorite was Augarten.
@@cloudyskies5497 I live right next to it! I haven't had the chance though, maybe i'll do it tomorrow!
@@BS-xs7jb yes of course, after all they haven't replaced all the cars with those cute mini cars yet ;)
Vienna has been voted the most liveable city in the EU for a few years in a row. It is very well connected and very walkable, even by european standards. It has dark corners like every big city, but overall the inner city is an _amazing_ piece of urbanism.
Yeah, it's unfortunate that the 15-minute city concept has been co-opted into the culture wars. I was reading a recent Yahoo article about it, and I made the mistake of looking at the comments section. Almost all the people were freaking about the urban planners, snobby rich cyclists and all the super-duper elites who force their evil plans on poor suburbanites.
Never mind that the suburbs are just a terrible place to walk around or move about, especially if a person is disabled.
>Yeah, it's unfortunate that the 15-minute city concept has been co-opted into the culture wars.
Well it isnt. That is the fault of the people that pushed for it thinking that no one would pay attention to the details.
When you have people being issued travel passes for their own city, you are going to get pushback. When you have advocates acting like no one has the right to ask questions or dissent, you will get resistance. When the advocates cant even explain it without thinking that haughty condensation is part of the presentation, then you are better off not trying.
The worst are these which interpret 15-minute cities as forms of oppressive laws instead of urban design.
@MarioFanGamer Well when you do a p!ss poor job of clearly explaining it, or leave people to see the actual implementation, which seems to be exactly what is being said, then whose fault is that?
People in Oxford aren't stupid, and what is happening there as part of this, is not what most people want to see in their towns.
Strong Towns does a much better job of this because they have no cultural bias, and talk dollars and cents.
Like if I hear about diversity or integration in a discussion about urbanism, I just turn them off because I am clearly listening to someone who lacks critical thinking skills and just parrots back what they were taught in school.
Unfortunately I have a conspiracy theorist sister-in-law who in a fight with my wife, who basically told her to take her conspiracy theories elsewhere, "warned" us that "15 minute cities are coming!" To which I thought, that sounds GREAT! By the way I pretty much already live in one anyway (an inner Melbourne suburb with 2 train stations, 8 different tram routes, 5 supermarkets, countless cafes, restaurants, live music venues and the beach all within a 10 minute walk). Strange thing to 'warn' someone about though as if it's a bad thing. I wouldn't live anywhere that didn't have all of that within a 10-15 minute walk.
One of the things I loved about living in Spain was the going to the market every day type culture. On your way home from work, you pass by a bunch of supermarkets and you can just get whatever is fresh to cook that day.
Why did you leave?
@@winstonsolipsist1741 I was only there for a 3 month rotation during graduate school. I’ve been dying to go back to visit. But my whole family is here so I could never live in Spain long term.
@@dtpugliese318 I fully subscribe to your comment I live in an apartment in a city of just over 50000 inhabitants in eastern Spain 8 km. the Mediterranean Sea with good sunny weather almost all year round and all are advantages, bars restaurants supermarkets, all within 5 minutes walk is wonderful to live so my health center 2 minutes, the regional hospital even 20 minutes walk this is quality of life. Greetings from Villarreal in the Valencian Community Spain.
City Nerd is the bomb. Americans are programmed to be terrified of cities. We are not taught to read transit maps. We don’t learn how to ride public transit, use transit passes, and drive safely on narrow, congested streets. We hate public bathrooms, litter,and people around us speaking foreign languages. I’m a retired City and Regional Planner.
Great to hear you’re now on Nebula, I will now be following you on there! Keep up the great content!
Im trying to figure out how having a supermarket a 2-5 min walk is tyranny do people like that really exist? That’s wild
Their interpretation of the "15-minute city" as told to them by right-wing media is that you will be assigned a sector in your city and will be forbidden from leaving it without authorization.
@@kb_100 it’s just so wild to me even tho I live in the states and see it but it’s super inconvenient. It’s hard to think people really wouldn’t prefer to have a store they get to in 5 mins or less by walking over driving 15 mins each direction to find basic necessities. It was one of my gripes with living in a small town in a mostly rural area.
@@zmojofoot76 the framing in right wing media is completely disingenuous. They don't frame it truthfully as "having essentials within 15 mins of walking or biking for better convenience, but can still go to the pharmacy across town if you prefer that for some reason".
They frame it as this Judge Dredd distopian universe where "you will be forced to stay in your 15-min sector and never be allowed to leave. If you have friends or family in other areas you will never see them again."
@@kb_100 And the cities which do implement something like this (e.g. Oxford) still aren't like this as they primarily target cars and not travel in general.
"the joy of owning a mobile fortress" - my drink came out of my nose!
I find all the self-deprecation pretty funny. Makes me want to watch more of your videos. Subscribed now!
Excited to see where you go to next and which lessons can be learned from there!
I’m a student in Valencia and I love this city. The walkability in neighborhoods that are stunning is so refreshing compared to the suburbs of the US. Thank you for this video❤
Yeah, it's good for a student, but when starting a family, you will want to move out into a house in the countryside.
@@independentthought3390 "you will want to move out into a house in the countryside."
That is hardly a universal truth. Lots of families raise kids in cities.
@@independentthought3390I think it's the opposite. Kids can't drive, so they wouldn't be able to be independent.
This man is the Bob Ross of urbanism channels.
I never felt like Bob Ross had open contempt toward different nationalities or viewpoints. The sarcastic delivery the unfair straw manning... the school shooter vibe
I agree. I like how relaxing he makes my hatred of car centricity.
Valencia looks amazing! Thanks for the content.
Love that you’re loving it here! Can’t wait for you to take a look at my home, Barcelona
I did a semester abroad in Valencia and absolutely fell in love with the city. Love seeing your videos there using it to explain these concepts. Enjoy the Bravas!!
Hey! I'm a person who prefers rural living, and considers driving to be one of my favorite activities, but still love this channel and agree with the vast majority of what you say. 🙂 I may prefer tons of open land without many other people sharing it, owning all the tools and facilities to be almost irrationally independent, and avoiding hiring services as much as possible. Still, I wouldn't promote or try to live like that near (or worse yet, in) a significant population center! It makes things worse for everyone involved.
Living in Texas, I'm constantly critical of the irrational land use policies of the major metro downtowns, despise the widespread use of stroads - with all the driveways directly on the collector/arterial, of course, to maximize the number of intersections and conflict points, and every intersection is fully signalized to ensure the traffic will back up as far as possible…all that good stuff. Not to mention to the silly amount of space between buildings, and the vast wastelands that are giant surface parking lots. When I'm in an urban area, I prefer to walk or bike everywhere, and would really rather not have a constant 85dB of road noise everywhere, or regularly have to cross nine-lane intersections, or find that there is only one crosswalk every several miles. Though I could never afford enough space to do the things I do, when I lived in downtown Long Beach, CA for half a decade, my favorite part was only using my car for my hellishly long commute to work, and to explore outside of the developed area on weekends. And I love driving more than anyone I know. But car-centric urban driving isn't enjoyable for anyone involved, nor is anyone unfortunate enough to be not-driving nearby, haha.
Where we are, the sprawl has begun to reach, us and everything seems to be getting expanded into a 6-8-lane stroad, independent local businesses are getting less common, and they have been expanding surface highways that sever countless former connections in neighborhoods. In one location near us, what used to be across one local intersection now requires merging onto a state highway, driving about five miles, making a u-turn, then driving five miles back and taking the exit on the right. I can only imagine what it was like to live in one of the neighborhoods they cleared to build the U.S.' many urban highways. At least they didn't have to bulldoze anyone's house when they were bisecting neighborhoods and removing all of the local road connections. And at least all of these households already owned cars. In an urban setting, that often wasn't the case, and that highway is an even larger barrier.
Anecdotally, I grew up in the inner-ring suburbs of Philadelphia, PA (side note, I just checked out Philadelphia, MS for the first time on a business trip, and it was so much more of a "baby Philadelphia" than I ever expected…I mean, there were cheesesteaks everywhere, haha, but even just the naming and styling of the place and the municipal services looked more similar than I expected them to, ahaha). But anyway, all my experiences of the city as a kid were by automobile - be it a bus on a field trip or with my parents, grandparents, a friend's family, etc. Things always felt so…I guess separate and distant and different, going between things in different parts of the city. When I was older and would visit friends downtown, I would do a lot more getting around by bike or on foot, and, except for finding crossings past the highways, the city just felt so much more compact and connected than I'd ever previously understood it to be, and that was really nice! It's obviously far from perfect, but being a city that grew large pre-car, it at least holds on to some aspects of that non-car-dependant planning, and was the first time I saw firsthand that cities could be both populous and still very livable and navigable!
Somewhat ironically, many of the smaller population centers were founded in the 1800s (or sometimes in the 1700s or early 1900s), and most of those have maintained their pre-car layouts and have wonderful, walkable, historic downtowns, rather than strip malls joined with surface highways and stroads. In a way, much of rural Texas seems to have better urban planning practices than the cities of millions, go figure!
Good urban design is beneficial everywhere, even in places with only a few thousand or even a few hundred people (sure, it might not make sense to have a metro in those places, but plenty of other things still apply, like not dedicating half the real estate to parking, not having a highway cut through the city center, designing a transportation network with a high degree of connectivity, and providing safe separation from vehicle traffic, designing roads to reflect the desired speed limit, rather than designing something that would meet racetrack standards, with 18ft wide lanes, 300ft graded and cleared of all hazards on each side of the road, and then posting "25 mph" speed limit signs every few blocks).
We need to be better about using appropriate solutions for differing situations and needs, and designing to treat the sources of problems, rather than the symptoms. The solution to traffic congestion in an 8-million-resident metro is not a 26-lane highway and yet another ring of suburbs. The solution to traffic backing up at a shopping center is not minor local connections and having six+ lane collectors that cross two rail crossings and an interstate interchange. Nor will an HOV lane solve rush hour when much of that traffic is commuting 35+ miles each way (and since when is 2+ is considered "high occupancy"? I guess it's high for Texas, because most of the time, there are few, if any, cars in the HOV nearest to us!) If traffic is traveling at hazardous speeds near non-vehicular traffic, the solution is not posting a low number on a white rectangle in the middle of what is functionally a drag strip. Try making the lines thinner. Try putting visual cues like trees nearer to the road. Introduce curves, even though they aren't strictly necessary (I like to joke that, outside of modern subdivisions with their "keep-others-out" street mazes, Texas' DOT only knows two angles: 0°, and 90°. Curves are like an alien concept outside of highways, arterials, and the completely unnecessary 100ft wide boulevards every subdivision seems to have as their main road). And why do they require new subdivisions to build an extensive sidewalk network, but then NEVER connect that network outside of the subdivision? Near me, there is a subdivision where the sidewalk ends at the edge of the neighborhood, despite there being a small shopping complex with things like restaurants, gyms, and a convenience store about ¼ of a mile away. I hope you like walking in muddy draining canals, though! Because the road has a speed limit of 60 mph, comes around a blind turn immediately before where the sidewalk ends, and has a zero-width shoulder with the edges immediately dropping into deep, muddy trenches on both sides of the road. Oh, and did I mention that this particular intersection has had the most accidents, and I believe also the most fatal accidents, of any in the entire county for the last few years running? Have fun getting there without a car! 🙄
And don't even get me started on the U.S.' fear of mixed zoning. This is another thing that rural areas ironically tend to do better than the more urban metros, at least outside of their downtown core - they often don't restrict the mixing of commercial and residential uses, and you can still find corner stores and people running restaurants in their garages. It's wonderful!
Thanks! One of your best yet.
Glad you enjoyed, and thanks!
Your best video so far, in my opinion! Great job
City Beautiful was my on ramp to Urbanist YT, including finding this channel.
One thing about the elevator - the building codes in the US might be to make it comply with ADA. Accessibility is one thing america seems to do pretty well on in a lot of areas
Thanks for this video. I’ve just learned about the 15 min city concept recently. So I was excited to see this video. Thanks!
Glad you enjoyed it!
First time viewer, I extremely enjoyed your video. Great I formation and perfect dark humor and sarcasm balanced within it. End result: Great information in a very “ you decide” what you like!
Another great video! We spend 1-2 months in Valencia each winter and really appreciate how well connected it is. Between rail, buses, bike lanes, cercanias, a decent airport, and the absolute amazing Turia river trails, it is a great place for getting around easily. The only detached houses I have every seen there (and just a few) are down by the MalvaRosa beach area. And I don't mean Cabanyal.
I think I BARELY got up to Malvarosa, and I totally missed the single family homes! Maybe I was still in El Cabanyal -- hard to tell where the dividing line is!
@@CityNerd it’s a great area, especially farther up at Alboraya. Nice restaurants, apartments with amazing ocean views, great boardwalk, bike rentals
But it barely has parks and green spaces
@@ligametis Actually, besides the beach, it has the entire Turia River bed that has been converted into a greenspace and runs like 20+ km through the city, going right past the fowntown and the palace of the arts and sciences.
"The type of people that prefer suburbs probably aren't going to be interested in this channel anyway" - funnily enough, nope. There are literally dozens of us (or at least one). To be fair though I hate most suburbs, there are a few that are walkable, well connected, and probably should have been annexed by the core city anyway.
I love my suburb, and I really enjoy this channel (I can't do some of the more militant urbanist channels though). Walkability is an interesting subject... I find suburbs to be better than urban areas for taking a recreational walk, walking the dogs, going for a jog... obviously they're worse for walking to stores and restaurants, but I walk the dogs daily and I don't go to the store daily, so for my needs the suburb is more walkable than an urban area would be.
Amazing content, as always. Your videos are one of the highlights of my week. Possible future video suggestion: I'd love to see your analysis of cities that have undergone the most gentrification in recent years and it's impact on housing affordability/availability & transit infrastructure.
Oh my god. Your humor is hilarious 😂 Definitely subscribing for the content, and the comedy 😭
As someone who lives in Eastern Europe (Bulgaria) and who just yesterday returned from Valencia, which I had heard so much about, I was actually surprised that its residential blocks are actually not that dense in comparison. In Eastern Europe, the population density is even higher as we have commonly 8-story buildings, so cities are even more walkable. I've never been to Vegas but the charts you show are just insane, it looks ridiculous.
Yes, unfortunately Eastern European cities are car-infested nonetheless, because of our shitty mentality obsessed with material status, owning a car being the prime symbol of it.
If anything, socialism gave us superbly designed cities, but we managed to ruin that.
@@BcroG11 Well, you might be right that city planning was one of very very few things socialism had some good ideas about. But calling them superb is an overstatement, especially considering the poor quality of the constructions and the depressing look of neighborhoods. I would still much rather live in a typical French/Spanish town, my remark was mostly about the density.
@@ViktorHristovvv I meant superb in terms of city planning (spatial distribution of residential buildings, amenities and greenery). At least that's what I like my city (Rijeka, Croatia) for.
@@BcroG11 "Socialism" (not actually socialism, planned economy =/= worker ownership) also gave us gigantic streets in the middle of cities, even at the time when basically no one had a car. We have to take the good and the bad and see what we can make with it, at least we have a future to look forward to, unlike most of the US right now.
@@KartonRealista2 True
Crazy to watch this and learn that my small American city (~130,000 people) is almost twice as dense as Portland and Las Vegas
Care to share the name of the city?
It depends how old your city is. If it was built up pre-war, there's a chance it has decent density. I lived in LA and I always loved going to the older suburbs because they were mixed density and had businesses everywhere
@@DavidLopez-rk6em Baltimore's density, even with massive population loss and at least half the land area being single family, is over 7K per sq mi.
@@josephfisher426 I used to live in Baltimore as a young child. I hated it. Although everything seems bigger when you're a kid, I still felt cramped in that rowhouse. There was no front yard, just stairs leading down to a sidewalk and the street. I wasn't allowed out the front without a parent. The backyard was super tiny and I didn't have much room to run and play. Half of the backyard was taken up by the clothes line. That is where I learned to hate cities. My parents had only one vehicle and the park was too far away for my mom to take me and my baby brother. Never mind that there were sidewalks and it was an old city designed for pedestrians. I was basically trapped in that rowhouse. The best thing that ever happened to my life was when my Dad (who was a country boy who married a city girl) moved us all to Kentucky and into the suburbs.
Sadly many Spaniards will never experience having the freedom of a 4 figure monthly car payment - lol
They'll never know the joy of being walled into eight-lane gridlock while having to urinate.
I've been watching your videos for a while and LOVE the saecasm! I also love how much thought and research goes into your videos. One of my favorite channels is Not Just Bikes, in part because he also does great sarcasm and in part because he's a Canadian living in Europe so i fele tay he has a better understanding than many of us. 😊
I’ve often wondered why you don’t talk very much about population density in your videos. To me it’s the most important aspect of a city. Density instantly gives you a strong idea of what that city is going to look like.
Glad you’re finally giving population density its just due…
A problem is density for the city as a whole only tells a partial story. A lot of places include a bunch of suburban fringe in city limits, which means the average won't tell you what downtown or the inner neighborhoods are like. I don't think any particular statistic is really usable as a silver bullet on a citywide scale, let alone metro.
@@manlykilt Not only suburbs but also forests or land used for agriculture. And of course industry. Density is an important metric but as you said condensed in a single number for a city or urban area it is not only partly helpful.
@@manlykilt Yeah it's especially bad in places like Vancouver where something like 80% of the residences are SFHs, but there are tons of giant condo skyscrapers in the downtown that really skew the density metric.
US cities like Chicago are surrounded by suburbs so overall density is somewhat meaningful, but you can have cities whose limits include outright farmland so have low densities that don't match the reality people live. "Population weighted density" is a good metric if you can find it. Neighborhood density is good too and what matters for walkability anyway, and city-data has US neighbohood data.
Here in Oslo we have a similar population to those cities you mention in the video, but only 3700 people per sqm, but this is because the city limits stretch far out into uninhabited forest areas. The geographic center of the city is actually in the middle of a forest. :)
The density in the actual populated parts of the city is likely three or four times higher, and we do have good walkability and public transport.
Amazing Video! I’m significantly bummed out to discover this video a year after I was living in the same vicinity as you, even played football near Marxalenes.
And now my thesis project is very related to the themes and subjects you touch upon with this!
So cool!
That population density in Portland was surprising but probably shouldn't have been - it's very uniformly lower middle density, almost suburban in character except with a strong emphasis on bikeability.
I just moved from Eugene (not that dissimilar to Portland in the center but even more diffuse due to a decent amount of suburban crud being in city limits) to Providence and the difference is starkly visible, with Providence weighing in at 10k per square mile. When I look out my window and see an endless sea of midrise apartments with a small but cute downtown in the distance, it's not hard to believe. And the access to daily needs within walking distance follows naturally.
Providence, Rhode Island? It does not seem like an “endless sea if midrise apartments.” I’m curious to hear more about your impression of the city, as it’s one of the places that stands out when sorting through livability data.
@@badhombre4683 To specify, by midrise I meant the kind of housing people talk about when they refer to the "Missing Middle" - block after block of 3-5 story small apartment buildings and/or condo multiplexes, similar to what was being shown in the video for Valencia but less of it and not quite as tall, since Providence is and always has been a smaller city.
As for an endless sea, that's probably bias for where I chose to live - looking out my window in Federal Hill, I can see buildings similar to the one I landed in in every direction with downtown peaking out from over the furthest roofs I can see. There are several other neighborhoods like this to the northeast of downtown as well as Smith Hill between them which is beginning to gentrify. I don't know if that counts as an endless sea, but that's how it feels to me from a very specific perspective.
I have to say, moving to metro Portland (Beaverton) from Greater Boston (Manchester, NH) 2.5 years ago, I was a bit disappointed. People had talked up this region like it was some kind of walkable urbanist paradise--and I have to say, living in Beaverton's diminutive-and-fractured downtown, I often can just walk for things--but coming from an older New England region, whose major growth periods were the late 19th century and then the 1970's, it's amazing how rectilinear, sprawling, and highway-strewn the suburbs of the 1990's-2010's have become. I mean, suburbs have always been problematic to some extent, but it seems like the everywhere west of the Mississippi must've spent the past couple decades trying to make sure as many people needed to drive for as much of their lives as possible. I can't imagine trying to live in a place LA, any of the Texan cities, or Phoenix; what a nightmare.
I do like Portland, but it's all leaving me craving some East Coast density, like back in Boston, Philly, or NYC.
It’s a shame Providence is so cut up by the highways. That’s the only real downside. I grew up around Hartford and spent several years living in Worcester, so I definitely see the appeal of New England’s smaller cities, but sadly they’ve all been chopped up by highways. Still, it’ll take a whole lot less time and investment to improve walkability and urban fabric in southern New England bc our cities real do have great bones.
I do wish our transit was better tho. Idk how it is in Prov, but Worcester went from being a tram utopia in the early 20th century to having quite poor transit today. Trains between New England’s cities are also quite lacking in my experience, but as I said earlier, we still have much better transit “bones” than most of the rest of the US. Our region just needs to have representatives and popular movements with the right priorities and we could legitimately have world class urbanism.
@@pjkerrigan20 You're absolutely right, the highways cutting Fed and Smith Hill off from downtown and running along the southern edge of Fox Point are a blight that should be removed. At the least, they didn't go _through_ any neighborhoods here, which is better than can be said for some other cities. My understanding is they were planning to bulldoze one right through College Hill and that would be a real travesty of justice. As it is, it makes going downtown a lot more of a hassle. Lucky me I don't need to do that very often.
Regarding transit, I'm originally from Cleveland, and from what I've seen so far Cleveland has better intra-city transit, from the multiple light and heavy rail lines to the couple of BRT lines. However, the commuter rail will take you to Boston in an hour many times a day and you do have access to Acela and the Northeast Regional, and those services beat anything I've had access to in the past. At some point I think Boston residents are going to stop paying 4k/mo rent and/or driving in from overpriced suburbs and emigrate here en masse.
Hey Ray, great video as usual man! :]
Next time you do a video on densify can you do more comparisons though.. that way people could see more of the missing middle density that does exist here in the U.S.
for example, the Dutchtown neighborhood in StL has density around 10,000ppl per sq. mi. But there are virtually no high rises in the neighborhood. Keep the great content coming though :]
Valencia is amazing. My university (florida state) has three campuses in Europe and one of them is in Valencia and to this day it’s one of the coolest cities I’ve ever visited.
god i love your videos, especially when you wax sarcastic
i mean really, your sarcasm drips harder than Overly Sarcastic Productions at times.
I lived in Gandia, an hour south of Valencia at the end of the C-1 rail line, for a year. It's a town of about 50k people directly on the coast that swells to 200k in the winter when people migrate down from Madrid to the beach. My apartment near the beach was within 10 minutes of three grocery stores even though it was winter and most people weren't around. Living without a car was super easy thanks to the rail line; I could get to Valencia in an hour and hang out with people there or go out in the bigger city.
I hate density and prefer to have my own space.
Leeds where I live is a fairly similar city and metro area in population size to these three examples. It's nice to see that we do have a decent enough level of density in comparison to US cities. It's almost exactly in-between Portland and Valencia at 10k+/sqm
Just a shame our public transport is terrible compared to Valencia's, and probably also worse than Portland's!
Hopefully you guys get some investment in the coming years. First carrying the absurd title of the largest city in Western Europe without rapid transit, and then on top of that, having the eastern leg of HS2 cancelled! Best wishes from Birmingham (which is arguably faring better atm but also has a LOT of work to do lol)
I tell everyone here in Spain that Leeds is the English equivalent of Valencia.
I've been subscribed to Nebula for about a year already, back then there weren't a lot of creators I followed there so I stopped using it despite being subbed lol. Lately I've been using it more frequently but I gotta do an effort to use it more often.
If you have any input into the development of the platform, it would be great to have a comment system implemented, and the youtube-app gestures such as double tapping on the sides to fast foward (or backtrack) or swipe up to either fullscreen or minimize a video.
Thanks for the great vid as always.
Congrats on making the leap to Nebula. My wife and I have been enjoying your videos since before you hit 10k subs. Guess we are just a couple snarky city lovers too!
Well, you know, American cities are basically eyesores with nothing worth seeing or doing, so what's the point of getting around faster? What's the point of a monorail in Cleveland to take you to the Dollar General? A romantic riverside stroll in Pittsburgh? My God, at least driving forces us to keep our eyes on the road instead of the ugliness forever surrounding us.
Hey CityNerd! I got a suggestion for you; a lot of folks in the urbanism space sometimes forget about disabled mobility. I think that transit and walk/rollability are still the best option for disabled folks but is there any data on this? How about comparing the US to the EU in terms of disabled accessibility? Thanks for ur content
BIcycleDutch on how many disabled benefit from Dutch bike lanes: th-cam.com/video/xSGx3HSjKDo/w-d-xo.html
Not Just Bikes on disability microcars th-cam.com/video/B9ly7JjqEb0/w-d-xo.html
Is very nice to see your own city through your eyes. Thank you!
I've spent sometime in similar neighborhods in South America. Apartment had very small elevator, top floors are generally 10 in the neighborhoods i was in. Its probably the limit of steel reinforced concrete construction. Anyway the small elevator was fine. I only needed it when taking groceries back to my apt. walking up steps carrying something gets old fast. Even if its a good workout its not something you want to do when unprepared. The stairwells were in the back. very wide steps with ventilation and windows outside often with views of green trees, vines etc. Generally they seemed to keep older people on lower floors and younger ones in upper floors. Also neighbors were very quiet and respectful everywhere i stayed. I look back fondly of my stays there even though its been a long time.
I would love to live in a dense, convenient, green urban area. I really would. But every condo, townhouse, and apartment I've ever lived in, the neighbors were incredibly rude at all hours. I don't want to be in constant conflict with my neighbors. Quiet hours aren't enforced, laws aren't enforced, management gives zero shits, etc. I know it's possible to construct large buildings with sound-isolated apartments, but it costs more so developers never build them. If people were halfway decent to live around, or if there were enforcement of noise ordinances, I'd be fully on board with this.
And Euro suburbs have transit into the city thats like if Chicagos Metra was good and the stations were all mostly walkable or bikable
Oh also the Pharmacias are great. Wife sprained an ankle in Valencia and we could get everything we needed cheap
Thanks for this. I loved Valencia. Spot on.
youre on a roll with the sarcasm today. had me stifiling my laugh in the library
Valencia is my favourite large Spanish city. It has had a great public transport system, particularly buses, for as long as I remember; and I've been visiting and on three occasions spending a few months there, since my first visit on a concert tour back in 1959. My flat there, 25 yrs ago, was on Pl d'América, and I used a car only to travel to Elche. Even our beach apartment south of the city at Dénia was easily reached by bus.
The dog distribution by breed in Spain is an exciting topic. If you go to Cadiz you see many large dogs and not too many small toy dogs, like in other urban places in Spain
The sarcasm made me instantly click the subscribe button, very much enjoyed this video!
I think a really interesting in between to suburbs and 5-minute cities are the old railcar neighborhoods. You get SFHs (build very close to each other) mixed usually with multifamily homes, and usually within half a mile you have everything you need within walking distance (gas, store, bars, restaurants, usually a doctor or hospital, pharmacy)
Walking, bicycles and mass transit need to be primary transportation sources.
Housing, employment, grocery stores, restaurants, parks and open spaces all need to be clustered within walking or cycling distance.
Zoning that separated housing from employment makes you drive to get anywhere.
lI ike your channel but I think you are making some generalizations. I enjoy cities. I grew up in Brooklyn. I left when i was 25 and I haven't lived there since the 80's. However I still walk the streets in my dreams. Every time I see a photo of NYC I know exactly where it is.
The 70's and 80's were a time when kids didn't stay inside. We were constantly outside even on the coldest days. That's not the case now. There's more to a city than a 15 minute walk to everything. There's also the culture. We had a cohesion growing up that's lacking. Experiencing our culture though the computer or phones doesn't give us a good substitute for actually being with people. In many ways the disconnect that many used to complain about life in the suburbs is now a part of the urban environment not withstanding the 5 connect. You talk about convenience. I talk about a melting pot of ideas and people.
Citynerd is just as good as those other two channels, which I do follow as well!
Those Consums remind me of when I visited Poznan in Poland and there was a market called Zabka in almost every block or street we walked around.
It means Frog 🐸 like it is so close you can jump to it. They are everywhere in Poland.
I doubt the premise that single family is incompatible with five minute walks to, say, stores and parks. I looked at a girlhood home of my Mom. It was still the way it was 75 years ago from her descriptions, and there was a park across the street, and a store on the corner. What enabled this were smaller setbacks, as well as sidewalks separated from the street so they felt safe. I think that there's a range of options that work.
See old America or modern Japanese Suburbia, All walkable, almost all single family homes, but with interspersed retail and services.
Smaller setbacks, smaller houses, smaller lots. But, 75 years ago, most of those houses had 4 or 5 people in them, not 1 or 2. The houses had 1 car garages, not 3 car garages.
Also, you would probably find some duplexes, triplexes, and small apartment buildings in the neighborhood, built before the neighborhood was down-zoned to strictly single family detached.
You will find the grocery store and park have smaller parking lots, or maybe no parking lots.
A lot of things were approached differently 75 years ago.
This describes quite a bit of Brooklyn and Queens. Many neighborhoods consist of blocks of single family homes but every few blocks a commercial street where you can do your shopping, eat out, go to a salon, etc.
it's not incompatible, there are a lot of such neighborhoods in Europe too, not in the very city centers but stuff built around 60-70s, where on one side you might have single family homes mixed with lower density flats or semi-detached houses and on the other there is a metro stop or trains/trams and more dense area with shops and stuff.
Where I stayed in Osaka was very walkable and had a lot of family houses. But they were probably around 1000 sqft total, and two stories, and with tiny 'yards' and at most a couple feet between houses, so sitting on lot sizes of maybe 500-800 sqft. Whereas a common minimum lot size in the US is 1/8 acre or 5000 sqft, and can be even bigger. Houston reformed itself down to 1500 sqft minimum some years ago.
Also small shops in the lower front of those 2 or 3 story houses and apartments.
Also, most of the streets themselves were tiny, only a bit wider than one lane. No sidewalks: walkers, bicyclists, and slow cars share the same space, until you get onto the bigger roads. (No curbside parking, obviously!) Compared to a US street that's 4 lanes wide (2 parking, 1 traffic lane each way) that saves a lot of space.
Sometimes there are narrow pedestrian arcades that don't even admit cars, but still have housing and shops in them.
So yes, you can have walkable density with houses but it looks a lot different from US wide streets and 20 feet front setbacks.
You should do a video on Arlington Texas. It is the largest city in a America without any public transportation at all. They don't even have a bus line and the city has a population of over 400,000. It might be largest city in the entire world without transit.
That is impressive to read. I bet any city in second world countries with that size has at least a bunch of bus lines.
Greyhound owning Chicagoan here, they are a fantastic breed for apartments! They rarely want exercise outside of daily walks as they are meant for sprinting and not distance. I suspect their Spanish Galgo counterparts are similar in tempermant and needs.
Thanks dude; this has been one of your best episodes: for a 'murican, you do irony very well! Really tickles my Spanish/Argentinian/Australian sensibilities! 😆👌
I don't like framing it as density, because density can be achieved by building extremely tall towers surrounded by parking and expressways. Dubai, for example.
Agreed, no wonder why Dubai Marina (pedestrian) is so popular.
The jab to NYC's bodegas is hilarious. BTW, "Bodega" means "Warehouse" in Spanish which really illustrates the stark difference in sophistication between them and the "superettes" from the video.
Even though I already support you on Patreon, I'm increasing the amount specifically on the strength of this very deadpan, very straight-laced very long rant, on a topic I care about, and doing it in a way that raises witty sarcasm into an art form.
awesome video!, keep it up
In my city I go to a supermarket on the ground floor of our condo like to a on-demand fridge. It is also open from 8 to 22. Density rules!
"Sadly, many Spaniards will never experience the joy of owning a mobile fortress that requires oversized parking, or the freedom of having a four-figure monthly car payment. And kids might have to figure out how to walk or bike places"
😂
Super cool how your living in Valencia now. I'd love to hear in one of your videos why and for how long. Also looking forward to your thoughts between Valencia and the US places you have lived, as well as other European cities you'll no doubt visit. I'm also guessing you're fluent in Spanish, which I'm only guessing at from your knowledge of Mexican urban areas. Love your channel and keep up the great work
Wow, I live in Benicalap, we’re neighbours! Thanks for talking about my city!
Hope you enjoy your stay here!
Let me tell you about the horrors of the high density living in my communist era neighbourhood! A full size supermarket, lots of minimarkets, 3 hospitals, a dozen smaller clinics, kindergardens, bars and restaurants, a farmermarket, 3 parks, 5 highschools and 2 universities, all within a 12 minutes walking range! Shocking, right?
The siren at the end. That's actually my reason for now living in the suburbs
I loved my apartment life for decades. But in the last few years I became increasingly aggravated by the noise of my building, the people in it, the police and fire vehicles regularly going past, and all the other sounds of density.
My house in the burbs is just the right amount of peaceful. But I worry that I'll get to a point where even here is too much. My long term plan is to be a wild mountain man.
Sure, but one barking dog can make suburban life hell.
I've had my suburb phase. For me, all the lawnmowers, snowblowers, leafblowers, etc. get a little ridiculous.
So are there no fires, injuries , accidents or fights in the suburbs? Does no one use a lawn mower, leaf blower or revs up their car? No loud parties? Stop the lies already.
@@matthays9497 Or rooster.
Your dry humor is so masterfully executed that I imagine many British comedians getting nervous for their jobs while watching this.
Love my Nebula sub... had it about 2 years I think. Where are you headed next? Or do you know yet? Safe travels!!