I Found Out Why American Suburbs Look So Different - European Reacts
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 12 ก.ย. 2024
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✔️ I Found Out Why American Suburbs Look So Different - European Reacts - Reaction For the First Time
That’s pretty typical, unless you live in the Southwest, where keeping grass green requires a lot of water, which can be expensive.
And the HOA still expects you to keep the lawn alive in sand. I'm not technically in the southwest. But I still have that problem.
You are right.
We live in a Southern California suburb, built in the early 1960's. No HOA. Nice because no HOA fee. People paint their homes however they wish. Conservatively in our neighborhood. There are brightly colored homes in other neighborhoods. Not the (in my opinion) fun & joyful type of neighborhood where each home is a different, bright, color. But a random house here & there that is a garish blue or pink.
Anyway, we also have no rules about landscaping.
Positive aspect is that, for example, we didn't need permission when we finally got rid of our small front lawn, the grass in the small parking strip in front of our house, & grass in the ridiculously long side parking strip (we live on a corner).
We put in drought tolerant plants, some big rocks, some Palo verde trees. Looks so much better!!! Many of the plants do flower, as well as the small yellow flowers on the Palo verde trees
Trade off is that some neighbors are unable to maintain their yards, & so some weed-filled. Doesn't bother me. Not many, & I have empathy for those neighbors.
Blessings, all.
Forgot to mention STRICT watering limits during several years of drought.
Had actual "water police" who patrolled & gave warnings & tickets to "offenders." Eventually, even the city & some golf courses (maybe the public ones?) let the grass go brown.
@@aniE1869 I will never, ever, buy a house with an HOA
Looks like a typical American suburb.
Typical for Canada too
It is difficult for other Countries to understand is that America is massive - therefore we have more land and bigger houses. Britain fits into the State of Texas. Don’t get me wrong, I love Europe, Britain, Ireland, etc
@@TheBasedCanadian as an American who's visited Canada, Canada looks more like the America you always see on TV more than most of America. At least the parts I've seen.
Yea that's about your typical middle class suburbs.
Most of what he showed was, although there were parts that were truly upper middle, more akin to the Home Alone neighborhood
This is typical of an American suburb that was built long enough ago to be able to display such beautiful, mature foliage. 😊
The greenery is pretty universal (at least, certain times of year), east of the Mississippi, except for a handful of relatively small areas (e.g., a couple of super-rocky areas in New England, and the desolate sandbar that is South Florida). Out west, is another matter: greenery is more the exception than the rule out there (though there are some notable green areas, particularly along the Pacific Northwest coast).
Very typical middle class suburban neighborhood.
@@jonadabtheunsightly South Florida has plenty of green neighborhoods like that. Not the newer ones though, because now days they are building big houses on small lots, and new developments haven't had time for the few trees they plant to grow. Older neighborhoods had bigger yards, and time to grow.
Yep. I bought in a rural suburb that was developed in the 60s and the smallest lots are one acre. I have 6 mature trees, two of which are 40 foot tall oaks. They're beautiful despite the work in the fall cleaning up leaves.
That was a deciding factor in choosing my new home. All of the new construction had either very small trees 15 years away from being called a shade tree, or even non at all. Older neighborhoods have 2 or more trees in every yard and look so much more pleasant.
This is very normal middle class suburb in Ohio also. There are lots of trees and flowers and it is very green. We call that strip of land an easement and the homeowner must take care of it
Yes, an easement, In the northern Chicago suburbs, as well.
Yeah, easement. I was going crazy not hearing it.
I visited my friends in Shaker Heights Ohio, it was so beautiful and serene.
@@dennykfun2411 I live in a suburb. We don't call it a tree lawn because trees are not permitted between the street and sidewalk. Tree roots damage sidewalks, curbs, roads and municipal water and sewage pipes. There is another easement behind our properties for gas and power lines. These are municipal "right of ways" and cannot be blocked or developed.
It's a good term for that area. It comes from the legal term easement, which is a legal right to use someone;else's property for limited purposes. For instance the utility companies have easements where they can place power or telephone lines or pipes, etc. In this case the local government has an easement for a certain width of land along the public streets. The sidewalks are usually about as far away from the streets as the easement allows - this gives a safety zone so that cars that lose control with hopefully not hurt people and animals on the sidewalks, and pedestrians or children on acceptable vehicles do not accidentally encroach on the rightful path of auto traffic. The homeowner continues to be responsible for the grass between road and sidewalk because it continues to be the homeowners' land.
What seems more dubious to me is that most northern cities require homeowners to shovel snow and ice off the sidewalks in front of their homes. After appropriating part of your yard, they force you to maintain the sidewalk as well! Does that apply to leaves and branches as well? This is not usually a requirement in the South, where I have mostly lived, as we only need to wait a short while, rarely more than a few days, for the sunshine, warmth or rain to melt it away. Besides, no one is expected to have snow shovels for the once-every-few-years snow or freezing rain (we get snow more often than that in the midsouth, but it almost never sticks to the paved areas, which are warmer than the grassy areas).
Yes, it's a typical neighborhood
It is definitely a typical suburb here. Our area looks a lot like that and our house is not expensive.
My husband calls the "verge" the city's property or the "easement". The city plants the trees there, but we mow it.
Generally you can gauge the age of the suburb by the size and type of trees on that grassy area. Our subdivision was put in in the early 1970's.
In mid-Michigan the trees are green like that until about the end of August, when the color change starts to happen. Right now the trees look a little lighter shade of green and some even have small patches of color showing. Depending on the winter temperatures the lawns get very brownish looking as they go dormant during the winter.
That is a typical American suburb. 😊
I think the new series you're starting sounds really fun and I can't wait to see. I also think it'd be cool if you showed us some stuff in Portugal, like houses, neighborhoods etc. I think it'd be interesting as well.
Yes, I want to see stuff from Portugal too!
A fairly typical suburb that is old enough to have mature trees. Lawrence’s house was built in 1942, so the neighborhood is at least that old.
We were lucky in that regard. Even though our neighborhood was built in 2016, there were tons of mature trees that the developers left here and built around. So we have new homes+awesome big trees.
@@CaptainTass I wish they did that in our neighborhood. No shade with all that sun. ☀️🥵
@@LaShumbraBates That sucks
1942, is relatively young in comparison to the age of many houses in UK and Europe that can be hundreds.
@@marcvwest Considering population growth, and a shift away from the upper Midwest, 1942 is fairly old for the US.
This is literally the MOST average suburb ever - you can find suburbs like this in most US states. I would say that this design - especially with the "verges" - was typical in most places up until about the 1960s, and since most of the US was settled before that time, it's the most common. Newer neighborhoods usually lose the verges and have the sidewalk directly against the street as land became more expensive and developers wanted to cram more homes in the space, but it's still pretty typical.
This is pretty typical. Although I notice in this suburb there is a wide variety of homes and yards which give it lots of character. Many newer suburbs have the same style homes and yards over and over so every street looks the same.
The classic yellow school bus got its color by law, when they did a lot of testing to see which colors were highly visible in as many conditions of light and weather as possible, so that when people see that color, they know to be very cautious, so that school-age children aren't needlessly endangered.
I would say this is a middle class neighborhood today, not a poor neighborhood or a wealthy neighborhood...
I'd say it looks like a typical middle-class neighborhood. Just like the place I grew up, and the place I purchased in my younger days.
I have only lived on the east coast of the USA - New England, Mid-Atlantic, and the Southeast - so i cannot speak for the west coast and middle America. But this video shows a typical middle class mature suburb for the east coast (we call it mature when the neighborhood and houses are older constructions and there are fully grown trees). You can absolutely find higher end suburbs that have much nicer houses than this, but they will drastically change in price based on location (proximity to cities, southeast vs mid-Atlantic on up to the north where it is traditionally way more expensive to live).
For the grassy patch (i grew up in New England).. a median is the grass separating the lanes on a highway, a common is a massive park run by the gov't (think Boston commons).. but my old neighborhood growing up was ...well .. old.. and we did not have sidewalks so we didn't have a grassy patch between the road and the sidewalk; but where i purchased my house has one, i just call it part of my yard.
In Atlanta, sometimes called the City in the Forest, existing old trees are valued and often left up when a new home is constructed, especially in the back yard. So you get a mature-feeling suburb right away.
One downside for me, as someone who likes sunshine, is that there are so many tall trees everywhere that you only see a slice of the sky where I live.
I've called it the curb strip. But usually I just call it that strip of grass between the sidewalk and the road. I never realized until now that we don't have a good name for it. And I also never realized there was anything different about our front yards not being fenced. Most all of our back yards are fenced, though.
@@schmedrake Curb strip works because someone would immediately know what you are referring to. As far as I know, it was always called the parkway, but things get changed or forgotten through the years.
Seems pretty typical for middle class suburbs of older cities. I grew up in the NYC suburbs of northern New Jersey and it was very similar to what Laurence was showing. Yes... the lawns and trees are usually very green. Those older suburbs have lots of older/larger trees... newer suburbs often are built in areas totally cleared of trees, with maybe a few saplings planted here and there... the difference in the trees can be startling sometimes as you move between older and newer suburbs.
I live in Iowa (also the Midwest) and this looks very much like neighborhoods in my city. Everybody is very proud of their yards - lots of flowers, shrubs and trees.
Yes. This is the norm in suburbs
11:06 in my area (Michigan) it's called a right of way. Here's how it works...
1. The land is technically owned by the city/township in which you live. It is an area reserved for expanding the road (if necessary) or (usually) the location where utility lines like sewers are run through.
2. Even though the city/township owns the land, you are required to maintain it, which usually is nothing more than cutting the grass.
3. (This is a problem with a lot of people): but if there is a tree on it, the tree belongs to the city/township, so you can't cut it down; but you're still responsible for cleaning up all the leaves, or any limbs that fall off it.
That’s a very good general description. The only thing different where I live is that we clean up leaves and small branches, but if a major limb came down we just call the county and they handle it.
It’s a typical neighborhood for sure. I live in a condo, and we are on like 10-20 acres. So not only in my front yard large and green but my backyard is a path for deer, bunny, ducks, squirrels and skunk to frolic through. I love it, it’s very green, and the acreage is wooded too :)
It's typical for a older neighborhood near a large town (He lives near Chicago). A little farther out, and they start looking like the large houses at about 5:40. Here in Nebraska, I've heard it called sidewalk strip.
Where in Nebraska? I grew up in Fremont!
The amount of Greenery varies quite a bit. Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah? Won't be chock full of green laws and trees with brilliant green leaves. You need semi-regular rainfall for things quite so lush. But most of the nation does have enough fresh water for that.
Northern Utah has that, I live in Northern Utah and we have green lawns and lots of trees and bushes. Southern Utah where it is more of a desert is more like that.
I live in the Chicago suburbs, like Laurence. It’s very green in the summer and autumn. Snowy and brown in the winter and early spring. Some places are the opposite. Many places in California don’t get enough rain in the summer, so they are brown in the summer, green in the winter. Some places are green all year, some are stony and grey all year. It depends on the weather.
Andre, that neighborhood is about as typical as it gets...THAT is suburbia in America, to a tee
While hiking in the forest with a German friend, he asked if the trees were planted? He was incredulous when I told him no, all natural. I explained to him that in the US you must fight the forest for your open meadows, or the forest will overtake them in a very few years.
There's very little "wild" in Europe. When I was over there - coming from N Minnesota and born in the wilderness, I was shocked that even their darned rivers are paved with stone. Really.
I got a similar question from someone in the US who grew up entirely in southern California where broadleaf green trees only happen where people put them on lawns and golf courses. It was weird that it never occurred to them that trees just happen on their own if the climate is right for it
That is absolutely a typical suburban neighborhood. I work as a concrete finisher and make a living paving all those sidewalks you see plus the driveways and everything else
I have lived most of my life in Texas(other than when I was in the military) and I always called the grass strip a median, because it was a median between the street and sidewalk. Once I started working the city government, I was told it was it was called an easement, because it is shared between the homeowner and the city. It's the homeowners responsibility to maintain it, but the city has the right to bury utilities in it. The same applies to the alleys.
In my neighborhood here in Texas (Harker Heights), there are no sidewalks! I think that is dumb. How could they leave sidewalks out of our subdivision???
@CaptainTass I can't speak for every city, but here in Garland, TX. , the city requires any new builders/subdivisions to have sideways installed. The city doesn't "make" the sideways/allys/streets, but repairs/maintains them once completed. This "policy" has only been in place for about the last 30 years. That's why some older neighborhoods don't have sidewalks here. I agree, that's crazy.
@@Jml416 My city does not require the sidewalks. It's kind of a bummer.
We call them easements in our state as well. We are in the country, so county maintenance will mow it if we don’t (but we always mow our easements).
This is a typical middle-class neighborhood in the suburbs of the Midwest. You would also find these sorts of neighborhoods common in Southern States. I cannot speak for East Coast suburbs.
Looks typical for Northwest as well, although you'd see more evergreens in the background here. And mountains. Which means snow caps, not little brown hills. :)
In southern Wisconsin we call it a tree lawn. Yes the homeowner keeps the grass mowed, the city maintains the trees. I feel like it is a good separation between the streets with cars and the pedestrians who use the sidewalks. There are many walkers in our subdivision, some on their own, plus many walking their dogs, and families with children in strollers or wagons.
Yes, verges are the property of the town, no one else will maintain them. As a homeowner, you'll want them to also look nice
That's highly dependent on the jurisdiction. Here they are ... your lawn. The city just has a right of way and put a sidewalk on the right of way. In all other ways, it's just part of the lawn. Owner better mow it and keep it free of junk, etc or they'll get the same civil enforcement as the rest of the lawn.
@@markpippin3891If it isn’t kept up it will detract from the looks of your house, too.
@@markpippin3891 I would be interested in knowing where you live that the right of way is an easement on part of the private property. I’ve never hear of such a thing, and this relates to my profession. That said, you are right that that it could vary by jurisdiction, but I’ve seen an awful lot of property surveys and have never seen one where the official property line wasn't between the public sidewalk and the house.
here that's the responsibility of the home owner and you can get fined for the grass being too high
No fines where i live. People do it only if they wish@@veronicatoothpaste8576
looks like a typical midwestern suburb 100% (possibly the east coast as well as the weather is quite similar)
I’d say it’s a normal suburb. Things change by region, etc but I’d say this is very typical for where he lives. I’ve always lived in Highlands Ranch, Colorado and there’s some differences but it’s more the style of housing to me.
But I could be wrong! I’ve only ever lived in Highlands Ranch and Tokyo so I’m only speaking on personal experience. 😊
Tokyo was really different in the late 1940s and early 1950s when I lived there. Many houses were bamboo and rice paper. I lived in Washington Heights which had American housing.
@@johncooper4637 That must’ve been so interesting to live there at that time! I have an MA in Japanese so I’ve studied it a lot and have talked to many people that lived there during that time as well 😊
The amount of green depends a lot on how much rain is typical for the location. Most of the eastern half of the United States gets significant rainfall in the summer.
Yes, that’s a typical neighborhood. It’s an older place because it has large shade trees. New neighborhoods usually have tiny new trees and yes, the person who owns the home has to take care of the grass and the trees and the gardening. Usually there is grass in front and in the back of each house with fences dividing each home from the neighbors. The trees turn golden in the fall and we have snow in the winter.
America is basically like 50+ Countries the Size of most European countries.
In northern Ohio we called it a tree lawn. Each homeowner is responsible for mowing, as well as maintaining the integrity of the sidewalk, which sometimes can develop hazardous cracks from tree roots or erosion. If someone got hurt tripping on the crack, homeowners insurance would come into play, so it's in the owner's best interest to maintain a good walkway.❤
It's green east of the Mississippi, an area which is as large as India. It gets progressively more brown and tan as you go west. The east is bright, emerald green everywhere except in autumn, when it is a riot of color. The west is semi-arid or arid, except for the northwest (Washington State and Oregon, northern California). Real green ends more or less in Nebraska, slightly west of center in the US.
Other people are commenting on how suburbs differ depending on where you live. I live in New England, where the housing stock tends to be much older than in the area around Chicago, where Laurence lives. For example, my house was built in 1837, and it's the newest house on the block. The town where I live was planned long before cars existed, so garages are pretty rare, although some big older houses have stables or carriage houses that have been converted into garages. We don't tend to have verges, but we have very nice brick sidewalks and very old trees, and our street lights are gas lights, not electric lights. The streets are narrow and front lawns are practically non-existant. The houses sit right on the street. The houses also tend to be smaller than where Laurence lives. Given the cold winters around here, and the fact that central heating didn't exist when most of these houses were built, there are good reasons for small houses with small rooms.
I can understand what you’re saying I’m from Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania. We are apart of the original 13 colonies too. We have homes that are much older than the homes in Lawrence’s Chicago suburb. We have some Victoria style homes as well as others. They’re considered historical properties and many have been redone about as much as the historic association will allow. But,Many of these are in our city areas as well as some suburb areas. So yes we do have many different types of housing styles in American suburbs. Great point!
@@christopherstephenjenksbsg4944 ...that is the old romantic time period of Victorian houses, and a simpler life style. Cobblestone roads from a bygone era.
No, verges aren't public property so they're the homeowner's responsibility. Nowadays the property developer puts in the sidewalks nut there are plenty of places where it's the homeowner's responsibility. Here in the Southwest people are moving away from green in favor of desert landscapes because of the water situation. Since 2000 new home developments in Albuquerque are not allowed to have turf grass.
This depends on your deed. Sometimes it belongs to the house, sometimes the town. Either way, town ordinances usually make the landowner responsible.
@@shawnjones4347 Yup. I’ve never lived anywhere where it wasn’t legally public property, although people generally treat it like an extension of their yard.
8:28 very typical of an established and well planned neighborhood.
What Alan said. Pretty standard.
I’m in the Midwest,Missouri… yes that’s a typical neighborhood, there maybe some poorer parts of town with old houses but city ordinance where I live dictates that you have to keep your property up or get a ticket … I live in a small town:)
Where he's walking is a very typical neighborhood in Chicago. In fact, it's even nicer in more affluent areas.
Lawerence’s home is in an older neighborhood from the late 40s to the 50s. It’s not that unusual for neighborhoods of that type to exist it’s a little lacking on sidewalks but fine normally. Orlando is a different matter as most houses were built from the 1970s to modern day. It’s a constant building boom. A few in downtown especially towards lake Eola are the oldest in the city dating from the 1900s.
Yes Andre, what Lawrence is walking through is EXTREMELY typical of residential areas of most towns outside big cities. I sent you some pics of my house and stuff from both the street out front and from my porch. (Blue house w/ American flag)
And yes, the home owner is responsible for all the grass to the edge of the street, which includes the "verge" that Lawrence mentioned. In fact, if you wanna see how to take care of a typical suburb or residential lawn in America, check out any number of lawn care TH-camrs that clean up overgrown lawns. Edging sidewalks and driveways is some of the most satisfying parts of the videos. Lawn care is a huge part of American life outside urban areas. And it's not only that, but landscaping gardening is also pretty big. That's kinda why most houses don't have those big privacy fences or hedge rows that the UK tends to have...to show off your well manicured lawn.
Maybe at one time it was to show off your well-manicured lawn, but many suburbs today forbid fences of any kind because they hamper the efforts of emergency responders.
Fences which were in existence before these ordinances were enacted in whatever municipality may have been "grandfathered" in. Newer fences are not allowed.
Believe me, if I were allowed a fence, I'd put one in place, to the maximum allowable height.
The space between the sidewalk and the street doesn’t have its own name in any place I’ve lived. Six states in the Midwest and Northeast US. No. It’s just your front yard, minimally interrupted by the sidewalk. It’s just yard. Yes, we mow it.
I'm from Wisconsin and I never know what to call it when I have to talk about it.
Yep
Where I live, the hills roll like a fantasy movie, diversity of trees during the fall is colorful and awesome
I'm in the midwest and I've just heard that strip between the sidewalk and road referred to as parking (as people typically park next to it). That's a pretty typical suburb for the midwest I would say.
That is most definitely typical. Suburban neighborhoods look just like this about everywhere you go.
8:39 Not a rich neighborhood, at all.
Those areas have big expensive houses on massive lots. Sometimes with a brick wall or iron fence partitioning their property from others. With a long driveway and expensive vehicles.
Yea you have to maintain everything from the front of your house to the lawn, including the sidewalk. I know that in my town if you don't plow the snow from the side walk before the town gets to it they will do it then charge you for it.
That’s an older middle class neighborhood with curb strips. We live in a newer middle class neighborhood in Colorado where our sidewalks are along the street. Oddly, despite being in the dry climate of Colorado, our neighborhood is almost as green since everyone has a lawn and there were many trees planted when the neighborhood was built 30 years ago. Of course, in winter it’s dead brown or white with snow.
I'd say it's normal suburb. I'd also say that where I live in Oregon, it's green all year around because of the trees we have and how much it rains. If the grass is brown, it means we're going through a drought.
Or it's summer. I live in Oregon too. The grass goes brown and dormant every single year in the summer unless it's watered by someone, and that's normal.
@@kmel503 I guess normally the grass turned brown either end of summer or there was drought where I lived. Most of the time it stayed pretty green or a yellow green.
@@kmel503I was thinking the same thing. Are you kidding the grass stays green with the winters you guys have?!?! lol I live in Pa and I know all our greenery goes away in the winter time.
@Kim-427 The grass does stay green all winter here. Our winters are quite mild, just grey and wet. I'm 30 miles from Portland and some years I dont get any snow. Our summers are very dry, normally July - September, it hardly rains at all. That's when the grass goes brown, but some people do water their yards to keep them green. That's also why you hear about our wildfires.
As I said, I live close to Lawrence. We call the grassy strip a PARKWAY. The homeowner cuts the grass, but the trees are maintained by the city.
I’m originally from Ohio, but have lived in western NY the last 40 years. I don’t have a word for that grassy strip. Same deal about the grass vs. trees. However, when the city replaced people’s water pipes (older areas with lead piping), they did regrade the soil and reseed the grass after the underground work was done.
I live in Oregon on the west coast, between Washigton and California. California is fairly dry, but it gets progressively rainy and greener the farther north you go towards Canada.
Yep! I live in Washington
They have lawn competitions
I don't know about other states, but here in Indiana the homeowner is also responsible for maintenance of the sidewalk in front of the house! The sidewalks in residential areas of my little town are often in bad repair because people often can't afford to have new concrete poured!
yeah In Maryland, we are responsible for the shoveling during snow or clearing it of debris etc. but if it becomes too cracked and stuff the city will re-pour it (lol it doesn't happen often but still)
@@OneGeekStudios I think our county taxes used to pay for upkeep, but now they only worry about the business district. It's usually the poorer neighborhoods that have the bad sidewalks though.
I live in Indiana,and our City takes care of Sidewalk repair.
I live in the northwest part of Florida, in the Panhandle, where our grass and trees are green all year long. We have palm trees as well as pine trees, which are usually associated with cooler climates.
Laurence surprised me with his conversation about "verges" because I don't think I've ever personally used a specific word for them, although I was familiar with several of the ones that he mentioned.
That looks common for the Northeast, but suburbs vary in income level, so some won't look as nice, and some will have much more land per house. The grass in the verge should be cut by the homeowner, but not all take care of it. And some drive cars up on it - like I see in my town. And in suburbs like mine, sometimes only one side of the street has a sidewalk. People who live in the suburbs often think of sidewalks as a 'city' thing, and think they bring down property values.
Yes verges - they are public space but you have to take care of them. It’s great to walk your dogs on them as no one can complain about them taking a pee or poo (the latter you pick up).
In the verge area (between the sidewalk and street) is where our power, IT, and cable lines are located -hence they are free use. When one digs in the front yards of American houses you need to call the utilities to mark their lines before you dig.
For the most part If you get away from the big cities and live in smaller towns, you are more likely to find suburbs like this.. there are many neighborhoods that are not as well kept by the residents. That said I believe that most people who own their homes are proud of their becoming a homeowner (their own slice of the world) and will try and keep them in good shape.
I'm in Michigan. We call a burm a hill between the road and a building. The green space between the road and sidewalk is a right-of-way. You own it as part of your yard but it's shared as public space for utilities, city tree planting, and dogs.
This is a good example of a Chicago suburb. Here, we call the green strip a "parkway". Since Lawrence has lived here in Chicago for many years, I'm surprised he hasn't heard this yet. This is the underappreciated and one of the best places to live in America all around.
😆 Andre, you are always in such awe about America, but you have also casually mentioned that there is a castle in your city, like that's NOT amazing! For me, an American, I'm just like, sure the grass and trees get very green when there is plenty of water and sunshine, but castles are from fairytales! And you have one in your city! 🤣Our different perspectives are so fascinating!
Home styles differ from one region to another, home styles also differ from one era to another. Arizona has a different home style than Illinois. A suburb developed in the 1960's is going to look a lot different than a suburb developed in the 2000's. I'm not at all sure that there is a "typical American suburb".
That's a good point.
I call the grass strip a "parkway" or "easement". It's very common in areas where you get a good bit of snow in the winter. Usually, you need to remove your car from the road so they can plow the snow. Now if there was no parkway the snow from the road would end up on the walkway blocking it. So having that strip of grass is a place for the snow to be plowed to without blocking people from walking on the walkway.
Yes, those are very typical suburbs. Middle-class. Some clarifications are needed and are also mentioned elsewhere in the comments. The suburbs shown in this video are in areas where there is average rainfall. You would not find these with all these trees in the very arid Southwestern USA. Also, closer to the city, the density of the housing increases so these suburbs are truly suburbs and are not "close in." Given the width of the streets and the style of the homes, these cannot be more than 40 years old at the most (my guess), or they are in the MidWest where planning was done and they had a lot of inexpensive land at the start.
Most of these suburbs are a product of a development company. You will find when an area expands, one large development company comes in and announces they purchased a large tract of land and plan to erect 500 new homes of a certain type. Usually, for sales reasons, they will mention price ranges and the variety and styles of homes they plan to produce. It is said the "average American home" is 2,514 square feet, but that would be on the small side for a suburban single-family home, IMHO. I find most of the homes in the suburbs in my area (DC Metro) that are comparable to those in the video are probably in the 3,500 to 5,000 square feet with a two-car garage. These range in price probably $500k to $900K.
In defense of the European suburbs, we must remember those cities are very old and space is limited. As you can see from the photos of the various cities shown, there are vast areas, especially East of the Mississippi River, that are heavily forested. In my home state of Maine, it is 4/5th tree-covered.
Another point on the street signs being high on poles? Keep in mind, that these are the suburbs, accessed almost exclusively by automobiles. The signs are high on poles to allow the drivers to see the street names.
Also, I'm from Maine originally. I don't know that we had a name specifically for that strip of grass between the sidewalk and the street! Much of Maine is rural. We have towns and no suburbs per se, and you either live in a dense downtown area where those may exist but the town cares for them, or you live in the countryside where there are no sidewalks. If you happen to live in the residential area of a town, in your own home, you mow it, though. I cannot recall anyone giving it a special name.
Very interesting video. I like hearing your reaction to things we too often take for granted.
This is Chicago that he is in and it does look like this in the spring and summer and someone into the fall winter it's all covered with snow
There's a photo of the Cincinnati skyline from the 1860s that shows a bare, treeless landscape. Today a photo from the same spot shows the hills covered with trees, the river bank lined with trees. The city core is concrete -- with the occasional tree.
The biggest difference is we don't heat and cook with wood, and value the shade. So the trees are allowed to grow.
Yes my last home had a sidewalk in front and I was certainly responsible for mowing the strip of grass on the other side of it. That was easy enough, but keeping it watered by sprinklers when 75% of the water was landing on the sidewalk was wasteful and often a failed venture in the blazing heat of the Carolina coastal Summer where week-long stretches of 98F heat are routine. Nevertheless, I do love how much green I see, in most neighborhoods, especially when they were established just 30-40 years prior and the trees have had time to grown and mature.
Yes.. this is a typical neighborhood. The grassy area is our resp.... government?? Lolol. Most midwest suburbs like where I grew up in Milwaukee, WI have nice grass areas we have to mow. But not all americans have them... Some places are just tapered sidwalks toward street, like my previous denver suburb... Some places like here in Phoenix are gravel.. or don't exist at all.
What is nice about many cities in America is that they are fairly planned out in a grid system. 1st Avenue (or Street) is usually near the center of the city the numbers get larger as you head out of the city. They might use N, S, E or W as a way to further distinguish which direction.
Some cities might also use names that are alphabetized; or at least tree names in one section of town & president names in another section of town.
I'm old enough to appreciate maps instead of just relying on GPS. I know a number of people that only use GPS on the phone and they admit; they would have a hard time going anywhere without their phone 😮🥺😂. Especially women maybe 🤔
BTW... In Wisconsin I call it a Boulevard and you can get a ticket if you don't pickup your dog's shit‼️Never heard of "verges" here. It is your responsibility to keep it clean/cut, but you can't do whatever YOU want with it.
This man lives in Illinois where rain fall is usually plenty, which makes every thing green greener.
Most of the US is INCREDIBLY green. It's actually most green in the central and southern parts. Also, yes it IS that green pretty much year round, even in the dead of winter.
In the suburbs of Los Angeles that strip of grass between the sidewalk and the street is called the parkway. And yes, each homeowner is responsible for maintaining the parkway in front of their home, even though it’s technically city property. Only the city can plant or remove trees on parkways. Some people remove the grass and replace it with small rocks or pebbles so they don’t have to mow it.
I live in Idaho but have lived in Oregon and California also. Older neighborhoods have that narrow lawn strip “verge” while newer ones do not. The lawn extends to the sidewalk which runs along the curb. We do not usually enclose our front yards with fencing. We value our green lawns and spend time and money to maintain them. Some homeowners can be a bit competitive in their quest for the greenest lawn. Many neighborhoods have HOA’s which enforce standards for lawn and home appearance. It helps keep home values up. No proud homeowner wants to live next door to a half dead weed infested yard!
The green lawns and trees are typical in many, if not most suburbs. Not in winter in the north though.
I live in Cleveland, Ohio and we call it the tree lawn! Originally many builders of homes planted trees on the tree lawns and they are part of what makes beautiful old neighborhoods with beautiful old houses so beautiful! The enormous old trees! Those neighborhoods are special! ❤
We live in the deep southeast where you have to start mowing the yard in about March and will still have to mow even in November. About the only time it is not green are the months of December, January and February. Our trees don’t typically start to change color until late October or sometimes even in mid November. Our neighborhood doesn’t have sidewalks. But most people have carports or garages to park their cars in and don’t park on the street too much unless they have company (guests). Our trees start turning green by about March I would say and stay that way, as stated above, usually until late October or by mid November.
I lived in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois for most of my life. We called it the parkway. I lived in a mostly blue collar community and almost everyone kept their lawns and parkways very nice. My dad always had a small garden growing vegetables in our backyard. Nothing like a homegrown tomato or green beans! Loved growing up there ❤
Laurence lives close enough to me that we have similar weather patterns. In summer, it's normal for most suburbs to look that green, yes. It takes quite a while each spring for it to GET that green, from the brown dead look that happens during the winter (assuming it's not all covered in snow). Once in a while we have a drought which makes things less green, but those are rare in this area
the colorful trees when the term "Berm" comes up on screen is a typical autumn for most of the northern states, but especially so from the Mississippi river eastward. the trees become so beautiful in my part of Michigan that 65MPH highways slow down to 20MPH or less, sometimes for 50 mile stretches because of the "leafers" (people who take vacations and drive cross country sometimes just to see the fall foliage) going for scenic drives and taking pictures, and my area of michigan (pinky finger of the mitten) isnt even the best place to see the colors, but it gets just as good as the clip mentioned above.
It gets a lot better from there honestly
Yes, that is very typical. The area of grass between the sidewalk and the street can be called the curb strip...yes, you own this as part of your land, BUT usually, the city or town owns an easement...which means they have the right to run sewer lines under ground or electric, gas or fiber optic for cable...any kind of utility. The city can dig up the area to install or replace utilities, and they will then patch up the area afterward as best they can...and you will plant some additional grass seed and keep it watered. The city also has the right to plant trees in this curb strip....Hope that helps. There also may be a utility easement on the back edge of your land as well. When you buy a home, the easements will show up on a map so you know where they are.
I enjoy seeing how people live in Russia. Yes we are very proud of our front yards.❤❤❤ growing up we always had beautiful Azalea’s. We also grew most of our vegetables. And yes we have dogs.growing up I had a German Shepherd and my mom had a Border Collie. When Igot married Ihad a Great Dane, my favorite breed. Now that Iam 80 I do not have a dog as Iam disabled and it would not be fare to have a dog now.
I'm inspired.
Please spill some sugar about the bi-weekly stuff you mentioned.
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He is in a near suburb of Chicago (if a suburb at all), so it it probably as far north as Britain for reference. Here in North Texas, it gets very hot (in the 100s) and dry. This can last for up to three months. So, no, our lawns are bigger, typically, than what he showed, but they do look pretty pitiful by late July, and by late September they are brown because the watering restrictions do not allow us to water them enough to keep them green. We have chosen to save our vegetables, beautiful live oaks and our homes' foundation rather than the grass. The trees are now about 40 years old and shade most of the house (thereby lowering our A/C bills) and if the homes foundation gets too dry, it cracks and is immensely expensive to repair. So the type of grass we have here (called St. Augustine by us and by other places a weed) is pretty durable and will come back once the fall rains start and be green until next July when the cycle starts all over again. This is a very local issue, however. One hundred miles in any direction, and the water issues dramatically change. And Chicago is 1200 miles away, lol. As far as being typical, no, it is not. The lot sizes he is showing you are small. Where we live inside the city limits of Fort Worth, about 12 miles from the city center, we live on half an acre in a middle class neighborhood. Real estate is a lot cheaper here in Texas, because we have a lot more of it than they do up north, that's all. Lot sizes are even smaller in some places near NYC, LA, etc. I love your channel, and my husband and I would welcome you to visit us in the great State of Texas!
Depending on the year the suburb ( which is an area outside a city center where their are free standing homes where most of the population lives ) was built you may have a quarter acre of land that goes with your house or less. My home was built in 1961 and I have about 8500 sq ft of land that goes with the house. Big enough for a large driveway and parking for an RV, room for a pool, 4 fruit trees and a veg garden.
I have NEVER heard of a 'verge'! It is called the 'boulevard'. And yes, the property owner is to take care of this that is out in front of the house. His 'open' yard does not exist in CA or AZ.
One of the main contributors to all the Green in the Eastern and southern part of the country is the high humidity and many, many inches of rain or snow natural to that environment. We moved from the Midwest 35 years ago and settled in Western Colorado, a dry high desert area. Smaller areas of green in most private landscaping is used since water is scarce, but beautiful examples of xeriscaping using native grass, shrubs and rock are abundant
I live in a suburb of my small Arizona town....every house's front & back yard landscape is completely different than the rest cus some have just dirt & some have no grass & some have rock & cactus & some have grass & trees....every town & city & state has different kinds of suburbs that look completely different from each other....some are rich & some are poor & some are somewhere in the middle....there's no such thing as typical American unless you're talking about a specific region & even then it's not really typical....in the suburb & town I live in there's not alot of front yards that have fences of any kind
You can still keep a green lawn in the winter months. Unless it snows often. Just have the lawn scalped and reseeded, water and wait a few days
You can have very green grass in Alabama where I live, and many other states in the winter by tossing a specific type of grass.
This reminds me I gotta cut the grass tomorrow and the curb grass suburban life lol
Yes being green is pretty typical it just varies from place to place lol. Some places you are responsible for the upkeep of the verge other places the town or development takes care of. There's pros and cons to having trees. As nice as they are, they are big pains in the butt. There's trimming and topping and then their roots can break sidewalks, patios, or fences. I have to cut all my trees down. Some could damage my foundation, the rest might fall on the house.
I'm in Texas. We call that little strip of land between the sidewalk and road the easement. It belongs to the property owner but the city/county maintains the sidwalk. The grass strip etc is up to the property owner to maintain. The city/county has use of your easement in many ways for example, buried water or power lines, fiber optics cables, fire hydrants. That is a typical middle class suburb in summer. Spring and fall would likely have floweri g trees or leaves of autumn colors. Winter in most of the US has many bare trees. However, evergreens, like pine trees, stay green year round.
The grass between the sidewalk & street is called a median in Michigan & you maintain the section in front of your home. And where he was walking is a typical suburban neighborhood. Most people don't fence in the front yards, but totally fence in the back yard. You sit on your front porch to be social with neighbors & in your back yard for privacy.
I've found that how green/bright a suburb look can legitimately vary a bit depending on where you are.
I moved from a suburb near New York to a suburb near Boston years ago. Wasn't a good fit in the end and went back afterward.
I hadn't noticed initially, but the Boston Suburb had very few trees and was much more muted as a whole. Pale, washed out, very modern architecture. The grass was well kept but it all felt a bit sterile. When I went back to the New York suburb there were TONS of trees along with the grass, flowers would be in bloom, the buildings themselves had more varied color, and it felt like I could breathe a lot easier.
Lawrence is in an older suburb. You can tell by the size of the trees and planting. Housing projects usually start out quite bare.
The suburbs are typically green, because Americans are for the most part very proud of their yards. Much of the time a lot of money is spent on their yards looking great!
That patch of lawn between the sidewalk and the street (that's what I call it) - yes, it's still part of your lawn if you aren't a real slouch. Don't worry what it's called. Just mow it. We like lawns and trees in America. Those shots are a typical summer scene in a Midwest suburb/small town streetscape. Big trees and green lawns make for cool, shady streets. Remember how hot our summers are. Most people have someplace besides the street to park their cars. Front yards are pretty much considered your public face. Most aren't fenced.