Former librarian here - couldn't agree more about libraries! Did everyone forget about community centres? We need to stop forcing libraries to be combination libraries, community centres, social services centres, day shelters, and on and on and on, and let them be libraries. And give all these spaces the public funding they need to function!!!
I live in the netherlands and they have huge community buildings. Groningen has a huge 7 story building called the forum and its an architectural dream. If you're ever in the netherlands I would recommend checking it out
We have these in my city. Problem, most charge as much as joining the YMCA. My local community center is priced great for day passes plus a charge for the activity you want to do. To become a member of the center, local residence or not, equivalent to YMCA prices.
Libraries are a good place to combine into a community center, but that means you need to allocate sufficient funds for it to not hurt the library functions of the building. The US does a TERRIBLE job at funding any sort of public stuff because its just all ME ME ME, except cars and companies because lobbying (legal bribery), they get all the help they want.
Noticed some epic failures in my city. First, the road verge tree selection, as the city's been planting trees on the verge for years. Not a biggie, save for poor selection. The city didn't properly consult with planning, picked shallow wide rooted trees, undermining sidewalks throughout the city. The only way they could've gone worse would've been to go with tulip trees, which would've done the same and made sidewalks and streets a hazard when the trees were in bloom. Poor selection of concrete throughout the residential areas of the city, concrete cancer abounding, all due to substandard aggregate being allowed. Successes? Well, excellent drainage, which has been a longstanding project within the state. The city is slip lining water mains, rather than ripping up roads, walkways and verges to replace them. As effective, far more cost effective and extremely long lasting. Fascinating process, had two steps I didn't know about until I watched it in action and spoke with the workers. There are loads of interacting things in urban planning. It's complex, as it is basically at its root, a combination of infrastructure and environmental engineering.
I am saying this on behalf of all the viewers watching this video - We need him and this topic again in a long-form video(20-25+ min). Very good episode Wired, hope you make it happen.
It would be nice if this was universally true. But its not. The uglier sides of human nature always finds ways of asserting themselves, i'm sorry to say.
Well, he only offered an answer. His questioning demeanor only suggested acceptance of "it is what it is" .. He didn't make solutions or give a call to action.
What I heard from a Singaporean politician is that they try their best to plan AT LEAST 50 years ahead. They are insanely smart with how they deal with their city. Ive been there once and everything was stunning. The airport, the food, the public transport, the accomodations
As a Singaporean, how we see it -- we can't afford to NOT plan ahead by virtue of the fact that we are so tiny and land scarce. The nature park we built in the airport also serves many of our citizens.. most things are built with multiple purposes. :)
Never thought I'd find urban designing a fascinating subject, but here we are. Please bring him back. Wherever you're getting the peeps for these videos, Wired, keep them coming. The experts you have make EVERYTHING interesting and a learning experience.
Converting office buildings to residential is hilariously difficult (can only attest to NY and CHI metros). Another 'insider' countering/agreeing with original speakers' points would be a great series because I assume a counter argument would receive a rebuttal. The back and forth may actually land on the best decision by the end.
Just adding another voice to the call for more of this; urban planning is something nobody really talks about but it has _huge_ implications for the way everyone lives their life. Great job shining a spotlight on it, and an outstanding, inspiring, hopeful episode courtesy of Mr Washburn. Thank you!
as someone who got their master’s degree in urban planning, these are exactly the kinds of conversations being had amongst city planners every single day. it is just as fascinating as it sounds - the one crucial thing he mentioned though: as americans, we have always stood in our own way. we built car-centric, unsustainable cities at the turn of the industrial revolution, and it has destroyed our future almost indefinitely. being a city planner is just being .001% of that solution. hope this helps
I'm currently studying civil engineering so I can go on to do my masters in civil planning and hopefully by the time I'm done with that we'll have figured out a better way to transition our infrastructure to being less car centric
This guy is hands down the best speaker on urban issues and policies I've heard. I have a soft spot for City Nerd, but his content tends to get bogged down by sarcasm and snarkyness. This guy speaks with an intelligent, informed, and earnest sincerity that I love. Please PLEASE bring him back!
German housing market is insane in urban areas despite rent controls. We simply do not have enough housing. There are also many loopholes in rent control (furnished apartments are exempt, for instance). Still, even the most expensive cities in Germany are not even close to places like NYC. Which is a good thing, for what it’s worth.
As a note, the Berlin Metro Area has a population of 6.14 million people, the New York Metro Area has a population of 20.1 million people (this is 6% of the entire US population).
Out of curiosity, in the most expensive cities in Germany, what's the median salary in those places? Cause for example, in NYC it's around $5500/month. Offsets it a decent bit, but it's still expensive living in NYC. Curious how that compares over there.
@@ajs787 Wages are slightly higher in cities compared to rural areas but because there aren't many jobs in the countryside, people move to the "expensive cities". A median salary in Germany would be around 2-3000€ which may not be enough for living in downtown Berlin but enough for smaller places. Taxes and grocery costs are the same anywhere, its just rent that differs.
As a guy who worked for a survey company researching and drawing plats, I am amazed at how many large cities do not have their deeds online available for relatively easy look up. I would think a "smart" city would be one that has an online database of legal property deeds openly available for all to see. It makes it SOOOO much easier to do surveys which is critical for infrastructure construction and property development.
Great Speaker he is giving awesome answers and examples but for metro systems i would add Toyko Metro... as an alternative to Moscau. Great example might be Paris or London for older systems like New york. Seoul and many chinese cities do have awesome metro system and national rail systems that are planed years or decades ahead. Still cities or urban areas in china feel alien because many flats are mostly freestanding high rises in some kind of loose formation.
The reason why we aren't turning office towers into apartment buildings is because office towers are not designed with the level of plumbing, ingress/egress, electrical, and hvac support that would be required to divide these buildings into separate residences. This should be obvious to anyone who stops for a moment and thinks about how many kitchens and bathrooms are required for an apartment building as compared to an office tower. Office towers might have one block of communal bathrooms per floor, and no real kitchens, at all. Their electrical systems are designed to support large scales, entire departments or entire companies, not individual families. Retrofitting most office buildings simply isn't economically feasible. It makes more sense to demolish them and rebuild, but because we weight the value of properties so heavily toward capital improvements (ie, buildings) rather than land values, it becomes to expensive to repurpose land when large changes in usage patterns occur.
@@amyjo248 Better than letting it sit empty and rot because no one wants it as an office building, especially when it's on valuable land where a lot of people would like to live. However, older office buildings are more likely to be feasible to convert, since their windows actually open.
Private companies won't shoulder the cost, so governments need to subsidize conversions. We learned the hard way in Canada that if the government isn't involved in building affordable housing, not enough of it gets built.
Your city looked very beautiful, I'm glad such an example exists and I hope the rest of the world follows. Pirates of the Caribbean really did you guys dirty
As someone living in LA, I really appreciate the last part about the city. My first year of living there, and the guy summed it up best that it's a "city of cities." It has problems but it is improving, albeit slowly. But I would rather have them try to improve on it, than not at all.
Amusingly, Los Angeles started as a city of cities. It just had a midlife crisis and tried to make everything revolve around downtown. The city swallowed San Pedro and several other small cities. Sure, Montebello isn't going to have as much 'world class city' stuff as Los Angeles, but it has plenty. And Los Angeles is a train ride away. The suburbs of Los Angeles are less and less commuter communities, too.
Well said! I think the problem with most cities is that they recognize the problems but it seems that no one is doin' anything about it, take NYC subway for example, like he said the subway system is completely neglected.
@@janthony21 Its wild that they swallowed San Pedro too because if you look at the city border map, its basically a giant popsicle in shape haha. San Pedro at the bottom, a long thiiin strip that's basically the 110, and then LA City at the top. Just, a wild choice.
@@MadMeeperit's mostly wild that driving is still the only viable way to get around. Busses get stuck in traffic and there is nearly zero rail connecting communities.
Hi neighbor! I appreciated that part too. Despite living in the middle of a metropolis, my city-within-a-city is quite walkable/bikeable. Groceries, school, the library, parks, church, and even a train station are all accessible without a car. (My driving happens 2x a week commuting to the office in south OC, blech.)
I love the thinking at 11:30! We need innovation, not just renovation! We could even conceive of a tower as a vertical neighborhood with “block” as floors or collections of floors with a mix of uses.
@@LisaSchnettler more like reuse towers in an urban context with access to a public park nearby. We don’t need more office parks that aren’t walkable or even bikable to errands or services
I love his comment on the effects of the automobile industry on urban planning. In Detroit, we would absolutely love to have public transit other than buses, but that ain’t happening with the auto industry here.
So the US Government is not competent and is radically inefficient; but at the same time is brilliant and all-powerful when supporting automotive manufacturing in Detroit? Alternatively, the US is just really massive and places are far apart. I believe the US interstate network remains the largest public infrastructure investment in American history.
@@Trancheleventthe first part of your comment describes the military perfectly. Somehow its efficient and not efficient at the same time. It really highlights what COULD be done if it's a "real issue of concern"
yeah i don't drive so i got a bus pass when i visited detroit for 3 days for a friend's wedding and i could not in my wildest dreams have envisioned how irregularly and off schedule it ran. i think i only got where i needed to be at the time i needed to be there once. i otherwise had to be late or uber. it was so rough.
Just based on his answers, you know this man is insanely good at his job. Innovation and ingenious solutions to exisiting problems. I really hope he gets a part two! Urban planning is a fascinating subject!
I really hope WIRED listens to the general consensus in the comments and brings Mr Washburn back for significantly longer videos. This is an extremely interesting and wide-ranging topic and I'd really like to hear a lot more about it.
1:10 In England London, different sections of the Tube go under maintenance on the weekend and offer alternative routes. The downside is a more crowded metropolitan line on the weekend. Other infrastructure, such as buses, supplement the extra demand. Since New York is so dense, I can imagine it is quite challenging to develop new infrastructure to supplement or replace the current system, especially since the current system is burdened with a lack of maintenance.
NYC does this too. It is awful. It takes forever for subway repairs and upgrades to be made. But it's a century-old system that sees a ton of use every hour of every day.
@@MsKatyDidKnot Just because the city doesn't sleep doesnt mean the metros couldnt be shut down according to each sections least used time frame for maintance, and buses diverted into the area to handle any potential changes during its downtime. Each section likely has a period of low use that then wouldn't be as high of a burden for the rest of the transport systems when it needs to go down.
My son just started university majoring in Sustainable Urban Design. This is a great set of discussions to give me a better sense of what he's studying.
I will absolutely take a dozen more videos with Mr. Washburn explaining urban planning! Phenomenal information and insight into a topic I’m quickly becoming a fan of!
People think that everything should be like Amsterdam when that simply isn’t the case. Of course they make a lot of right decisions but their culture is also very unique and a lot of their design solutions wouldn’t necessarily feel desirable to the rest of the world.
@@yaush_ But one of, if not the biggest reason that the rest of the world wouldn't find it desirable is because they believe that their own design solutions are good. Think about how many people find the suburbs to be a perfect solution, for instance.
One of the best " this is _____ support " videos! Fascinating topic and Mr. Washburn is a gentleman & a scholar. Definitely deserves his own series on one of the streaming platforms!
The late night library as a public social space is a brilliant suggestion. Cheers to that individual, the gentleman featured in the video, and WIRED for this series.
Hi there. I lived in Hollywood, Venice beach and North Hollywood, and I could walk to many of the places I needed to go. Not many people recognize that
Love what you said about LA. I've struggled to explain LA to people who have never been there, and describing it as a "city of cities" makes so much sense. Thanks. Great topic. I'd love to see more
It’s like people who look at NYC as this huge city when it’s really a lot of neighborhoods and people often stick to their neighborhood most of the time .
6:47 Need a segment on lüften (Germany) tilt and swing dual hinged windows for fresh air in both offices and homes. Tragic that Covid did not prompt a revolution in ventilating stale sleepy indoor air.
Actually tradtional British and American vertical sliding windows are excellent at creating convection currents to exchange inside and outside air if the temperatures are different. Slide both upper and lower windows to the middle leaving a half a window open at the top and bottom. And you can stick a window air conditioner in them.
@@emjayay It's a pain in the proverbial when the sash cord breaks though. I have uvpc double glazing, the dual hinge ones are still good, all the sash ones are now kaput.
I’d like to point out the piece that was shown but not mentioned. When using car parking as a buffer for bike lanes, you also need to include a buffer zone between the cars and the bike lanes for people to open their doors or the results can be deadly.
On the image that was shown, the parking lane and bike lanes were super wide. If a biker gets.hit with a door, the biker would be at fault. I do agree with you if the lanes aren't as wide
0:16 the answer is protected bike lanes. If possible concrete barriers would be better as they would be there all the time and can’t hit you with their door or while trying to park.
So refreshing to see someone talk about urban planning in a nuanced, informed, solution oriented way. Such a stark contrast to most content I've seen on the topic.
definitely learned a lot on this one only one question remains: is your city planned by people for money or for the citizen? dependent on that you can either have hope or despair
I would imagine Saoirse Ronan is the most well-known American with that name, and most people pronounce it wrong. It's just a fact: people who only speak English, or only speak English and Romance languages, just can't pronounce the Irish language. It's like trying to get anyone not Welsh to pronounce anything in Welsh correctly, lol.
So basically, we have a ton of good, new, innovative ideas, we're just allowing 50+ year old decisions to hinder us from making any meaningful progress. Love that for us 😪
Like he said, path dependency. Changing paths quickly has far reaching ramifications and enormous expense. Far greater than any city can handle on its own, it requires a national effort. Which is why the american systems does not lend itself well to change.
I love the last answer. I live in San Francisco and many neighborhoods are essentially their own cities. Meaning that everyday activities and needs are all within walking distance of where you live. I live in one of those neighborhoods and can't imagine living in a place where you have to own a car to live.
But that also sort of traps you in that area. If you need to go anywhere else temporarily that doesn't have public transportation, then you'd need to rent a car, which can put further limitations on where and how long you can use it.
Parking cars next to bikelanes to make them safer is such an American answer. Just make actual buffers, and make entirely separate bikelanes which go more direct then roads, the last one actually really helps with reducing traffic congestion for cars!
Nearly all the bikelines in my city that have car parking next to them also have bollards; it is also a fairly common practice in other west coast cities. Entirely separate bike lanes also exist in the US, but they are usually just referred to as 'bike trails' even when they go through urban areas.
But where is that land? We have a Main Street with parallel parking along the sidewalk. The sidewalk is up to the buildings. Can’t move buildings. And not building a new city.
Leaving a Main Street set up in Michigan we also have a lack of trains. Our train tracks have been removed the replaced with trails for biking, running, walking…
Boston roads are not because of cow paths. It is a rumor that goes back at least to 19th century. Boston has been getting bigger, expanding out into the sea through "The Big Dig" and other similar projects. Per local cartographers Andrew Woodruff and Tim Wallace, who together produce the excellent Bostonography website. Wallace observed, “When you have a city like Boston that experienced steady land-building for decades, you’re bound to end up with a somewhat wonky street grid.”
Would argue that the Big Dig did not directly expand Boston's footprint into the ocean - though it did assist in streamlining the interstate system passing through the city, which in turn drastically alleviated traffic jams within the city limits.
@@Applica2000 forgive me, The Big Dig wasn't the right example to use. That was just for the interstate like you said, and not really related to expansion
Cannot be said enough (at least in conversations about city planning and/or Boston). As you note, much of what it follows are what used to be the coastline/shores. Road runs along the Back Bay for years, then they fill in the Back Bay - the shore is no longer the shore, but the roads remain where they were.
Parking spaces as buffer for bike lines would've been a great idea if it wasn't for oblivious drivers not looking in the mirror if they can safely open doors.
One reason why I really love Japan is how offices and residential buildings are really intertwined to another. Really makes it easy to walk and grab a train like anywhere. There's a lot of cases where one building has restaurants on the ground floor, small office and housing on the upper floors.
This guy is really passionate, I could listen to him explain urban planning for hours, I never knew how interesting this topic could be! Keep ´em coming pls
Office buildings are also very expensive to convert because they were not set up to have water everywhere. In residential buildings its expected for each unit to need water. But there is a reason offices have bathrooms in a few places, close to the core. Like most things, doable, but not 100% straightforward
Just like many here, love this episode! Very informative. Changi is also my fav airport, I used to live in Singapore and flying is a delight there. One thing that might not have made the edit is that the have the TSA security check at every gate, making the funnel where you show your boarding pass and passport not problematic. You need more man power, but it is so worth it. Less stress that you might miss your flight.
Exactly! That last part about LA traffic and him saying “in the future there will be a solution” is him not wanting to admit that public transportation would solve the traffic problem. The thing about America being car centric and “not being able to undo it” is absolutely ridiculous. We can definitely design around people, but the people in charge don’t want to.
The best way to make bike lanes safer is to protect them. A parking spot is no protection. A physical barrier must exist between the bike lane and the cars. The concrete slabs they put in the highways to protect construction workers will do the job. Or even better, those huge concrete planters, with greenery or even trees might do it as well by providing a more pleasant trip for all street users.
The real reason we don't turn commercial office buildings into residential homes is because the infrastructure doesn't support it. The first thing I learned when i heard about this idea is that the plumbing isn't capable of giving enough water supply to install all the showers and sinks needed. Also the weight of all the water in the pipes is enough to compromise the structure. not to mention all the weight of the materials used for the construction. You could'nt have tiles, because of the weight, you'd have to use pex tubes, laminate floors, the thinnest walls possible. In the end you'd just have the cheapest flimsiest apartments and it would not be worth the effort
He’s so right about LA. I live here and we don’t really have a concept of LA as a single unit. There’s downtown but that’s mostly empty office buildings and bars.
Give this guy a Netflix show where he travels to cities and talks about stuff like this. Would 1000% watch
Yes!!!
Yes yes yes
Yes! Also give him the opportunity to implement his much-needed ideas/solutions.
each episodes, this gentleman will give his insights and/or possible solutions. this is good knowledge.
There’s a great one that does just that called Life-Sized City. It’s currently free on Tubi
Former librarian here - couldn't agree more about libraries! Did everyone forget about community centres? We need to stop forcing libraries to be combination libraries, community centres, social services centres, day shelters, and on and on and on, and let them be libraries. And give all these spaces the public funding they need to function!!!
I avoid libraries for the homeless, perverts and uppity librarians
I live in the netherlands and they have huge community buildings. Groningen has a huge 7 story building called the forum and its an architectural dream. If you're ever in the netherlands I would recommend checking it out
We have these in my city. Problem, most charge as much as joining the YMCA. My local community center is priced great for day passes plus a charge for the activity you want to do. To become a member of the center, local residence or not, equivalent to YMCA prices.
@@orrinnirro Would love to visit your wonderful country one day. 🇨🇦
Libraries are a good place to combine into a community center, but that means you need to allocate sufficient funds for it to not hurt the library functions of the building.
The US does a TERRIBLE job at funding any sort of public stuff because its just all ME ME ME, except cars and companies because lobbying (legal bribery), they get all the help they want.
11 mins is criminally short for such a huge topic.
Facts!
And a thoughtful, intelligent, knowledgeable expert!
True. I really enjoyed his content and answers
Don’t want him revealing too many truths lol
Big NIMBY censoring the truth!
Bring him back, give him a 1 hour video, give him a Netflix show, give him everything I need to hear this guy talk forever
there's a free version of this right here on youtube, it's called Not Just Bikes
Noticed some epic failures in my city. First, the road verge tree selection, as the city's been planting trees on the verge for years. Not a biggie, save for poor selection. The city didn't properly consult with planning, picked shallow wide rooted trees, undermining sidewalks throughout the city. The only way they could've gone worse would've been to go with tulip trees, which would've done the same and made sidewalks and streets a hazard when the trees were in bloom.
Poor selection of concrete throughout the residential areas of the city, concrete cancer abounding, all due to substandard aggregate being allowed.
Successes? Well, excellent drainage, which has been a longstanding project within the state. The city is slip lining water mains, rather than ripping up roads, walkways and verges to replace them. As effective, far more cost effective and extremely long lasting. Fascinating process, had two steps I didn't know about until I watched it in action and spoke with the workers.
There are loads of interacting things in urban planning. It's complex, as it is basically at its root, a combination of infrastructure and environmental engineering.
Well, sorry, but 'a NYC urbanist' is like saying a Mexican hockey player
I am saying this on behalf of all the viewers watching this video - We need him and this topic again in a long-form video(20-25+ min). Very good episode Wired, hope you make it happen.
test
I'd watch an hour long video of this man talking about urban planning
Yes !!!
I would watch
10 mins for each topic please!
“If you don’t exclude people, everyone comes together.”
I love this quote so much. It is so true!
No it's not. This guy is delusional and ignorant.
Well, we can't have that in the United States of America! [/sarcasm]
Aren't all young people too busy on social media now?
@@anathardayaldar Social media can be a powerful tool for organizing.
It would be nice if this was universally true. But its not. The uglier sides of human nature always finds ways of asserting themselves, i'm sorry to say.
I love when the experts read the questions in the tone they imagine the person was asking
Oh yeah? You like that?
Well, he only offered an answer. His questioning demeanor only suggested acceptance of "it is what it is" ..
He didn't make solutions or give a call to action.
What I heard from a Singaporean politician is that they try their best to plan AT LEAST 50 years ahead. They are insanely smart with how they deal with their city.
Ive been there once and everything was stunning. The airport, the food, the public transport, the accomodations
It also helps that they can simply ignore any opposition. It's not a coincidence that planners love central planning!
Yeah they can do that cause it’s a benevolent dictatorship so they know the same party will be in power in 50 years
@@govsquid opposition against new housing and transit developments does not make any sense. Singapore is right to ignore these NIMBYs.
As a Singaporean, how we see it -- we can't afford to NOT plan ahead by virtue of the fact that we are so tiny and land scarce. The nature park we built in the airport also serves many of our citizens.. most things are built with multiple purposes. :)
It's very easy when you basically lack any diversity at all, you're a small area, and you have extremely high costs of living.
Never thought I'd find urban designing a fascinating subject, but here we are. Please bring him back.
Wherever you're getting the peeps for these videos, Wired, keep them coming. The experts you have make EVERYTHING interesting and a learning experience.
Converting office buildings to residential is hilariously difficult (can only attest to NY and CHI metros). Another 'insider' countering/agreeing with original speakers' points would be a great series because I assume a counter argument would receive a rebuttal. The back and forth may actually land on the best decision by the end.
@@Trancheleventstop. it’s not that that difficult
Not just bikes is a fantastic channel if you are interested in the topic.
It's highly important because it effects everyone pretty much everyday unless you're a shut in.
Just adding another voice to the call for more of this; urban planning is something nobody really talks about but it has _huge_ implications for the way everyone lives their life. Great job shining a spotlight on it, and an outstanding, inspiring, hopeful episode courtesy of Mr Washburn. Thank you!
Couldn’t agree more
as someone who got their master’s degree in urban planning, these are exactly the kinds of conversations being had amongst city planners every single day. it is just as fascinating as it sounds - the one crucial thing he mentioned though: as americans, we have always stood in our own way. we built car-centric, unsustainable cities at the turn of the industrial revolution, and it has destroyed our future almost indefinitely. being a city planner is just being .001% of that solution. hope this helps
Yep. Hold a Master's of Urban and Rural Planning, and agree with these points completely.
Studying urban planning is just learning how the car centric hegemony has ruined everything lmao
I'm currently studying civil engineering so I can go on to do my masters in civil planning and hopefully by the time I'm done with that we'll have figured out a better way to transition our infrastructure to being less car centric
Sooo there's no hope thanks 😅
Thank you so much for everything you do! That sounds like an amazing but often frustrating job
This guy is hands down the best speaker on urban issues and policies I've heard. I have a soft spot for City Nerd, but his content tends to get bogged down by sarcasm and snarkyness. This guy speaks with an intelligent, informed, and earnest sincerity that I love. Please PLEASE bring him back!
Agreed, City Nerd is a touch too monotone and snarky for me. Still good content at its core, but I dont particularly enjoy watching
@@Wembytesting I also agree
German housing market is insane in urban areas despite rent controls. We simply do not have enough housing. There are also many loopholes in rent control (furnished apartments are exempt, for instance). Still, even the most expensive cities in Germany are not even close to places like NYC. Which is a good thing, for what it’s worth.
As a note, the Berlin Metro Area has a population of 6.14 million people, the New York Metro Area has a population of 20.1 million people (this is 6% of the entire US population).
Out of curiosity, in the most expensive cities in Germany, what's the median salary in those places? Cause for example, in NYC it's around $5500/month. Offsets it a decent bit, but it's still expensive living in NYC. Curious how that compares over there.
@@ajs787 Wages are slightly higher in cities compared to rural areas but because there aren't many jobs in the countryside, people move to the "expensive cities". A median salary in Germany would be around 2-3000€ which may not be enough for living in downtown Berlin but enough for smaller places. Taxes and grocery costs are the same anywhere, its just rent that differs.
Why don't you just build more plattenbau?
Yeah using that as an example of where rent control "works" and is "good" struck me as kinda funny.. lol
I love this. More of this guy. I can listen to him talk forever about urban planning. So fascinating.
We’re definitely gonna need a part 2 of this
As a guy who worked for a survey company researching and drawing plats, I am amazed at how many large cities do not have their deeds online available for relatively easy look up. I would think a "smart" city would be one that has an online database of legal property deeds openly available for all to see. It makes it SOOOO much easier to do surveys which is critical for infrastructure construction and property development.
Cadastre data which includes all title information is my GIS dream especially when it comes to competing land use situations and planning
This man turned a joke into a series with hope, despair, loss and hype. He deserves every bit of recognition he has and even beyond that
Great Speaker he is giving awesome answers and examples but for metro systems i would add Toyko Metro... as an alternative to Moscau. Great example might be Paris or London for older systems like New york.
Seoul and many chinese cities do have awesome metro system and national rail systems that are planed years or decades ahead.
Still cities or urban areas in china feel alien because many flats are mostly freestanding high rises in some kind of loose formation.
The reason why we aren't turning office towers into apartment buildings is because office towers are not designed with the level of plumbing, ingress/egress, electrical, and hvac support that would be required to divide these buildings into separate residences. This should be obvious to anyone who stops for a moment and thinks about how many kitchens and bathrooms are required for an apartment building as compared to an office tower. Office towers might have one block of communal bathrooms per floor, and no real kitchens, at all. Their electrical systems are designed to support large scales, entire departments or entire companies, not individual families. Retrofitting most office buildings simply isn't economically feasible. It makes more sense to demolish them and rebuild, but because we weight the value of properties so heavily toward capital improvements (ie, buildings) rather than land values, it becomes to expensive to repurpose land when large changes in usage patterns occur.
It’s sad to me that tearing down and rebuilding becomes easier than working with what you have.
@@amyjo248 Better than letting it sit empty and rot because no one wants it as an office building, especially when it's on valuable land where a lot of people would like to live. However, older office buildings are more likely to be feasible to convert, since their windows actually open.
But if we add some vertical farming in between the apartments that's going to handle the problems you mention, right?
There are quite a few offices in Johannesburg that have been converted into housing.
Private companies won't shoulder the cost, so governments need to subsidize conversions. We learned the hard way in Canada that if the government isn't involved in building affordable housing, not enough of it gets built.
I could listen to him for hours, very interesting information.
Love how my country Singapore is mentioned 🔥 we are v proud of Jewel and the various parks and gardens across each area
Was looking for this love Singapore
Your city looked very beautiful, I'm glad such an example exists and I hope the rest of the world follows. Pirates of the Caribbean really did you guys dirty
Singapore looks gorgeous. Definetely going into my "places I need to see" travel list.
As someone living in LA, I really appreciate the last part about the city. My first year of living there, and the guy summed it up best that it's a "city of cities." It has problems but it is improving, albeit slowly. But I would rather have them try to improve on it, than not at all.
Amusingly, Los Angeles started as a city of cities. It just had a midlife crisis and tried to make everything revolve around downtown. The city swallowed San Pedro and several other small cities. Sure, Montebello isn't going to have as much 'world class city' stuff as Los Angeles, but it has plenty. And Los Angeles is a train ride away. The suburbs of Los Angeles are less and less commuter communities, too.
Well said! I think the problem with most cities is that they recognize the problems but it seems that no one is doin' anything about it, take NYC subway for example, like he said the subway system is completely neglected.
@@janthony21 Its wild that they swallowed San Pedro too because if you look at the city border map, its basically a giant popsicle in shape haha. San Pedro at the bottom, a long thiiin strip that's basically the 110, and then LA City at the top. Just, a wild choice.
@@MadMeeperit's mostly wild that driving is still the only viable way to get around. Busses get stuck in traffic and there is nearly zero rail connecting communities.
Hi neighbor! I appreciated that part too. Despite living in the middle of a metropolis, my city-within-a-city is quite walkable/bikeable. Groceries, school, the library, parks, church, and even a train station are all accessible without a car. (My driving happens 2x a week commuting to the office in south OC, blech.)
I love the thinking at 11:30! We need innovation, not just renovation! We could even conceive of a tower as a vertical neighborhood with “block” as floors or collections of floors with a mix of uses.
Le Corbusier, Tower in the park...
@@LisaSchnettler more like reuse towers in an urban context with access to a public park nearby. We don’t need more office parks that aren’t walkable or even bikable to errands or services
Isaac Asimov has entered the chat
@@LisaSchnettler less suburban setting, more walkable common spaces between buildings connected to green spaces
@@jasonsanchez0 who? Why?
I love his comment on the effects of the automobile industry on urban planning. In Detroit, we would absolutely love to have public transit other than buses, but that ain’t happening with the auto industry here.
So the US Government is not competent and is radically inefficient; but at the same time is brilliant and all-powerful when supporting automotive manufacturing in Detroit? Alternatively, the US is just really massive and places are far apart. I believe the US interstate network remains the largest public infrastructure investment in American history.
@@Trancheleventthe first part of your comment describes the military perfectly. Somehow its efficient and not efficient at the same time. It really highlights what COULD be done if it's a "real issue of concern"
yeah i don't drive so i got a bus pass when i visited detroit for 3 days for a friend's wedding and i could not in my wildest dreams have envisioned how irregularly and off schedule it ran. i think i only got where i needed to be at the time i needed to be there once. i otherwise had to be late or uber. it was so rough.
There are plenty of enormous places that don’t require you to own a car to live your life.
@@Tranchelevent the size of the us has no bearing on travel within detroit
This is one of the shortest videos in the series yet is WAY MORE important & immediately impacting to the viewer than most other videos!
Just based on his answers, you know this man is insanely good at his job. Innovation and ingenious solutions to exisiting problems. I really hope he gets a part two! Urban planning is a fascinating subject!
As an urban planner, I truly enjoy videos like this on TH-cam to bring more public awareness and discussions about these very important topics!
This may be the best WIRED support episode yet. More of him/this topic please!!
I really hope WIRED listens to the general consensus in the comments and brings Mr Washburn back for significantly longer videos. This is an extremely interesting and wide-ranging topic and I'd really like to hear a lot more about it.
1:10 In England London, different sections of the Tube go under maintenance on the weekend and offer alternative routes. The downside is a more crowded metropolitan line on the weekend. Other infrastructure, such as buses, supplement the extra demand. Since New York is so dense, I can imagine it is quite challenging to develop new infrastructure to supplement or replace the current system, especially since the current system is burdened with a lack of maintenance.
NYC does this too. It is awful. It takes forever for subway repairs and upgrades to be made. But it's a century-old system that sees a ton of use every hour of every day.
Tokyo and I think most of japans metros shut down around midnight until about 4am for simple maintenance every night
@@JBG1968 New York is the city that never sleeps. Maybe the alternative route thing is the best option?
@@MsKatyDidKnot Just because the city doesn't sleep doesnt mean the metros couldnt be shut down according to each sections least used time frame for maintance, and buses diverted into the area to handle any potential changes during its downtime. Each section likely has a period of low use that then wouldn't be as high of a burden for the rest of the transport systems when it needs to go down.
Seriously, we need more of this topic and this guy.
more of him please
My son just started university majoring in Sustainable Urban Design. This is a great set of discussions to give me a better sense of what he's studying.
He's so informative and thoughtful. Need more of him
Huge respect for city planners 🙏🏾 I lived in Houston, and it broke my heart 💔
Houston (tx really) and NJ are dreadful.
I have a master's in urban planning and I learned more in this video than in a year of AICP CE credit seminars. This was great.
Lol which uni?
if you have a masters in urban planning and learned more in this video than your a year of seminar, I'd wager you didn't pay nearly enough attention
@@coreysherman2143 That or the uni is awful.
I will absolutely take a dozen more videos with Mr. Washburn explaining urban planning! Phenomenal information and insight into a topic I’m quickly becoming a fan of!
Give him a whole playlist!!!!
I already like this guy. I am not even interested in urban planning but would sit in his lectures about urban planning.
Oh hey, a TH-cam video that answers urban planning questions without including "Amsterdam" in every single answer
That did hurt my Dutch ego a bit tbh XD
I guess take it as a compliment? 😂@@Iaremoosable
People think that everything should be like Amsterdam when that simply isn’t the case. Of course they make a lot of right decisions but their culture is also very unique and a lot of their design solutions wouldn’t necessarily feel desirable to the rest of the world.
@@yaush_ But one of, if not the biggest reason that the rest of the world wouldn't find it desirable is because they believe that their own design solutions are good. Think about how many people find the suburbs to be a perfect solution, for instance.
but we still have Singapore on the table
This guy is smart. He knows which countries are more developed in certain areas. I love listening to him. LISTEN TO THIS GUY!
One of the best " this is _____ support " videos! Fascinating topic and Mr. Washburn is a gentleman & a scholar. Definitely deserves his own series on one of the streaming platforms!
He was FASCINATING!!! You need to have him back! I'd TOTALLY watch a show with him travelling the world and commenting on cities' infratructure!!!
This man needs an Anthony Bourdain style urban planning show.
Yes! This is such a good idea
YES thats an amazing idea
Totally!!
The late night library as a public social space is a brilliant suggestion. Cheers to that individual, the gentleman featured in the video, and WIRED for this series.
I lived in Santa Monica, Hollywood and Koreatown in LA and you can get basically everything you need in those neighborhoods. Within a mile walk or so
Hi there. I lived in Hollywood, Venice beach and North Hollywood, and I could walk to many of the places I needed to go. Not many people recognize that
As long as u don’t have to cross the street (on foot).
NoHo here, and I agree.
I really like Santa Monica. It's no wonder there are so many songs about the place
careful, if you mention 15 minute cities you might trigger someone lol
I’ve loved Wired interviews over the years. This one takes the cake as the best one yet!! Super fascinating
Love what you said about LA. I've struggled to explain LA to people who have never been there, and describing it as a "city of cities" makes so much sense. Thanks. Great topic. I'd love to see more
It’s like people who look at NYC as this huge city when it’s really a lot of neighborhoods and people often stick to their neighborhood most of the time .
These Wired Support Q and A's are one of the best, most educational things on TH-cam. I can't get enough of these.
This was a great Tech Support and it should have been longer
For people interested in this kind of stuff, Not Just Bikes is a really good TH-cam channel. Really good.
Love urban design videos!! Cities don't just have to grow haphazardly, they can have intent and make life better for its citizens!
More of this guy please
6:47 Need a segment on lüften (Germany) tilt and swing dual hinged windows for fresh air in both offices and homes. Tragic that Covid did not prompt a revolution in ventilating stale sleepy indoor air.
Actually tradtional British and American vertical sliding windows are excellent at creating convection currents to exchange inside and outside air if the temperatures are different. Slide both upper and lower windows to the middle leaving a half a window open at the top and bottom. And you can stick a window air conditioner in them.
@@emjayay It's a pain in the proverbial when the sash cord breaks though. I have uvpc double glazing, the dual hinge ones are still good, all the sash ones are now kaput.
waaaay too short of a video on a fascinating topic by a world-class expert and a charismatic storyteller.
part2 please!
@Wired you need to bring this man back for a MUCH longer video! It touches everything we need to do as a society!
I’d like to point out the piece that was shown but not mentioned. When using car parking as a buffer for bike lanes, you also need to include a buffer zone between the cars and the bike lanes for people to open their doors or the results can be deadly.
On the image that was shown, the parking lane and bike lanes were super wide. If a biker gets.hit with a door, the biker would be at fault. I do agree with you if the lanes aren't as wide
0:16 the answer is protected bike lanes. If possible concrete barriers would be better as they would be there all the time and can’t hit you with their door or while trying to park.
Bulgaria mentioned, lets goo 🇧🇬
Are you planning on leaving? like 70% of young Bulgarians are doing?
@@AndreVictorGoncalves nah, im good
its not a good mention tho :D ......... абе кот такоа :D
As someone who lives in LA that last bit was a good thing to hear and remember
I’m not even done with this video and I’m ready for part 2. Heck I’m ready for an Andre Houston Mack level series with just this guy!!
So refreshing to see someone talk about urban planning in a nuanced, informed, solution oriented way. Such a stark contrast to most content I've seen on the topic.
definitely learned a lot on this one
only one question remains: is your city planned by people for money or for the citizen? dependent on that you can either have hope or despair
4:13 , after watching a lot of Not Just Bikes, i was really hoping he would answer "Amsterdam!". Paris works too.
Exactly my thoughts! Not Just Bikes is extremely underrated
Not just bikes is cool, but Tokyo is my choice🗼
I feel like Amsterdam and Copenhagen could have been included in that assessment.
6:27 him absolutely butchering Saoirse (common Irish name) 😂 Loved the video though!!
I would imagine Saoirse Ronan is the most well-known American with that name, and most people pronounce it wrong. It's just a fact: people who only speak English, or only speak English and Romance languages, just can't pronounce the Irish language. It's like trying to get anyone not Welsh to pronounce anything in Welsh correctly, lol.
@@Becvar80 American-born - she's an Irish citizen raised in Ireland.
So basically, we have a ton of good, new, innovative ideas, we're just allowing 50+ year old decisions to hinder us from making any meaningful progress. Love that for us 😪
No hinderance, It’s the fundamental 🇺🇸 class and race design. And guess who near all those “innovative” ideas and still is?💡
Like he said, path dependency. Changing paths quickly has far reaching ramifications and enormous expense. Far greater than any city can handle on its own, it requires a national effort. Which is why the american systems does not lend itself well to change.
Exactly. Thinking reactively instead of proactively, like we always do.
When I visited Singapore for the first time this year, I couldn’t stop raving about the infrastructure and the airport ❤
One of my favorite presenters here. We need more of this guy.
I love the last answer. I live in San Francisco and many neighborhoods are essentially their own cities. Meaning that everyday activities and needs are all within walking distance of where you live. I live in one of those neighborhoods and can't imagine living in a place where you have to own a car to live.
But that also sort of traps you in that area. If you need to go anywhere else temporarily that doesn't have public transportation, then you'd need to rent a car, which can put further limitations on where and how long you can use it.
@@greywolf7577 Have you heard of bikes and taxis? Admittedly, bikes can be a challenge in SF, but taxis do exist.
so it is possible to give us extraordinary content, extraordinary delivery, without cost and without ads. Mind boggling. Thankyou
"how often have you relieved yourself on Robert Moses' grave?"
Parking cars next to bikelanes to make them safer is such an American answer.
Just make actual buffers, and make entirely separate bikelanes which go more direct then roads, the last one actually really helps with reducing traffic congestion for cars!
Nearly all the bikelines in my city that have car parking next to them also have bollards; it is also a fairly common practice in other west coast cities. Entirely separate bike lanes also exist in the US, but they are usually just referred to as 'bike trails' even when they go through urban areas.
Yeah red flag went off when he said that but then I warmed up to him a bit
But where is that land? We have a Main Street with parallel parking along the sidewalk. The sidewalk is up to the buildings. Can’t move buildings. And not building a new city.
Leaving a Main Street set up in Michigan we also have a lack of trains. Our train tracks have been removed the replaced with trails for biking, running, walking…
@@amyjo248 one option would be to make it a one way.
Just seems like a knowledgeable, sensible & a good man!
I love learning about urban planning and making cities more people friendly. Release 100 more of these videos please.
He is great at sharing information and explaining topics in an understandable way. Thanks, Alenxandros!
This guy was great, he should definitely be brought back to speak more on the subject!
Boston roads are not because of cow paths. It is a rumor that goes back at least to 19th century. Boston has been getting bigger, expanding out into the sea through "The Big Dig" and other similar projects.
Per local cartographers Andrew Woodruff and Tim Wallace, who together produce the excellent Bostonography website. Wallace observed, “When you have a city like Boston that experienced steady land-building for decades, you’re bound to end up with a somewhat wonky street grid.”
Would argue that the Big Dig did not directly expand Boston's footprint into the ocean - though it did assist in streamlining the interstate system passing through the city, which in turn drastically alleviated traffic jams within the city limits.
@@Applica2000 effects of the big dig are arguable, my point is that the guy is outright wrong about cow paths
@@Applica2000 forgive me, The Big Dig wasn't the right example to use. That was just for the interstate like you said, and not really related to expansion
Boston feels like European cities, cities that developed organically before the car was invented and the terrible grid system.
Cannot be said enough (at least in conversations about city planning and/or Boston).
As you note, much of what it follows are what used to be the coastline/shores. Road runs along the Back Bay for years, then they fill in the Back Bay - the shore is no longer the shore, but the roads remain where they were.
This was such a good video!! Please bring him back!
Easily my fav one so far, all his answers gave me so much comfort
If anyone needs a sequel it's this guy
Need a part 2 of this! So interesting
Felt like a rant which I always did with myself about Urban Planning, now finally found a companion!!
Parking spaces as buffer for bike lines would've been a great idea if it wasn't for oblivious drivers not looking in the mirror if they can safely open doors.
We all saw someone get door'd
I would totally watch an entire episode of people submitting their own cities to this guy for critique.
One reason why I really love Japan is how offices and residential buildings are really intertwined to another. Really makes it easy to walk and grab a train like anywhere. There's a lot of cases where one building has restaurants on the ground floor, small office and housing on the upper floors.
I love this guy, I'd watch him all day. Somehow missed this video and came after part 2. Please give us a part 3!
Give us a part 2!!! This was so fascinating ❤ also hurray at hearing SINGAPORE mentioned! ❤
This guy is really passionate, I could listen to him explain urban planning for hours, I never knew how interesting this topic could be! Keep ´em coming pls
Office buildings are also very expensive to convert because they were not set up to have water everywhere. In residential buildings its expected for each unit to need water. But there is a reason offices have bathrooms in a few places, close to the core. Like most things, doable, but not 100% straightforward
Just like many here, love this episode! Very informative. Changi is also my fav airport, I used to live in Singapore and flying is a delight there. One thing that might not have made the edit is that the have the TSA security check at every gate, making the funnel where you show your boarding pass and passport not problematic. You need more man power, but it is so worth it. Less stress that you might miss your flight.
4:47 Vienna is also pretty great! They just need to improve their cycling infrastructure.
Also one of the most affordable cities
There are a LOT of publicly owned Apartments, so it is easier to maintain (scale) and rent-"control" for people with low income
I love this question answer series, I wish you'd make one every day
we need a part two!
This man was a pleasure to listen to. Great topic and great answers.
Now do this again but with eurpean urban designer, the responses to these questions are going to be different, more people oriented.
Exactly! That last part about LA traffic and him saying “in the future there will be a solution” is him not wanting to admit that public transportation would solve the traffic problem. The thing about America being car centric and “not being able to undo it” is absolutely ridiculous. We can definitely design around people, but the people in charge don’t want to.
What an educational video and he seems like a super nice guy. We need more of him!
1:38 I'm german and no, we don't have a solid and working housing market. Also rent control is only a policy in Berlin, not in the rest of Germany.
And surprise, it killed many projects of building more homes. But hey..."wir haben platz"...
This was brilliant, entertaining and pedagogic! Thank you! ❤
The best way to make bike lanes safer is to protect them. A parking spot is no protection. A physical barrier must exist between the bike lane and the cars. The concrete slabs they put in the highways to protect construction workers will do the job. Or even better, those huge concrete planters, with greenery or even trees might do it as well by providing a more pleasant trip for all street users.
I like the idea of trees as a barrier! Though then we have to worry about roots as the trees grow.
The real reason we don't turn commercial office buildings into residential homes is because the infrastructure doesn't support it. The first thing I learned when i heard about this idea is that the plumbing isn't capable of giving enough water supply to install all the showers and sinks needed. Also the weight of all the water in the pipes is enough to compromise the structure.
not to mention all the weight of the materials used for the construction. You could'nt have tiles, because of the weight, you'd have to use pex tubes, laminate floors, the thinnest walls possible. In the end you'd just have the cheapest flimsiest apartments and it would not be worth the effort
He’s so right about LA. I live here and we don’t really have a concept of LA as a single unit. There’s downtown but that’s mostly empty office buildings and bars.