Miami Surprised Us: The Crazy Urbanism of South Florida
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ก.พ. 2024
- We would say that Miami isn’t what we expected but we actually didn’t really know what to expect from this city. We knew we wanted a break from Canadian winter and that we wanted a city we could explore a bit instead of going to a beach resort in the Caribbean. On the positive side, Miami has a very unique aesthetic and vibe. Spanish architecture, art deco, palm trees, cool skyscrapers, elevated rail, tropical colours - it’s really nice. We were even pleasantly surprised by the transit, especially for a place not known for it. On the negative side, this might be the most pedestrian-unfriendly major city we’ve ever walked around, definitely in recent memory. It’s the design of the roads, which feel like highways and sometimes literally are highways. It’s the oversized cars with tinted windows and drivers acting like pedestrians don’t matter. Florida is the third worst state in the US for pedestrian fatalities and it shows.
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References:
Higher vehicles are more likely to kill pedestrians: www.sciencedirect.com/science...
Passing a stopped school bus is illegal: www.fox13news.com/news/when-d...
Miami-Dade County versus Miami Beach: www.miamitodaynews.com/breaki...
US bike commuting statistics: censusreporter.org
Miami-Dade County pedestrian and cyclist volumes: miamidadetpo.org/library/stud...
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Just for some context, Miami-Dade County saw 359 road fatalities in 2023, a full *eight times more* than the 45 in the City of Toronto - despite Toronto having a higher population (3 million versus 2.7 million).
www.flhsmv.gov/traffic-crash-reports/crash-dashboard/
www.toronto.ca/services-payments/streets-parking-transportation/road-safety/vision-zero/vision-zero-dashboard/fatalities-vision-zero/
Slightly unrelated to this video, but did you see the CBC headline about how "The City of Victoria has again declared itself as the cycling capital of Canada, almost 25 years after it first received the same proclamation from the Queen and attorney general"? Would love to hear your thoughts and whether the data backs up their (crazy sounding to me) claim...
@@andymacatack It's not crazy but there are different ways to judge it. If you look at the top bike commuting neighbourhoods in Canada, they're mostly in Montreal. But if you look at the city or metro area with the highest overall bike commuting rate, Victoria wins (and by a pretty large margin). Cities like Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver have their numbers brought down by their vast suburbs.
Florida drivers are the absolute phuking WORST
Who asked you to compare Canada to South Florida...get back to your winter wonderland before you get run over.
Don't forget, regarding vehicle requirements and pedestrian fatalities, #Florida does not require front vehicle ID labels (metal plates, #licenseplatewrap, etc.) on most classes of vehicles like in #Québec unlike 2-labels provinces, states, and territories like #Ontario, #California (where #licenseplatewrap is legal by #CADMV), #USVirginIslands, and more, and many countries worldwide where at least most classes of vehicles, each vehicle must have a front and rear plate. No front labels makes holding bad drivers without appearing as a security or police officer in even subtle ways a challenge. Wish front vehicle ID labels (though not limited to metal plates like with legacy regulations) are required in every province, state, and territory so holding bad drivers accountable can be easier as a regular citizen even if not everyone has access and skills to use the same technology governments and police forces uses. Yes, this includes people (e.g. seniors, foreigners, etc.) with no usable smartphones for various reasons (e.g. dead battery, none in possession, etc.).
Visting anywhere else in the greater miami area will change your opinion. despite the large population it's pretty miserable as a pedestrian and for activities to do outside of miami.
Yep. Grew up in Fort Lauderdale. Commute on bike. Yes, I do have a death wish.
I think we got a pretty good sense of it being hostile to pedestrians, but I don't doubt that it's worse in the suburbs
I’m a Dade county local and biking in Miami is a hazard ppl don’t respect you. But don’t say there’s no actives to do outside Miami biking wise there’s SOOO MUCH trails JUST for biking & hiking it’s crazy most are out by the Everglades or hugging the suburbs to the west, you can go out there and ride you bike up and down dade county and ride as far down as US-1 by biscayne bay, there’s also some good parks for mountain biking like the Amelia park and Jonathan Dickinson
@@arislopes1924 I think OP was implying that options for pedestrians suck compared to central Miami area. Everglades is great, but maybe not the best example? I'd have to drive 30 minutes west, and if I want to bring others to bike with, buy a bike rack or borrow my dad's pick-up truck. There's other activities that are a closer drive and even some suburban trails exist. But if I don't want to/can't drive, my options are pretty poor :/
@@arislopes1924 There are many biking *activities* outside of Miami proper, but there is little actual biking infrastructure that is for transportation. All of those trails are primarily for leisure, not transportation.
We need to seriously talk about taxing cars by weight and volume.
Agreed. Weight especially. The 4th power law multiplied by mileage should be at least 80% of road taxes based on the actual physics of road wear.
We wish, but we all know any attempt to impose such a measure would immediately be met with cries of "MUH FREEDUMB!!" from the Glenn Beck types.
Most registration fees and/or personal property taxes on vehicles are ad valorum (based on value), but Texas' annual vehicle registration fees have been based on weight for decades.
Paris’s new parking fees are based on vehicle weight. It’s incorrectly called an SUV tax, but it’s because most vehicles that are affected happen to SUVs.
@@GeoMeridium "it's worth considering whether that tax revenue will be spent"
Not really. The point of such a tax isn't to pay for transit. It's to (a) pay for road damage (especially if you make it a 4th power of weight) and (b) to _prevent_ road damage by discouraging people from buying heavier vehicles than they need. With a lot of these kinds of taxes, on negative externalities, you could literally burn the money and still have a useful 'tax' that works by discouraging bad behavior.
9:04
"He's probably just a construction worker driving between heavy loads"
9:49 "It was probably a cyclist riding dangerously" sarcasm delivery nearly went over my head.
James Bond: You'll kill 60,000 people uselessly.
Auric Goldfinger: Hah. American motorists kill that many every two years.
Note that the figures mentioned by Mr. Goldfinger are from the early 1960s.
“ADRENALINE OFFROAD!!! RAWRRR!!!”
Come on up to Atlanta if you want to experience that classic southern -hospitality- pedestrian hostility
I blame the evil tyrant Kevin Leonpacher.
Agreed. That’s where I am. It’s bad out here.
Atlanta (the city proper) is way more walkable than Miami. It’s not even close.
@@shivtim I'd still rather walk in Miami. In Atlanta, the evil Kevin Leonpacher hunts down "jaywalkers" to beat unconscious and arrest like he did to a BBC reporter named Fernando Armesto.
Lmaooo nobody in Atlanta knows how to yield for pedestrians, its insane.
As long as you have shade and water, walking and biking reasonable distances are no issue in warm climates, and in fact are exactly what tourists want. That being said, transit is more appealing for long distances when it's really hot.
I live in Florida, during much of the year it would be impossible for me to walk or bike to work, I would arrive sopping wet with sweat. The humidity is off the charts.
Totally agree and I'm from Miami. The issue is not the climate, it's the infrastructure. Concrete can be several degrees cooler if it's in shade and surrounded by green-space.
@@GeorgeP-uj8xc yeah the urban heat island effect in sunny cities like miami or los angeles is crazy, especially when lots of the trees are palm trees. their shade isnt enough to cool the areas below them. you need water AND shade to prevent heat stroke
@@davidwelty9763 Taking it easy, biking should be better than walking due to the wind-in-the-hair effect. I know not all of Florida is flat, but it's flatter than where I live and I only have issues with humidity while climbing. I know of people who commute in Queensland Australia (equivalent humidity). This is also why some employers have installed shower facilities.
the key thing there is shade and vegetation, u can bring water, u can't make shade and vegetation appear when theres none, and just shade alone won't do much, u need vegetation to keep it from getting super hot
I live in Central Florida, which is just as hot as Miami, but instead of the ocean breeze, we just get high humidity. But, thanks to recently buying an e-bike, commuting by bike is actually pretty reasonable. I arrive at work, and later get home, without sweating nearly as much as I did on the traditional bike. With the e-bike, I don't have to work as hard; plus, riding the e-bike gives me a nice 20mph breeze.
How is Lakeland specifically in terms of bike infrastructure?
@@SnackMuayhell 💀
It's worth noting that Central Florida is quite a bit cooler in the winter months than SoFlo is, but yes the summers are just as brutal state-wide
Can you get a class 3 there? The juiced bikes like the CrossCurrent are fast and built like tanks.
Here in Sweden we have mopeds with a speed limit of 30 km / h around 20 miles /h that are allowed on cycling paths. Often with fossil fuel engine but also now more electric, including those with pedals to increase the range between charging.
At 6:07 that is a new signal lights installation. I don't understand why but in the U.S. it's common to see the lights installed, then covered in black plastic, then sit for months before being activated.
Government busy work. You finish early and just leave shit until your contract time is almost over
I think it is because they need to be hooked to the network so they can be controlled remotely!! ...but I am not certain.
It likely varies between states, but here in IL we had to wait several weeks to have the installed system inspected by IDOT or a certified contractor before turning them on. Pretty dumb, tbh.
Stayed 3 days in Weston, suburb of Fort Lauderdale, and was trapped in this gated community(no car), felt like the Truman show
To any visitor, Weston (and hundreds of similar gated communities) looks good for the first 10 minutes. Then you realized you are trapped with no sidewalks and nothing close by, after a couple hours you realize all the houses are just 3 models that are different colors, after a day you notice that there is a competition who has the biggest SUV, etc)
90% of the US is like this.
As some1 who grew up in Weston, I can confirm and do not want to live in a suburb ever again.
That Weston for you! 😂
Watching this confined to my bedroom in Weston, can’t go anywhere without a car. It sucks 😢
I live in the US south where giant trucks are everywhere. Even taking that into consideration, the shot of the giant, lifted F350 fire rescue truck was shocking to me 7:16
What's shocking to me about that monster pickup is that it's right up on the sidewalk, blocking 2 or 3 driveways 😳🤯
The lifted rescue trucks are to help people when the frequent flooding issues happen.
Paris now wants extra money for parking for overweight vehicles - their definition is above 1.6 tons. For Americans: That's per car, not per wheel…
This is how it should be everywhere.
I live in Miami...the core of the city is great, but everywhere else its pretty horrendeous when it comes to urbanism
The sarcasm is killing me 😂 9:46
👍😁
I feel it's a good sign when first CityNerd and now you two visit our incredibly complex metro area and see it's many faults but genuine highlights. There's definitely a growing movement for change, but we all know entrenched power is a tough beast to beat.
Sorry you live in Florida during these times
Miami native here too. I love this city man, I would argue it's the best city. There is definite movement to improve transportation, like the bus way to Cutler bay or bike paths by coconut grove.
Entrenched power is one thing. Popular opinion is another: No one is forcing Miamians to buy these stupid vehicles. We’ve got a long way to go…
"The most pedestrian unfriendly major city..." guessing you've never been to Phoenix. Makes Miami look like an urban paradise.
Yeah lmao Phoenix is worst for peds
Or anywhere in Dallas FW metroplex
@kfen
I live in Dallas, and I've experienced much worse elsewhere. The only serious problem here is the ridiculous amount of 45mph stroads. At least I haven't gotten threatened with violence by car-addicted suburbanites like in the Sacramento area.
Las Vegas is even worse. Phoenix is horrible, but not the worst
Miami is really bad because a lot of the drivers are used to driving in Latin America and just got off the boat. Good luck getting drivers to yield at crosswalks, not even the signs being in Spanish helps!
As you saw downtown, Metromover and Metrorail has led to so much development! I know people love subways, but having elevated transit like Metrorail or Metromover is just as cool, as shown in Miami! Besides Brightline, Metrorail, and the Metromover, there's also Tri-Rail! The thing with Tri-Rail is that when it was created in the 1980s, it was originally meant to be a temporary solution to highway construction. They were widening the Florida Turnpike and Interstate 95, and so FDOT formed Tri-Rail in the meantime. But when it started operating in 1989, they saw just how much demand for commuter/regional rail and realized "Oh wait, y'all actually like trains? Cool" and so they made it permanent and added more stations, and they even added special bike cars! Tri-Rail was extended to Brightline's MiamiCentral station in January 2024!
Interesting Miami facts: Miami was named after the Miami River, derived from Mayaimi, the historic name of Lake Okeechobee and the American Indians who lived around it. Mayaimi means "big water". The Tequesta tribe occupied the Miami area for around 2,000 years before contact with Europeans. A village of hundreds of people, dating to 500 to 600 BCE, was located at the mouth of the Miami River. It is believed that the entire tribe migrated to Cuba by the mid-1700s. Miami is noted as the only major city in the United States founded by a woman. Julia Tuttle, a local citrus grower and a wealthy Cleveland native, was the original owner of the land upon which the city was built. Tuttle was the one who convinced railroad tycoon Henry Flagler to extend his Florida East Coast Railway to the region. Miami was officially incorporated as a city on July 28, 1896, with a population of just over 300. Incredible growth since then!
Currently in Honolulu, and it makes me appreciate Montreal more. Miami is cool though, hopefully they'll succeed in improving people's environment.
So curious to see an urbanism video about my hometown. It’s almost embarrassing 😅
It’s gotten better but there is so much work to do as you all pointed out.
its also such a huge contrast seeing your on city in a video from a different perspective. It's so vibrant, full of tropical trees and interesting architecture. But when you live and see it on the day to day you become unphased by it
luckily Florida is full of progressive and forward thinking politicians.
@@dariel312 because most neighborhoods arent like that. Try living in Brownsville
@@FeelItRisingwhere is this florida? i want it now!!
it’s like when the teacher critiques your homework
I live in South Florida but up by Palm Beach. Miami is surprisingly walkable (the bar is quite low). To be honest, I take the Brightline high(er) speed rail directly to downtown Miami and do without my car for an entire weekend. I have an ebike which allows me to ride around back in my home city but unfortunately I can’t take it on the brightline. I’m not sure I would be comfortable biking in Miami though 😅
You’re so polite calling those drivers “inattentive”.
I liked this comment while driving my car in Miami 😁😁😁
You guys saw the best Miami-Dade has to offer in terms of transit, mobility and walkability. The farther West you go it gets way worse.
As a person born and raised in South Florida, the #1 issue for me is the sun. It truly makes a mild day feel like a hot day here in South Florida, and I think the Miami metro area needs a lot more shade. I remember visiting Padua in the summer, and one thing which was remarkable to me was how so many streets in the old city are arcaded. Those arcades add shade to the sidewalks which make the heat in the summer there bearable. Miami could learn from other cities which have solved their own heat issues. The temperature in the summer in Miami (and this is no exaggeration) is usually 35 degrees Celsius or 95 degrees Fahrenheit, and the humidity and sunlight makes it feel like 40/104.
By the way, the driving you saw at the school is pretty tame to how it usually is. Head over to Hialeah or Doral, and the driving becomes *very* problematic.
Lol, OK so I'm not crazy - people actually want more shade!
This is always a debilitating conversation for me, especially when I talk to NIMBY-er people. Why not have more shade, for the love of god?!? Why are some people so anti-tree and anti-shade? I always try to walk on the shady side of the street in hot weather and so seem to most people. So why not have more shade? Who's it hurting? Argh...
Idk man if you move to Florida, you just have to accept that we have horribly humid summers. More shade is always better. Gainesville Florida is a good tree covered city if you wanted an example.
@@GirtonOramsay It's a tree-covered city, but that doesnt mean it's a great city to walk around. The buses are only great around campus, and the streets are mostly designed for cars, not people. Archer Road has a nice bikepath along it, but it's not covered at all and it's right next to the stroad. 13th Street is much more pleasant, but it's still a car sewer, especially on game days. Older neighborhoods around Midtown and Downtown sometimes don't even have sidewalks, and they definitely don't have shade. The rest of the city is just unwalkable. Trust me, I've tried. That's how I know all of this about Gainesville.
Sidenote, you mention the humidity, and I'm reminded of a city with even worse humidity than Miami/Gainesville but has shade, and that's Cartagena in Colombia. In the old city there, the streets were designed to be thin enough so that there is almost always one side of the street that has shade from the buildings. The humidity can be a bit overwhelming (especially during the wet season), but if you dress right and stay in the shade, you'll be fine.
This is true, neighborhoods with a lot of more trees tend be cooler and have a nice breeze to them, places like gables & groove( coconut grove). Notice how it’s always the wealthy neighborhoods that have the most trees while the poor ones are literally slabs of concrete
@@mccoolguy1973 I wasn't a fan of the campus being surrounded by stroads. But there is enough bike paths and sidewalks to get between downtown and campus and surrounding apartment areas. I recall many of the residential neighborhoods north of campus having lots of tree cover on 8th and 16th streets
Above ground parking -> because there is water everywhere once you start digging in Miami.
Yeah. It looks a little funny but we couldn't hold it against the city, our taller buildings have parking too, it's just underground.
Well, that isn't the main reason. Water is a trivial obstacle to construction honestly. Especially in these modern times. We understand quite well how to properly insulate and protect from water ingress. It is a higher cost, but not outrageously so that it would be a deterrent if necessary. However, the main reason is that it is almost entirely unnecessary. In places like New York or Canada, the frost line (the depth where foundations need to past to prevent temprature changes from seasons to lift the structure out of the ground) is deep, several feet deep, so generally, if you are digging that deep anyway purely for construction, it makes more sense to expand the tunnels more and make transit, especially in extremely dense areas like New York. However, in Miami, the frost line is mere inches, so you are almost never digging deep, so it is highly unnecessary and there isn't already a network of tunnels that you can utilize from construction. Furthermore, the ground in Miami is mainly made of limestone, which is very structurally unstable when you start digging, so it is dangerous to make deep tunnels and are more of a hassle than water to design around. Physical character of limestone which consists large cavity prone to sudden failure and become worsen due to misinterpretation of rock quality by engineer and geologists during analysis stage and improper method adopted in construction stage.
Above ground parking is also a great place to get views and great places for open air night parking lot parties. Is that only a Florida thing?
As a floridian, miami is HELL for pedestrians. You would think downtown would be walkable but no! Many times im walking on the street itself due to no sidewalks. It’s insane. Ocean drive was also better with no cars tbh. But I understand ocean drive historically was a place to show off ur car.
Exactly. Even Brickell isn't a very good pedestrian experience in many respects.
You forget that Miami is a city for the wealthy and “flexers”. They make it half car friendly because people have luxuries like cars to show off on a sunny day or an event.
@@kidtrunks2568Miami is the hit and run capital of the us 😢 it’s really bad over here.
CityNerd had a good take when it comes to Miami: urbanism for the rich and car dependence for everyone else. Regarding the county-city structure in Florida: chartered counties, which Miam-Dade is, may elect to preempt cities within their borders and often own roads that run through cities. Basically, it works like this: State>County>City. I suspect the issues regarding the road closures in Miami Beach have something to do with the county owning the road. Counties tend to try to work with the cities within their borders and often permit cities to pass their own zoning, codes, and other local laws, but traffic is often seen as a regional issue because roads do not end at city limits.
As a long-time South Florida resident, the summers are brutal--and it's not just because of the sun. It rains almost daily during the summer making it hard to dress for any prolonged period outdoors. Otherwise, Florida could be great for biking because it's flat. Unfortunately, the best places for biking are almost exclusively urban cores where the biking infrastructure is adequate at best, and dangerous at worst.
15:20 In The Netherlands e-scouters are illegal to use on public roads. Of course you do still see them, but that is why there are not many of them.
Ironically that's what's making it so dangerous riding an e-scooter in The Netherlands, you'll constantly be diverting your attention to lookout for cops.
The backstory on the chickens in Miami is because of the Cubans! There are descendants of those bred in Cuba to fight, and those used in Santería for sacrifice which is an Afro-Cuban religion. Fighting between roosters is an extremely popular sport in Cuba. So when Cubans migrated to the US, the roosters came too, and so the sport was popularized in Key West and Miami until it was declared illegal in 1986. Thus, they were released. In Key West, the Cubans there also used pet chickens for food but when Key West was connected by train in 1912, they released them after realizing they didn't need them for food anymore since Key West was now connected to the mainland. Key West was once the cigar capital of the world because of Cubans!
An interesting transit fact about the Cuban Spanish you heard in Miami is that our word for bus is guagua, which is also the word for bus in Puerto Rico! As a Cuban leftist in NY (my Cuban side of the family left because of Batista before the revolution), I'm glad you enjoyed the Cuban culture there and I think Miami has honestly solid transit despite the sprawl! I'm glad Brightline exists in Florida! I know it gets criticism for all the car crashes, but you can't entirely blame Brightline's crossings since as you saw while in Miami, Florida drivers are....something else. The more transit options that people have in the US whether it's Brightline, regional rail, or Amtrak, the better! Not to mention all the housing that comes with new stations, and it further helps tourism by connecting the different cruise ports.
All 305 locals know the chickens are there because of the Cuban voodoo aka Santeria a form of Bantu a African religion which requires animal blood sacrifices
Really? I thought it was just normal to see them in tropical places. San Juan, which a pretty dense and sizable urban modern city has chickens everywhere!! :0
@@BizcachitaSan Juan is in the Caribbean. A lot of Caribbeans did chicken fights until it became banned. Then they just roam free and wildly. San Juan is a lot like Miami in similar but uniquely different ways.
@@Notpublic4719Ive seen that Vietnam has chickens in their big cities as well. So bc of that I thought it was a normal thing of more developing countries.
Dale 😊
I grew up in the south Florida suburbs and I can confirm that Miami is the best pedestrian experience Florida has to offer. I no longer live in Florida, and I only ever considered walking/biking as a means of transportation after I left because of how bad the build environment is. I’m glad you had a fun time though! Florida is a great place to visit, but not to live in my opinion lol.
Where u move to
Thanks for visiting my home town! I can't believe you guys missed Midtown and Coconut Grove though, I would say those are the two most urbanist-friendly spots in the Miami Proper. You also NEED to visit Key West if you want a truly pedestrian experience. Keep up the amazing content!
Honestly dude it's kind of surreal how much attention Miami is getting. I like the attention:3
I wish more urbanist channels would do street-level city critiques like this-especially in Sun Belt cities where conditions are worst. Stuff like this is really helpful to local activists trying to convince their city officials how bad their streets are compared to other places
Pretty accurate. Believe it or not. It’s still the most(and largest) pedestrian oriented area of Florida.
Outside of Disney World, anyway!
@@dreimer2112 good point. That is the ultimate irony that theme parks create “main streets” that we pay to visit…
Miami is definitly one of the more walkable cities in the U.S outside of the northeast region and its the most walkable city in Florida by far. If you had a hard time walking in Miami than it doesn't get much better in any of the other U.S cities.
I live in Atlanta, we get the heat and humidity in the summer, but the biggest obstacle for more bicycle usage is a lack of infrastructure that makes it scary for people who aren't seasoned riders, although it IS getting better, but we have to fight the State of GA for every dollar of taxpayer funds while billions upon billions are spent to add more lanes to pack in more and more cars.
I also blame the evil tyrant Kevin Leonpacher.
8:57 lmfao that’s actually so sweet. Miami’s such a weird place. I have never heard of free outdoor gyms on the beach but it seems to fit the character of this place so darn much
Most of out parks have exercise equipment. Is that unusual?
Yay! Great video you two. I just returned today from a 5 day trip to Seaside, FL where I am pleased to say that I felt like the pedestrian experience was pretty amazing. I’ll have a summary video out soon. Cheers! 😎
Everyone's visiting Florida these days it seems. Looking forward to the video!
I live in Los Angeles, which gets pretty warm but isn't humid like Flordia. The other day I took a walk somewhere 20 minutes away, and it was 80 degrees that day. It felt really hot and miserable most of the walk, worsened by the noise of the 4 lane stroad next to me. But part of the walk goes next to a park, and I decided to walk through the park even though it would take a bit longer. It felt so much cooler there because there was shade, as there were no trees on the walk up to this point. The greenery and distance from cars also made the area much quieter. I'm sure there are still days that would be too hot too walk (like 100 degree days in the summer) but it feels like the problem of heat has a lot more to do with the lack of care for providing shade for pedestrians
Shade helps a lot; I think trees can also have a direct cooling effect via evapotranspiration.
I live in Miami and went to LA in May. LA is cold in comparison. The ocean water was too cold for me. lol But I understood why there were so many people walking around in LA.
I loathe the gigantification of trucks and SUVs. They're getting bulky in ways that obstruct views further and make everyone else, including other people in cars, less safe in a crash. Not to mention the outsized road wear they cause (and don't pay for, 4th power rule). Also fun is that the lifted ones with wheels that stick out past the mud guards are illegal in Georgia, but they continue to be driven on public roads in large numbers...
I love how you reference safety guides that tell you to make eye contact with drivers, and how ridiculous of a safety tip that is when cars have tinted windows. I almost got hit the other day because the driver had tinted windows and their behaviour indicated they saw me but I couldn't tell because of tinted windows.
And many illegally tint the windshield, which is never permitted to be tinted. Front window tinting is also supposed to be less than the rear windows, but pretty much every car with tinted windows violate those two restrictions.
i've never encountered the number of people possessed by such sheer rage anywhere else (not even NYC!) as in miami. it's like the angriest, most on edge folks from the NY area all migrated down to miami and are ready to explode at the slightest trigger.
a beautiful place nonetheless! and not everyone is a jerk, just most people lol
Sacramento, CA is much much worse!!
I really do like the visual aesthetic of Miami.
I went to college at the University of Miami and stayed in greater Miami for a year and a half after graduation. Living, working, and having to drive everywhere in suburban Miami-Dade County was my own personal hell. Even back then (1980-1984) the drivers were horrible, worse than Massachusetts drivers who had and have a reputation to be bad drivers. And drivers down there in Miami have only got exponentially worse since.
I used to live in West Kendall and drove to UM every day. If I left early enough, I could make the trip in 45 minutes. If I left just a little too late, it was 90 minutes. At night, I could make the drive in 15 minutes. Miami traffic is truly awful.
Thanks for sharing this! I'm from Fort Lauderdale and would say that South Florida (West Palm Beach to Miami) is EXTREME on both ends. It has some of the most wonderful pockets to be in the whole world, but if you're not in those tiny (typically ultra rich) areas, the environment is horribly against you.
Truly. If you look at S. Florida from Palm Beach County to Miami, it's endless super blocks of the most massive stroads I've ever seen packed from everglades to the ocean lined with giant strip malls with ugly sprawling disconnected suburban neighborhoods within the super blocks. There's zero developable land left and despite the crazy increase in density because of the lack of developable land, traffic is way worse than anywhere else in FL since there's so little to walk to outside of a few select walkable beach towns like Del Ray. Even when there's nice walkable pockets, I find the streets lined with million dollar condos and high end boutiques and overpriced mediocre restaurants completely soulless. 75 percent of the people in these walkable areas are rich elderly northeasterner retirees in pastel golf shirts and late middle aged men with their young nose-jobbed trophy wives, almost no diversity at all of socio economic status or skin color. It's truly suburban hell.
Thanks guys, this video completely eliminated any desire I had to visit Miami, so I now have literally 0 reason to ever go back to Florida. What a relief!
The amount of crazy people on the road and terrible infrastructure makes it a deadly combination. I’ve seen so many things on the roads down here that make me dizzy and exhausted
With every additional video I only convince myself that my opinions coincide 100% with the opinions of these creators. Amazing, correctly calibrated, and data-backed content.
You folks are amazing! Thank you for the work that you do for urbanism on youtube. You're now by far my favorite urbanist/transit channel.
If I were to make a personal "criticism" of your videos based on my content preferences - I would love to hear more of your opinions on transit. I feel like you have a lot more things to say there and would love to encourage you not to hold back and put that stuff in your videos! Thanks again!
Fantastic video. I love these city reviews!
Thank you for the captions. It really helps.
Miami is actually a pretty good setup for a US city, definitely better than a lot of other places around the US for sure, including better than a lot of places in Florida itself.
I live near Daytona Beach. Generally the darker the tint on a car's windows the worse the driver. More aggressive, more dangerous, more likely to ignore the rules of the road. Its a Florida problem, not just Miami.
Feels nice that you went to my local Publix and walked around my neighborhood.
I am a native Miamian that now lives in Broward what I have noticed about South Florida is that people in cars somehow no longer see pedestrians or bicycles when they are in a car and they want to turn at an intersection. It's like pedestrians and bicycles can't be seen from a car that is turning at an intersection I don't know how many times I've almost gotten hit or run over walking around my bike by a car that wants to turn at an intersection even when I have the light even in the middle of the day with my red hunting jacket on and bright sunlight and I'm crossing they just drive through the intersection. Also, the bike lanes they have made in the busiest streets are suicidal.
Fellow natve Miamian here!
I recently purchased a new car and kept feeling like it couldn't see the whole road like I was able to do in my old car. My mom said she feels that way about all cars manufactured after like 2010, they give your the camera because you can't actually see without it. Also, I notice in some areas they give the right of way light for pedestrians and left turning vehicles at the same time which seems counterintuitive to me. I prefer intersections where all the cars stop of 2 - 3 minutes and all the pedestrians cross in all the different directions. I know all these massive SUVs don't help the situation either.
I've heard a lot about Miami in the last year for other reasons (mainly cultural), but not much about the urban landscape, so it's really interesting to see your take on it from this perspective. I have so many thoughts on it: Chickens? What? SUVs: Ugh, so unnecessary. Architecture: YES. It's definitely quite a mixed bag, but I can see the appeal. It would be interesting to see what takeaways you had from it (what other cities could learn from it) and what you'd change if you could. My main thought is: Do more city visits like this (if you can afford it). Hearing your thoughts on Montreal/Canada is great, but it's a big world out there and there's so much more to see and learn from. It would make your channel much more interesting if you travelled away more (but I realise it can be expensive and difficult to do).
In the case of Florida, the buildings are often required to be built above hurricane flood levels, especially near the coastlines, so parking pylons become quite common, not to mention, going underground is quite impractical.
It makes sense, but it does look kind of funny!
The ginormous urban tank SUV tells 2 things about US. First, pedestrian safety campaigns are all about putting the responsibility and onus on the pedestrian doing the right things otherwise "it's their fault". Second, these big freaking SUVs show how people only care about themselves and their safety and no one else: not pedestrians, not kids in strollers, and not smaller cars.
In a nutshell, North America is rubbish when it comes to anyone not driving. There are no proper transportation designers or a transportation policy, only rubber stampers for car traffic policies and for building more lanes.
And does not care for climate change with greenhouse gas ( CO2)
Stand your ground state.
"Keep your child safe and uncrushed inside this giant child-crushing machine"
This is very much a Miami thing. The Culture is not one of warm community, unless it's a community of hate and scamming people.
It will be perfect ifnthey'll add the flags.
Tjere are quite a few places in the US that atach a cylinder to a pole on both ends of the crosswalk that holds bright orange (probably reflective) flags that you're suppose to hold and wave while crossing the street at a crosswalk, usually with other accessories to getvthe driver's attention like flashing signs ir actual traffic lights (thatvturns red for a bit than start flashing).
I've lived only in south florida, but I would say that heat is honestly worse than cold for bike commuting, because there's no way to avoid sweat, where in the cold you can just put on some layers and be fine (I do understand ice and snow play a role in winter difficulties though). This is why e bikes and e scooters are huge down here, less sweat
As someone from Australia riding a bike to work can become increasingly difficult during summer as it can get pretty hot (30+ Celsius isn’t unusual along with a few days of 40+ in some cities). Melbourne, where I live, averages 26-27 degrees throughout summer and sees on average 21 days a year above 30 degrees, but it has got as a high as 46. Improving shade on bike lands with trees makes a significant difference but using lighter pavement instead of asphalt/tarmac often makes the bike paths reflect a lot of sunlight, making it hard to see. However, sometimes it is just too hot to ride especially in other cities such as Perth and Brisbane where average summer temperatures are 31 and 29 degrees respectively. People have died (including young adults) from organ failure due to overheating while riding in 30+ degree weather.
I lived in Miami Beach for 4 years. I can say that the dip in pedestrian traffic in the summer is absolutely due to the dip in tourists. I loved the summers precisely because there were a lot less tourists. All the year-round residents I knew didn't change their routines at all during the summer, because we were all used to it. Then I moved to Phoenix and I found I could exercise outdoors up to 104F (40C) but not above that. Phx gets up to 110f (44C) and much higher (118F or 48C is not unusual) during the summer, so there was a definite limitation for me.
I went to Miami for the first time last year with relatives that live close by so we drove there and I have to say that it was the most unnerving and scary 40 minute car ride I've ever taken in my entire life. The amount of lanes and drivers swerving in and out of traffic, I dont understand how people could endure that kind of driving every day.
Lots of Miami people have ties back to Latin America so I can see how they’re used to it. I’ve been to cities like Bogotá and Cartagena and they make Miami look civil.
Makes sense, thanks for the context!@@Notpublic4719
Metro rail/MetroMover/TriRail combo is cool if you’re visiting or don’t have a car!
This is a great video of the tourist perspective of Miami. No shade at all as it's very necessary to understand Miami, but it misses a lot of the Greater metro area, which means it misses the experience of the majority of us who live(d) there. To fill in some of those gaps, check out CityNerd's video about his trip to Miami. A much closer peek into the lived experience of the working class/working poor and honestly even an ever expanding portion of the middle class. These two videos together paint a pretty spot-on picture of the duopolis (coining that) that is Miami/Miami-Dade County.
No worries, we have no problem admitting that we were there for a few days and we didn't get to explore the city as deeply as we would have liked.
As a Brit who lives in the Tampa Bay Area, I can say that the tropical summer's are BRUTAL. The midday heat & sun in July will have you drenched in sweat after 10 mins of walking.
But this isn't a good enough excuse for car-centric infrastructure - E-scooters are a great tool for getting around locally because they don't require exercising, and the "wind" you feel from whizzing along at 15-20mph makes the July heat feel surprisingly reasonable.
I last about 10 seconds before doused in sweat in Taipei
Tampa has the worst public transport I've ever seen. Seriously.
@@crowmob-yo6ry Unfortunately that's not inaccurate, considering there's not even a passenger rail system here... though I would argue that Jacksonville's is worse
@@crowmob-yo6ry Try Orlando, it's much worse.
was riding on a road shoulder in florida and almost killed by insane driver speeding behind me, honking and running me off the road. it was a genuine nightmare living there without a car.
I live in Puerto Rico, and honestly the biggest challenges for walking and biking on hot days is the sheer lack of greenery within urban and even Sub-urban areas thats so prominent here. The long distances and lack of good protected infrastructure make biking and walking under the hot sun a nightmare!!
Take a sombrilla like the abuelitas do.
@@JohnPrepuce oh ive done it! pretty sure thats illegal on bike. but umbrellas aren’t always good enough to shade yourself from the horrid heat. and since its too hot to wear a raincoat, when it rains id rather not bike at all….. any other suggestions, im very open to heart tho
I spent 4 years at the University of Miami back in the 1970's and I barely recognize the place. It's become so gentrified. In my day it was little rundown but it felt more like a genuine city and the traffic wasn't all that bad. From the looks of your video it seems they've done to Miami, what they've done to New York's Times Square and turned it into a Disneyland version of itself.
Thanks for visiting ! Glad you got to see how Miami has changed
That Truck at 9:06 cracked me up. It has probably never left the pavement.
Lol. But it looks cool
I'm a resident of Miami: drivers here are LITERALLY insane. Everyone always talks about how their city has the craziest drivers, but any time I meet anyone from out of state here, they say this city has the most insane drivers. Holy moly.
It also doesn't help that lifted pickup trucks and enormous SUVs have increased in numbers over the recent years. Miami used to be the city of assholes in sports cars, not lifted pickup trucks. They are such an eyesore and are often aggressive.
I love my city. I love the wacky people here, but I would not raise children here. There are moves to add more transit methods like a bus way that goes down into Cutler bay, but it's not enough. They keep trying to build a train to Miami Beach, but residents keep denying it.....
All those big black domestic-brand SUVs are basically luxury taxis.
Great video, really interesting! A lot of the positive examples looked fairly new, so hopefully the place is on the right track of improving even more in the future :)
Don't live in a tropical place, but visited a city in Taiwan. A lot of the buildings there extend over the sidewalk, giving it cover from weather and the sun. Useful for any climate!
Hey, I'm Paris and spent 6 months from March to September in Baton Rouge. The only option I had to get around was a bike and Lyft/Uber. The heat is manageable as long as you go easy and have some shade. However tropical climates also have intense rain episodes during which it is completely impossible to get around by cycling or walking. Apart from these episodes, I was very happy to get around the campus by bike. It was convenient and enjoyable, I got to ride the levee bike path during weekends to get downtown and it was really amazing. I even got to see an alligator from that bike path. The only downside is the inexistence of consideration for bikes outside of the campus which prevented me to get around elsewhere than around the campus and my apartment which was located 2km away from it.
Miami drivers are the rudest I've experienced in the US
Sacramento, CA is much much worse!
@@crowmob-yo6ryi doubt it. Driving in Miami is like driving in Latin America 😂
I used to live in Florida but have since moved. Hostile infrastructure and hostile drivers are the two biggest challenges. However, the weather is in fact an issue in the summer. I lived on the southwest coast, rather than in Miami. The biggest challenge was indeed summer, but not because of the heat. Parts of Florida get over 100 days of thunderstorms a year. We're talking seriously nasty thunderstorms that aren't safe to bike in. They also always tended to be around the time that I would leave work, which often made bike commuting an issue. Were I in somewhere with good transit infrastructure, like where I live now (Washington, DC), then I could have just as easily put my bike on the metro and not had to worry about the thunderstorm. Another major issue, maybe not with Miami, but the rest of Florida is the sprawl. In a 5 mile bike in DC, I can get to pretty much any destination that I would want and that includes world-class amenities that people travel internationally for. In Florida, 5 miles barely gets to a grocery store.
I dont understand this people in america that say that heat is a problem, like heat here in Brazil is way worse and we still have pedestrian friendly urbanism in most cities(and we are also poorer).
In Colombia too, like yes there’s lots of potholes on the roads and broken sidewalks but at least you can walk to the supermarket and other places.
Consider that the United States is large amd has multiple climates, I would assume the same about Brazil since it is also a large country. I just Googled, Rio de Janeiro is 82° F feels like 91° 85% and Miami is 87° F feels like 93° 56%. Our government at multiple levels and the businesses around us active suppress our desires and attempts at urbanism. This is why these kinds of channels are important, so many people don't even know that there is another way because where in our country would we have seen it?? And as a Miami native who is watching historic neighborhoods being bulldozed to create new "walkable" expensive communities it's hard to imagine what a walkable South Florida will look like and how much of the Black, Brown, Latin, and Caribbean culture they will erase (the displacement of the people as well) to create it for people who don't even live in Florida yet.
@@PTPAUL-ry7jc Rio de Janeiro yesterday had 140 degrees fahrenheit of thermal sensation
M-D has some great bike trails: from Coconut Grove down Old Cutler to Cutler Bay and under the South Metrorail from Brickell, the Gables, Dadeland, then the Busway all the way to Florida City. You walked by MDCPublicSchools building? LOL! Mini-mover is free and great views; great when it’s super hot and humid. That “big road” (5:00) is Biscayne Boulevard! Did you stop at Buenas Aires Bakery on Collins and 71st in North Beach? Walking in Miami isn’t that bad; just gotta have that presence. And biking in summer is a challenge because of thunderstorms. You can literally be sunny, turn a corner and it’s raining, not fun/safe in a bike!
I love these videos were you explore cities and give thoughts on your experiance
Wait is an SUV driving on a sidewalk at 1:43 or is that some really strange infrastructure?
They're on the road but there is no sidewalk on that side of the street. Here's roughly where they were: www.google.com/maps/@25.8097182,-80.127439,3a,75y,14h,78.03t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sVE5mIA5uLFTJivwPUs4lPQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?entry=ttu
@@OhTheUrbanity It looked confusing and elevated from the left lanes. They could easily put protected bike lanes and sidewalks on both sides of the street if they were smart
You see mainly tourists walking in Miami . Residents are in their cars, office, shopping mails or in their condos during hot days and rain.
People in south Florida stay inside when it is hot and when it rains .... they are either in their cars , at the office , shopping mails or in their condos ... People spending time outside are mainly tourists .
I recently visited Miami for three days and I agree what you say and show in the video about the city and urban environment! How did you like Kendall and the big shopping mall?
I grew up in central Florida, but we didn't have douches running bus stop signs. Your overall experience is pretty good in cental Miami and South Beach relative to the Florida suburbs where it's just infinitie stroads. You will usually have a sidewalk on them but the distances are insane to get anymore. I lived two miles to the nearest Publix growing up.
live in a suburb near miami. when i took the bus in high school we had many crazies who would run the stop sign that the bus activated and even beep at the bus driver for not letting them pass. south florida drivers are the worst.
Great review! Agree on everything you said…
When a traffic light doesn't work, report it. 4 Minutes is not reasonable to wait.
you do realize that most of those buttons are placebo buttons right they don't go to anything. The pedestrian light comes on whenever the traffic signal changes and that's probably on a timer.
@@SummitCoyote Though they’re not. You don’t press it you don’t get a walk signal. Especially since most signals actually use demand of the traffic.
@@CityLifeinAmerica source? ive actually been to Miami and other cities in FL and watched the signals. there have been several videos and studies showing that these buttons don't actually attach to anything in many places.
In Miami, the escooters and bikes are popular as you can get on the Metrorail and possibly buses with them and then use them to get around town like ‘last mile’. It’s good sub if you don’t have a reliable car and work in person.
Also summers are brutal! And they are made worse without shade, thank you for pointing it out! They need to work on safer sidewalks and adding trees all over the city.
Also, the Miami Beach has some NIMBYs that don’t want trains extended to the Beach -‘Stop the Train’ because they think it will bring homeless people and crime to the area 😅 but the County is pushing for trains because buses are getting overcrowded. So the County is not always the problem but thanks for shading light on the some the issues in Miami and Miami Beach.
And Love Wynwood too ❤
I went to Miami once, I don’t desire to go there ever again. Insane drivers everywhere, hotter than hell.
Welcome to the club! 🌴🏃♂️💨🍁
I have taken several "winter breaks" from MTL》MIA; and experienced ALL of the situations (✔️〰️✖️) and unexpected delights you showed here!
Brickell station 🐓 roosters FTW!! 😂
PROTIP: next time hit Coral Gables; aka "Urbanism for the Rich" -CityNerd and Coconut Grove (N.east)!
I love wynwood, you can definitely get your colada fix in Havana. I've been hit by a rooster at Presidente before 😩 Good to see the beach infrastructure for cycling preference in some places. Check out Gables and Groove next time!
Tel aviv has very hot and muggy summers, yet few residents drive cars as the traffic is awful. E-scooters and e-bikes are by far the most popular methods of transportation in the city.
@3:45 looks like the bay floors are wet so they probably just got cleaned. Sometimes we have to pull the rigs out to the apron to clean the floors (weekly chore to prevent build up of diesel carcinogens) or to load hose / etc onto the rig
In Miami there’s a pedestrian scramble crosswalk NE First Avenue and NE Second Street in downtown Miami. It’s nice.
Having attended college in Miami, it has BY FAR the worst drivers in the US. Unfortunately, I doubt the car-centric road geometrics are going to change there anytime soon since pedestrian and bike-friendliness has become associated with "wokeness." I'm surprised you didn't ride the MetroRail in addition to the Metro Mover to get the experience of the more regionally-oriented elevated metro system. Walking in Miami is also made into an unrewarding experience by the prevalence of modernist buildings that only present blank concrete walls or curtain glass to the street. The lack of adornment on buildings citywide and the poor spatial definition of the street space can really lead to sensory deprivation and mental stress when you're out walking everywhere for hours at a time.
I've visited Miami a few times, and I unfortunately have to disagree with you on the worst drivers bit. I think Sacramento, CA has the worst drivers I've ever seen. Not surprisingly, it's a huge NIMBY haven (even worse than SF) where public transit and walking are heavily associated with criminality. I had some angry drivers threaten to get out and stab me or call the cops on me for photographing squirrels in Sacramento.
Brightline average speed from Miami to Orlando is about the same or lower tha VIA Rail average speed form Dorval to Ottawa. And that is when Brightlines doesn't hit a car or pedestrian at level crossing along the way. You need to go past their excellent "reality distortion field" PR to find their service, except for a short stretch is very conventional diesel speeds.
Also surprised ty didn't take the metro from airport to miami central and get to miami beach from there. Miami airport has both the metro as well as Tri-Rail commuter trains right at the airport people mover station.
I've never taken VIA between Ottawa and Dorval specifically but for that comparison I looked at (1) the top speed of both as well as (2) the average speed of Brightline's whole corridor versus VIA between Toronto and Montreal. Granted, the difference in average speed wasn't massive, but it's still impressive to see from Florida of all places.
For getting to Miami Beach, Google Maps was showing the direct bus as being 20 or 30 minutes faster than taking the train and then switching to a bus downtown.
I live somewhere with similarly extreme summers, and my biggest challenge by far is lack of shade.
Did you know I-95 starts very close to where you were and ends up in New Brunswick Canada? give or take, 962mi (1548 Km) ... giver or take. Thanks for sharing this great video.
I was almost runover by a car at miracle mile in coral gables. The pedestrian light was set to walk.
That 4-minute pedestrian crossing, locals know to go across the other way where there is no through traffic by the beach though they can still wait if they want to if it's near the end of the traffic cycle. You might have enjoyed the Brickell City Center and the close by Mary Brickell Village and surrounding areas.
What's that long yellow pole on the front of the school bus14:30? A device to ensure that a minumum gap is kept to the vehicle in front?
Thanks for the video would you travel back after being there for 4 day
If you think Miami is unfriendly to pedestrians then don’t go to any other sunbelt city in the south especially Houston. You’ll appreciate Miami after a visit to Houston and DFW. Bigger trucks, vehicles and wider commercial corridors not to mention the widest freeway in America right in Houston.
The Miami Brightline station also has random chickens running around when you walk out of the station.
The bike lanes are nice but there are random locations where there are gaps in the bike lane system where the bike lane abruptly ends and you have to jump into a sharrow with speeding cars. Some construction in downtown also has blocked some bike lanes.
As a native Montrealer, my biggest culture shock when I visited Latin America was how motorists behaved in their cars. Pedestrians became something of an afterthought, and it often seemed like their personalities change when they get into their cars. Many people confirmed that developing countries are more car-centric because cars are a luxury and become symbols of relative wealth. Regular people drove small motorbikes and used handicapped ramps on the highway as parts of the road hahahaha. I lived in one building in a tourist town where I had to cross a huge, 6 lane busy highway without crosswalks or traffic lights. I took my life in my hands every time. I missed the culture of pedestrian respect that I grew up in. Thanks for sharing this enlightening video.
Great video. This should be required viewing for Miami's government. I think when it comes to heat e-bikes and scooters really make all the difference. At least for me riding in 95 F/35 C heat wasn't really bad at all on my e-bike last summer. The worst is when you get to a light that you have to wait at for untold amounts of time thanks to poorly optimized intersections with long signal times due to the inefficiency of cars.