These proponents of suburbia here in the comments section keep going on about 'personal choice', when in reality US-style suburbia owes its existence to a vast network of draconian laws about what can and can't get built. My own district supervisor here in San Francisco (Ahsha Safai, D11; I voted against him) voted against the rule against the legal parking minimum for businesses in The City. Fortunately, the citywide measure passed by 7-4 and was approved by the mayor in 2018, going into effect in 2019. Anyway, a system that forces people into cars (even if they can't really afford them) just doesn't really seem like freedom to me.

The lack of paths is fucking metal to me 😅😅

The buildings in American cities may be soulless, but at-least their is variety, I would want to see multiple architectural styles where I live, in Europe they all follow the same style and never mix it up, sure they are better designed, but it is basically like the American suburbs, if the buildings looked better and they were more walkable, idk that kind of city just doesn’t seem worth it to me, I’d personally say American cities are better especially Boston, where every building is different and there is even the old European style to go along with it. If you want walkable places with small buildings with different stand out colorful buildings, check out the wheeler district in OKC, it has an entirely walkable (center) called spoke street, that has zero rhodes, and then it has almost Irish or Scottish like colorful buildings, with walkable sidewalks plant life, and parks, not only that but it has a great view of Oklahoma City to make it better, it also is expanding and is nowhere close to being done. It has a Ferris wheel too, what I just described is basically the same thing as a European city but it doesn’t have the 1600s or older architecture that Europe has.

Na, Oklahoma City, and Boston are better than most European cities.

Still waiting on the video you mention at the end!

I bet there are a few fatsos talking trash about someone that walks to where they want to go.

This morning I was attacked at knifepoint as I left my urban apartment. Give me the suburbs any day!

Give me an apartment near a Starbucks and a pubic library. I can use Door Dash for all my nutrition needs. Give me a brewery with craft beers within walking distance of my evening entertainment. I will thrive.

I grew up watching Hollywood although im Indian, i imagined USA would be full of those lively vibrant cities but when i got here the streets look empty downtown looks like zombieland, no public engagement only thing i see is cars nd cars everywhere

Burgerpunk vibes

Not just bikes, made a nice video about how cool the train station of Weesp is.

This is not how American cities were in the 50's and earlier. They were very lively and walkable. The suburbs were sold as a place to raise a family in a clean quiet environment and it was enticing for many young parents. If you look at pictures of American cities in the early 20th century, you'll see people everywhere and now? They're like a ghost town.

Where I live in Australia, its: A 4 minute walk to the bus stop which can get you generally anywhere across the entire metropolitan area. A 15 minute walk to the Grocery Store, a Dominos, a Thai restaurant, a Alcohol store and a Sushi store. A 8 minute walk to the park. A 10 minute walk to the local morning cafe. A 12 minute walk to the barber. A 13 minute walk to the state school which is also used for elections. A 12 minute walk to a medical practice, dentist, chemist and vet. And a 16 minute walk (or 4 minute drive) to the gym and petrol station. Its very uncommon to not see a sidewalk and/or bike lane, and there are plenty of pedestrian crossings at every traffic light intersection.

i've been driving for uber and lyft off and on for about 6 years now. while the experience is better for riders, it too often comes at the expense of the drivers. riders too often rate their drivers poorly or make up false reports so the companies can apologize to them and give them refunds or credit for free rides. it doesn't stop there, though. the companies take action against the drivers with little to no due process. too many reports or low ratings (no matter how petty they are) results in the driver getting fired by the companies. there's also the issue of the companies potentially misclassifying drivers as contractors which, funnily enough, has led to a legal battle in the twin cities most recently (though other cities such as new york have cracked down on this). now, just to be clear, i support being classified as a contractor so i can work at my own pace and set my own schedule. however, the way they go about it is predatory because the companies still exercise a lot of oversight over the drivers in such ways as taking customer complaints at face value, telling drivers how to do their jobs (they get very angry when you decline too many ride requests, though a court order blocked them from firing drivers over it), and changing (read: cutting) pay without input from drivers. not surprisingly, these factors have subjected them to a litany of lawsuits over the years. tl;dr uber is great for riders, but it isn't always great for drivers. i myself have had mixed to positive experiences with them as a long-time driver.

All you urbanists point at some other people living in a way you don't like and say "this is a problem that needs to be fixed". Yet I'm willing to bet you have not made a single solitary attempt to interview, understand, let alone sympathize with any of the families who live there. You just presume to know them better than they know themselves and demand that they bend to your childless 20-something progressive housing preference. You are the problem, not the roads.

This explains why depression is such a common problem here. I had lived in Mumbai for most of my life and moved to Canada about 5 years ago. At first, i was very appreciative of how organized and clean everything was compared to Mumbai. But having my experience from other places I’ve travelled in Europe like Moscow, Berlin, Tokyo etc I realized Canada is just ugly despite being organized and clean. The place has no soul. I moved to 3 different cities in Ontario and never felt like I was attached to any of those places. They all look the same, have the same stores and are soulless with no one walking around.

uh th u.s highway system was designed by the ceo of general motors

"Don’t force me to have car by not letting me force you to not have a car!" Everyone of you

Your thumbnail is of a random state route, not an “American suburb”. Your videos are anti-American propaganda. I could post similar development from every country in the world.

I live in GV, I can concur that it is not walkable.

Yeah. I. Went to. Frisco tex. And it took. Me. 15 minutes. To. Make. A left. Hand. Turn

USA is a terrorist state

I still remember how my friend got into an accident on an e-bike. He was hit by a van turning into a side street off a stroad. Even tho I live across the ocean from him, my heart still goes out to him. Im glad he got out of it. He was in the hospital for a while.

This whole channel is what would happen if Elliot Rodger hated cars instead of women

this needs to be fixed. it is so depressing.

the usa is a plague

I went to nyc for the first time this weekend, I’m from Texas, and was mind blown at how insanely good taking the trains and subways to get around the city was. If I wasn’t married with kids, I would definitely start my life over there in nyc. Btw, I went for the 5 boro bike tour, so it was incredible to see the city by bike as well.

Bro anyone paying 500 for a car payment is getting a new car or maybe a year or two old. I drive a 2012 Jetta I got in 2020 for $190 a month bought it at 44,000 miles

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: The American Dream is... to escape THAT ➜ 0:52

Sou do Brasil, nasci em 1962, tenho 62 anos, e aos 7 anos a primeira manchete que li na minha vida no jornal que meus pais assinavam na época (interior do estado de São Paulo) foi sobre a Guerra do Vietnam. E então cresci lendo notícias das guerras americanas. Todo ano uma guerra nova. A da Coréia foi esquecida - talvez estudando-a entenderemos a posição do povo norte-coreano... Essas guerras... E eu tenho All Star por que realmente gosto - meu calçado principal. E tenho um I Phone, década de 80 na faculdade eu tinha uma HP, na verdade tive tres. Acho o Mutang, o Camaro eo Charger RT (todos ano 67/68) os carros mais lindos já produzidos. Morasse nos EUA eu os na garagem até pra ficar olhando e limpando. A todo hora uma nova guerra, um novo inimigo... e sangue. Muito sangue. E me pego dividido olhando pro tênis e para o smartphone e dá vontade de jogá-los no lixo e partir pra outro fornecedor, outra marca, longe dos EUA. Por outro lado admiro muito a história dos EUA, não fosse suas guerras e o MUNDO seria muito melhor. E melhor ainda seria para os próprios norte-americanos. E quando vejo dos subúrbios, me apego na capacidade do povo norte americano e acredito que reescreverão essa história do melhor modo possível. A história não acabou, tem muito chão pela frente. Se a conta de tantas guerras permitirem...

I used to think that America was fortunate to be protected by two vast bodies of water on each side - the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, of course. But more and more, I realize that this protects the wider world from us - and our defective, poisonous lifestyle choices that could malinfluence others. Marsupials we are, imprisoned in our own banal, desolate landscapes - truly, a real geography of nowhere. 😢

It's hard to grasp why anyone would want to come to America anymore? It's become so unaffordable, dysfunctional & unstable. Our country seems to have zero interest in improving these issues or the lives of its own citizens. Our cities feel disconnected, soulless, bland, unaffordable, etc. I really don't like the direction modern America has gone. We could do so much better. I love this country. I just want to see things improve. The 90's at least had a range of prices & places where people could live, unique things to do & places to go for poor people, middle class, and upper class people. There was places for people of all economic ranges ~Nowadays we have universally unaffordable cost of living, rent prices, shop rent prices.. (unless you are wealthy) I don't understand how long we can continue to function in this extremely dysfunctional manner?? I hope things change. People stuck in poverty need places to live too.. it's ridiculous how our current system pretty much requires everyone to be financially well off or you are screwed 👍🏻 It's so realistic 👍🏻 it's completely impossible for everyone to be financially well off. We need living options. We need places that average people can live, poor people can live.. Raising wages just continually makes things worse because our country says "it Has to increase things" So it does nothing but make things worse. We need places people can live even if they make below average $ (look at all the rent prices right now? The same goes for the rent of local small businesses too. It's absurd. I know cause we have to pay 2 insane rents to per month! It's the biggest challenge to afford rent. Profit isn't even a thing. It's can we make it to next month? How stupid is that? What kind of quality of life is that?) This is Modern Day America 👍🏻 and when you look at our government, it doesn't seem like anything is going to be addressed or improved anytime soon.. Maybe multiple generations from now, idk? All i know is vast change needs to be done. I'm tired of either side of our government. None of it is working. Hopefully motivated people will come in & help adapt this amazing country so it doesn't collapse in on itself. I don't get how our current situation can be acceptable? Seeing how things are now, I'm very grateful I was born in '89. It was a great time to grow up & get to be a kid. The world seemed to have so many creative outlets & forms of expression. Ways for kids, teens and adults could interact with our surroundings. We had an environment that had places to go, things to do, places with unique style & very creative design. I really miss the Vibe of that Era. Looking back with hindsight it really did feel like things treated us like it respected our intelligence, our time & what kind of experience we would have. While providing outlets in society that helped keep our inner kid in us alive no matter what age we were. It felt like things acknowledged us as a customer, a fan, a person. In a hyper capitalistic society, the least they can do is use basic decency to make us feel like they care if we have a good time because without us they cannot succeed. The creativity from that era put lots of effort into ingenuity. It genuinely felt like everything took pride in who could find the most creative and unique ways to do things, design things. For things to go from this 90's-Y2K era, then shift to this bland, soulless, minimalistic approach feels very Dystopian. I really hope we find a way to reconnect with these core things that we clearly saw positive benefits from. The world really needs this right now. Look how soulless so much has become nowadays? Look at the horrible aesthetics, poor quality & poor creative design in our modern cities. Even our shows, movies, & video games need a revolution. Things have become so bland, bleek, and minimalistic to the point that it doesn't even make since. Most Old house's/building's/únique shop's are gone. Interesting oddities like drive in movie theaters, indoor fun zones, arcade's, magazines that included a demo disc so you can try out game's. You could go to blockbuster/Hollywood video, McDonald's had N64's & crazy fun zones & covered in wacky art all over. We could preview music before buying it, they had an amazing selection of well made kid's toy's, Roller Rink's, Garbage pale kid's card's. You get the point. Bring back Retro-Futurism. Bring back Y2K Vibes. ANYTHING compared to this current Dystopian toxic positivity. Our society feels more lost now then it ever has. Basic living has never been so unaffordable. Society is solely focused on unhealthy capitalistic agendas. Where anything that isn't constantly increasing profits or gaining investors, is a failure and has no value to society.. Our Quality of Life should be better than this. Basic living shouldn't be this unaffordable. People should be able to have fun, dork around, have things that engage them. The list goes on. Bring me back to the 90's.

Whenever I try informing friends and family about just how badly designed American cities are and how we can improve them, they always laugh at me for at least five minutes straight, criticize my ideas as being “uneducated” or “childish”, and immediately dismiss any of my ideas of getting anywhere by any means of transportation other than by car. Half of the time when I talk to these people, they don’t even pay attention to what I say anymore because they think I’m just rambling on about all this “ignorant nonsense”.

Milwaukees Marquette interchange is way better that Minneapolis highways those things was planned out so bad hate driving in Minneapolis Milwaukee u can get around so easy even with Milwaukee being a bigger city 😊

south korea, japan taiwan and all south east asian countries have a walkable cities even in suburbs less car more efficient public transportations.

In Germany we have the Same Problem . Every House looks like the next , in the the next town. Thank God we still have old towns and castles that are up to 1300 years old, where you can “visually” relax. This American suburban dreariness is terrible. At least here in Germany there is a limit to the size of these new development areas. There's such a beautiful song from Malvina Reeves called "Little Boxes". Made of Ticky Tacky...

Until virtually every single street and highway is permanent stop and go bumper to bumper traffic 24/7/365, there is absolutely no argument that cars are a bigger detriment than they are benefit on people's lives. Even with how stupidly and terribly designed some infrastructure and parking is, it's still a much better world than imagining one where nobody was able to get around by car...

I can't believe the USA doesn't have public transportation 🤯

As an European who now lives in Mexico 1)you're right, it is dystopian and ugly 2) sadly, any of these soulless places could be Mexico as well. It literally looks the same, the biggest market for USA.

Spot on my thinking exactly

I love America because I can go through a whole day without being bothered by a single soul and not worry about pedestrians while driving. This is the only, slightly depressing, positive if you are an introvert.

Just found your videos. I’ve always wanted to try make an eco town. By ditching vehicles. Only things allowed would be for emergency vehicles. Or buses outside of the main area. All eco friendly too. The only issue lacking with many plans is cash. I’m from Alberta, Canada. 🇨🇦

European countries are small compared to the US. They simply don’t have enough space to spread out and build sprawling suburbs like in the US. Like spreading out in a such a place when I want to. But even the suburbs are empty-rarely see people walking around except to walk their dog. It’s a huge country with a relatively small population and every thing we need is right at home. No need to go anywhere.

This video hits soul

the $500 per month for a car payment is obviously for a brand new car, which to be honest there is very little benefit in paying for. While the car is ultimately the least costly part of running a car, you can get a workable ok ish car for a couple of thousand, there is no need to spend 30k on a car

I love the suburbs of you hate em move out and go to a concrete jungle stop yapping about about how they don’t fit your taste. Here’s that attention you ordered.

Americans when you dont have a car: this is all your fault Also americans: cars are the only way to travel

The key word is suburbs, which are present in every other similar country. This same setup is common in the outskirts of European cities, with different road layouts and textures. The only thing is with America is that the roads are undeniably larger. I have to say also, I don’t agree with this random narrative that has suddenly come into play in America- that Americans are so sad, and depressed, and hate their lives but are trapped, and so on.. no lol. America is statistically still a very happy country, happier than many of the much smaller and easier to maintain countries we like to compare it to all the time. Call it bad infrastructure, urban planning, and poor conditions if you will but at the end of the day people are still happy and hard workers. I’d love to see the roads shrink though if we’re being real. More trees to be planted as well

I tried to go car light. Unfortunately, the traffic is horrible and cross walks are dangerous. The cars drive by me at 50 mph. My car is old and dented. But. I’m privileged to have one. We have sidewalks. The bus is impossible. I have to take many different buses. Impossible.

a very unorganized and un clear program. prepare yourself first before making a comparizon of two worlds