American Urban Sprawl Is Worse Than You Think

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#urbandesign #urbanism #architecture #history #usa #cities #shreveport #lawton #fayetteville #sprawl

[@Matty002]

we all have to stop calling it urban sprawl when its suburban sprawl real urban sprawl is just city building more city

[@markmartindale7215]

Thank you!

[@cantorsteve]

I grew up in the suburbs of Los Angeles, but, wanting to live in an actual city, I moved to the Upper West Side of Manhattan in 1972, where I've been ever since. That was when people were leaving NY for the suburbs, so rents were high, but not ridiculous. What I did is not economically possible for most people now, so city living is sadly beyond the reach of most Americans. It's heartening that young people like yourself are raising awareness to reverse the situation. I wish you luck, but, sorry, I don't see a lot of hope.

[@trainrover]

I'd been dreading Montreal - which had been the cheapest big city to live in throughout the western world - cheaper than Belfast even - - becoming a destination for those fleeing their high costs of living .. such that the strain of English encroachment back onto the Isle of Montreal here is of that fuckingly Corporate-speak concoction; queerest drones ever :brrrRrr:

[@step2058]

4k median rent for the UWS these days. No thank you.

[@matthewconstantine5015]

I think about this in relation to my hometown of Bangor, Maine. It's population has never been large, though it's the third largest in the state. I think it peaked in the 1960s, at just shy of 40,000 people. That's when there was a moderately sizable military base there (Airforce, I think). The population has been in the low 30,000s ever since. Anyway. Once upon a time, it had a thriving downtown area. But folks got caught up in post-War urban renewal. They did the usual of having the interstate cut through town, destroying some working class neighborhoods. But they also tore down a big chunk of the downtown area, including a gorgeous train station, to put in parking lots. They then proceeded to drive most of the business (and thus, jobs) to the outskirts of town, where you needed to drive in order to shop or work (and of course they needed yet more parking). They turned a bunch of farmland on the eastern side of town into the Bangor Mall and its massive parking lot, and then over the next 40+ years, built up the rest of that area with big box stores, fast food joints, strip malls, and "business centers" (strip malls for lawyers & dentists). In the meantime, housing stocks shrank as the town bought up and raised whole neighborhoods, new housing is almost non-existent, and prices are absolutely nuts. You could not pay me to move back for a thousand reasons. But I'd also never be able to afford it. I live in DC now, and there are apartments in Bangor renting for the same price as some I find here. And I can get work and not have to own a car here. Two things that wouldn't be true in Bangor. Not to mention the airports, passenger trains, and general stuff to do that I have access to, without driving four hours to Boston. There's an insane amount of space in downtown Bangor that could be upzoned to have business on the ground floor and housing above. I don't think it would be an exaggeration to say you could probably put in a thousand or more apartments without breaking a sweat. And the land the now nearly defunct Bangor Mall sits on is the same size as a "lifestyle center" I used to frequent in northern VA that had dozens of businesses and over five hundred apartments. And you know, actually generates tax revenue for the city, unlike vast seas of parking. But the town council did all the same kinds of restrictive zoning that was all the rage in the mid-20th Century. And now, the ancient NYMBY population is too scared of outsiders and change to actually try anything new while the city continues to rot. It's depressing as hell. And it seems to be a story repeated countless times across the country.

[@dariuspk2850]

I grew up in Europe and walked to my schools from kindergarten to third grade, always on little adventures. Moved to Lawton (military) from 4th grade to 7th and i lived in a suburb outside of the main area. It was decent living but I started to wonder why I couldn’t walk to my friends houses even though we all went to the same school. Started looking at google maps a lot and made go down a rabbit hole of how weird American cities are. It was bizarre going from a walkable European village to Lawton. Also, I went back to lawton recently for the first time in over a decade, and it’s gotten worse. Sprawl kept growing and old hangout spots like the downtown mall are a ghost town. Sprawl is killing the city Edit: I was born in for Fayetteville 💀💀💀

[@AnotherDuck]

And yet, so many people say they move to the suburbs "for the kids". Sounds more like it's "for the parents," so they can more easily keep the children in an area where they can see them. While depraving them of their freedom, which causes many of them to grow up with insufficient independence and problem solving skills.

[@luenriqu]

I am from Mexico and unfortunately we have followed the same US urban sprawl patern. Even people in big cities feel proud of how Americanized We have become...😢. Mexico's downtown areas are the only walkable places in the country...because those areas date back from our Spanish colonial past. These areas are now seen as touristic places or as blue collar neighorhoods. And in my opinion the cultural heritage and colonial architecture is mind blowing.. but Mexican white collas prefer to live in gated communities with no walkable streets and cero interaction with the rest of the people. I did live in Europe and seriously when I came back to Mexico I realized how depressing our urban areas have become. Mexicans see US urbanism as a progressive patern... this is so sad.

[@DiamondKingStudios]

I’ve seen the popularity of gated communities here in the United States and thought that they’d probably be more popular for the wealthy in countries with less consistent public security. Between you all and South Africa, seems to be the case. How many of those white-collar workers also hire private security guards on their property, if the seclusion of those communities wasn’t isolating enough?

[@luenriqu]

@DiamondKingStudios yeah you are right...these communities are isolated from each other... no social interaction, no infrastructure, no world class public transportation. But if you go to those places more "developped" you will find modernist glass skyscrapers because people want to see what NCY looks like....they do not realize that we are loosing our identity. These wealthy neighborhoods are exactly the same as the ones in south Africa, and other US cities....

[@bioliv1]

Norway is worse, we do have the highest square meters of shopping mall per inhabitant by far! We're the shopping center mall - country of Europe. We move to France, Nantes has done some impressing new urban renewal!

[@himbourbanist]

Lawton is shocking. I went to Fort Sill for Army Basic Training and I remember being floored by how Lawton is basically just a mall with a base attached

[@bioliv1]

At the international Walk21 conference this week in Vancouver, British Columbia, an eminent authority on streets boiled the walkability of cities down to the number of street intersections per square mile. Venice has 1,725 intersections per square mile. “It’s very complex, it’s very messy, and people walk,” said Allan Jacobs, urban design consultant, former San Francisco planning director, and author of Great Streets. Brasilia, near the opposite end of the spectrum, “has 92 intersections, and you don’t walk there,” The Vancouver Sun reported Jacobs as saying. “Irvine, California is the classic automobile city. It has just 15 intersections, the lowest I’ve ever counted.” Other places that are good for pedestrians, Jacobs said, include the Market Street area of San Francisco (300 intersections per square mile), Tokyo (988), Savannah, Georgia (538), Portland, Oregon (341), and Paris (281). The most complex and messy stret patterns provide the most walkable and enjoyable experiences for both visitors and residents, according to Jacobs.” - ‘Messy’ street patterns boost walking

[@davidwayne68]

Soulless Urban Sprawl is devastating. Have you done a video on Las Vegas yet? It's just shopping, gambling, and sex work. Talk about soulless.

[@AbstractEntityJ]

Vegas is hideous. Although, thankfully, some of the nature parks nearby are gorgeous. Red Rock Canyon and Valley of Fire in particular.

[@karencontestabile6064]

😢

[@davidwayne68]

@ I hear you Karen!

[@Cyancat123]

I was recently in Vegas and even if the consumerist nature of the city is vapid, it's shockingly good in urban design. The strip has elevated walkways and bollards on sidewalks to prevent pedestrian accidents, downtown and the arts district are walkable and nice to be in, and the outer suburbs are all in a general circular shape, with highways following that shape. It has everything that would make a train or subway system very useful, so should they ever build one the city's walkability score would skyrocket

[@codysparks1454]

@@AbstractEntityJ hey, I didn’t expect to see you here 👋

[@jimmtthecrazy]

I’m from Canada and unfortunately we see the same thing. There’s a city called Chatham (about one hour from the Windsor Detroit border) and the downtown is absolutely beautiful, especially the old pictures. However, the city has been outright destroying the decorations on the buildings and there unfortunately, no sign of stopping it. There is also a mall that only has maybe 2 stores open that completely kills the downtown section. The worst one I have seen is Barrie Ontario. Most of the classical architecture is destroyed and now the city is a glorified shopping centre. I do everything in my power to avoid going to Barrie, simply because of how fucking ugly it is. One the positive note, Quebec City is absolutely stunning, in fact my favourite city in Canada. It’s just so beautiful, I would recommend doing a video on Quebec City if decide to talk about Canada.

[@AbstractEntityJ]

What they're doing to the Chateau Laurier in Ottawa now is utterly unforgivable. Same as they did to the ROM and One Spadina Crescent in Toronto. There is also the "death by a thousand paper cuts" ongoing destruction of Victorian era homes in Toronto.

[@jimmtthecrazy]

@@AbstractEntityJ unfortunately, it’s absolutely heartbreaking. But Canada in general is a shithole

[@theperfectpeanutbutterjell7553]

As a resident of southwest florida (very decentralized place), this place luckily isnt as bad when it comes to hollowing out of the urban cores, and even has some plans for infill in fort myers and north fort myers, but it does have a pretty unique and incredibly wasteful form of sprawl along side the typical atomized floridian developments. There are some good articles from strong towns about it if you want to read a bit.

[@markmartindale7215]

This is not Urban Sprawl, it is SUBURBAN Sprawl.

[@maroon9273]

End of the of industrialization of America and outsourcing of manufacturing jobs caused suburban sprawling. Warehouses and manufacturing jobs gone and the towns/city decayed/rot. Transit infrastructure abandoned turned into highways, parking lot, malls or roadways. Demolish abandoned turned into sprawling suburbs. The reason there so many infill lands is due to land being undesirable due to economic, crime or environmental issues. Best thing you can do is push for walkways, cut through, ped/bike sidewalks, side ped/bike paths, and signal pedestrian crossing. Bus lanes or busway for existing bus routes. Even streetcar or interurban line connecting to transit lines to the city. As the land gets desirable then create street grids and build residential/commercial town neighborhoods. Or CBD with cities having height laws.

[@raaaaaaaaaam496]

@@maroon9273 this is literally not true. The peak of manufacturing employment as a percentage of the population was in the 70s. Suburban sprawl had already dominated American by the early 60’s.

[@trainrover]

there's one stroad on the Isle of Montreal here along which its ginormous car parks are gradually being changed over to Tokyo-like apartment blocks .. sick: either appearance is FUCKINGLY out of place, fuck

[@ryans7097]

Over the last couple of years this has become a really interesting subject to learn about for me. Hoping you can keep finding additional areas to cover for the rising city series or just more coverage in general on plans/concepts for more practical and visually appealing urban design.

[@joshuanormand8401]

You should include Alexandria, Louisiana. It's about 2 hours down the road from shreveport. I-49 runs through the middle of the old part of town. There's no shopping downtown, our 800,000 sq. ft. mall is almost completely dead, we are rapidly losing population, with 40,000 people in a land area of 28 sq. miles, and the city keeps expanding west along hwy 28. We have a lot of empty retail because of the high crime, and retail moving to the hwy 28 west corridor, mostly along Versailles Blvd.

[@bobsteve4812]

I don’t understand, how is it still expanding with a shrinking population?

[@joshuanormand8401]

@bobsteve4812 The land area is. Basically the people that have the money keep moving to the outskirts of the city, or just move away altogether.

[@roth1038]

3:30 has to be the most abysmal before and after of "urban renewal" I have ever seen. That entire city's historic downtown cleared for a mall and parking lots....

[@bioliv1]

This channel needs to grow just as big as "Not Just Bikes"!

[@jetfan925]

I live in West Hempstead, NY and I go to third places that both act like a streetcar suburb and a post WWII suburb. Thankfully, I had to walk to places that are somewhat walkable from where I live. Buses and trains also helps my mobility whenever it is not snowing out.

[@harrygoldun5779]

Funny how urban sprawl still has small shopping centres, even existing suburban main shopping streets, that have places to meet and socialise. New malls have cafes, restaurants open areas to sit down and chat with friends. Our overall culture is different here in Australia. Getting out and about is an integral.part of life here. People everywhere on the streets enjoying life. The US is built around sitting on one's backside, living via a keyboard and TV. Proof in deserted town and city main streets.

[@marcelmoulin3335]

Thank you, Alexander, for another impeccably presented and informative video. As I have mentioned in the past, I found the ubiquitous urban sprawl in the San Francisco Bay Area in the '60s and '70s abhorrent, soul-destroying, and depressing. I knew then that I wanted to return to the homeland... the Netherlands. Living now in glorious Middelburg, I am five minutes away by bicycle from the walkable, enchanting town centre. The Americans could have replicated the European magic, and they chose the auto centric model to planning instead. With Trump and his team in charge, what do their policies mean for the New Urbanists and for HSR/light rail?

[@tann_man]

As a RWer that mostly supports Trump I can tell u this is an area he and his admin will not be good at. The loosely associated project 2025, and Trump's own agenda 47 is very much focused on "preserving suburb life" - ie car dependent sprawl. I wish we could conserve beauty and small town walkability but it's unlikely. In most places we're only going to get more ugly stroads and cookie cutter "planned communities" with 2hr commutes

[@alexanderrotmensz]

Thank you so much as always, Marcel. I really appreciate your support. On the last point, ultimately local governance is the key factor in urbanism and even transit. For something beyond the municipal level, like HSR, there's talk of completely defunding CAHSR, but that project objectively has been a failure that I think was recently delayed to 2034 (and on just the first segment) and of course has been massively over budget, so to defund that is understandable in many ways. A good litmus test to see how things will go will be Brightline West. I expect Brightline to be efficent with construction and not require so much funding from the federal level. Brughtline, not CA, can realistically build a successful HSR project in a decent amount of time, so it will certainly be interesting to see how that'll play out over the next four years.

[@marcelmoulin3335]

@@alexanderrotmensz "Hartelijk dank voor jouw antwoord, Alex." Thank you for your thoughtful response, Alex. Despite the colossal financial hurdles, I hope that CHSR will come to fruition. I believe that successful, dynamic urbanism can take place only when there are superb transport options. I look forward to your next video.

[@jordonisawesome]

Valdosta, Ga. Small city of 150,000 and outside of the shell of downtown left and the immediate older areas of the city, it’s nothing but sprawl.

[@DiamondKingStudios]

Same with Columbus (metro area around 300k), to your north-northwest. We have some beautiful old structures (mostly houses), but beyond there is sprawl. No passenger rail service since 1971 (y’all had it until 1979), but at least our station still exists.

[@charlesrowlet7830]

At 3:38, I recognized Mason City, IA where I presently live. In hindsight, the downtown mall has been a mixed bag of success for the city, but the city is working on slowly converting it to more of an entertainment-focused venue. An indoor ice arena has replaced a department store and other adjoining retail space, with plans for a movie theatre and bowling alley under discussion, among other things. Incidentally, a big chunk of the parking lot south of the mall is now nice apartments and townhomes, bringing more people back to downtown.

[@jameslongstaff2762]

The way you describe Dallas makes it sound like hell. Plus it's hot there.

[@DerekGray2.0]

It's genuinely hurt to see urbanization destroy beautiful blocks and neighborhoods.

[@uverpro3598]

They’re doing this to West Hartford, CT right now.

[@GuitarReader]

Doing what?

[@animatorthree]

@@GuitarReader Have you watched the video or...?

[@GuitarReader]

@ Some of it. Do you have information on the changes in West Hartford?

[@DakotaFord592]

Omg!!! This man is so beautiful!!!! I will get lost in between his 🎂 for the next 365,000 years!!!!!!!!! His 🐾 too!!!!!!!!

[@markmartindale7215]

Inappropriate

[@-OAK-]

What really sucks about what happened to Lawton, is that it’s a mountain town, it would’ve been a famous tourist spot being and the only big city in Oklahoma with a skyline view of mountains if it weren’t for what happened to it

[@trainrover]

I remember becoming dumbstruck by watching some journo who telecast himself from inside some 4WD while bombing through endless Houston sprawl for close to 1 hour's time 👀 no tapping on the brakes WHATSOEVER either, incredible!

[@jean-louisjanchault4309]

Great job, this video. And the cost of it : the maintenance of the utilities networks can't be handled by the municipalities : too expensive. See James Howard Kunstler about this. And now the US is saddled with that type of burden for as long as the eye can see. Bad.

[@thewurst9588]

Hate how every street view of these sprawls look exactly the same as ones in my city...

[@raaaaaaaaaam496]

You should look at the urban areas of Midland, Lubbock, and Amarillo. Amarillo has so many vacant lots in the north side, midland is the ugliest place on earth, and Lubbock is a crime infested suburban hellhole that is frequently featured on r/suburban hell for being so dystopian

[@gregorysouthworth783]

We really need enabling legislation which encourages in-fill development. I can see where in the early 1900s, city planners wanted to decrease the pathologies associated with dense and poorer living conditions by allowing the development of less dense living. The suburbs, at the time, seemed to be an answer to that problem. HOWEVER, the pendulum went too far to the other side especially as the automobile and trucks became the primary modes of transporting people and goods just about anywhere. Now sprawl is the default building strategy. There is a healthy middle ground were walkability, less car dependence (perhaps aided by transit systems including trackless trams which aid non-car mobility, etc.), and an end to mindless parking minimums could help re-develop misused swaths of the community.

[@zwalada]

God bless America. One positive thing about burger land is that you guys are fast with changes when you see something you don't like.

[@Wewwers]

...lol

[@tann_man]

Why haven't we already deported tens of millions of foreigners then?

[@ericwright8592]

0:40 I think it's important to frame this in terms of efficiency, conservation, waste, etc. Most Americans incorrectly think their suburb is "already full", mostly due to traffic congestion and complete absence of a public realm. Instead of saying Istanbul had double the population in 1/4 the area (which most Americans will balk at), say, "Istanbul supports double the population, while wasting 75% less space, conserving 10x more wilderness". I also think it's key to emphasize how using up more land for fewer people is wasteful and fiscally unsustainable. Or that it leads to increased property taxes. Something that will resonate with people's typical experience of life rather than a walkable urban life that almost no Americans have any understanding of. Most Americans don't want their city to be compared to "some dirty old crowded European city". It's very difficult to compare without putting people on the defensive.

[@SayNoToDemocide1]

My favorite (or should I say, least favorite) examples of sprawl are Palm Bay, Florida, and Pooler, Georgia. Stroads, winding subdivisions, and no downtown. There's also Port Saint Lucie, with mazes for subdivisions. At least Lehigh Acres is in a grid.

[@SayNoToDemocide1]

The Palm Bay Building Department is also located in a strip mall. Reinforces the feeling of sprawl and development being done by people who don't care or probably don't know anything about urbanism.

[@Jgrvo]

I love American suburbs. Coming from a Dutchie where I feel like everything in the Netherlands is too cramped and small.

[@8PeTrol8]

I have seen so many urbanist videos and I'm looking at Google Earth a lot so I'm not too surprised. But man, when you showed the Downtown of Lawton which was replaced by a fucking Shopping Mall, what the actual fuck? This is so insane, I cant even ... wtf?

[@KoobaKoobs]

To be fair to DFW, parts of Frisco are really nice

[@Zalis116]

They actually want to construct Interstate 49 through the Allendale-Lakeside neighborhood on the west side of downtown Shreveport. From what I've seen though, it doesn't look like they'll pull off the 1960s-style demolition to make it happen. So I-49 will likely get rerouted on other freeways around the city, like I-220 and either I-20 or LA-3132.

[@SeaBassTian]

Reprehensible urban design for sure. I'm always reminded of an episode of True Blood where Pam: shrieks "I hate Shreveport!" 🤣

[@linuxman7777]

You should check out some Japan stroads and sprawl, some really crazy ones are Matsushige Tokushima. Usa Oita, Tosu Saga, Koka Shiga, and many places in Hokkaido. I live in a walkable town in Pennsylvania and while there is some suburban sprawl it isn't too bad. I only drive to see family that lives 1 county over.

[@Arturas1244]

its very esily fixable. rise buildings in center while not alowing to build outside city, holding forest area in city. cutting park space alowed to built. cuting any funding to road fix outside city, removing main highway from center to go around. demanding high ecology standart septic systems and building affordable brick apartments 5 story high. using modern european bricks as bricks in usa are a joke. applying of brick layered houses only and leaving roof for wood. this way houses will stand forever adding affordability easy to renew. while usa paper and air houses dont ladt today even 30 years. more people go to city more budget more money is made. List goes on. as than city need less roads to fix, less and less infrastructure. If you live away from city you may pay for road for everything even you dont own it. Road quality drops where while in city its renewed constantly. making parks pathways etc. moving away from usa box style city also.

[@dvferyance]

So what is the alternative? We all live crammed in one tiny area?

[@TheDanEdwards]

"So what is the alternative? "

[@dvferyance]

@@TheDanEdwards So how are we supposed to get around? I am not going to walk 10 miles round trip to go to church or to go the mall a movie a ball game ect. We need cars to get around.

[@Nyalcoholic]

Endicott NY

[@futon2345]

Not in new england

[@l.a.crenshaw5952]

Terrible!

[@TheDanEdwards]

1:25 "simply doesn't work"

[@deebte__]

pahrump nevada, what even is it

[@firelight-vitality]

Urban sprawls and urbanization in general are only going to increase with online shopping and food deliveries. They call it "progress".

[@tsnovak20]

How can we show this to Elon Musk or Donald Trump? I believe they are the only individuals capable of addressing this issue. Trump has already issued an executive order prohibiting the use of modern architecture in federal buildings. Consequently, the new federal building should be constructed in a classical style, incorporating elements that reflect the culture of the state.

[@Wewwers]

Dude you're genuinely not paying attention if you actually think either Trump or Elon would ever be for urbanist reform lol

[@AbstractEntityJ]

They are very hypocritical on this issue. Promoting classical architecture for federal buildings but sprawl for where the people live. The issue is, beautiful federal buildings without vibrant traditional neighborhoods around them just feel like museum pieces rather than part of an actual living, breathing city.

[@tsnovak20]

@ Where did you obtain this information? I closely follow politics, so this must have slipped through my fingers.

[@Ray03595]

Wow, the level of delusion you’ve got to be on… Trump is literally trying to kill congestion pricing, and has just trash talked bike lanes. He the furthest thing from being for any type of healthy urbanism. His last time in office he delayed several important major infrastructure projects. Only thing he’s focused on is freeing up gov funds so him and his billionaire buddies can get bigger tax cuts. Wake up

[@tsnovak20]

@ read executive order he signed “Promoting Beautiful Federal Civic Architecture” what you are saying is false and delusional

[@ricardoconn3807]

You should come to Britain. It’s horrific. We have a population of 70+ million packed into an area slightly bigger than Florida. Yet they are letting in more and more people

[@moover123]

The UK is 43% bigger than Florida.

[@tann_man]

Visit the Islamic Republic of England? No thanks

[@HyperboreaUltra]

You want small town charm you need small town people.

[@ernstred6103]

I know it is unpopular to say, but I like this way of living

[@trainrover]

unsubscribing .. fed up with go-ogle lumping CHEAP adverts at me a few times ever 5 minutes' time 💡💡💡 ciao!

[@tann_man]

Use brave browser dummy. No ads

[@raaaaaaaaaam496]

So you’re unsubscribing because of something Google does?

[@MooseOsauras]

I always come back to this video 👇 kzbin.info/www/bejne/pnzZZ4WZjcZli6ssi=5HPOqETaNceF6RYe

[@armanii4005]

Yes the surburbs " low quality of life"

[@GuitarReader]

Which suburbs?

[@bundywaters5988]

high infrastructure costs, low upward mobility

[@armanii4005]

@@GuitarReader born in the slums of Chicago absolutely dead fucking broke and surrounded by violence. The only ones complaining about how “bad life in the suburbs are” have never actually lived anywhere with a low quality of life. This is insane privilege 😂

[@Ralph_Kraemer]

What can I say? Thank you, Robert Moses. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Moses