AMSTERDAM: Why it’s so efficient as a city

[@SamBur]

What should be the next city ?

[@calvinchen1334]

sydney

[@roanhekkers893]

Rotterdam

[@nicolasblume1046]

San Francisco

[@MrEpicsleet]

miami!

[@samhunt366]

Cambridge

[@sneeuwbox1278]

If anyone is wondering about how the Netherlands converted to bycicles instead of cars here is why : When the car was being mass produced and starting to take over the roads, the dutch goverment decided to take down lots and lots of buildings to make room for the new vehicle. so that means making roads wider and more sets of rules. when this happend people were olready a bit in a bad mood but figurd it will be okay. but here was the issue, allmost everyone was still cycling and when the cars were joinging on the road more accidents accured. this was because there were no rules with cycles and cars. but that was not all the same reason was because the bycicle and the car were driving on the same area wich made it a lot more dangerous for the cyclists. so the dutch started to protest against these changes and wanted safe cycle paths/roads. after a lot of protests the first cycle paths appeard and it was a great succes. in the areas where the cycle paths were placed accidents deacreased with allmost 50%. and from that point on the dutch goverment decided to expand this system and use it more often en frequently. thus the dutch cycle system was constructed. they made car roads smaller and used the space that came from smalling the roads to place cycle lanes. so the great purge of destroying buildings for the new road was not for nothing. I'm from the Netherlands myself and my english might not be really good, but I thought why not teach some people somthing if they are interested

[@suicidalbanananana]

One of the first informative replies ive seen by dutchies here so far.

[@FeelingShred]

That's what happens when your city council has common sense, which is something that is getting extinct nowadays

[@molybdane7240]

I wouldn't say the Amsterdam city council is a model for common sense. They have a reputation for mis-handling major infrastructure projects. Their latest one, the Noord-Zuid lijn, a new metro line, took three times longer to build, and was about 5 times over budget. Now they are planning a cycling bridhe over the IJ, even though analysis shows a tunnel is a better and cheaper option, and is already susidized by the nations government.

[@FeelingShred]

I googled the Noord-Zuidlijn line... Pretty cool! I thought only in Cities Skylines was possible to build metro lines across water, but it seems in real life you also can... I wonder how they build those massive tunnels... I would love to work with this or in green-energy type of endeavors, but all boils down to degrees, licenses, visas, passports, it's a damn shame we live in a world which doesn't encourage voluntary initiative.

[@molybdane7240]

I've looked it up for you. Most of the tunnel was drilled, but the part under water was made by sinking concrete elements each about 140m or 450 ft long. They also seemed not only to have sunk one of these elements, but somehow placed it under the Centraal Station while it remained in operation. That's a real feat of engineering.

[@Scatteril]

oh man I was there for couple of days . The quality of life is just out of the world . I'm not talking about services . I'm talking about the cleanness of the air the smell of the air the beauty of the horizon. never forgetting the excercise of the bikes it makes you even more happy

[@MPUMIMLAMBO_]

Where are you from if you don’t mind me asking …

[@free_spirit1]

Ironically, the biggest danger to Dutch bikers isn't cars... It's tourists

[@TrustInTheShepherd]

Cyclists in Amsterdam are the biggest danger to pedestrians in general, put a cyclist in Amsterdam and he turns into a complete asshole trying to run people over. Never stop for pedestrian crossings, run red lights, do not signal where they want to go etc etc etc. Cyclists in Amsterdam first should learn to behave before complaining about tourists.

[@ryanv4205]

Thefuck you expect when you first have to pass 1.000's of tourist before getting to work or school

[@jeffbosch5856]

RoadRage In a sense you’re right about the cyclists, they’re very aggressive. But the pedestrians are also to blame. Most of them crossing the road without looking left or right, standing still in the middle of a cyclist path and neglecting common pedestrian rules. But tourists who rent a bike are the most dangerous, they’re participating in traffic but can’t ride a bike. I’ve seen countless dangerous situations because a tourist has trouble riding a bike.

[@PensiveCashew]

RoadRage noob

[@thenetherlands5838]

RoadRage Tourists don’t stop at red lights too.

[@ItsameWeegee1]

The level of quality you put in this video is really awesome. Love these types of vids, keep it up.

[@korenn9381]

You kept it very positive and upbeat, which is nice, but I do want to throw in some negatives: * Amsterdam has massive problems trying to expand their metro lines. Besides the politics and nobody wanting a new tunnel beneath their house, they also ran into massive delays when digging through the sediment of a canal - They found something in the order of a hundred thousand archeological items that had to be properly handled and preserved. Preserving history and creating progress don't always meet eye to eye. * You mentioned it as the biking capital of the world, but for most Dutchmen Amsterdam is a shitty city to bike in. Most other cities do it much better. In some towns you can walk or bike from the central train station to the residential areas without ever crossing a car-accessible road. * The biggest airport in the netherlands is right next to Amsterdam, with plenty of transport access. But it's at its limit, and due to the dense population concentration around it has no room to expand. Which is leading to creative but very undesirable solutions like creating new airport strips outside of existing flight corridors (undesirable besides the expected citizen protests) * The land value in amsterdam is insanely highly priced relative to any other location in the Netherlands. This causes all sorts of issues like how to get people to actually keep living there, instead of selling the ground to commercial exploitation. Amsterdam is artificially kept to be partially residential, but if left alone would be all offices, tourist- and commercial-services.

[@RoseSolane]

I agree that biking in most of the rest of The Netherlands is better than biking in Amsterdam. But Amsterdam is much bigger than most other cities in The Netherlands. I used to bike in both Amsterdam and Rotterdam (second biggest city) and I think they are equally bad (compared to the rest of The Netherlands). Biking in my home town (80000 people) is much better, but the scale is completely different. Land value isn't really something Amsterdam can do a lot about on its own. To be honest I think that the government in Amsterdam does a decent job keeping at least some affordable living space available. Metro expansion and the national airport are concerns, I agree. It would probably help transport access to the airport if the new metro line would be expanded to the airport. Both that has to be done underground on the airport itself and is really expensive.

[@droe2570]

Any city is going to have higher cost of housing because of demand and limited housing options. One of the things NYC learned the hard way was that it tried to keep housing prices artificially low, by not letting land owners in the city raise rents on people already living there. They had a grandfathered rent. This created massive problems, because as the land value rose, the amount of taxes rose, while the revenue land owners brought in did not (not to mention inflation) rise enough to compensate. which led to a lot of poor quality housing since there was not enough revenue to maintain the buildings adequately.

[@korenn9381]

@SMH SMH But it's not quite that _any_ city is going to have that problem. Rotterdam is almost as big as Amsterdam yet doesn't have nearly as much skewed housing prices. Demand for housing in the center is just not as big. Similarly, as far as I understand it, San Francisco has some of the highest land values in the US, but nearby LA is cheaper, even though it's bigger. Amsterdam is keeping sections of the city center artificially zoned as residential, but they're not forcefully keeping the rent down (not more than the national limits). So called social-rent houses are only in the outer city areas, which aren't nearly as expensive. This means that land owners can ask very high rent for their property in the Amsterdam center if they want to, as long as they can find people that can afford it.

[@samipso]

That's not even negative. Just putting it as it really is. Still doesn't sound too bad to me.

[@123ricardo210]

About the metro lines: they actually mostly tunneled under existing roads (or other goverment owned land) to make sure it wouldn't do any damage.

[@FilipSkobic]

Great video, and so true! One of the main reasons I moved to Amsterdam is the amazing urban planning, which in turn affects the quality of life, ability to cycle anywhere safely, air quality, and is much more stress-free than most other global cities. :)

[@CitiesForTheFuture2030]

Curita (Brazil), being located within a developing country, has combined excellent urban planning with holistic, integrated & compassionate social upliftment projects. Most cities in the world fall into this category making Curitiba, in my opinion, a better example for most cities to follow.

[@Borneoart]

I visited Amsterdam a few weeks ago together with my children. We L*O*V*E the city. Greetings from the U.S.

[@dr.hartman5661]

NL arthouse it’s not even the best Dutch city....

[@93011454]

@@dr.hartman5661 yeah kinda true

[@stereotype.6377]

00:09 that guy single-handedly showed why shallow water in public space is a must.

[@RFGfotografie]

A video of Amsterdam that isnt about the Wallen and/or the drugs, or purely negative, that;s new for me xD

[@callmeswivelhips8229]

I want to become a city planner, and design transport networks so that people drop their cars off on the city limits and just use public transit to get around the city center instead! What an inspiration this city is!!! Thanks for posting!!

[@funny-video-YouTube-channel]

Amsterdam is a nice city to visit. @8:55 Hobo traveler *picking up cold beer from fountain :-)*

[@Nemcoification]

Clever use of a public fountain :D

[@idot3331]

How else is he meant to keep his beer cool?

[@stevepickford3004]

That's why I always make sure to piss in every fountain I can

[@theemperor-wh40k18]

@@stevepickford3004 wot?

[@Jeraldkkf]

First!! Thanks for the video, loved how informational it was. More of these please!!!!!!!!

[@finnk1289]

If you're wondering how this happened, in the 70s people pushed back against the city's plans to destroy the city for cars. They went further, and created something new, and since then, it's been a priority that continues to be improved upon. Always rally people behind your cause.

[@ageoflove1980]

Great to see a video about my city that is not about it being a tourist destination, but rather a modern , living and breathing capital city. Id say its greatest succes in making it a great place to live is the lack of motor traffic like you explaned very well. When going on city trips I always notice how many cars there are and how bad cities smell. Amsterdam managed to make it so inconvenient for cars that you only use them if you really have no other option. Im 38 and I dont even have a drivers license , there is just no need. In this regard the city could really function as a international model on how to deal with traffic without losing efficency. Thanks for the vid, great stuff!

[@borisprins6218]

Very cool! I'm a student Built Environment in Amsterdam and I was an intern at the "Ingenieursbureau Amsterdam" working with Building Information Managing. I've worked at a part of the Zuid-As (Ravel/Vivaldi) and to hear you talk about the things I've worked on is really cool :) We were also working on a bicyclebridge crossing the 'IJ' (the water north of central station). I have some screenshots of it if you'd like to see it. We have a pointcloud that shows that the brigde needs to be at a certain height, because the was a ship crossing the exact moment the pointcloud was made. Overall: I really like the video, especialy because of the fact it is about the city I live in and I have worked on :)

[@dZaq]

I was watching your island city on your Skylines video's (I'm having an issue with my island city that no one can seem to solve)... Anyway, after one of those videos, KZbin auto-played this. I was pleasantly surprised. This was very well done. The best part about it is that your narrative isn't just from any regular city planner, like most other videos on KZbin. Knowing of your Skylines background is what really made this brilliant. Again, well done =)

[@Vliegendetapir]

I'm going to study there this year, love how you say "zuidas" btw

[@SamBur]

😂😂😂😳

[@CANTIJustPostacommen]

Sam Bur sounds like a South African saying "sweet ass".

[@CANTIJustPostacommen]

Much more befitting of the place:)

[@davidlugarov9685]

Just finished my first year in Amsterdam, the city is as magical and great as the video makes it sound, bit of advice, if you smoke, dont go overboard, easy to get carried away with a coffeeshop around every corner

[@Vliegendetapir]

David Lugarov i've been smoking for a while i think i'll manage, thanks for the heads up though

[@davidvilchez2209]

I've been 3 times. Was there 3 months ago and getting around with the public transit system via bicycle or tram is super easy! My favorite city on earth

[@RedDamme]

4:12 it’s not a canal, it’s the river IJ (pronounced “I”)

[@dipearbore9149]

herkio1 that it is closed of these days doesn't mean it's a canal.

[@dipearbore9149]

It's a river that used to be part of the Rine Delta and later was cut off

[@GodFirstnl]

Herkio1 yeah exactly. It was a former bay of the former Zuiderzee (the sea that once formed the core of the Netherlands). The western part is a canal though.

[@how2pick4name]

RIVER IJ? Really? The river is de Amstel, which runs into het IJ and then continues to the North Sea through the North Sea canal.

[@Wouter10123]

I think the IJ is technically a lake. The amstel is a river running into it, and it's connecteded to the north sea by the Noordzeekanaal.

[@TomGeller]

The IJ is not "the main canal going through the city". It's a river, a natural feature that's literally a hundred times as wide as an Amsterdam canal. Big difference.

[@isakjacobsson867]

Do New York next. Im especially wondering how cars get in and out of Manhattan. Is it even efficient?

[@jellewiebenga6464]

Isak Jacobsson A lot of traffic lights and a grid pattern are the cure for a high intensity.

[@Jeremybelleu]

Did you know that New York was previously New Amsterdam? We (I am Dutch) traded New Amsterdam for Capetown in South Africa.

[@jellewiebenga6464]

Tim van der Lippe Yeahh, for very few money. And America could have been part of the Netherlands of we hadn't done that. :)

[@isakjacobsson867]

Jelle Wiebenga that is ture. However, there are only a few bridges connecting Manhattan to Brooklin, New Jersey with others. How come they arent backed up with traffic?

[@jellewiebenga6464]

Isak Jacobsson Lanes Lanes Lanes I guess :)

[@xionglin2009]

american: how did u guys avoided suburban sprawl? dutch: oh, we dont build highways into city centre american: surprised pikachu face

[@MattWesss]

I think it will be very interesting to talk about the differences in public transport between europe and USA and the older and newer cities of the USA. European cities are a lot older and grew when public transport had a bigger role. As you look at NYC you can also see a lot of subways and train networks unlike central and western parts of the USA where residential and commercial zones are more separated by distance and you have to do everything by car.

[@citiesandsimsandy9363]

I've been to Amsterdam many times and lived in the Benelux (Brussels) and in Germany -- and I still learned a LOT from this video! Keep up the amazing work!

[@fred9551]

Let's do a similar city, Venice of Italy. Of course there are many difference but eh. Canals!

[@korenn9381]

Oh, that's interesting. Also canals, but a totally different vibe. Venice is all about how to get tourists around as fast as possible without having to alter the old architecture.

[@fred9551]

Korenn yeah

[@MEB20101]

Went there last weekend it was absolutely amazing! Definitely would return to the city. Friendly people. Perfect English language, loads to do and not bad priced in shops. Beautiful city.

[@DJAvren]

Fantastic Video. Thank you so much for highlighting my nation's capital, and the beauty it contains. Funnily enough, although I do appreciate Amsterdam on a tourist level, I never enjoyed it much as a Dutchman. Utrecht has many of the qualities Amsterdam has, but less tourism, so feels more like home. But Amsterdam for sure has the public transport beat. I have watched a couple of your Cities Skylines videos in the past, but this has earned you another subscriber.

[@SamBur]

Thank you ! Appreciate it :)

[@icmull]

Good to see an Aussie doing some Urban Planning videos. Thanks for not talking super slow like other youtubers.

[@thedutchman01]

Takes longer than driving? Most times in my own hometown in the Netherlands (Breda), aswell as in most towns in the Netherlands, cycling is alot faster than cars. That's because as a nation we decided long ago to move towords more cycling centric towns over cars. This means cyclists often get faster green lights at traffic lights and are much more protected in legal terms aswell. With the idea being that if a car hits a bike, the car might have a bit of paint damage, or at worst, a bit of damage to the car, the cyclist will nigh always have major physical damage, which is far worse.

[@cheese-je9xs]

Rik Speek that will change with self driving cars

[@LogiForce86]

That last bit was the most moronic law change ever, which gives bicyclists a free pass to break every rule in the Dutch road law book. Things like bicycling without lights, going through red lights, not signaling, taking the inside corner, ghost driving (against the driving direction) including on roundabouts, ignoring sharks tooth that identify they are crossing a priority road. Honestly, I wish I was driving a car with a huge bull bar on front and do some real life carmageddon with all these idiot bicyclists who don't give a toss. Today's citizens of the Netherlands have zero respect. No respect for others, no respect for the properties of others or their own... heck, in how they ignore rules and regulations they don't even respect their lives. This lack of respect also showes each year in how the Dutch handle fireworks, which results in a lot of early discharges of these explosives (before the by law given date and time in which they are allowed to be fired), a lot of casualties that need prosthetic limbs or eyes and a lot of annoyance as these explosives are thrown at or directed to humans and/or animals. Let alone that they have the sense of duty to clean up their fireworks after they finished on new years eve or new years day, just to make sure kids don't try to ignite them again with disastrous effects. The Dutch have no sense of respect nor sense of duty to try to keep traffic or new years eve safe for themselves and their fellow community members. I am Dutch but I am seriously disappointed in the lack of mentality and common sense of my fellow citizens, this within more than just these two examples.

[@thiemeuitderegio7681]

5:20 That is not in Holland

[@richardaling5278]

And the it's not 'Holland' . We, the Dutch live in THE NETHERLANDS! You might live in 'the land of Hol"? Buttwipe...

[@AFCA-vn9bl]

Hou je bek richard

[@thiemeuitderegio7681]

Richard er wonen alleen coole mensen in Noord- en Zuid-Holland. Als ik het goed begrijp ben je niet wonende in deze regio... 😋😉

[@Saartje05]

Ik ben in dat 'coole' gebied geboren en opgegroeid en ben blij dat ik er niet meer woon. En wij hebben het over Nederland, niet Holland.

[@Saartje05]

Da's Duitsland

[@zenfer]

You should compare Minneapolis to Amsterdam as they both are on major water ways and have to work around them as well as both of them being green and bike friendly.

[@katrinreitz530]

I didn't even know I would be interested in this kind of vid but here I am watching through the whole thing!

[@svenbraster1305]

It is really fun to see you talking up Amsterdam, when, by dutch standards, Amsterdam is a total mess, so if you have time, please take a look at some other Dutch cities like Utrecht or what by my opinion is the best bike city in the Nederlands, Houten.

[@brucelansberg5485]

Hahaha, Houten! _"by dutch standards, Amsterdam is a total mess,"_ Dat hoor ik wel vaker van provincialen.

[@HarpsichordVinylGallery]

Do you have a café over there? OK it is the winner of the cycle award but where the hell are you cycling to in nowheresland ;-)

[@teunl387]

amsterdam is een veel fiets vriendelijkere stad dan utrecht, dat is waarom je ook iedereen in amsterdam ziet fietsen

[@HarpsichordVinylGallery]

@@teunl387 Nu die verdomde klinkers zijn weggehaald bij de Dom is het al een stuk beter in Utrecht. Kom er één keer per jaar 10 dagen in het Centrum fietsen met het Festival Oude Muziek maar je moet vreselijk omrijden van punt A naar B en op de Oude Gracht kun en mag je al helemaal niet fietsen door alle wandelaars terwijl het vaak de snelste weg is :-( Amsterdam is inderdaad efficienter ingericht voor fietsers.

[@Clapham888]

Personally I love Hoorn, but that's because I lived there from 15-21, before moving to London.

[@CardboardArm]

8:57 "Amsterdam is quite advanced in terms of city planning" and we see a serene picture of some bikes, a museum, a water feature with art and a hobo collecting his crate of beers he put in the water feature to keep them cool. Amsterdam is designed for it's people indeed.

[@droe2570]

This was a good video. I was curious how you were going to do these, since any kind analytical critique of a city would make for an absurdly long video. Turning this into a sort of city overview/historical summary is a smart way to go about it.

[@EbeniDomaltiyim]

I want to add this to your amazing video. Part of the bicycle infrastructure's success lays in the education of traffic in general and specifically cycling traffic at a young age. I remember I had to conduct an actual cycling test at age 11(12?), with roads mapped out and shut off from public traffic for the school. It's ridiculous how young we start here. It's almost imposed upon you if you're born here.

[@AllSeerAugustus]

Great video man. Love it. You should try taking a look at African cities and how they are starting to change their image for the 21st century. Love the series so far

[@lotoreo]

I'd be interested to see that

[@RedbadvanRijn-ft3vv]

If the do not make the same mistakes,as we Dutch did,back in the 60s. I would cal it smart.

[@Bananaman-hk6qw]

Are they tho?

[@HazewinDog]

Awesome video, review and series idea! I'm Dutch and I was in Amsterdam just yesterday haha. Looking forward to future videos, and thank you for choosing Amsterdam for the first episode

[@vonFroding]

Review the city Jönköping in Sweden. It has one giganitc lake and two small ones in the city center. -Really beautiful.

[@jeroenstrompf5064]

Thank you! Greetings from Amsterdam - I quite learned some new things about this wonderful city. My suggestion for a next episode: Los Angeles - I've understood that it's the ultimate car city, but rather than offering a perfect driving experience, it resultated in just more cars and more traffic jams

[@rogerwilco2]

Have a look at the Dutch city of Groningen, or Kopenhagen, the capital of Denmark, for really bike friendly cities.

[@efvjhh]

Groningen has been awarded best bicycle city in the Netherlands more than once. might be interesting to look into why.

[@sparqqling]

Kopenhagen is not bike friendly at all!

[@hansolo2121]

Dutch cycling infrastructure is BY FAR the best in the world. Copenhagen cycling infrastructure is overhyped and not even remotely in the same league as Amsterdam or any other Dutch city. Even more, in The Netherlands the cycling network is connected throughout the entire country. Every single village etc. is connected via bike paths. In Denmark it is basically just Copenhagen and that does not even have near as good or safe cycling infrastructure compared to Amsterdam or any other Dutch city. If any Dutch city would have the same cycling infrastructure as Copenhagen ... there would be a revolt and massive protests by the locals. Danish cycling infrastructure just is not good enough in The Netherlands.

[@timmerman135]

@@sparqqling compared to the netherlands, yes very true. If you compare it to most cities in the world it is pretty good.

[@kevello]

This is great!! Really looking forward to the next city!

[@Yessir258ski]

Very interesting about no highways through the middle. I live in the 2nd biggest city in West Virginia, Huntington and in the 60s/70s Huntington was almost a city of 100,000 and growing faster than most cities and a decision to not put a mall downtown and putting no highways downtown killed the growth. Eventually buisnesses left and now we are considered a drug capitol in the world. Super sad

[@wimahlers]

Most likely reason for its decay: The mandatory zoning policy in the USA. Other cities are falling now due to this failed concept.

[@Abdi-uy1kh]

@I HATE TOUCANS lol

[@CavemanNinja100]

My home for the last 2 years. Great video

[@bonecanoe86]

I'd love to see you do a video about an American city, or American cities in general, talking about what you do and don't like about the way that they're planned!

[@cadenyoung9968]

bonecanoe86 Chicago would be a great one since it’s relatively modern in terms of city planning. The grid was actually pretty well thought out there, and there’s a book about Chicago city planning too. Not to say there’s not boatloads of traffic, but honestly it’s better than most other big American cities.

[@TheJysix]

American cities are boring

[@jamesjin1668]

I can really see this KZbin Channel growing into something spectacular.

[@SamBur]

Hope so ! Thank you

[@geennaam2712]

Haha look at 8:57 drunk guy walking thru the water

[@mardiffv.8775]

Nu je het zegt. Ik lag in een deuk.

[@MrTomek1112]

I went to Amsterdam last month and I must say it's an incredible city, I highly reccoemend it. Hoping to go back in a few months!

[@mnrbrt]

I'm curious, have you ever been to Amsterdam? Because your video is almost like a textbook.

[@jimcastor8601]

Came to look at your Amsterdam city, like you asked in the other video. Looks GREAT !!

What about Barcelona next? Mainly the Eixample district? And comment the town-hall's plans to create super-blocks.

[@Christian-ox7qx]

Funny to see this video while actually studying Human Geography and Planning! I agree to all people saying that "foreigners praise Amsterdam while people from the Netherlands say that Amsterdam has a lot of flaws in urban design".

[@stefvanwijk9364]

The official name of our country is The Netherlands. Many people know it as Holland, because in Holland, the western part of the country is the part where the majority of the economic activities are. However, my country calls The Netherlands in English.

[@tubawest9768]

Wow, just a great video. Excited for more!

[@123uhuhu321]

are you going to make a video about a russian city, with housing projects? i have the feeling russian cities are very unconventional spread and divided between small houses and big projects. When i look at them from google maps, i allways wonder why. Also St. Petersburg is quite similiar to Amsterdam with all the canals, but i think that name might trigger you. overall it was a great video and i look forward to the next ones.

[@TransItAuthority]

Do more of these! as an aspiring planner I love hearing a professional's opinion!

[@chicagodog3171]

LOL I get an ad for a tourist Railway in Europe

[@janeintorbaydevon3829]

Hey, think yourself lucky. I got one for Tena Lady!!!

[@Platvoet]

Holland?! *TRIGGERED*

[@sander3326]

homeless beercooler at 0:08

[@thegameraddict7189]

i love my city! Nice video Sam.

[@FSXNOOB]

Untill you want to buy something to live in... good luck :-/ Even the ghetto place Bijlmer next to it is overpriced now

[@koffiegast]

@2:50 it doesnt fizzle away.. it becomes a tunnel to the other side :)

[@kirchobg_gaiming2409]

Please make a clip about Sofia

[@ZephirumUpload]

8:56 Backpacker or what have you just casually picking up his now cold crate of beer by the statues. A hero among the people.

[@lek1223]

as a dane, nothing here is really surprising or abnormal

[@fillipefeitosa4331]

Man. Your content is really great. Keep up the good work.

[@arcturussirius7139]

Roast Miami!!!!!!

[@sealight78]

Great vid, Sam.

[@danielmoir500]

Can u please do Manchester in the uk 🇬🇧

[@noahhurtado2096]

This is so funny! I live in the centre of amsterdam and you guys put my moms bike in the spotlight at 3:10! XD

[@GlobetrotterC]

Zwee-das 😂😂 its pronounced Zoyd-as

[@marcela9470]

more like zayd-as

[@jsf3669]

Neither zoyd as or zayd as is the right pronounciation.

[@marcela9470]

there is no english letter that mirrors the dutch "ui", but zayd is the closer one.

[@PatFeyenoord]

They should build a wall arround that city.

[@rasmAn2]

i'll never understand why people, especially foreigners, like amsterdam so much. I'm dutch, zealandic, currently living in the east (arnhem). i wouldn't be found dead in that armpit to be honest. the netherlands is crowded enough as it is, but the randstad (the metropolitan area between rotterdam and amsterdam) is 4 times worse than anywhere else. on top of that amsterdam was an open air loonybin for the longest time, now it seems to have evolved into an theme park. it's way overcrowded, the people there (as far as they still live in amsterdam, housing prices are idiotic there) seem to think they are entitled to be paid for being a weird loud bour, having a car seems to be criminal, smoking weed seems a sport (it's "legal" in the rest of the country to, but most dutch seem to get it out of their system by 23ish) and on top of that, what culture there ever was seems to have been replaced by pandering to tourists. but my sister lives there and she seems to like it.

[@mnrbrt]

The video is way too positive, but that comment is way too sour. The Randstad is fine, wages and opportunities are higher here than in the other areas. Coming from the very South of the country, there is nothing keeping me there. Weed isn't hardly as bad an issue as you describe it and plenty of culture all around the Randstad.

[@acoupleofgsanrandaneaniandann]

As a tourist the first time I stayed in Amsterdam it was amazingly friendly and I rented a bike and actually enjoyed the commute from my hotel to the city center. Yeah it was a bit hectic and crazy but that made it fun. I would actually be happy to live and work there because of the weird and eccentric people I met. However there is only so many times I can walk past a giant dildo in a window or a cannabis leaf logo before it starts to feel like a theme park. I think if the government removed the sex area and re-implemented the cannabis laws the city would return to normal yet retain the unique Dutch attitude - most dutch don't engage in the hedonism so that's not where they get there relaxed nature from. You would still get tourists but it wouldn't be a theme park.

[@mnrbrt]

Teringventje touristen he, komen 3 dagen op bezoek denken meteen dat ze alles weten.

[@Anna133199]

rasmAn2 Amsterdam's really not as bad as you're making it out to be. If you think Amsterdam is crowded, you must've never been to the capital of a developing country. Those are often crazy crowded. Amsterdam is just kind of crowded in some places and not at all crowded in other places, in my opinion.

[@Evan-rl1rn]

One of my favorite cities

[@suicidalbanananana]

Just my 2 cents on an otherwise good video: Only simple and/or lazy people refer to it as Holland (also like, a very small group of simple minded folks in the Netherlands) but thats what it was called a few hundred years ago when we still ruled the world with boats, and needed a simple & short name. Every reputable source (worldwide news etc) calls it the Netherlands for years and years now. Holland literally means Hollow Land, and while thats true for part of the country, its just a really weird name, thats why it was changed ages ago. Fact of the matter is: HOLLAND DOESNT EXIST! try look it up in any country index thats been kept up to date, it will be The Netherlands.

[@MrMezmerized]

Holland obviously does exist, just not as a nation but as a region within the Netherlands. And the name doesn't mean "hollow land", it stems from "holtlant / holtland / holdland" (houtland), meaning "woodland" because of, surprise, all the woods. Nothing strange there.

[@n0rber10]

It's merely a name, why would you care. I always say Holland, it's easier

[@NK_Customs]

Norberz, No see it as this: calling a canadian an American. He is not an American but lives on the same continent. Same with "Holland" it are 2 regions (out of 12) really popular with tourists. But the people there don't represent all the people in the Netherlands.

[@n0rber10]

NK I know it's factually incorrect, but Holland is a term that most people use and I mean, the Dutch use it themselves too. Things like Viva Hollandia etc.

[@MrMezmerized]

And "Schade Niederlände alles ist vorbei" just isn't catchy lol

[@SJDvalientes]

I’d very much like for you to pick apart my city, Greater Los Angeles, and show how auto-centric planning and disinvestment in mass transit in the 50s /60s has affected livability w/r/t urban sprawl, traffic congestion, the housing crisis, and difficulty of expanding public transport in the present day, especially with public opposition to dense construction. And please if you have any regional recommendations for us I’d very much like to hear them!

[@carolineleiden]

Efficient? With terrible housing shortages, drug abuse, drunks everywhere, crime ridden and bankrupt. Traffic jammed 24/7. And arrogant. Oh yeah. Amsterdam has it all.

[@angeliquekeuzenkamp3733]

carolineleiden I live there and never seen any of these problems in the citycentre apart from the housing shortage but that was expected

[@PrinceWalacra]

carolineleiden has some "negativity issues"...

[@carolineleiden]

Leo Per Iedere keer als ik er naartoe ga, naar het Concertgebouw ofzo, zie ik hoe het verval toe heeft geslagen. Ik word er droevig van want het is zo'n prachtige stad.

[@baronvonlimbourgh1716]

carolineleiden lang leve de vvd. Regressie troef.

[@chimoio100]

negativity that the police and city council share, a week or so ago they were in the press bemoaning the fact that at night Adam morphs into an ungovernable lawless jungle.......

[@Viktor007]

That's such beautiful town, I love the atmosphere

[@ImagineerDave]

As a urban planner who studies in Amsterdam I agree on most but some parts I really miss, also the height in the city center is due to the doable construction limits from the time, this evolved into a height limit eventually. The first canals served as a defence towards the south of Amsterdam and a sewage system, in the further expansions they served as waterways for transport of goods and to get materials to building sites.

[@finnk1289]

0:30 HIGH RISES? no no no... that's not the dutch way. You don't need height for density. That'll kill social interaction. 8:25 Looks like any American city, ugh

[@flippha]

I'd love to see a video on Hannover (Germany) - that's where I live. Or my other suggestion would be Troimiasto (Gdansk, Sopot, Gdynia) in Poland.

[@JanBaars]

2:46 no no. That's actually SUPER important. A highway in a city is like cancer. It separates neighborhoods, it pollutes, it's noisy, and it makes that people don't wanna take the bike anymore, which then makes the city council decide to create bigger roads, which will again kind of become highways. It's one of the most important basic parts of urban planning.

[@jovanmitrovic5123]

The highway doesn't fizzle away, it goes under the river and then it turns into a boulevard supported by a subway rail to ease congestion. So it basically continues.

[@Drakkart]

Wow sam that was awesome, i subbed ; )

[@dimitarmotev]

I think Sofia, Bulgaria could be reviewed in a new series called "Why it’s so inefficient as a city" and how badly it's being planned for the future :)

[@haroldasraz]

This is awesome. I so wish that Lithuania moves towards this model of commuting by bikes. Currently if you cycle in Kaunas your quite likely to get run over. Even though things are improving and more bike lanes are being built. We still have a long way to go to get anywhere near to Dutch model.

[@esiebring7436]

Great video! I do like it very much. There are a few minor things to comment on, but that's already mainly covered by Tom Sleutjes (and in a much better way than I ever could). One of the shots does not depict a dutch cycle strip; there are 3 tell tale signs that give it away: 1. it says 'ende', which is german; 2. it has bicyclists with helmets (we don't keep with such frivolities). 3. the asphalt isn't red. One thing not mentioned: for environmental (and other) reasons, polluting cars, mopeds (i.e. build prior to 2010) and trucks aren't allowed within the city. Nice touch, pronouncing zuid-as as Sweet ass. And within the area surrounded by the highway, bikes are faster than car. But it will take a year to learn to properly bike in Amsterdam. Once you get the hang of it, it's exhilarating.

[@ddna]

Loved the new video style

[@cadenyoung9968]

Great to watch since I’ll be in Amsterdam next week 🙃

[@_ch1pset]

Of course I would bring up my home city, San Antonio, Texas. We are actually one of the fastest growing major cities in the US, and yet, there's virtually ZERO plans for public transport as of me typing this. The only proposals I'm aware of are BRTs, HOV lanes on highways, and an aerial tram/cable car "network" that would connect downtown to the airport. There have been proposals for light rail and street cars but all have been vehemently opposed by city council. However, one great thing that has been implemented recently are the greenways. San Antonio now has miles of greenways that wind through our many creeks. The goal of the greenways has been to encourage cycling and has made use of wide undeveloped corridors that are meant for flood control. Access to the greenways are primarily around residential areas and bicycle friendly streets. Our population is expected to increase as much as 600,000 residents in the next 20 years, raising our population over 2 million and potentially jumping to the 5th most populous city in the US.

[@Tuppoo94]

Aren't BRTs considered public transportation? Also, Amsterdam's population density is over 4 times higher than San Antonio's. With higher density it's a lot easier to build effective public transportation. One more thing to keep in mind is that Amsterdam is quite hostile towards cars and car ownership. The city actively discourages driving, which makes sense because there isn't enough room for cars and traffic. Sure, one could say that most people probably don't need to drive in Amsterdam and they're probably right, but if one wants to drive or has to drive their life can get quite difficult.

[@_ch1pset]

@@Tuppoo94 yes everything you said is right. And San Antonio is slowly becoming more dense, but there's little effort to reduce sprawl and encourage use of public transport. BRTs are coming slowly, and only run in one corridor right now.

[@Tuppoo94]

@@_ch1pset Too often "encouraging the use of public transport" means needless restrictions on other traffic. Why can't cities be designed so that they work for private motorists and public transport? People should get to choose how they get around, and the government shouldn't push them in any particular direction. I choose to ride the bus every day, because it's convenient for me. The government's job should be to ensure that all traffic keeps moving, not just cyclists in the bike lane.

[@_ch1pset]

@@Tuppoo94 you're assuming that "encouraging public transit" means the government imposes restrictions on people despite NO INDICATION on my end that I was saying any of this. Here's what I can tell you about where I live: it is incredibly inconvenient to use public transit, walk, or ride the bus simply because the infrastructure for that stuff is either lacking or non-existent... THERE IS NO OTHER CHOICE but to drive in many areas of the city. There are parts of the city that have no bus service at all. Come talk to me when you have lived in a city that has no infrastructure designed for freedom of choice of transportation or shut up and stop trying to poke holes in a non-existent argument between you and I.

[@Tuppoo94]

Why are you angry at me? I didn't say that YOU want to restrict traffic, in fact I didn't even mention you at all in my comment. I'm speaking from my own experience, living in cities where the use of public transport has been "encouraged" to the point where businesses complain that they're losing customers, privatized downtown parking costs 6€ or $7 per hour, and some parking places sell for over 100,000€. Public transport being the only viable or affordable option for moving isn't freedom of choice either, especially when these cities also have areas which aren't served by public transport due to low population density.

[@wjkoopman]

First of all, great video, I enjoyed watching/listening very much! Just wanted to say/add a few things: because of the "narrow" streets in the center cycling actually gets you faster to your destination than driving. So you'll enjoy your journey through this "social city" even more. The major canal that you're reffering to at 4:11 is actually not a canal, but a natural waterway, called the IJ. It is the estuary of 2 small rivers, the Zaan and the Amstel, into the IJsselmeer, what used to be the Zuiderzee, or South See. At 5:20 you show a german bicycle path picture. It would never be like that in the Netherlands. The part for cyclists would be red to emphasize it. Traffic laws in the Netherlands protect cyclists to great extent, so it must be clear where they are allowed/have priority. And about the green space, there are new developements on the canals themselves to increase green space in the city by creating "platforms" on the sides of the canals outside of the center which they fill with low vegetation. This also increases breeding space for waterbirds. So the precentage of green space will increase over time.

[@raceman9586]

Gotta do Atlanta and hate on all our traffic and lack of public transport

[@hiiiiii7100]

i never thought u did these vids!

[@Luredreier]

Hum, I don't expect you to do Trondheim, Norway, but I'd love to hear your take on my home city anyway. (And yeah, we're far from perfect)

[@fleurnightingale]

as a Dutch girl, I can say that most of this stuff is accurate. nicely done Sam Bur

[@augustvctjuh8423]

Biking is way more efficient in cities. Not only is it faster to traverse through a bike-centered city by bike, you are also exercising which saves even more time.

[@justinrogo1415]

You did a great job focusing on roads on transportation, but I would've been interested in hearing more about how the mixed use

[@boilingfire]

You should take a look at Rome or Berlin as well. Especially Berlin is a pretty interesting city when it comes to cities and cityplanning.