Not Just Bikes and how NOT to be an urbanist

Definitely a different type of video for me. I thought I was done making critique videos, but this felt warranted as it surrounds a very notable and influential figure in the communities I'm involved in. This video is not intended to be malicious, it's just one of those "I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed" situations.
Music: • Super Mario Bros. 2 - ...
Outro music: • MATT WAT$ON - NO NUT N...
Discord: / discord
Instagram (personal): / charlie.n.d
Instagram (aviation): / yyjspotting

[@harysuper]

As someone who works in public transportation I am very thankful for the improvements made in the last few years. I love taking transit into work and around town here in Los Angeles County. Although I am not car free, public transit has made things significantly easier. 35 years ago there was zero passenger rail besides Amtrak, it is amazing what has been accomplished in the last 30 years. Giving up completely keeps people from using transit who need it most. Especially those who cannot afford to move to the Netherlands.

[@bararobberbaron859]

I like NJB, but he has even pointed out in his city that it took the Netherlands like 40-50 years to get to this point and change the relevant laws and undo the room we make for car dependence. It didn't happen overnight, it took a lot of effort through many years of people speaking up, changing what road designers are taught and all that. Some cities are already getting better in NA and while it's far from easy, you have to fight for it to get it and keep it. Forgive the comparison, but $100 will do a lot more for a homeless guy than it will for a billionaire. So you SHOULD put effort into the cities that need it more. But it will be a lot of work, and I don't think Americans shy away from hard work. So yeah, I don't agree with his take. Seeing how it is here in the Netherlands should work as motivation for how it can be, not used as a condemnation for how it is in the US. That's Bull and I don't sign on to that. Also, it's funny that he's such a fan of Amsterdam when it's probably our least pedestrian friendly, walkable city. Like I said, I like him, but being defeatist when you live amidst the example of what 40-50 years of concerted effort can achieve?

[@svenjorgensenn8418]

The homeless man will buy booze, the billionaires will make jobs..

[@InsertCleverUsername]

More like centuries given that Dutch cities (yes, even those levelled during WW2) extend from a core that predates any kind of mass transportation beyond walking, which was built for populations that today we'd consider village-scale. The crux of his perpetual argument kinda relies on ignoring this key aspect of the evolution of these places and its massive influence on the built environment hundreds (or even millennia in many cases) later. There's this weird fanciful idea among US urbanists (and even dutch-fetishists in the UK and Europe) that simply transplanting a set of solutions to problems which arose during the progress of dutch urban expansion - solutions which were arrived at holistically based on the sensibilities and specifics of the environment in which they were to be employed - will magically just work and transform everything, rather than developing a localised set of principles for solving transport and living issues as the Dutch did.

[@CloverMind]

It's not like Netherlands has declared, "All bike commuters move here, we are giving away citizenship to everyone and relocating whoever would love to live in a livable city." In fact while NJB does say any city in the Netherlands is more livable than the best option in North America, he also decided to live in Amsterdam, the one place that's arguably the best of the lot. It's a concept no doubt but not a practical one for most urbanites in North America to move to a non-English speaking city in a different continent where they'll be immigrants. Also it's neither viable nor sustainable for Amsterdam or the Netherlands. Every bounded living area no matter how perfectly well designed and irrespective of how adaptable it may be to exceeding growth of population, eventually it will become a mess and people have to move out or the city has to grow in size to support it (and here comes suburbanism that NJB is against). Since NJB has reached a certain level of popularity now, the channel's got many blind fanbois. The comment section here shows that much. But just as this video says, I'm also a big fan of NJB channel but not a blind one. I agree cities need to prioritize her residents over suburban dwelling passer-bys. I've learned much about the possibilities of a livable city from NJB, and my approach is going to be, to work towards making my nearest city more livable, while I enjoy living near a forest trail, complete with river and hills in my suburban utopia where I can soak in the nature away from many others of my kind (human beings). Lastly, in the wise words of Agent Smith, we are virus. We'll continue to move to a nice place, destroy its ecosystem then move on to another nice place for survival. So, yeah eventually when our lives are threatened we'll all move, regardless of who says what. It's in our nature. That's why white immigrants came from Europe to settle down on first nation lands. Apparently at one point in our history Amsterdam and the Netherlands were not so livable. Go figure! 😂

[@gklerk4170]

Dutchy here. Amsterdam is actually far from the best urbanist place to live in. The 17th century streets are way too small for large car volumes and separated bike lanes. Amsterdam is more of a patchwork of different traffic calming en public transport solutions than a really thought out street plan. Other Dutch city's (Utrecht for instance) are better designed but don't get the international praise like Amsterdam. I am pretty sure that other American cities than New York have better street plans but if you visit America than it is most likely you visit New York first.

[@averagejoe6031]

Well as of late the Netherlands has not been too kind to Immigration…..

[@CloverMind]

@averagejoe6031 It's an appropriate response given the state of the world. Which is why I find it so contradictory when many urbanists encourage moving to a foreign country rather than giving good ideas on how we can work towards making our current place better. Of course there's a certain threshold. Like if I was living in Gaza, sure I'll move the hell outta there. But I'm living in a modern city in Canada and going to complain about not living in a "livable city"? I gotta appreciate what I got until I cannot take it anymore.

[@linuxman7777]

Compare NJB to the Weeb Community, many of us either travel to Japan or are living our Anime dreams in Japan, But most of us don't really shit on America much. I think it has do with just how Weeb Culture and Japanese culture tends to be more grateful, and we understand Japan has problems just different from the US

[@CharlieND]

Definitely not the first comparison I would have thought of but you're spot on.

[@linuxman7777]

@@CharlieND Yep, I personally first thought of walkability after visiting Japan, and more of the younger generation in the US prefers it to Europe, Generally those born from 1990 onward. Although I live in a walkable place in the US how Japan does it is quite different. I am really surprised how little attention Japan gets in online urbanist spaces considering how many weebs there are.

[@linuxman7777]

@sresponses I am not really anti-car. Nothing I have said is really that way. It isn't a zero sum game between cars and pedestrians.

[@whodarboilebamnames3990]

NotJustBikes is such a great example of why non metropolitan area Canadians and Americans like me get pushed away by Urbanists. By non metropolitan I mean small cities, towns and rural areas where people don't just live to go work at the major urban center nearby. It's just filled with so much hate towards people like me and areas like mine. This is on top of why so many urbanists being unable to disconnect their other ideological beliefs when discussing urbanism. I remember reading a comment on a video that he left on a video about Randal O'Toole on Oh the urbanity. Where he accuses libertarian funding the reason why Randal O'Toole adopted the anti planner rhetoric to push more urban sprawl and car centric development. Even though in the video, Oh the urbanity states that the Cato institute supports zoning law reform in California which aims to abolish single family home zoning and that Randal O'Toole accused the Cato institute for "selling out Californian home owners". Also from an article on planetizen which covers cato institute firing O'Toole over a zoom call: "Randal O'Toole, who resisted contemporary progressive planning trends by supporting the unfettered expansion of automobile infrastructure and single-family residential development, is no longer employed by the conservative-leaning Cato Institute." However NotJustBikes states that it's those pesky libertarians are one of the two groups propping him up (the other being fossil fuel billionaires). I understand that he leans politically a certain way, his use of fascist might hint at it might be a little bit more than a lean. Even when people he ideologically disagrees with are united with him on an issue when it comes to urbanism, he can't let go of his other beliefs. I see this in a lot of people who are proponents of Urbanism where people like me are just treated as dumb backwater malicious actors even though we agree on many issues that exist and how we can start fixing those issues. It sadly just makes me just throw in the towel and saying something along the lines off, hey guess what, housing is cheap here, our communities are walk able and cycle-able and something something bugman. I'm not alone on this. I hope more urbanists will chose to focus on issues and solutions where there is common ground instead of acting like moral snobby elitists. Also him calling Canada uncivilized in a recent video about trains shows how much NA bad, europe good (but not Slavic or Balkan European countries, only the ones I cherry pick can be considered europe ofc) permeates discussions on urbanism and again, pushes people like me away.

[@joshrichards8399]

I love the way you worded that. 💯

[@linuxman7777]

Planning is what got us into the Unwalkable mess, most places that have no Urban planning at all are still walkable, any 3rd world city. Cities in East Asia had far less planning than American cities as well. Same with most of all of the charming European villages, no central planning at all.

[@charlesrodriguez7984]

I got more or less turned of of ALL urban planning content because of these same reasons listed. It was taking a toll on my mental health because I live in these very areas mentioned by NJB so I just put my foot down and put an end to watching this crappy urbanism brainrot. However I still feel we can see improvement in our cities in NA.

[@Musta0011]

The thing is that most of not just bikes is itnis very black and white. Amsterdam is good and north america is bad

[@CharlieND]

Well said

[@rieldebonk1044]

It's not bad to leave during a game, even if you miss a comeback you don't miss traffic!

[@fransezomer]

I agree that a statement like 'Give up on the US', is a bit harsh. NJB himself has made the argument that America and mobility & urbanism is not so much about the US as a country, but it is much more relevant how city design is implemented on a local level, ie if it prioritizes the human scale. Giving up on the US- indicates that the whole country should be discarded and left to rot. I believe that there is plenty of room in the US for local gems that will sprout in this rotten urbanized landscape of the US nowadays. Places like Portland could develop into a European-style city design. Just like Vancouver is turning more and more car restrictive as we speak. I do agree with NJB that the embedded car-centric culture is going to be hard to beat, especially in the US. With all the political corruption and strong lobbying by the large car manufacturers and petrol industries. It will be virtually impossible to win.

[@user-ui7fp7gl8u]

weird profile choice but okay

[@svenjorgensenn8418]

US is car centric because 65% of business is small business. You take that away, the economy collapses.

[@fransezomer]

@@svenjorgensenn8418 Almost 50% of ALL trips in the US are less than 3 miles (5 km). I think most of these trips are NOT work-related, so your argument is flawed.

[@MrPerkedel]

I think it would have been a better video if you had explained in what way 'Not just bikes' is wrong. It seems to me that you are just stating that you are disappointed and that NJB is defeatist and that you would like him not to be, but I am not hearing arguments why you think the US will improve its planning and infrastructure in a sigificant way within lets say two generations.

[@macro_concepts]

I can say that the cities near me in the Midwest have notably improved in these ways in the last 5-10 years. These are not hip or sexy cities. They now have some protected bike lanes, some have eliminated minimum parking requirements, some have expanded transit, and all are more liveable without a car than they were before. It's not perfect, but it's already significantly better.

[@charlesrodriguez7984]

Change is happening everywhere. You just have to look.

[@realityblooms]

Everyone come move to the US cities. We need more good people in our cities.

[@CharlieND]

Honestly, US cities might have some problems, but I've seen a lot of positive change in many of them. I've enjoyed visiting cities like Seattle and New York over the years.

[@realityblooms]

@@CharlieND have you been to New York city lately? They’re awesome bike lanes everywhere. Protected bike lanes as far as the eye can see. You can take a boat to commute to Manhattan, then take the bike share that’s right next to the loading dock to go home.

[@CharlieND]

@@realityblooms My most recent visit to New York was 2019. I really liked what I saw. Seems like a good cycling city.

[@letheas6175]

Why would good people move to bad cities?

[@realityblooms]

@@letheas6175 nah my city is pretty walkable and has transit it’s just no where near NYC or DC. So I’m saying good people can help the fight for safe streets.

[@RS-xb9lo]

Here's a question for everyone in this comment section, coming from a Houstonian. Would you rather die before you get to see my city implement enough proper safe alternatives to driving, along with bike lanes and such OR Would you rather uproot you life to live in a country that already HAS those amenities? That's what I think everyone here is missing. You may be content with trying to advocate for that change in your own places, but just know it took the Netherlands DECADES to create the pedestrian (paradise) it appears to have now. Are you REALLY wanting to wait decades to not have to risk getting run over by a car whenever you want to ride a bike? or walk? or anything else? Just be prepared to die before your city actually makes enough changes. If you care enough about living in a safe place for everyone, I doubt anyone here is going to wait until they're 70 to be able to take a train or a bike to work.

[@CharlieND]

People are free to move if they think that's the best decision for them personally. But those who choose to advocate for changes in their communities shouldn't be discouraged from doing so.

[@RS-xb9lo]

@@CharlieND Personally I agree, but you also can't blame people like NJB for being so out of it. Us car-critical people are still very much a minority population in regards to US transit, I don't think he's particularly wrong for lacking a lot of faith in that regard.

[@petermartinez4399]

It comes off as tonedeaf to folks like me who can't just pick up and leave. Most of us aren't fortunate enough to be able to move overseas. You present the above options like most of us have a choice.

[@RS-xb9lo]

​@@petermartinez4399 Unfortunately your complaining therefore comes off as pointless; You're being hypercritical of those fortunate enough to make the leap but also are cocky enough to believe that the US is going to make enough strides in transportation before you die of old age. Face it buddy, the U.S. is not going to be good enough for maybe half a century, most likely more. I'm sorry that you (and most here) don't have a choice but the urbanist community is not going to be able to make the strides in American public transport that are actually going to be useful for most of the people (suburbia), simply due to how the local laws work. Yes, the US CAN improve its transport options, but it's not gonna be fast enough for anyone in this comment section to reap the vast majority of the benefits. Maybe you'll get a senior discount when the first light-rail shows up in your area, when you're 85. If you ACTUALLY want change, unfortunately you're gonna need to jump ship, even though I know how tone-deaf that sounds, it's the truth, sadly.

[@charlesrodriguez7984]

@@CharlieNDthese people get on my nerves which is why I stopped watching urbanism content all together. That shit took a toll on my mental health and made me want to take actions I physically cannot take. I was on the fence about leaving America for these so called utopias and I was feeling depressed for a week. Then I stopped watching that stuff because it genuinely did nothing for me except make me extremely sad and unmotivated to do anything besides leave where I live and go somewhere else. Someone might say “well Boo Hoo get over it. America has to change it’s a literal shit hole” but I don’t think it’s a complete crap country anymore. That’s something that’s not really talked about either is how this stuff makes people feel.

[@soldadoDELmiedo5220]

I'm sure he omitted the obvious territory argument on purpose because he wanted something to complain about

[@colinguo5855]

Look it will be okay, California is trying their best to fix their state.

[@jayc222]

NJB is the Johnny Harris of Urbanism KZbin. 🤪

[@kingkoopa64]

"Owning a car makes you evil" Ok, but having no concern for other people safety while cycling with no brakes doesn't Alright then..

[@twix-official7329]

bikes are like 2kg at most do not talk to me

[@TheBlacktressDiaries]

oof, he just kept digging himself deeper and deeper into a hole 😬

[@Barack44]

Not Just Bikes, more like Not Just Mid 💀

[@rendomstranger8698]

Lets be clear. If activism comes at the cost of your families health and safety, you need to reconsider your priorities. Jason has a family. I don't give a damn how important you think it is to stick around to help fight for better infrastructure. His family takes priority over passing your purity tests. Because that is all this is. A worthless purity test that does nothing more than to undermine people who are trying to show how the infrastructure in the US can be improved. If video's with titles like this one are how you believe people should fight for improvement, you got no room to talk. Because in that case, Jason's effort are infinitely more effective that yours. He at least is smart enough to understand how stupid infighting is. And just to clarify: no, I'm not giving you a single second of watchtime. Not my fault if the title and comments misrepresent your video. If you resort to clickbait titles, you lose the privilege to demand that I listen to all your claims.

[@CharlieND]

This comment just reaffirmed my decision to make this video, because now I see how unhinged NJB's cult truly is. 1. I am well aware he has a family. He is free to move wherever he wants with them, and I never said he wasn't. If he wants to move, then all the power to him. Also, where is this imaginary purity test you keep mentioning? 2. NJB was literally the cause for all this "infighting" to begin with. Although calling it infighting is being overdramatic, it's more like a discussion on the views of a changing online urbanist landscape. 3. How can you dispute claims that you haven't even listened to? That's like trying to rank songs from an artist you've never heard. Also, even if you didn't watch the video (which I feel like you're lying about), you leaving a comment still drives engagement, which leads to KZbin putting this video on more people's recommended pages, which leads to me getting more views and therefore more money. You leaving this comment indirectly helped my bank account, so thanks! TL;DR: stop meat-riding NJB and get off your moral high horse.

[@charlesrodriguez7984]

@@CharlieNDI hate the NJB meat riders.

[@GianniLeonhart]

"Jason has a family" TIL you can only have a family in Europe

[@FerdinandCesarano]

This is a bad take.

[@LordKalerran]

Oh hi privileged white tech bro

[@charlesrodriguez7984]

Stop riding that dam meat.