Forgotten Innovations of a "Perfect Town"

[@stewarthicks]

Hey folks! Brilliant is a fantastic way for curious people to explore new life-applicable skills. Head to brilliant.org/stewarthicks for 20% off your annual premium subscription.

[@AMPProf]

Video Suggestion: The analogues parallels and Stark contrasts to An archology vs. Walkable outside areas that function basically the same.

[@skylarking12]

Pullman is a complex subject. He saw his labor force as components in the big machine of the enterprise, and could not relinquish his control over them. He was so hated at the time of his death, his grave was submerged in a steel cage and concrete to prevent being dug up by protestors, that's how bad the enmity was. And he advised the folks building Lincoln's tomb to do it the same way, after the first grave was very nearly robbed while the monumental crypt was under construction.

[@SOLOcan]

I mean, that doesn't sound very complex. He's an arsehole

[@bobbirdsong6825]

pretty sure the cage trick was to prevent him from rising from the dead to suck people's blood. same concept as the big ass stone slab they put over reagan's grave

[@andrewdreasler428]

He was also buried 20 feet down, as opposed to the standard 6 feet for Chicago graveyards, both to make it harder to dig up his body and desecrate it, and to insure he was closer to Hell than anyone else in the cemetery.

[@GreenRibbonClub]

@@andrewdreasler428 Was 'insuring he was closer to hell' an actual cited reason for the depth? It sounds like the sort of thing that'd pass into cultural consensus from jokes told at the time. Like how in the UK, we like to say that Margaret Thatcher's grave was made accessible to the public so it could be used as the world's first open-air gender-neutral toilet.

[@rostovskypeter]

Super interesting, thank you

[@JineousJ]

You know, Pullman is an extremely apt name for a train car company/mogul

[@chrisclouds4182]

I just realized this while watching too😂

[@Zenit_Bourg]

Nominative Determinism

[@JohnGeorgeBauerBuis]

It does fit.

[@cosmo9925]

Probably half the reason he was successful as he was. The name alone was probably very good for getting investors attention early on lmao

[@jayski9410]

I've heard the Pullman story for years. And some tell it from an economic view point, some from a historic view point, some from a labor view point. But you've included one detail I've never heard about - using the spoils from a dredging operation to make the bricks. Why did it take until I was 71 to hear that part of the story?

[@nobilesnovushomo58]

Because your books weren’t partial technicals of the time or morbid analysis looking at everyone neutrally and what factors caused changes in policies, like the Panic of 1893 for Pullman, making the Great Depression look like a half-measure. A byproduct of simply letting industrial giants rise and fall by their own merit, but a giant swath economy went down with a few giants. The books you read were biased narratives, which tbf gain a lot more interest and are easier to write for someone with less information. But they can be really fascinating when nobody’s the villain, but there are still culprits.

[@SupremeSwaggy]

@@nobilesnovushomo58 🔥

[@pappaslivery]

I live in an old New England city that had three growth booms. The last one was general electric that left in the '90s. Their building is still there, but it houses a brewery a small machine shop and then the city has been using it to house at one time City Hall and now the library while those buildings were being renovated. The key for any plan is adaptability

[@High-Tech-Geek]

If a constructed site gives good use for 30 years, but grows old compared to newer tech and needs, what's wrong with razing it and building something completely new for the next 30 years? I think we think we can plan for the future, but it rarely seems to work out.

[@ireminmon]

​@@High-Tech-Geek You think razing the Prague old town would be a good idea?

[@High-Tech-Geek]

@@ireminmon Only if it's not serving the needs of its residents. I understand after longer periods of time, a place gains a sort of nostalgia and quaintness although it may not be the ideal functioning place. But if it was razed and rebuilt every 30 years since it was built, you wouldn't even be asking that question. You'd be enjoying a modern functioning site.

[@MrJohMak]

​@High-Tech-Geek that's super inefficient and not a sustainable way forward

[@High-Tech-Geek]

​@@MrJohMaknah, most building life is about 30 years. Then the plumbing goes and the roof and windows leak and the mechanical equipment, boilers, water heaters, etc all breaks down and has to be replaced or upgraded. Paint and wallpaper peels, everything rusts and stains, and the wiring is all obsolete & outdated. I used to think buildings would last forever but construction standards these days are so poor and cheap. There's no craftsmanship anymore. Just start fresh. It's the only way we can build cheap crap people can afford. The world is all about getting cheaper and cheaper and charging more and more. Sad but true.

[@threesixnine369six]

0:10 "spectacular new cities under construction around the glob right now" shows the line 😂

[@TimSlee1]

That part made me spit my milk

[@Will-gp9ok]

I thought the same thing but he does criticize them at the end...

[@bahamut149]

it's the dot now.

[@NothingXemnas]

​@@Will-gp9ok Wait, isn't that good? I am pretty sure that first mention of "spectacular new cities" while showing the line was sarcastic...

[@kevincinnamontoast3669]

I bought a living unit in Neom. It is seconds away from the hyperlinktube. The figs are the finest in SA. Long live the Saudi government, they bestow upon me all the blessings of the earth. My turds are trucked out to the figgery and supplement the soil.

[@Illisil]

I am an economist, to use the waste from one activity as the input for another activity can be referred to as economies of scope. Alcoa used economies of scope when it started sellng flouride which was a waste product of the aluminum production process. John D. Rockefeller used economies of scope when petroleum wax, a waste product of the oil industry was put into jars and sold as "Petroleum Jelly" a product we still use today. In fact, much of the petrochemicals industry is build around economies of scope. They pump the oil out of the ground to make gasoline and kerosene, but all of the waste chemicals are being purified as sold as the inputs to other processes or products. This reduces the cost of the fuel, and also reduces the costs of the other processes and products the petrochemicals are used for.

[@stormveil]

It's also a form of recycling.

[@AnaSchultz-kx9tq]

And both are amazing products

[@Queazyboot3]

​@@AnaSchultz-kx9tq yup fluoride has been found to lower IQ in children. Awesome 👹

[@timandfin]

Stewart- been sub’d for a while. Want you to know how much your videos are appreciated. The effort you put into each of them is obvious. Nice work dude!

[@sIosha]

It's amazing how Chicago is an endless bounty of rich history! I can't wait to come back and see Pullman.

[@patchso]

Thanks, was wondering where this was.

[@chrisclouds4182]

In highschool I would hang out with different friends who lived in Pullman. The desgin of the houses fascinated me so much even back then because they were just so different than anything else in the city. On a side note, a future video on how Pullamn got his start jacking up sinking buildings in Chicago would be cool.

[@nicholasorr4230]

Pullman is such a wild place to visit. Such neat architecture, such crazy history…it’s all so peaceful now but it’s hard to imagine what it looked like during the strike.

[@nercopolis99]

I remember 'learning' about Pullman the man, train cars, and town in HS... and that's about all I could tell you. In 10 minutes you explained about 50x more than we 'learned' in 50 minutes. Really great video, as always.

[@MrJimheeren]

Time for you to do some own research my man. Cause this 12 minute video is a complete whitewash of the asshole that was George Pullman. Also this company town was a golden cage, designed to keep his workers under control and always in the clock

[@Khronogi]

You gonna remember it?

[@PhantomSavage]

I've seen a lot of failed planned city projects, and I think I've come to the conclusion that the more you plan for the more things will eventually fall apart. A city is like an organism, it grows naturally over time. Villages evolve into towns, towns evolve into cities, and cities can evolve into megaplexes. For one reason or another, things tend to go horribly awry when you try to cheat that natural evolution and plan out the whole thing at once.

[@vanzeralltheway8638]

Say, doesnt the main reason for the fall of these cities are the extreme monopoly by a single company and the exploitation of its residents? While its nice that everything in the town is pre-planned and arranged neatly, i heard that because food, energy, and transportation are all owned by the same company they work for, entire worker's income would eventually flow back to the company and they are left with 0 surplus and cant save money. After a while, wouldnt it be obvious that this planned cities's hidden purpose were to squeeze its worker/inhabitant dry all for the profit of the company?

[@death_parade]

The opposite is also true. When you don't set down any rules or set them down too slowly, the city doesn't have time to evolve. I speak from my experience in Delhi. It is growing from a city of 230K in 1911 to 600K in 1947 to 4 Million in 1971 to 34 Million today. That last stretch from 4 to now 34 Million especially took its toll. And the city is growing still, expected to be 43 Million in another decade. People came in before even the plans for the city could evolve. Forget the evolution of the city itself. Evolution will not always work. Planning is faster and thus valuable. We need to learn to make city plans that can be adaptive, conducive yet resilient to evolution.

[@Khronogi]

So the solution is between planning for everything and not planning at all. Lol

[@vanzeralltheway8638]

@@death_parade My capital city, Jakarta, also fall under similar problem. I think the problem lies in the fact that city planning would only occur if the country(or at least city) is advanced enough with a good number of intelligent, literate populace. And for such things to happen, the town needs high economy circulation and.... High populace. However, in developing country, if a city is already high in economy and population, in most case (capital city, for example), it will be TOO LATE to employ any city planning. This is very apparent in my country since, embarrassingly enough, a lot of our primary infrastructure is the leftover of VOC (and others) colonization. Our local government rarely care about city planning and only focused on earning more income (also leftover attitude from VOC) hence why when a city planning discussion arise, there are too few field left for any planning. From limited things that i know of, my country is in the ending stage of "property boom" and looking at china, its gonna be a nightmare. There are too many people and houses in the country and the only open, "empty" field left is the forest. Which, you know what calamity will happen if those forest are cut for more housing and infrastructure. Things are still looking bright in my country, but that is because the "doom" is still far away, preventable, and there are still room to grow. If its any indicator, our international debt is still rising, our corruption is still in the trillions, out new capital city is a huge money drain, and environmental problem (both natural and man made) is rising, you know where this is going.

[@death_parade]

@@vanzeralltheway8638 Well maybe the Indonesian experience is different, but in India, our problem is not a dearth of talented, educated or intelligent people. I mean look at our scientific achievements in space or nuclear, etc. So we do have city planning. It is simply substandard. And the reason for our substandard city planning and execution is politics and bureaucracy. And I think that is a problem almost everywhere else in the world as well. Politics in a democracy leads to silly vote bank politics, where if a large number of voters have simply created an unauthorized colony, a politician promising to distribute "authorized" certificates to such unauthorized colonies will simply get elected to power. And because (as Osho famously said about Democracies"but the people are reT @rded), the people don't care if the unauthorized colonies they live in have poor urban planning. Bureaucracy, meanwhile, leads to silly procedural hurdles where even the bureaucrats themselves, despite understanding the situation, are helpless. Because they can only follow the laid down laws and procedures, can't make their own laws up. For example, suppose you as a bureaucrat in an Indian city working under the local government realize that implementing car-pooling in your city during the festival season can help reduce some of the peak congestion, without having to widen the roads. Sounds good. But wait, the decision to implement car pooling in YOUR CITY can't be taken by you or the local government. Because an outdated law called the Motor Vehicles Act dictates that such a decision can only be taken by the Central/Federal Government. Ofcourse you being a local bureaucrat have absolutely no say in what the Central Government does. So despite having a better way, the bureaucrat is forced to take the more inefficient and resource intensive method of "widening the roads," causing EVERYONE more problems. All because of an archaic law. I do agree that for proper Urban Planning, a city needs to have enough money in circulation. This is one major Achilles heel of Indian Municipal Corporations: Low tax rates. Taxes collected are so low that barely any money is there for maintenance, forget innovation or improvement. Cities in India rely on funds from Central and State Governments to get even basic upgrades, like upgrade to public transportation, civic amenities, etc. Indonesia does indeed seem to be under-performing compared to its potential and from what little I've read in the comments of various Indonesia-related videos, most folks do indeed blame corruption. Lower level governments in India (Municipal corp level, etc) also have this problem of corruption. Which is why even though Indian National Highways built by the Central Government are good quality, the city roads are of poor quality get potholes right after rains. Simply because petty corruption is rampant in Road contracts within Cities while it is rare and difficult to execute in Highway projects done by the Central government.

[@ttopero]

The conclusion I draw is that control of most facets of living by a single for profit entity is the vulnerability. The lack of diversity of income, inputs, services that would sustain the neighborhood without the central employer made it fragile. I wonder if on the other end of streets away from the factory, if a Main Street were developed that serviced the Pullman neighborhood & the adjacent one further away, it would have continued as an autonomous neighborhood when Pullman imploded-assuming the neighborhood had challenges after the company collapsed.

[@High-Tech-Geek]

I wanted to know more as well. He did mention there was a food hall, church, parks and a doctor, so I presume there were other amenities as well? I'm not sure what the townsfolk were wanting? We're told the quality of the construction was good and the needs were well thought out. Now I feel like I need to research on my own, but I wish Stewart would have told us more info about the reasons for the failings. Was it simply expensive booze?

[@crytocc]

Although I'm strongly anti-capitalist, I think it's important to recognize that in this case it's primarily the "central control" part that's creating the vulnerability. Being for-profit likely made it worse, but I think it would have been similarly vulnerable if it _hadn't_ been for-profit.

[@andrewdreasler428]

@@High-Tech-Geek Those were pretty much the limits of the amenities. Pullman was playing a game of SimCity before there were computers, and he wanted 'his' people to do what he wanted, live how he wanted, THINK how he wanted, and put their entire lives toward the company's profit. If you lived/worked in Pullman (it literally was the same thing,) your boss was also your landlord, and if the company decided that times were lean and wages needed to be 'scaled back' the rents were NOT. Wages, rents, and prices were all set by Pullman himself, he knew how much of the employee's paycheck came back to him, and if it was under 100%, he was unhappy. To make a long story short, the town of Pullman was yet another example of how Company Towns are nothing but an attempt to have slavery without it 'technically' being called slavery. When the workers threatened to strike, Pullman locked them out of the factory and said, "None of you are getting paid for this entire month, but all your rents are still due."

[@vanzeralltheway8638]

@@andrewdreasler428 Oh, so the fall of the town is inevitable then. I heard that this kinda town also doesnt let you have savings so its harder for you to move away and live somewhere else.

@@andrewdreasler428 Or a savegame of Cities: Skylines for that matter.

[@JoelRipke]

Stewart Hicks: "See these bricks?..." Me: yes. They want to be an arch

[@jfmezei]

One important point of comparison not made: single industry towns versus multiple industry towns. The former allows the employer far mroe control over the town's development (Pullman in the past, but also mines). BTW, Pullman also sold train tickets. You'd buy railway coach ticket and then buy a pullman tickets to get a room in sleeping car on train. This is where the monopoly issue was most serious. In modern terms, railwasy used Pullman as a service. That big decision you alluded to forced railways to buy their cars and operate their own sleeping cars.

[@Josh-yr7gd]

6:54 I got stuck on the fact that sewage was used for farm fertilizer. So I looked it up and learned that it's actually a very common practice still being done today. I thought only cow manure was used. Now I'm questioning everything I've believed!

[@reinhard8053]

It depends on the country. Mostly direct human wastes are not allowed for hygenic reasons. And our developed country sewage is just too toxic to be used (directly). It's different for residual sludge which was processed.

[@BillLaBrie]

Look up Milorganite.

[@tatianaes3354]

@@reinhard8053yes, people and businesses in cities use too many toxins and poisons that go to the sewage, not usable for farming before pricy processing

[@logannichols5848]

Most sewage from humans and pigs is to acidic. There is some chemicals that are mixed in the vats and the it is pushed into bricks. Worked at a box place and we had the same system and regulations as sewage treatment plants.

[@BuildNewTowns]

I recently learned about how some cities in Europe use their sewer system gases to create electricity.

[@warrenlemay8134]

Nice use of the SketchUp models of Pullman created by John W. and uploaded to the SketchUp 3D Warehouse. They were a big part of my childhood and taught me a lot about modeling more complex structures and building complexes.

[@mdhazeldine]

Interesting topic. Apparently one of the first company towns was Copley in England (1849) followed by a bunch more before the Americans caught on. I didn't know Pullman was American or that there was a Pullman company town until I watched your video, as to me, Pullman has always been associated with railways in the UK. After looking it up, I discovered that there was a British Pullman company that got the idea from George Pullman that made Pullman carriage for the UK railways. So that's a nice virtuous circle of events between the UK and USA and back to the UK again!

[@virtualcircuit]

The most famous company town in the UK is Saltaire. Built on the river Aire by Sir Titus Salt in 1851. It was famously also a dry town. There is a pub there now called "Don't tell Titus", and the mill is a beautiful big building that repurposed as a gallery and public space.

[@JWall416]

I was thoroughly delighted to discover that these silly little models I made in my high school tech class have proven useful!!

[@BrokenCurtain]

My hometown was built in the middle of a peat bog - literally around a power station. The people who settled here cut the peat into handy pieces that would be burned in the power plant to generate electricity - and the excess heat was used to heat greenhouses. Same principle as this town.

[@BrokenCurtain]

...also crime against nature, but that's a different story.

[@patchso]

Perfect example of a finite resource! Can I ask, where, and was there any attempt at addressing what happens when the peat runs out?

[@usa1mac]

Another great video. The production quality of your videos continues to get better and now match the best out there. Keep up the great work!

[@petemason5739]

Nice video. Hadn't heard of Pullman, but reminds me of Port Sunlight, New Lanark or Bourneville. Innovative places, way ahead of their time. The lack of diversity is probably what caused their downfall as well: builds resilience in a town if you have more than one main industry. Thanks for the insight. 👍

[@MorganHJackson]

That's an interesting story. From a municipal point, it seems pretty great that they've had aspects of a circular economy. But the social aspect of control is disappointing. Not surprising, though, this seems to have happened a lot.

[@Mrwizard-ck7oe]

Truely amazing how you gloss over the problems of company towns as simply being about overbearing rules. No, it was about the entire Livelihoods of the workers being controlled for profit.

[@BS-vx8dg]

Stewart, this is one of your best ever. Top Five, easily. Love the combination of angles to the story. However, you may have left some people wondering how this planned town had a downfall yet you are standing in some still beautiful neighborhoods. (I'm guessing you left out its incorporation into Chicago proper as a distraction from your story.) Anyway, an _exceptionally_ fascinating video.

[@e46Kyle]

Another great lesson. Thanks Stewart!

[@njshore2239]

Nice video would have liked to see the inside of the residential housing and the differences across the scale that was used.

[@Alex-cw3rz]

Reminds me of Port Sunlight, built by soap magnate Lord Leverhulme. In which mutiple architects were employed to make varied and beautiful designed houses. With a central beautifully appointed Art Gallery. He also had plans for his birthplace of Bolton and the plans for that are on Google images if you type in Lord Leverhulmes plans for Bolton and would have made it one of the most impressive towns in the country. Unfortunately the council rejected the idea, although Le Man's Cresent and an extension to the town hall were built so not all bad.

[@harbl99]

Saltaire, Port Sunlight, Bournville: almost like there was a pre-existing tradition of companies building model towns that Pullman was able to draw on.

[@mfaizsyahmi]

Time and time again, city officials hate anything nice. Wren's plan for London, the plan for LA that would've made it a beautiful garden city instead of sterile grids almost devoid of parks in the center, etc.

[@andrewsteinhaus8267]

A video on Reston VA would be really interesting. It’s thriving now, and seems like a great place to live

[@gpgreyvenstein8227]

Masdar City: Yes. The Line: eeuw

[@threesixnine369six]

Masdar is far from great, but it still beats the copying and oversizing of 20th century American cities with highways and suburbs that the Gulf countries just do so well,. I was quite excited when it was announced, then I forgot it was even a thing. If Masdar was more successful, it would have sent a great message to the developing world that is increasingly looking at places like the Gulf and China, admiring and aspiring, again perpetuating 20th century models.

[@Game_Hero]

Masdar is ok, but what's the obsession with pods again?

[@mfaizsyahmi]

@@Game_Hero techno bros can't think long term, so efficient modes of transport that are long-shaped are inconceivable to them.

[@joseph1150]

IIRC the company reduced compensation due to an economic panic. But they didn't change the rents or prices at the market. Failure of central planning.

[@The_Smith]

Great video Stewart, I love the twist at the end . . . entropy always wins eh?

[@lemapp]

Many 19th Century American Cities made use of a central heat/ power system. Manhattan Island, New York City has numerous steam pipes underground that power and heat the buildings. In Washington, DC, there are federal government district with a central heat/ power system. Not just the USA, European and Russian cities have similar infrastructure.

[@acash93]

Unfortunately the steam pipes are not maintained in new York.

[@stanisawzokiewski3308]

The town looks beautiful, walkable and long lasting.

[@andrewtoth9403]

Outstanding video!

[@CMVBrielman]

5:46 George Corliss (the inventor of the Corliss Steam Engine) was my grandmother’s uncle. I geek out every time his engine gets mentioned.

[@mks_dan]

A really interesting video for me, cheers! One of those where you leave having found a new rabbit hole of the Pullman company history to discover on your own

[@EL.JEFE1231]

Interesting video thank you! I was just thinking about this the other day. We have multiple old towns that aren't there anymore and always wondered if creating a town.city back in these spots of how to plan it out and make it sustainable on its own.

[@BuildNewTowns]

I'm working on some similar ideas. Especially with the internet and remote work nowadays. We could revitalize entire small towns with groups of like minded people.

[@gauntlettcf5669]

"Pullman" is also one of the names we have for busses in Italy!

[@sharadchandakacherla8268]

This was great! Always fun to know more about Chicago area. One unrelated question, wanted to ask if the hosted 3-D model of UIC walkways is broken? unable to open it on personal computers (there's some sort of memory leak, that takes down the browser)

[@sarcasmo57]

I want to design and build a city. Sucks to be poor.

[@patchso]

The design part’s easy enough ;-)

[@johnyarbrough502]

Some people felt there was just too much Pullman regulation: "We are born in a Pullman house, fed from the Pullman shops, taught in the Pullman school, catechized in the Pullman Church, and when we die we shall go to the Pullman Hell." If I recall correctly, the tipping point for the strike was Pullman cutting wages and raising rents

[@InternetUser999]

Very nice video; good job!

[@viktorvtk]

I'm a little amazed about how similar these buildings (architectural details etc.) look to the early 20th century architecture in my country (the Netherlands). When I saw the thumbnail I even thought this was about a Dutch city.

[@vincentleary1602]

Bro, I saw slipknot in camden nj tonight and im finally home... it's 3:38am...eating chicken corn chowder while watching this. Keep it up

[@barryrobbins7694]

If only the impulses of Pullman, the man that lead to such innovative ideas, could be separated from the his desires to control Pullman the town.

[@GenericYoutubeGuy]

He went beyond what was constitutionally allowed in order to freakishly control an entire boom town for profit. Sounds very dystopian and marxist. That boom town would have been called a city today had it been independent of socialist company rule. There’s a modern form of this where I live. It’s called university campuses eating a crippled city.

[@andrewdreasler428]

Sadly the ambitions of self-proclaimed "great (white) men" cannot be separated from the desire to control that comes from shouldering the "white man's burden." They are all, at heart, tin-pot dictators in search of their own little 'country' to rule over/play with.We see this repeating WAY too often in American history: some rich white guy who decides that "Society is broken and Only They are the One Strong Man who can fix things."

[@jack-dh9hs]

Great video

[@teacherdude]

Company towns, by their very nature are not real communities, but rather workers compounds. In real communities your entire existence does not rely on your ability to keep the boss happy. In a company town, your entire existence depends on your ability to keep to abide by the rules of a game you have no way of changing. No matter how you slice that, it's still a gulag, no matter how pretty it looks.or how many mod cons you are given.

[@tommy8716]

I mean, I agree with what you're saying, but that's not THAT far off from a normal town. In a small town, there's only so much work. In order to keep a roof over your head and eat, you have to keep working that grind. If you don't like it, you can try another job if you can find one, or maybe do some freelance around the town. But with a small population, there's only so much that needs done that people are willing to pay for. In a larger town, you have more employment options, but you still have to keep your boss happy if you want to pay for anything. Some form of work is the only way societies can function, and as much as it sucks, we at the bottom rung will always be subject to those above us

[@user-wn2ho5ij5f]

Sure it has its own problems, but in a regular town are you not falling inline as well? Arr you truly happy with the government? Are you truly happy with the rules? Rising cost of living? Lowering quality of life? You're not doing anything about it, so are you not doing just as you'd do in a company town?

[@Mrwizard-ck7oe]

Theres a difference between a commune and a what we call a town today. One is people coming together to build and work for a comfortable living the other is an amalgamation of companies seeking to profit off a collection of people desperate for any bit of income.

[@cheze9733]

​@@tommy8716 That's a really good description of the "dictatorship of the bourgeoisie"

[@AuthorTimmy]

The key difference is how free you are to leave

[@pongop]

Very interesting! I like the Venus Project.

[@alias19]

Steam is not a fuel. The fuel would be what heated the water to make the steam.

[@tim_the_traveler]

Now I know it's not exactly the same thing, but if you want a key example of a location that has past hands threw out history, that would be Jerusalem, it has been sieged, taken and held and sieged again and again for thousands of years and has changed in size and stale for probably thousands more, but It still a thriving city and is the capitol of Israel. And is a testimate of how a location can have as much history as the people who come and go threw it. None the less all these smaller examples are always fun to learn about, the less known don't make them less important after all. always looking forward to watch more.

[@williammcghee863]

I wish to share an untested opinion for further study. Perhaps Pullman's gift to civilization and history is to show the forces of mechanized capital, at the time, that attempting to corral workers in their own city was not worth the risk of capital, and perhaps it's usefulness was limited - like for very isolated situations (a Gulf Coast oil rig comes to mind.) Also, it seems that the builders of these cities could be candidates for megalomania. History is replete with candidates. Fordlandia comes to mind.

[@CubeAtlantic]

Pullman develops complex & detailed trains, but they're interesting as well.

[@martindelafuentegil8861]

"Pullman designed the perfect town" and it's just pure unfiltered classism

[@davidnelson7719]

To be fair, God hates poor people.

[@hainleysimpson1507]

Classism birthed colonialism, and chattel slavery. Chattel slavery allowed European nations to get rich and birthed the industrial revolutions, the money for the revolutions came from slavery and colonialism. Chattel slavery birthed capitalism.

[@mdleavitt]

Sounds like a hellish place!

[@dangerouslytalented]

They can work if they are flexible enough to change when either plans fail or when conditions change.

[@asklouie]

The new Pullman town 2.0 is Flamingo Crossings, a development in the corner of Walt Disney World. It opened in late 2020. The Disney company controls every aspect of it for the "affordable " needs of their employees. When I first saw it, and later spoke to the residents of it, I realized it was a 21st century Pullmantown experiment.

[@whomidity3953]

Now I'm not a professional or anything, but that's literally just a company town

[@shannonparkhill5557]

So, central planning can be fantastic, is what I'm learning here

[@Dev1nci]

Heavy days the thumbnail changes before I’ve even watched the vid 😄

[@mfaizsyahmi]

it's a youtube feature now. creators can set up to three thumbnails and youtube serves a random one. then they see which works best and sets that to be the permanent thumbnail afterwards.

[@Dev1nci]

@@mfaizsyahmi O that’s lank interesting actually 👌

[@YoJesusMorales]

The water tower reminds me of Robert Moses and the long beach one.

[@konstantinpobedonotsev5589]

Pullman, IL, for those wondering.

[@TheHokiedude12]

What sorts of municipal services were offered in a factory town like this? It appears in the footage to show lots of public green/parks, including a bandstand. But what was the education situation like? Were there public schools or libraries that could be accessed by the general population of Pullman?

[@etbadaboum]

When a water tower then looks much better than most buildings today

[@vasaoe]

Hi , We had a similar visionary in the Czech Republic. Mr. Bata, he built entire cities for shoe manufacturing. The original town was Zlín, but after World War II he had to flee due to the communist regime and founded many other towns around the world.

[@will2993]

I lived in a very different town of Pullman. They renamed it from "three forks" in order to attempt the Pullman company to open a depot there. It didnt work.

[@SageL13404]

But still lots of red brick!

[@will2993]

@@SageL13404 There sure is!

[@povisykt]

I love your videos

[@cqholt]

Atlanta has a Pullman building. Kirkwood was built similar where the Grand homes are located closer to the factory.

[@christopherzehnder]

One of your finest, Stewart! Thank you!!

[@jodofe4879]

I just love how the guy named 'Pullman' decided to build railroad cars. Nomen est omen.

[@grahambarton4394]

Shout out professor Bui for teaching this in History of Chicago

[@seanmurphy9776]

That's a very rosy picture of George Pullman and Pullman, IL. It's a company town and a gilded cage built explicitly to control labor. An economist of the time, Richard Ely criticized his model town as “well-wishing feudalism” that was ultimately “un-American.” When the Panic of 1893 happened, Pullman slashed wages and cut jobs while maintaining the obscene rents and prices in the company town they were forced to live in. This resulted in the Pullman Strike that was very effective but Pullman refused to give in. Federal troops were brought in to quell the strikers and murdered dozens of citizens. When he died, Pullman left explicit instructions to encase him in reinforced concrete to prevent people from desecrating his grave. Not a nice or visionary guy and a gross chapter in American history. Please don't whitewash the past of a place like this.

[@ammoboots9050]

What are the two cities shown @6:36 (does anyone know what building/factory is shown to the right of the heat generator?) and @9:33?

[@risingsun8609]

Good video

[@theevermind]

tl;dr - Command economies don't work, while market economies do work. If you try to plan and control every aspect of a complex system, you WILL miss something, or calculate something wrong, etc. It doesn't matter how thorough you are, how visionary, how much computation you use--there will arise something which throws a wrench in the system. No central planning can 'fix' all of these effects. However, if you let the system find its own solutions, let it balance itself, it will find optimal paths through the problems. Often, these solutions don't match the intents of the central planning, which is one reason central planning never works on large scales.

[@johnnyu001]

I don't know if I can accurately express in words how good your works is. So much great content. Thank you.

[@jamieevans3666]

Im a Steam engineer and re using steam is not uncommon, it makes no sense to dump heat out to atmosphere its simply a loss of energy, waste steam is used in most factories that use Cogen and its used in hospitals to sterilize equipment, on top of that we will turn waste steam back into hot water and re use it in the boiler because its more efficient to use already heated water than cold water

[@senatorchinchilla5389]

Back when people were proud of what they built, instead of just chasing profit at all costs.

[@JohnMcGann90]

I don't think planned towns are the worst idea, some really interesting concepts can be put in place if done properly. I think the issue too frequently is when the town planning doesn't stop and it becomes life planning for those that live there. At some point the management of the town once built needs to be handed over to people that operate it as per the people who live there not the people who built it.

[@High-Tech-Geek]

Stewart, I'd love to know more about why the workers revolted. It seems they were given everything, but were still not happy. I only know what you presented here, but it seemed like Pullman truly wanted to give them what they needed and built good quality homes, parks, infrastructure, etc. What's missing here? I would have liked for you to go into more detail about why things failed. Today, we need something to help the homeless and poor have good housing. What's the answer?

[@High-Tech-Geek]

Well this helps explain (from Britannica): "Responding to falling revenue during the economic depression that began in 1893, the Pullman Palace Car Company cut more than 2,000 workers and reduced wages by 25 percent. When it did not also reduce rents and other expenses at Pullman, the company town near Chicago where most Pullman workers lived, many workers and their families faced starvation. A delegation of workers tried to present their grievances to company president George M. Pullman, but he refused to meet with them and ordered them fired. The delegation then voted to strike..."

[@Mrwizard-ck7oe]

For starters for profit endeavors are not the solution to homelessness or wealth disparity nor are independent charities. We could start with non profit government housing but no way thats happening in America when we cant even get universal health care.

[@leotheripper2357]

Here is an interesting thing: In Turkish the larger seats that can be tilted into beds on a train are called pulman. After the video I briefly researched it and it turned out to be coming from George Mortimer Pullman's name. how on earth did that happen i have no idea. Turkey is too far away to have American made trains idk

[@GuybrushThreepwood-e7n]

What's fascinating is that the USA used to build beautiful brick houses then got amnesia and now their houses are made out of string and cardboard.

[@DivineStride]

We still do, but often wood is more accessible in some areas than good quality clay.

[@MegaDuras]

This reminds me of the way, how settlements are built, in the ANNO 1800 game.

[@MassiveChetBakerFan]

3:14 I wonder why the planner didn't align the city grid with the railroad line... Would have avoided all those triangles.

[@dennis2376]

I am confused, why did Pullman fail. That sucks that it did fail. Thank you and have a great week.

[@barryrobbins7694]

7:32 dictatorial 9:57 not adaptable

[@theotherohlourdespadua1131]

Essentially, Pullman is a company town owned by the company that built it. It is not a community that has a life of its own but a very big house where the company is the overbearing father and his rules matter...

[@barryrobbins7694]

@@theotherohlourdespadua1131 “Dad”screwed up.

[@BillLaBrie]

So many comments just like this. It’s intuitively obvious to anyone who doesn’t worship data and quantitative analysis. Your plans will fail.

[@barryrobbins7694]

@@BillLaBrie Humans aren’t robots. The district heating was great though.

[@falsificationism]

The United States has COMPLETELY forgotten how to do this. China is leapfrogging us on this exact thing right now. Industrial production is good, actually. Planning is good, actually. Give workers power. Don't overexploit local resources. Learn from previous mistakes. Do better.

[@Mrwizard-ck7oe]

Powerless workers is the exact reason this failed.

[@falsificationism]

@@Mrwizard-ck7oe Yep. Capitalism ain't great.

[@shaunmorrison6448]

This is really interesting with our new government here in the UK, which wants to build new towns from scratch in an attempt to solve our housing crisis.

[@its_jawsh6145]

Cool idea, but idk how I feel about a very positive video on a company town.

[@parkersmith1850]

Came here expecting a video on Duloc 😂

[@vincentgrinn2665]

i guess if pullman used steam directly to heat homes and the factory, that would make it first generation districting heating right? the same kind nyc and paris use compared to the more common 3rd gen and currently developing 4th gen systems

[@Aphelion969]

I am interacting with the content

[@protorhinocerator142]

0:10 Spectacular new cities under construction around the globe right now... (shows image of NEOM in Saudi Arabia)

[@jesusfreakpl]

guy played one of those economic townbuilder game IRL

[@amemabastet9055]

A golden cage is still a cage. The freedom of self-determination and choice is more important on an individual level, methinks. Pullman forgot, was oblivious or was corrupted by his dream.

[@nixielee]

workers got a whole town built for them, still wasn't happy

[@nikilragav]

It would have been really nice to have labels on the building in the animation because you just list off a bunch of stuff but it's not really clear what is what

[@Bationnation]

Perfect town needs 6 million eligible bachelorettes

[@JohnnyV.W]

Whenever I see these types of videos it makes we want to play cities skylines so bad

[@BuildNewTowns]

👏

[@gledba]

So Pullman gave them the best town to live in, the best place to work, the best food available, the best housing for workers, etc. And they still weren't satisfied.

[@jauxro]

No, he cut their wages, didn't allow them to own houses, and gas and utilities were very expensive. In the middle of the Great Depression, with hunger hounding your family and Pullman making you work long hours for less pay, you'd strike too