It's Time We Stopped Building These Horrible Places

Don't miss Cities:Skylines FREE TO PLAY between the 18th and 22nd of May! play.citiesskylines.com/AdamS...
You might be smart, but you'll never be "we put all the commerce outside the city and then wonder why the center is dying" smart.
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Fortepan / Budapest Főváros Levéltára / Klösz György fényképei
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[@AdamSomething]

I guess I can recommend Cities:Skylines, as I've played it a bit, only around 1300 hours so far (yes, this is sarcasm). Do check out the free-to-play between the 18th and 22nd of May as Cities:Skylines 2 is coming soon! LINK: play.citiesskylines.com/AdamSomething EDIT: I accidentally wrote March instead of May. Don't worry, the free to play will not happen in the past.

[@slxvyy]

March? March of next year?

[@l_Doc]

@@slxvyy In the video he said 18th-22nd of May at 3:28. So its just a mistake.

[@slxvyy]

@@l_Doc Oh my bad

[@Parciwal_Gaming]

you said, you'd reccomend mods during the announcement of free to play CS. I can't find the Link in the description. Although i am quite happy with the mods I have, there are a few I see in you Video that I'd like.

[@EricoTuus1239]

You should go to this year's "Green" Capital of Europe Tallinn and roast the infra there.

[@gabrielrussell5531]

Fun fact: In the early build phases of Sim City they wanted to factor in parking. They found it was impossible to do so without requiring excessive sprawl, so they axed it.

[@StefanCreates]

Love that :')

[@MadnerKami]

Why does everyone forget about the possibility to stack cars on top of each other in a parking house, rather than wide, sprawling parking lots...

[@cornelimoller8303]

In times where there is apparently not even enough space in most european cities to stack people in appartments above each other, there might be also no space to stack cars

[@TiocfaidhArLa34]

@@MadnerKami because expensive. rather than making a giant concrete plate with paint on it you are making a giant concrete cube with elevators and supports that can hold the weight of all those cars.

[@captainkrajick]

@@cornelimoller8303 not true, because cities like Hong Kong can stack people 10 times more efficiently than most European cities

[@NecroxProduction]

Adam, we need to see your vision of a perfect city build in Cities Skylines.

[@Goat_gamering]

YES

[@AvoxionYT]

I support this

[@drskittleshd839]

My guess would be parking spaces outside the city at tram stations, narrow streets with enough greenery, everything everywhere in walking distance, Public transport everywhere, one way roads in cities and for bus+delivery only, open public spaces like at the town hall or train station and parks. Lots of parks.

[@mroiddzhem7311]

Meh, CS mechanics do not allow to properly build cities without car dependence. You get debuffs for stores being near residential areas and people will prefer to go shopping to random places every day even if it's a long trip. You can literally build free perfet-quality tram system that saturates the entirety of the city but people still will get into a car to drive to a random convenience store through the most congested road ever. After a while it just turns to stupid-ass puzzle to solve congestion without opting for public transportation.

[@MotivationSHCUM]

@@mroiddzhem7311 This is where mods come and save the day

[@noamraichman2647]

Started playing a city building game, ended up becoming an advocate for good urban planning.

[@iwouldliketoorderanumber1b79]

City skylines will do that to you, you learn a lot with that game.

[@misterkaos.357]

One of my friends is a civil engineer by trade, and Cities: Skylines is his favorite game.

[@gabrielesalvatori6804]

also you often specialize in traffic managment

[@ladymacbethofmtensk896]

The trouble with urban planning is that urban planners don't actually live in the parts of the city they are trying to improve.

[@guysumpthin2974]

Downtown Chicago has the best policy, yield to vehicles

[@ccubsfan94]

My favorite thing about outlet malls is the architecture. They are literally trying to reimagine the main street feel, which they destroyed

[@leonpaelinck]

I find it extremely ironic that shopping malls are just walkable neighbourhoods with extra steps

[@lordsrednuas]

Walkable neighbourhoods you have to drive to and can't stay at... For maximum convenience

[@Mernom]

@@lordsrednuas That's not shopping malls. That's satellite malls. There's a difference.

[@Adkit2]

You guys are high. You can't put the same amount of stores holding the same amount of wares in a neighborhood.

[@fallenshallrise]

Or these new malls with no roofs that are somehow more "premium". They save money by building out in the middle of nowhere and by not having a roof and "pass the savings on to you" (actually they keep the savings to themselves, and make you eat the time and cost of having to travel all the way there, and make every employee of the mall eat the time and cost and time of having to commute to the outskirts of the burbs for work).

[@lordsrednuas]

@@Adkit2 where do you think all these shops were before?

[@dtape]

10:45 Microtransactions is a FANTASTIC way to describe the constant money drain of car ownership.

[@thomaskositzki9424]

I thought the same - the car industry used this scummy sceme before it even got a name by the gaming industry.

[@icarus313]

I feel stupid for having not thought of it myself. God damn!

[@TheOmegakix]

r/fuckcars

[@jakobfriedrich5117]

its not even a metaphor. BMW actually started using microtransactions for stuff like heated seats

[@indiebekonn]

@@jakobfriedrich5117 no they haven’t. It was a stupid idea to have a subscription for something that’s built in into the product that you’ve already purchased, yes, so they’ve backed out of it due to the backlash.

[@Biljoona]

A former colleague was taking a training course in the US. Since the training center wasn't very far, he and a couple of other attendees decided to walk every morning there from their hotel. After a couple of days they were stopped by the police because someone had seen them walking on the sidewalk a few times. The caller thought is was so strange that a police should be called to investigate.

[@danielletsgo3367]

I always thought Japan was weird for having traffic laws that protected the pedestrians instead of drivers, but now I realized that we did things right all along.

[@marcbeebe]

Strangely enough malls across North America are dying and closing up, their version of commerce being replaced by on-line retail - the modern version of mail-order which used to be the only choice beyond the nearest general store. What goes around comes around.

[@LuckyAceCard]

It's not just because of online retail though. Lots of the malls closing are in the parts of the country that people are moving out of, you'll notice the cities gaining population close malls very rarely but the cities losing population are closing quickly.

[@marcus3445]

Because they are so far away from people's homes that people just simple buy stuff from home, specially teens which can't drive. If the business were close to their homes, people would go and buy there, because it would be more faster and easy than online purchase. Its truly a "caught in their own web" moment.

[@screamingseal4805]

What’s funnier is that the companies that use to pioneer the mail order system failed to keep up with the times and died

[@IgorRockt]

@@LuckyAceCard As somebody living in Halifax, Nova Scotia, I have to disagree a bit there - Halifax is one of the fastest growing cities in Canada, and just on the other side of my apartment block is the first mall which is now a medical center, and just a few blocks away is the second mall which was converted to office space a few years ago, too. So it's for sure not the "cities are losing population" part as such. What was the killer of the in-town malls here was the new commercial areas on the border of the city (yep, two of them, and both are kind of hard to reach by public transit, and the main stroads there only have sidewalks ON ONE SIDE (if at all), which makes it really hard to get from one place to the other unless you are in a car. Since they are on the outside of town, they can sell their stuff cheaper, so the malls in town were not able to compete anymore, especially after their main people magnets left (read: the big supermarkets, or in the other case, Sears, who basically went bankrupt).

[@BlitzkriegOmega]

But also, why would you drive all the way out to the mall when you can just go to your local Walmart? Chances are, it's significantly closer and significantly cheaper. And anything you can't get at Walmart, you can get online. Online retail is definitely part of the problem, but the other part is big box retail, which have historically always been a bad thing for any community they are put in.

[@user-lt9nb9dx7t]

I half expected Adam to explain the Russo-Ukrainian war in HOI IV after seeing the Paradox sponsorship

[@liesdamnlies3372]

Oh god. I sincerely hope such an abomination never assaults humanity’s eyeballs

[@irwainnornossa4605]

As a Hoi 4 player, I also expected HoI 4 sponsorship, but had no idea how would it work in the video. Then I realized there are other games than just HoI 4. I know…

[@Sultan-mj7sr]

I will just unsubscribe if that happens

[@mroiddzhem7311]

Considering the recent deployment of soviet-era tanks AND the fact that new DLC for CK3 was just released, I was expecting Crusader Kings...

[@Skywarslord]

I honestly thought it would be a ad for Stellaris since they just released a new DLC

[@nunyabiznazz2210]

Once they built the mall here in the mid 1980s the downtown area immediately started suffering from "urban decay".

[@AH-lw2bj]

Same here in my city... We had vibrant downtown until the mega mall was built in the late 70s... It started the slow death, and now downtown is nothing but homeless encampments and services for the homeless... The mall is also now 80% empty, and is basically just a giant food court

[@keithiverson6687]

As an auto enthusiast, I also hate these shopping centres. They purposefully design the entry streets and parking lot easy get in, but make it difficult to leave. They will direct natural traffic flow inside it in a loop to make you notice stores that you might have missed and out routes are blocked by chicanes that don’t need to be there.

[@quillmaurer6563]

These aren't alters of auto-enthusiasm, they are alters of consumerism facilitated by car ownership. I've thought about how you can be a car enthusiast but also hate the mandatory car-centric design of cities. Just that you like cars and driving doesn't mean you enjoy every drive. I love driving on the open road, especially in the mountains. But in-town stop-and-go traffic is miserable no matter what you're driving. I like driving but also wish for an alternative so I don't always have to drive. But where I live the only viable alternative to a car is a motorcycle, which avoids some issues with cars (less fuel/environmental impact, cheaper in all regards, doesn't need as much space to park if suitable motorcycle parking is available, some places can be parked much easier) but still is individual motorized transport.

[@zidriz07ID]

​​​@@quillmaurer6563Take a look at Indonesia. Motorcycle ownership is so high because of how reliable they are (+easy credit). But with uneducated, selfish, dumb poeple now motorcycle traffic is a pain (especially in cities). The flexibility of it made selfish motorists to drive in any gap to avoid traffic. Here they saw a 1m gap between side of the road and a car, they go through it. They even drive off-road (in case sidewalk doesn't exist) to overtake. Even with sidewalk they still drive on it. It's just pain in the head to fix it with the reliability & flexibility of motorcycles, selfish & uneducated peoples, and lacking law enforcement. In short just like cars, one poeple using it for daily is fine but the whole city

[@zidriz07ID]

But doesn't mean I hate motorcycles, I just hate the poeples and the forcing design of city. Just like cars.

[@quillmaurer6563]

@@zidriz07ID I agree that it's not a perfect solution either, especially in a free-for-all like that. But I still figure it's better than all those people driving cars. Could probably say Public Transit > Motorcycles > Cars. But coming from the US, even "cars" would be an improvement over all these huge SUVs and pickup trucks people are driving for no real reason.

[@zidriz07ID]

@@quillmaurer6563 Yeah, for daily commute i'd stick to motorcycles. Light weight, easier, less of a space waste, and cheaper.

[@vinileyro]

The funny thing is these places offer the experience of living/shopping/walking in big and wide car-free enviroments, as long as you drive to get there.

[@Vanilla.coke1234]

They’re like walkable city theme parks. You get a taste of this other reality but it’s all artificial and wholly self contained.

[@blablup1214]

The problem is. The shops in the city are small, overpriced and shitty. They are just there because they jave aways been there...

[@noahsuarez3696]

@@blablup1214 what city are you referring to?

[@blablup1214]

@@noahsuarez3696 For example Itzehoe.

[@ShaggyRodgers420]

@@noahsuarez3696 what city are they not overpriced in?

[@Lt_Koro]

one problem I saw with your sattelite mall model in Cities:Skylines. there was clearly way too much space wasted on greenery.

[@DeusInMachina23]

After all, who need trees ?

[@catmeat2059]

He also used a track from Baldur's Gate called "Exploring the Plains" to talk about cities :D

[@sirsurnamethefirstofhisnam7986]

@@DeusInMachina23 could’ve built another lane on that space

[@Ar1AnX1x]

trees are for p*ssies

[@DeusInMachina23]

@@sirsurnamethefirstofhisnam7986 Mars colony need it ! How will mars billonaires colonizers have access to essential products as Iphones and Tesla ?

[@josephbelisle5792]

I am an American. I love driving. I grew up loving cars. Being on the open road. I taught myself to be able to repair almost anything on a car. But imhave to agree whole heartedly with this content maker. He has made a great analysis and proves how we need to change. Factor in climate change and its more than quality of life and safety, its survival.

[@ethribin4188]

"If a car is your only option,this is not freedom. Its mandetory microtransactions." Adam Something. This is a Very Good quote! Freedom isnt unrestricted access. Its also not getting one thing thats "good enough" for everything. Freedom is having multiple valid options to choose from!

[@Palmieres]

There is definitely a solution. In Lisbon, about 25 yrs ago they built a massive shopping mall in the city. Not outside it, _in_ the city. There are multiple ways to get there, including a subway station right under the building. Since it's so large you have the massive furniture, large appliances and hardware stores inside it. It's packed, all the time. It has been since it opened. Not only because you have a lot of choice and can basically find anything and everything in it, but it's also extremely accessible, whether it's by car, bus, subway, on foot, and yes, even by bike, be it your own or the city's shared bikes service. While it's it not the prettiest or most optimized structure, its saving grace is that you can go there and not have to drive or leave the city. It's also located close to a large residential neighborhood that still has a lot of local businesses open, so it doesn't seem to have impacted them on a negative way. I personally don't really like to go there (hate crowds) but in my eyes it's a great alternative to satellite shopping malls. Even if it's not in the older part of town it's still close enough that anyone can get there from pretty much anywhere in the city in under half an hour.

[@unrulycrow6299]

In Paris, we also have Châtelet, which is both a major hub for metro and regional trains, a central neighbourhood and a large mall with even a whole cinema complex. It's insanely practical, and aside for the stores in there, there's also all the surrounding streets will lots of stores and restaurants/bars!

[@thearousedeunuch]

Is it the Colombo?

[@Alex13501]

Same in Prague, actually, few shoping malls have subway station connected right in to/or next to them. Quite cozy, though i still walk to mine by foot, i live on the edge of city, next to the "Černý Most nákupní centrum" a quite new chonker with everything in it.

[@apc4884]

​@@thearousedeunuch can't be, that place is not within walking distance to the majority of its customer base

[@thearousedeunuch]

@@apc4884 I stand corrected, then. I assumed it was the Colombo because it's a famous mall. I haven't been to any malls in Lisbon for ages.

[@animeguy6877]

I swear Adam is sponsored by taxpayers' money. He keeps promoting trains, cycles and decent livable cities.

[@probusexcogitatoris736]

Those damn taxpayers, trying to force their will upon regular citizens!! /s

[@chrisgenovese8188]

hes a shill for Big Shoe. he wants people to stop using cars so they use more shoes.

[@gorak9000]

But just like the religious types that push their way despite what everyone else thinks, not everyone wants to live in the core of an ultra dense city, packed like sardines into tiny apartments and paying hefty rent for the privilege of doing so. That sounds like a complete hellscape to me - being packed into a box surrounded by karens and HOAs / condo boards telling me what to do with every second of my life - no f'in thanks

[@rowanjones3476]

@@probusexcogitatoris736 how dare he. He should be paying politicians for that sort of influence. /s

[@synka5922]

just that our taxes in germany (hes german) dont go to anything that would help its people, instead its all pumped into the car industry and given away to other countries

[@DEGriffSoc]

I am reminded of the Discworld novel 'Reaper Man', which describes the process by which a city, as a living entity, can be killed by a parisitic lifeform that turns out to be an edge of town shopping mall.

[@ruthbennett7563]

GNU Sir Terry ❤

[@Southerly93]

I think the biggest problem is that driving isn't really a life choice in North America. It's a necessity. I can't even leave my apartment complex by foot without walking through grass. Even then, nothing is in practical walking distance except a gas station... and the sidewalk ends at the gas station. I really want one of these urbanism channels to start brainstorming ideas to reclaim areas built for car dependence because if everyone in the US just moves to more walkable neighborhoods, then 90% of America will become abandoned, and the other 10% will cost $80,000 a square foot to live in. Beyond that, I really love what's left of the historical walkable south. I wish the sun belt could become more like Europe in its city design. It would be truly great to live in a place like that

[@jameswhitehouse2713]

Being in the UK, that part about shopping centres and big businesses killing town centres really got to me. Where I live, the first shopping centre in our region was built when my mum was still a teenager, since then the high streets that used to be lively with people looking at the independent businesses and preserved victorian buildings at the heart of the town is completly closed up and boarded, the railings and catwalks from the Covid restrictions built to keep people in orderly single file lines are still there the council cares so little for it. All the while, the asphalt cauldron that is Merry Hill has sucked the local region dry, with only massive international businesses affording to set up shop there, as independent businesses always close down in less than year due to how exorbitant the overhead cost is of being in a giant poorly ventilated box shop with no windows. I wish I could have the high street back!

[@artski09]

good old Dudley

[@brookiecookie472]

Can't stand merry hill, my mom calls it merry hell

[@jasonhaven7170]

Then stop voting Conservative and Labour. Vote Green. Shop at independent shops.

[@nukkuminen]

Meanwhile, talk radio hosts will lament the death of the British high street, blaming it (in proportions varying depending on their political affiliations) on Brexit, austerity, Covid-19, pesky youngsters, online shopping etc. etc. missing the open goal of the legacy of the post-war car-centric urban design. And even when we have got retail in our city centres, it has to be confined to an indoor mall with an obligatory multistorey car park. Worse still, many new city-centre residential developments have no retail at the street level, further deepening our dependence on the Holy Mall.

[@jasonhaven7170]

@@nukkuminen Then stop voting Tory.

[@CityWhisperer]

Fun fact about the IKEA in Vienna. The first few floors are fully used by them, with even a restaurant, but the top floors are a hostel. I stayed there in July and it was incredible to just be able to go have breakfast, lunch or dinner by going one floor down to the IKEA restaurant. They even share multiple lifts, which serve as access to multiple sections of the IKEA and its restaurant, and the hostel. Conveniently located next to a major train station and multiple tram stops.

[@craigfoulkes]

I love this idea.

[@afrosymphony8207]

its a great idea but just cause a mall cant be built in the city doesnt mean it shouldnt be built at all. The majority of his arguments just hinge on him milking the "cars are bad" take in everyway possible. the idea that we shouldn't build malls away from the city because they cause traffic is so unfeasible and just plain ridiculous, its him being a karen.

[@CityWhisperer]

@@afrosymphony8207 A mall *can* be built in a city. Multiple examples of malls in cities can be found, and to a certain extent, the aforementioned IKEA is actual proof that even furniture stores can work in city centres.

[@MunyuShizumi]

​@@afrosymphony8207"B-b-but if we ban lead, the children won't have any toys to play with!"

[@afrosymphony8207]

@@CityWhisperer my point is that it shouldn't be the only option. So no one can build an affordable mall or furniture store outside the city if the ones in the city happen to be overpriced because traffic?? yes from a business standpoint OBVIOUSLY it makes sense to build it in the city but this idea that it should be banned if its in the city is completely unfeasible its ridiculous.

[@bulletholeteddy9223]

As someone in the UK it's so annoying, usually there will be buses there but it's so sad seeing high streets which have been alive Hundreds sometimes thousands of years being dead because they made a fancy inaccessible shopping centre right at the edge of town where hardly anyone lives, it's also kinda weird since most pubs and restaurants haven't adapted so there's no retail in town just a place to drink

[@Tobunari]

You know it's funny, we call them "Outlet Malls" and the one that was built recently has been _STRUGGLING_ to stay open. I'm surprised it still is after the pandemic but still there's barely anyone or anything there. It's a place retail chains go to die.

[@AllenSchreiber]

Outlet malls are a bit different. Outlet stores (with outlet malls being a collection of outlet stores) are where manufacturers sell their product directly to the customer. Like having a Levi's store that only sells Levi's jeans and other Levi's products. As opposed to something like Walmart where they sell Levi's, Dickie's, Wrangler, etc.

[@carriebartkowiak]

Along with what Allen said, outlet malls are also different in design. Google each example given below and look at the satellite map image. Outlet Mall: The parking lot is surrounded by sections of the shopping center. "Queenstown Premium Outlets, Queenstown MD" Shopping Mall: The shopping center is surrounded by an enormous parking lot. "Marley Station Mall, Glen Burnie MD" Strip Mall: The shopping center, built in a straight line (a "strip" of stores) is adjacent to the parking lot. "Value City Furniture, Glen Burnie, MD"

[@chuckyxii10]

​@AllenSchreiber they are also where they send product that fails quality control. I grew up poor and my grandmother would always take me shopping there. It was amazing that you could buy a 2 dollar pair of jeans there because they had a tiny unnoticeable flaw in the stitching somewhere at a time the rich suburban kids were paying a hundred bucks for ripped up because they were fashionable.

[@sanninjiraiya]

This sounds really similar to my home town. Every time they opened a new mall, it would immediately lead to another mall dying and a shift in where the major traffic accidents are concentrated.

[@lordofallspoons4190]

Imma take a wild guess and say Cincinnati?

[@profet1385]

​@@lordofallspoons4190 that happened in some of towns in Poland where i live. The demand for those shopping malls isn't big enough

[@PainCrashDaGPuff3000]

Salt Lake City?

[@Ziscy]

As soon as the point of the video was clear I IMMEDIATELY thought of Chemnitz Center, because I grew up in the area and drive by that monstrosity regularly. Not only is it absolutely and unmistakeably car-centered, but it also feels kinda eerie there. Oppressive somehow. Overall just very badly designed. Thanks for this video, it's fantastic.

[@liesdamnlies3372]

Oppressive? Car-centric? Imagine that, multiply a few times, and paste that feeling _everywhere_ and you’ve got North America. The moats around us are nice (some people call them oceans). The cities…

[@Ziscy]

@@liesdamnlies3372 yeah, I saw a few videos concerning this, and I was baffled to learn that many (suburban) areas don't even have sidewalks. It really hurts to see this..

[@tnickknight]

@@Ziscy better than fake sidewalks no one ever uses of

[@MadnerKami]

Chemnitz in general is a rather oppressively-feeling city. You really feel the artificial post-war build-up the city went through during, communist/socialist rule.

[@weiss7002]

@@tnickknight 🤡

[@rosskuhlman]

Kudos to you for being the first youtuber I have ever seen who managed to make their sponsorship both non-disruptive and an essential part of the video! I wish they could all be so well implemented. Also I had no idea you are in Germany, hello from Berlin :)

[@TheAlison1456]

styropyro did with a table in his part 3 of old recipes vide

[@jbm0866]

Paradox may have paid for this, the WEF certainly endorses it

[@carolynlarke1340]

In the US I read that a lifetime cost of a car is from $250k-650k. I think every one of my friends who've reached retirement age, broke and poor as mice had nice cars for decades. I on the other hand was trained by an enlightened father not to get emotional about them, how to find good ones for little money and how to fix basic things to keep it running. For years my limit was $400 cost for a car. I was always the last owner. Now, I've retired with money in the bank and am looking at a move to another country for the village life Americans abandoned because we've been told we LOVE our cars. No wonder our society has gone mad.

[@TimothyCHenderson]

The most ironic thing about these places (we call them smart centre's in Ontario) is that their road networks are often poorly designed. It's a car centric space that can't even do that right and navigating through them can be a harrowing experience.

[@lordsrednuas]

It's an interesting phenomenon to be sure. Because they are so quick and convenient, even car centric design doesn't really concern itself much with efficiency. It's a symptom of the same thinking that gives rise to the 'one more lane will fix traffic' idea. The car itself is perceived as so ideal, that very little thought has to be given to the rest of the infrastructure. And yes, I know that traffic engineers do exist, but how much priority is actually given to finding solutions when *gestures wildly* this has been allowed to happen.

[@kw9849]

It is baffling that they design these places to be car-centric, and then put in the absolute bare minimum amount of effort into making them actually traversable by car.

[@TalesOfWar]

@@kw9849 It's because they want to use as much of the space they have for car parking bays rather than to aid the flow and movement of the actual traffic it brings. It's rather absurd.

[@grahamturner2640]

@@kw9849 yeah. A lot of indoor shopping malls in the Phoenix valley are surrounded by roads that have 2 lanes in each direction but don’t have turning lanes, and the massive parking lots can be a pain to navigate through, especially during holiday shopping seasons. Even the freeways aren’t free from massive design flaws (e.g. the SR-101/I-10 interchange by Tolleson, where there’s a lane merge as soon as traffic from the 101 is going onto I-10 east, and traffic going on from 91st Avenue must merge into that, and the next interchange, which is 83rd Avenue, doesn’t even have a dedicated exit lane, and that’s made worse by I-10 getting an additional lane at the interchange with SR-202).

[@norezenable]

There are places such as the mall that I specifically don't go to just because of the inconvenience of parking. The bigger the place is, the worse the parking. Walmart is another big offender. I hate walmart parking lots. They are chaotic. It would be smarter of them, in my opinion, to put their stores in the middle of the parking lot. Instead, they usually put it all the way at the back, with no parking behind the store. This obviously limits access and stuff. They could probably actually increase their profits and such if they took a more rational approach. Instead, we have legacy admissions to harvard making the decisions.

[@jdfg2574]

I was born and raised in Chemnitz. As soon as the video began I thought "Hm, isn't the Chemnitz Center a satellite mall too?" AND THEN IT IS LITERALLY THE MAIN EXAMPLE FOR THE VIDEO. I JUST CAN'T That said, it is really fascinating to see these places which were basically an integral part of your childhood being recontextualized in such a video. Thanks Adam!

[@Nullgender]

Same

[@technoturnovers7072]

speaking as a beginner driver, our "car-centric" stroads and expressways freak me the fuck out like, I don't *like* having to go 55 mph to get anywhere, I would rather drive down a perfectly reasonable city street at 25mph and stop for pedestrians than increase my blood pressure having to make sure I'm staying between the lines and stopping soon enough on a 3-lane road produced by urban sprawl

[@CsImre]

@@technoturnovers7072 If you are afraid to go 55 mph on a grade separated dual carriageway you shouldn't be driving maybe.

[@technoturnovers7072]

@@CsImre you did get the part where I said /beginner/ driver, right? I'm sure I'll eventually get used to it, and that's not the point of my comment

[@itsyaboydanno7143]

​@@technoturnovers7072you need to think outside the geschwindigkeitsbeschrankung

[@coasterblocks3420]

The Robina railway station on the Gold Coast Australia was supposed to be built under the dubiously named Robina Town Centre shopping centre but the developers objected because it would attract “undesirable elements”. So the station was instead built a kilometre away next to a swamp.

[@yazu1624]

Danke, dass du diesem Thema mehr Aufmerksamkeit verschaffst. Nur so kommen wir hoffentlich irgendwann zur Besinnung und schaffen lebenswerte und lebensfördernde Städte - für Menschen. Grüße aus Hamburg :)

[@rayvaul3539]

Ah Ja! Hallo Yannik! Those malls can be so dummkopf! Sorry, my German is bad at the moment! I want to reconnect with my German ancestry.

[@viiranen]

oh. ive been wondering why my old hometown was basically dead. this video explains so much. i thought satellite malls were a symptom of something wrong with the city planning and not the fault.

[@baronvonlimbourgh1716]

Satelite malls are a failure of city planning. Here we are seeing a bigger focus around deliveries in retail stores dispatched from warehouses. I suspect it is to compete with online retail but it could have a positive effect on locations of these stores. If deliveries are become more mainstream these store no longer need huge storage attached or to be somewhere with loads of parking because people need to lug mega tv's back home etc. So they can simply setup somewhere in the center and just dispatch big items from somewhere else.

[@thelittleredhairedgirlfrom6527]

Reminds me of mine too, but our big satellite mall died too, got replaced with another, even bigger satellite mall, and now that one is also dying.

[@BlitzkriegOmega]

It's all sort of interlinked. Satellite Malls, suburbanization, and car dependency. Each of them on their own are undoubtedly bad, but they require each other in order to justify their existences.

[@viiranen]

@@thelittleredhairedgirlfrom6527 yeah lol. Same is happening in my home town. Mall died cause they built a bigger one across the street and the big one is also now dying cause there is nobody buying things because nobody wants to live in the city, because there is nothing to do and so on and on

[@MadnerKami]

@@BlitzkriegOmega And then there's also efficiency and competativeness, which is often overlooked. A centralized structure like a mall can offer a lot of services at one place, which cuts costs both for the customer and the companies. They're very attractive in that regard.

[@supernus8684]

We have a satellite mall outside of my city in Sweden. This has resulted in every single shop leaving the city center and now if i want to buy anything that i can't find at the local food store like clothes, tools, electronics,, kitchen supplies, etc, i have to go to the satellite mall. This sucks because it has killed the city center and i have to go to this stupid place filled of stuff and people whenever i need anything out of the ordinary.

[@mollof7893]

Sweden wish it was USA again....

[@johtajakansio]

I bet there is still people blaming biking, and a lack of parking and other car amenities in the center.

[@Gnaaal]

Which town? Väla is being tough for Helsingborg center as well.

[@Adkit2]

So you want your city center to have a store for clothes, tools, electronics, kitchen supplies, etc, with enough wares and throughput to handle an entire city? That is so dumb. There's a REASON why these places are in the outskirts of cities.

[@ianhomerpura8937]

Why not? A lot of countries still do that. I mean Tokyo wouldn't be the iconic city today if it did not have entire districts dedicated to specific consumer goods, i.e. Akihabara and it's tech and gaming hubs.

[@jonreededworthy7518]

I'm autistic and live next to the bypass road that cuts through my seaside town. My windows are permanently covered in soot, and vehicle noise reverberates between the buildings lining the road. I want to scream sometimes with how *fucking* noisy it gets every day, especially during the summer when it's too hot to leave the windows closed and tourists slow the traffic to a crawl.

[@NavaSDMB]

In Europe, the arrival of the car led to compactization (is too a word): people who used to live in farms moved to the village. In the US and later Canada the opposite took place.

[@ashholiday123]

Ive always thought americans were weird for having "Jaywalking" be illegal which is not a crime in any other country in the world and when you pointed out it was basically a marketing campaign by American car manufacturers it all clicked into place. Thank god the car industry was never as good at lobbying in Europe because thats horrendous.

[@mihael64]

Technically, jaywalking is illegal basically everywhere in europe and in many other countries. But in europe at most you can get a fine simply to discourage you from doing it so that you don't get run over by a tram or something

[@tjampman]

@@mihael64 No, Jaywalking actually means crossing the street where there is no zebra crossings. In Europe pretty much the only place you are not allowed to cross is near to but outside of zebra crossings. Of course we have laws for pedestrians and where and how they can cross the street but not to the same extent as in North America and Jaywalking is distinctly American.

[@destronger5313]

it’s not illegal in california with the exception of when. if there cars coming down the street or whatever, it’d be illegal. but if not then we can cross streets if safe.

[@stylesrj]

Jaywalking laws are so ingrained into pop culture that someone like me in Australia is confused about how they work and I wonder if every time I cross a road I'm breaking jaywalking laws or something. I have to keep reminding myself that jaywalking is almost exclusively an American thing...

[@mihael64]

@@tjampman I didn't know that. Thank you for informing me, I'll do a bit more reaearch before making a bold statement like that again.

[@sadunlap]

I keep thinking about Douglas Adams and the Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy. One of his main characters was an alien taking human form to live on earth and try to observe humans by fitting in and living among us. The name he chose for himself, indicating his confusion about the dominant life form of our world, was "Ford Prefect."

[@tjampman]

Didn't he also struggle to get in contact with the earthlings, by trying to talking with the cars... or something like that It has been so long since I read that book

[@sadunlap]

@@tjampman I just checked (I have the book) it tells us that "he made one careless blunder ..." which was his choice of name. There's no reference to him talking to cars, (not that I could find, anyway).

[@hanshelga]

​@@sadunlapI think in the movie he runs into traffic while trying to greet the cars and has to be saved by Arthur. But him thinking that cars were the dominant species (and him attempting to communicate with them) is just subtext in the books, never explicitly statet. As far as I remeber.

[@gemstonegynoid7475]

@@sadunlap the movie shows Ford trying to shake hands with a car in the middle of the street, which arthur dent saves his life by tackling him out of the way. which is why theyre friends

[@sadunlap]

@@gemstonegynoid7475 @Hans Helga Thanks. I did not know that. I do not remember the movie.

[@boaz7927]

I'm glad that in new Zealand geography makes satellite malls practically impossible. Also most people live in just 3 citys surrounded by mountains meaning most malls are just a short tower of parking and shopping. Also in Wellington we have a giant national park that's pest free.

[@deathscythehellfunk]

What about The Base in Hamilton? Botany Town Centre in Auckland? Ferrymead in Christchurch? They are all car-centric hellscapes.

[@boaz7927]

@@deathscythehellfunk many but compered to America it is a paradise. The geography of nz forces every thing closer together makeing not putting in public transportation hard to ignore.

[@deathscythehellfunk]

@@boaz7927 Compared to the US maybe, but compared to Europe it's bad. I come from The Netherlands and lived in NZ for a few years. People in NZ behave much the same as in the US. They don't care for anyone who isn't in a car. There is barely any proper infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists. Bus services are spotty, train services are absolutely atrocious. NZ roads are too wide and of poor quality. Being better than the US is a VERY low bar. The only reason NZ isn't as bad as the US is because far fewer people live in NZ. The attitude to planning and traffic design is very similar to the US. And I'm sorry, but the geography of NZ forcing things closer together is total nonsense. Even cities like Wellington that are squashed between mountains are far more sprawling than they would be in Europe. Population density of NZ cities and towns is significantly lower than for Dutch cities, even though the Netherlands has no mountains. The available space is very poorly used.

[@luca-hall]

​​​@@deathscythehellfunk I live in NZ and what you've said is true. I'm visiting the UK at the moment and the public transport is so much better here. Especially the trains. Population density is much higher, VKT per capita is lower. I can actually walk on the footpaths not having to watch for cars coming out of driveways every 5 meters. And yeah, geography has nothing to do with it at all. There's clearly plenty of land, seeing as they keep building suburban sprawl and big box retail stores in the main population centers.

[@rhubarbpie8709]

I've lived in New Zealand and I'm pretty sure it has the highest cars per capita rate in the world

[@nyxiom]

I'm from Vienna and gotta say the new Ikea is absolutely amazing. it being so close to the city centre and easily reachable by train, metro, trams and buses also encourages to go there for small purchases instead of ordering online. even my mom who lives around 45mins per car from another ikea in a mall south of Vienna now takes the 1h train to Vienna to go to the new one

[@Pidalin]

We still have plenty of local small hardware stores in Czech Republic and even in Prague and they mostly have better stuff and for even better prices than those oversized hobby markets, but when I need something in Bauhaus or Obi or something like that, there are some of them near metro station, for shopping some smaller furniture I could go to Jysk or check some bigger hypermarkets like Tesco, they also have some home stuff which I can just take and transport by metro or bus. I visited IKEA only few times in my life, it's mostly somewhere where I really don't go often when I don't have a car and IKEA furniture is mostly piece of shit, it will fall apart next year, there is like milion other options even in center, local furniture stores or I can just order something online, no need for IKEA. But I actually work in furniture factory, so I can buy some things in work or make something by myself.

[@johan13135]

IKEA is just another unsustainable big business producing cheap furniture made to be thrown after a few months. those along with car-centric cities among many things most be gone

[@vaidaspetrulis269]

I almost stopped driving cars because of this channel. I've noticed that our city has made a massive step forward with bike lane infrastructure, so I bought myself a bike and now if I need to go to work, I go by bike or bus. At least one less car on the road during rush hours. And everywhere else, if it's a viable options, I do not choose car anymore, it stays parked for a whole work week. So thank you for opening my eyes.

[@joenuts5167]

And thank you for being so understanding and accepting of change! Save the car for what it’s supposed to be for! Going far and carrying more stuff than you can on bike racks, which is very rare. Props to you mate 💪🏻 enjoy the bike :)

[@theghostofspookwagen4715]

Biking makes you healthier, slimmer and sexier, makes you feel better and gives you a more open and free view of your area you don't get from cars.

[@CordeliaWagner]

Why still have the car? What about Car Sharing? I sold my car when I moved to a walkable neighborhood. Why pay insurance and taxes for something you don't use?

[@CordeliaWagner]

You can always RENT a car.

[@vaidaspetrulis269]

​@@CordeliaWagner Because I still use it. That's why in my original comment I written "stays parked for a whole work week". In the weekends we (I and my girlfriend) drive to her or my families, go somewhere far enough that without a car it would be a major inconvenience. P.s. I don't live in US, so I don't have that issue. Insurance is 200$ a year, and no taxes for having a car. It's much cheaper to have a car than to rent it every weekend. Especially when it's a Prius.

[@kevinbarry71]

If it makes you feel any better, in the United States we have scores of dead malls. Where nobody goes and it's either closed or about to be

[@LostShipMate]

Or its open, but patrolled by random gangs. There's a stabbing/shooting at least twice a month.

[@creatrixZBD]

A natural consequence of the type of “planning” the profit motive tends to push to the top, rather than when we design/build for human needs. America is a red flag, an example of what not to be.

[@AdamRossD]

Yep. Of the two malls in my city, one closed recently and the other is at least half empty. Malls killed the small shops and now Amazon/eCommerce is killing the malls.

[@barence321]

@@AdamRossD There is an active mall here in NYC. Most of the stores are occupied, and people actually go there to shop and hang out. I think it still works because it is adjacent to Herald Square, which is a major public transportation hub. Nobody needs to drive to visit this mall!

[@danielbishop1863]

@@LostShipMate : You made me think of Greenspoint Mall in Houston. Or as the locals call it, Gunspoint.

[@RXP91]

Delivery is really underrated for car free living. In London we can get anything delivered including groceries from anyone next day with an hour slot. I never shop in a store anymore unless I’m abroad

[@sren595]

I think another positive example is the "Cittimarkt" in Kiel. It has all the typical features of a typical satellite mall: giant parking lots (partially underground) and a direct highway connection... but it is quite accessible by bike (directly at a "bike highway") and has a train and bus station.

[@Cam_Wight]

Here in the UK, up north, most town centers are dead. In fact I've watched them die as I've grown Just full of pawn shops, bet shops, 'pound shops' and takeaways etc. But we also have lots of retail parks. It's not the only reason they're dead I'm sure but after watching this video no doubt it's a major factor.

[@thenamescarter8279]

Much of it started with maggie thatch and continues under tory half wits

[@jasonhaven7170]

Stop voting Tory.

[@d.b.4671]

Sounds like "Life In A Northern Town" needs an update.

[@Cam_Wight]

@@jasonhaven7170 Never have but I agree

[@unclenogbad1509]

Also hairdressers and nail bars? Can't move for them here, but at least it brings foot traffic.

[@EllieCollie]

What’s weird is that in the US malls and such were originally idealized as a walkable living spaces with houses in them, facilities and some shops to have funding but of course it just became shops.

[@CordeliaWagner]

Imagine you can open a shop in a suburbia! And a Café and a Restaurant. Sadly nobody seems to want it.

[@bird-war]

​@@CordeliaWagner it's not that people don't want it it's that they're illegal to build in the middle of a neighborhood

[@ultrademigod]

@@bird-war In the US and Canada that may be true, but in Europe it definitely is not. In fact almost all modern housing builds have some kind of retail element onsite. They finished building three big tower blocks last year near to where I live, and the ground floor of each has several different amenities, including a restaurant, grocers, butchers, hair salon, gym, and even a doctors surgery. Meaning residents can walk out their front, go downstairs and get whatever they need, without ever needing to get in a car.

[@EllieCollie]

@@bird-war I think you made that up buddy.

[@bigfatstupidfish2397]

I personally would hate it if McDonald's were allowed in residential areas. If small businesses are allowed to, you bet your ass megacorps will too

[@TheDoplarEffect]

I also live in Leipzig, and recently tried to cycle to the local IKEA. An absolute nightmare, ended up on a road with 70km/hour traffic and gravel paths the moment I got close.

[@bessmertni]

What is the point of cycling to IKEA? How do you plan on carrying a 20 kilo bookshelf on cycle?

[@TheDoplarEffect]

@@bessmertni i Was only going to pick up a couple of smallish things. 10kg max. Then I strapped them to the bike.

[@reniesulaweyo4383]

Why would you cycle there, they have their own bus route!

[@TheDoplarEffect]

@@reniesulaweyo4383 yeah, but it's 10 EUR there and back. And Google said they would both take an hour (Google lied)

[@BulukEtznab]

​@@bessmertni You know, there are things like *Cargo Bikes* or *Bicycle Trailers* out there in a non-car-centric World - beyond the Horizon of car-conditioned minds!

[@Intrafacial86]

The real death knell for our local mall wasn’t when the Sears was closed and turned into a call center, nor was it the surge in gang violence. It was when Chick-fil-A left the food court.

[@Sbeckford0000]

Yeah, those tend to generate quite a bit of traffic.

[@nickzproductions]

My mall also manages some properties around the mall. I worked at an awesome music/movie store that used to rent a building across the street. Eventually when the lease was up they wouldn’t let us renew the lease and kicked us out to charge someone else more. The real kick in the gut was they put a Worksource office into the old building. 😢

[@Loveportorchard]

yeah where can you get hate chicken now?

[@Intrafacial86]

@@Loveportorchard Two freestanding locations: one that just opened nearby, and the original across town that is gonna start renovating soon to increase drivethru QoL for customers _and_ staff.

[@blackdragon6]

I don't get it. Chick-fil-A is mid AF

[@aMiyafuji]

Oh my god I love that microtransaction analogy so much. It's such a perfect way to put it, except they aren't so micro anymore which adds to the problem even more.

[@dbclass4075]

Microtransactions generally apply to anything that doesn't have an upfront cost. Cars are not of them.

[@mechanomics2649]

Which is funny as hell given his sponsor being paradox, a studio ready and willing to sell you hundreds of dollars worth of DLC, most of which should already be in the game you bought.

[@Daijyobanai]

@@dbclass4075 The car industry is pushing hard for leasing instead of outright purchases. Why sell a loan that leads to asset ownership when you can sell the same loan and take back the asset yourself? Then re-sell the asset. genius! In the future you will own nothing and you will be happy. [v. high rental fees may apply]

[@philipmcniel4908]

To be fair, public transit is also a microtransaction, and you don't come away with an asset at the end of your ride either.

[@norton750commando]

@@philipmcniel4908 True. But as with a car, one does get to their destination, which is the purpose of the microtransaction. Also, the car is a depreciating asset (unless it's a vintage Ferrari 250 GT TDF or similar).

[@Testuser582]

Have been a follower of your channel for sometime but never understood the gravity of the poor planning in US until recently. Recently been to Phoenix and never felt stuck in the middle of a Downtown before. Amidst the dry heat, no free community areas or Shadow area to get a break from heat. The heat is reflected from both walkway and the side walls. All major shopping center are dispersed across the city making us heavily depended on uber for traveling from one point to another. I expected this from some remote part of the country, not in city center. As a phd scholar, i become an expert on living on below minimum wage . But in Phoenix, i felt like a destitute with these unnecessary expenses. I felt so dependent on my friends to take me from one place to another. I did have metro valley tickets, but in many cases, 3 miles of travel took 1 hr with connection services in the middle of dry heat. Do they give any shit about pedestrians?

[@tjampman]

"Do they give any shit about pedestrians?" Yes, they hate you for walking on the road! (even if there is no sidewalk)

[@janthran]

phoenix is the example of all examples, a city that defies god and should never have been constructed. it has less than 50 years before it just dies because it's so completely unsustainable

[@overbeb]

@@janthran And it's one of the fastest growing cities, along with other sun belt cities that will also be inhospitable in a few generations. Lots of children and grandchildren of Midwestern/Great Lakes transplants will be coming back.

[@zivmontenegro8303]

I think there is a huge potential to develop a city with huge spaces around such as parking spots. In Toronto is the same and I strongly believe that we can get rid of huge parking spaces and construct a building or whatever

[@tillitsdone]

@@janthran Same with Las Vegas, it never should've existed. Now Lake Mead rapidly drying up while they water golf courses

[@frantiseknovotny2674]

You shown Zličín. Compared to what is usual in the USA, this is still well connected by public transport mainly one (or two) underground station and buses. It is also connected by sidewalks and new development is getting closer and closer to that so more and more people go there shopping by walking.

[@GAIS414]

I was in Chemnitz in 2003 on tour with a band. Man It was a sight to see for us western kids, a derelict Soviet mining city. Back then there were no complaints about traffic in that there. There was hardly anyone living in it. I talked to a guy who told me that roughly 80% of the population had left Chemnitz after the wall fell. It was such a depressing place. Everything was dirty and worn. The city core had big, hulking, soviet era brutalist style office buildings, I remember orange and brown curtains flapping in the breeze through several broken windows. Man, the communists did a number on that place. They even renamed it Karl Marx Stadt until the people dared voting to name it back to Cheminitz again in the 90's. Glad to see it's cleaned up and populated again.

[@giannandreag]

As an economist, often traveling in some of the cities that you mention in your videos, you might not even know how much I appreciate your content and the description of the silly society that we live in.

[@epis8613]

As an Alchemist, I agree.

[@colonelarmfeldt8572]

​@@epis8613As a natural philosopher, I concur.

[@normtrooper4392]

It still boggles my mind how much influence car companies had and continue to have on international society.

[@xaviersanchez159]

I’m so happy more people are being made aware of this. The more people know the faster this can be fixed! I live in Chicago suburbs and transit to downtown is great but trying to get to other suburbs sucks

[@kenon6968]

No real fix to that

[@MilwaukeeF40C]

The main roads in the suburbs are pretty much the same farm roads that were established in the 1800s, aside from the interstates. Still outside rush hours, you can drive almost anywhere around Chicago in about an hour.

[@aronchai]

Chicago is in dire need of orbital train lines connecting the suburbs to each other.

[@mulethedonkey2579]

No, you can simply build a bus route

[@PokhrajRoy.]

As someone who grew up in a close knit community, you realise the alternative which despair and isolation (which is not to say that it is absent otherwise)

[@Prawnsly]

As someone who grew up in despair and isolation, I enjoy Animal Crossing

[@TheScotsalan]

Yup, they are doing the same all over China just now. Knocking down all the close knit organic communities, and building non stop high rises.

[@rickmorty7284]

Nah bruh. I like my space.😅😅

[@manhoosnick]

India?

[@ForeverAlonne]

growing up poor in california (20k~y/r) the cost of a car was always soul crushing even as a kid, and since I never traveled I never read about the world outside of me, so thank you though for making this video as it makes me really happy seeing an environment that can thrive without the excessive needs of cars also the diner bit was spot on thank you for that xD

[@erinmac4750]

Another Californian here, this is SO much our reality. I hate that cities seem to think this is a good move. We have an older shopping district and two malls near the community college and small university. Due to bad city policy and myopic planning (if any) and bad property owners, these areas have struggled to keep business despite being "walkable" to to a significant population. Notably, there are Walmarts in the edge of town shopping centers. But our town has bigger problems right now, such as a major school district being investigated by the DOJ for among other things disappearing $30-40 million. Personally, I'd say look into all the superintendents we've had, around 1/yr, with golden parachutes, then senior administration and the school board. None of those folks care about the students or teachers. It's serious drama, and the kids are paying for it. 🤬

[@ShaggyRodgers420]

@@erinmac4750 walkable stores tend to be expensive and have crime. It is not profitable to run them. How often do you shop there versus cheaper places?

[@erinmac4750]

@@ShaggyRodgers420 When I can. Also, you can't make a blanket statement about the crime. That depends on a lot of factors.

[@AtomicDig]

​@@ShaggyRodgers420this might be the most American thing I've ever had the "pleasure" to read. Walkable stores exists all over the world without being neither unprofitable or dangerous

[@LC-wv7tz]

​@@AtomicDig American cities are crime-ridden crapholes, which is why suburbia exists because everyone that could afford to abandoned them as fast as they possibly could. Now why they are so crime-ridden and other systemic issues that keep them that way is another answer, but the story isn't as simple as Adam has pointed out. There's a confluence of factors that made it so North American didn't develop in the same way that Europe did. Chief among them is the simple fact that most of their growth and expansion happened in the last 80 years, well after the advent of the automobile. If Europe had been built from the ground up in the same time frame as North America, it would look similar too. But it wasn't so it doesn't. That's not a reason not to try and change things, but it's exceedingly difficult. Maybe impossible to do so.

[@TonyEmond]

The funny thing about those shopping compounds is how you can't even park your car in one place and do all your shopping like you would at a traditional mall -- you literally get into your car, start it, drive a couple of hundred meters, and park at the next store you want to visit.

[@JonMartinYXD]

Chemnitz Center, 0.52 km². Aw that's adorable. I have three words for you: South Edmonton Common 1.3 km² of urban hellscape right beside what was the last intersection on the main road leading south out of the city. Opened in 1998, everybody who had even half a clue knew that it broke every rule about good urban design, would suck big box stores even further out of the city, and would cause a traffic nightmare at that intersection. It got built anyways and everything that was predicted came true. Within seven years the city had to start planning to replace that intersection with a massive interchange, that ended up costing taxpayers the equivalent of $325M CAD today. Despite occupying 1.3 km² of land, it only has 0.21 km² of retail floor space (16.2%). The rest is parking lots and roads between parking lots.

[@louisjagger2177]

I'm 36 and never learnt to drive - it's never been too much of a burden. I do live in London, though, which strikes me as one of the few places in the UK if not Europe you can grow up in without feeling any need to - I have the sense that unless you're in a massive metropolis with excellent public transportation networks, the pros of learning to drive must at least seem to outweigh the cons for most people. Still, I'm counting the inaccessibility of satellite malls as a personal plus!

[@aliteralpieceofbread3373]

Here in HK we don't need cars

[@meowtherainbowx4163]

It's not just city size either. It's how exclusionary the design of everything is.

[@jousis_]

Sure, London & Paris have excellent (dare I say perfect) metro/tram/bus network but most if not all EU capitals & many secondary cities have very good public transport network nowadays. You don't need to learn to drive. It's good to know how to drive for extreme cases (emergency) but you don't need to.

[@tefky7964]

@@aliteralpieceofbread3373 HK?

[@jasam01]

I've been to a lot of the UK, and yeah, Londons one of the few places viable to traverse on public transit on the regular. Even going to London for a weekend requires either a car to get me to the train station (+ parking), or a bus plus a MUCH more expensive train ticket that leaves so late I have to add an extra day accomedation

[@Jobe-13]

I never even thought about how human-centric past cities used to be. Damn.

[@kw9849]

Streets in particular. It's shocking once you look into just how communal and important to the social fabric they used to be.

[@TalesOfWar]

@@kw9849 Paris is the only real outlier here, as they built huge, grand boulevards long before cars were a thing when they redesigned most of it after the revolution. This was to make it harder to riot though, and the many roundabouts they added with clear views down the big long streets were perfect for shooting the gathering crowds.

[@korinoriz]

Adding to KW, it's terrifyingly ironic how far right nuts pride the US in being a "family" or sorts, but suburbs do the exact opposite, and cars contribute to the isolation so many modern urban people feel.

[@OBSMProductions]

When you've grown up in car centric planning and the past few generations have too, it's not hard to believe that we're brainwashed.

[@mard9802]

I avoid malls - period. The level of angst they induce on me is not worth it.

[@galladebutcooler8645]

8:38 well… Amazon taught us that delivery exists. Why would you wanna go with your own car there when there’s a specialised service that delivers to multiple clients in one travel? You’re still paying for gas, just don’t. Edit: OF COURSE 9:51, OF COURSE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT THAT TOO. I fucking love this channel. When things are obvious they are just so predictable.

[@tjampman]

7:16 Traffic Lesson no. 2: Only play in designated playgrounds! (Also invented by the car industry to avoid all those pesky mothers complaining their kids being killed!)

[@sosig6445]

to be perfectly fair a going to the playgrounds as a kid always beat just playing on the street.

[@OllieS-kx6lo]

@@sosig6445 but mabye that just because those streets were made so hostile that they werent ever seen as an option. Originally streets WERE the playgrounds.

[@RAFMnBgaming]

That's kinda crazy to me. I spent a lot of time as a kid playing on and cycling on streets in my local area. I imagine stroads probably make that horrible though.

[@LRM12o8]

@@sosig6445 that's just because the streets you had available sucked. Going to a playground never beat riding a bobby-car, scooter, bike, skateboard, rollerblade, etc. or driving an RC-car around a track painted with chalk onto the street right in front of my parent's (or friend's parent's) house, without having to worry about traffic when I was a kid. I remember once on our way home from the football club, a few friends and I stopped smack in the middle of a four-way crossroad where our ways parted and kept chatting for almost an hour without a car approaching ONCE. It was really cool when we first realized how long we've already been stood in that crossroad for and we promptly decided to keep delaying and testing how much longer until a car would approach. We ran out of stuff to talk about and got bored 20 - 30 minutes later and still haven't seen a single car, not even moving somewhere in the distance.

[@sosig6445]

@@LRM12o8 I lived in extremely low density suburbs and the streets didn't suck they were just boring, what was great was the nearby forests and fields where we often took our mountain bikes for stunts.

[@shaider1982]

9:15 I think of Japan, specifically their train system in cities like Tokyo and Osaka or even just the bus system. For most instances, they can use the train, making the traffic light. For the times you need to use a car, it becomes easy since the traffic is very light.

[@IreneWY]

And Japan was also one of the first to experiment with downtown IKEA shops.

[@mute1085]

The walkway right next to the road with no separation and *sloped towards the road* around 7:00 is really terrifying to me. It ensures that if one slips and falls, it would be right under the wheels of the murder-box.

[@secard4202]

Let's bring back horses.

[@Rumade]

My husband and I went to the mini IKEA in Hammersmith the other day. Main differences were the canteen bit is tiny, and it's weirdly way easier to get lost in there. But it was perfect for getting smaller stuff like bedding, frames etc. It's a great idea.

[@meliksahgulmez9664]

When I first saw the ikea in Vienna, I was surprised that it wasn‘t a long, space wasting box. But the more I passed by, the more my curiosity grew. And thanks to this vid, I can understand the purpose of the ikea.

[@danielscott4514]

When I lived in Sydney, Australia (back in the early 2000s) I chose to live in the very inner suburbs, because the lifestyle there was so much better than the outer suburbs, which required car commutes everywhere. I worked out that - in the inner city - owning a car cost about $3,500 a year - factoring in that parking cost about $30 a week, registration about $850 a year, insurance about $200 a year (I had an old car that was only worth getting third party insurance for - as a younger driver it would have been over $2,000 a year if I had owned a car worth comprehensively insuring), and allowing between $500 - $1000 a year for servicing and maintenance. I didn't use my car to get to or from work (I either worked in the inner city where I could walk, or chose jobs outside of the city that were close to train stations or ferry stops), so I was also paying $30 - $50 a week for unlimited public transport within various distances from the city. I figured $3,500 a year was a lot of money to pay for occasional weekend convenience, so got rid of the car, and rented the car space I wasn't using to a neighbour for $30 a week and had a very healthy budget to take taxis if I was coming home drunk at 2 in the morning and it was pouring rain and I didn't feel like a 15 - 20 minute walk back home from wherever I'd stumbled out of. That budget also left plenty to occasionally hire a car for the week if I had hardware or furniture shopping to do. I suspect many cities have an equivalent of "Bayswater Car Rental" who, back then, had a fleet consisting only of white 5 door Toyota Corolla Hatchbacks, which could be had for under $300 for the week, complete with excess reduction down to a $300 excess. So, for the 1-3 weekends each year where I really needed a car, I could have one, along with the convenience of occasional door to door car travel (in a taxi, without the hassle of having to find anywhere to park), I was still paying less than owning a car (and that was without factoring in fuel or tolls or any of that). There are plenty of ways to have the best of both worlds, and in a city of any reasonable size, it's still likely to work out cheaper and less stressful being car free I say this as a bit of a "car guy" too, who loves nothing better than fanging a fast car around a winding country road. You can keep your city commuter driving though - I'll take the train any day of the week rather than sit in crawling city traffic. The leftover from the car budget has occasionally hired me something fun on holidays too: e.g. Mazda RX8, and Holden SSV Redline Commodore ("last of the V8 interceptors") ;)

[@imonbanerjee2997]

I love your story. I completely agree. Maintaining a car could easily be $1000 a year, then there is petrol, registration, insurance and the price of the car itself which would easily be a subscription service of $4000 a year. $4000 is a lot of money. I can live car free, rent a car for the occasional weekend outing, have a yearly overseas holiday, AND have change left over for retirement funds. I especially like the fact that if you live around 15 minutes drive from your workplace, a used scooter/moped/Ebike will do everything a car does for $100 a year, and can be parked in a bicycle spot. Cars definitely have their place, and I love an efficient hybrid, but I really find it hard to justify one for daily use.

[@TheBeatlesShow]

You have a Mazda RX8? AWESOME! That's one of my favorite cars!

[@DonHavjuan]

How were you paying more for rego then than I do now. Oh yeah. Lies.

[@sixstringedthing]

I live in northern Sydney about 30km from the city and public transport isn't too bad here, I'm lucky enough to be 5mins walk from the nearest train station. But unfortunately I work out west and my options for commuting are either paying close to $50 per week in motorway tolls (plus fuel and wear'n'tear) for a 45-60min journey each way, or spending about the same in fares and 3-4 hours each day on multiple trains and busses. Western Sydney has a network of "T-way" express lanes for busses which is better than nothing I guess, but the sprawl is generally designed around road transport (a lot of logistics hubs and distribution centres out there) and there's simply no direct way to take a single train then a single bus to get to my workplace. Even the nearest bus stop is a bit of a hike up to the nearest arterial road. A colleague cycles to work (from a slightly nearer suburb than mine), but there's no way I'm fit enough to cope with that. There's even fewer options for people living in the Northern Beaches coastal suburbs too, no train lines up there at all, all driving/riding on the road, all of the time. I used to work on some pretty flash houses up there and the queues of traffic all trying to get home from the city as I was driving in the opposite direction were just hellish sometimes.

[@kskairborn]

oh yes cities skylines. i tried to play this game and wanted to build a nice city... until i realised it is a stupid USA-City builder game where you have to do everything with roads for cars and cant do it just with puplic transport. Then i quit xD

[@lachlancampbell6328]

Thank you for bringing up that cars are often the only option for many. Where I live in rural Australia, like most of the country, cars are the only option due to distances and lack of public transport (before having a car I had to walk into town which was at least a 40 min walk unless I got the twice a day bus that passes through the small town I'm in). But that's an issue on a huge scale that our current economic society will not be dealing with

[@Nala15-Artist]

There is a reason that this is called "urbanism", not ruralism.

[@CordeliaWagner]

Most people live in big cities. Nobody tells people in rural areas to give up their car.

[@_Juke_]

@@CordeliaWagner some Definetly do

[@tramachi7027]

​@@CordeliaWagner as someone who has been told before by City dwellers why I would need or want a car because for obvious reasons...they defo do.

[@Roanmonster]

The solution for this would be to have accessible public transport with car parking. We have this on a small scale in my country. Busy cities have transit hubs at the borders where you can park for free if you can show that you've taken the train. Very handy! That way you can run your errands in the city center without clogging up the scarce space and also not take hours to walk to a bus stop or something.

[@spacecadet9663]

I live in a city in the Midwest of the United states, and this video really hit me where it hurts. Every even moderately well populated area in the Midwest has a satellite mall on the edge of town, and every single one of them has roughly the same shops as the last one. Hell, in my hometown the entirety of the northwestern most edge of town is completely dominated by a massive shopping complex that includes a normal mall structure as well as three or four strip malls located around it. And what's funny about all of that is the simple fact that the only store I have ever shopped at there was the scheels contained within, just cause they sell ammo and other hunting goods. I have legit never made a purchase there that would inherently require a car to transport back home, and yet there isn't a single public transport line that runs directly out there.

[@killjoy1887]

For better or for worse Amazon has all but killed Malls they are more like zombies at this point in my little corner or the world or at least they are nothing compared to what they were 20 years ago.

[@idedary]

It warms my heart that what you described as optimal solution happened in my home city olomouc in czechia. It is basically a student city where 20% of inhabitants are students of 1 university so public transport is important. There is a sattelite mall that died down called olympia after they built malls in the inner city like Moritz or Šantovka. All the customers shifted there because its on their way to bus to go home every single day so its easy to get to. But as every city the traffic gets bad at rush hours, so I hope they will introduce car entry limit soon, with which they are currently experimenting in Prague! If that happens it will be an ideal city to live in!

[@lgtbtgaming6331]

So, the government intervened to build the facilities and redirect consumer traffic and thus subsidize businesses in a wealthy part of town, collapsing the long-established businesses in other parts of town, and this is a good thing?

[@peterpeterson4800]

It's really a viscious cycle. Everything being built for cars means more people will be forced to buy cars to get around, which means bigger roads and more parking, which means more people will need a car etc.

[@michaelzlprime]

Skylines advertising with Adam is a stroke of genius

[@midnightflare9879]

The pinnacle of an urbanist youtuber's carier: when you get sponsored by Cities Skylines.

[@thomaskositzki9424]

True that! 🙂

[@yuvalne]

another advantage of delivery is that it's WAY more environmental than car traffic, even when the truck is a big diesel truck. a single delivery truck will always outperform 20 cars, even when those cars are Teslas.

[@philippbuchler6637]

I live in Chemnitz for 2 years because of my studies. From all the malls I've only been to vita center once, because I never bothered riding 30 minutes with a bus the Chemnitz Center to get to Media Markt when I can get the same at roter Turm Passage in the city center. Also Chemnitz has with the Kaßberg a very beautiful historical living quarter all parked up with cars.

[@wasgehtsiedasan5432]

I remember when I visited my grandparents, we drove to these malls very often. They lived a ca 30-60 minutes car drive away in a smaller town, which actually always had all of the stores you had in these malls, but for some reason my grandparents preferred to drive a long ass route to these malls. I never quite understood why

[@jeredgarcia6227]

There's a book called Edge City that describes this mass urbanization. First, homes move out to the suburbs, then shopping & retail move, and finally, jobs move, making the suburb an independent "city" separate from the historical. It's mildly terrifying.

[@Little-Buster]

I agree what you say, and I do agree that you are a living god among humans who's qualified to single-handedly solve every urban planning issue on the planet.

[@lozza342]

It took me a moment to fully understand what one of these is, but then I remembered that when I took geography at school, one of the case studies we did was about the Merry Hill shopping centre just outside of Dudley, UK. It is the closest example of one of these that I can think of. It all but killed off the local shops in the centre of Dudley and was overall just a terrible idea. I don't believe the town has ever recovered from it, such a shame.

[@EnRandomSten]

this is exactly what happened in my hometown. when I was a kid, going "down town" meant to go to the stores and our small but packed galleria. today all businesses are located in a satellite mall where your two options are driving there or waiting for a buss that comes every 30 minutes to an hour. This absolutely killed all stores in the down town area turning it into a ghost town with restaurants and cafes being opened and closed on a bi yearly basis.... fun.

[@screem_]

you just described what I was not able to put to words, I moved to populated city and always felt alienated at the public places where people say they hang out, the malls felt artificial and a cheap imitation of what I used to have back in my place, just now I learned about the satellite malls and that explains everything, the shitty food chain restaurants, the malls, the movie centres, the employees who have a dead look on their face all huddled together in a far off place gives a sad and depressing vibe. Thats why I urge my friends to go to less known squares and visit stalls instead of these places.

[@quillmaurer6563]

They aren't really "public spaces" though. They're commercial spaces poorly attempting to pretend to be public spaces, but of course with the expectation that people are only welcome if they're there to spend money.

[@janemiettinen5176]

Ive lived all my life in the capitol area (of Finland, basically 4 cities melted into one huge) and I didnt even realize how weird some things were, because Im so used to them. Only after having friends from smaller cities and towns, Ive learned different perspective. I was telling how annoying it was to drive to moms for over an hour (in the traffic) to my small town friend, she was quiet for a while, then asked “But doesnt your mom live in Helsinki too? I thought she did.”. Yes, she does. In her mind, an hours drive took you several towns over, maybe to the nearest city. But then there was other things, like the ease of the public transportation, that she didnt experience. If they wanted to go somewhere, they had to call older friends with cars or hitchhike, it wasnt as easy as to go standing on the bus, train, metro or tram stop. To me, these little differences are fascinating. We live only 400km apart, but our youths have been so different in some ways. You just get so used to what you got and try to make the best of it, I guess.

[@screem_]

@@janemiettinen5176 totally agree with the ease of transportation, the metros are extremely important to me. Over here we either use a bike or car to go around my town because of lack of public transportation but the traffic is increasing like crazy every year, so now I've come to like the city a bit more, plus I like hanging out in the metro station to grab some food from the stalls there.

[@SirGeorgeScotland]

I don't know about other countries outside the USA, but here, most of these malls are either slowly dying, or are already dead. And so, believe it or not, the bus lines that lead to them, provide the most cars in the parking lot, because they are using the mall as a park&ride to get on the bus and leave thier car in the parking lot.

[@Lilas.Duveteux]

I live in Canada, and oddly enough, most shopping centers in medium-sized towns and cities are relatively accessible by bus that comes everytime in 15 minutes, each half hours on weekends. Even if they have large parking lots, it is almost always connected to a public transit center. Oddly enough, I tend to find lively streets to be over stimulating and have a hard time walking in them.

[@yaqxs]

Leipzig had a huge satellite center that looked exactly like Chemnitz Center, but then they rebuild everything, making it three times bigger and "modern looking". It is now called Nova (Eventis?) and there is a single bus route from Leipzig Hauptbahnhof with a tiny bus once per hour. It is a hell and I hate it deeply.

[@oiaeyu]

Side note: the compact ancient/medieval city is only applicable to Europe and middle east. Many ancient civilizations in E and SE asia and Americas had cities that were very spread out.

[@ShivaShakur]

Yeah this video sounds so much like propaganda that I stopped watching halfway thru. Anti-personal freedom, Eurocentric, etc. 'This video proudly brought to you by - 15 minute cities: "You will own nothing, and you will be HAPPY!" ' Imagine not owning a car and having to wait for a bus or a train to take you somewhere, only so you could manually lug your weeks groceries back to the house on that same smelly and inconvenient public system. Oh joy. I'll take a car or motorcycle and living a few miles from town, any day.

[@thefloridaman6527]

If you bike from Chemnitz Center to the main station again, i can recommend you to take the bikeway following the river Chemnitz 😄 It takes 10 minutes longer, but is much more enjoyable.

[@nethri1]

As someone who rode public transportation to and from work for 8 years (2 trains each way), you will never catch me on public transportation again if at all avoidable. It is insane and a terrible experience

[@mechanomics2649]

That is because it is woefully underfunded and no one cares about it. If it got more funding and more people cared about it, it would be a much better experience.

[@nethri1]

@@mechanomics2649 I disagree. For me it was the fundamental situation of being crammed into a giant metal structure like Sardines, as I get forcefully carted around. The more I did it, the more I hated it. I've ridden extremely subpar public transportation (MARC, Metro, and busses around DC), and ridden high-end experiences (Brightline in Florida) - and at the end, I will choose to drive every time I can. Even if it was provided to me 100% free, I will choose to drive.

[@Moerp100]

It was only a matter of time that you mentioned Chemnitz in one of your videos. It's an urbanist nightmare here, mostly

[@CordeliaWagner]

Hat aber viel kulturelle Bereicherung! ☝🏼

[@CordeliaWagner]

Hat aber viel kulturelle Bereicherung! ☝🏼

[@nicolai8820]

Die Stadt hat eigentlich ganz gute Infrastruktur für Rad und Fußverkehr könnte besser sein klar,aber ist "ok".

[@youtubeuniversity3638]

Makes me wonder how well City Skylines actually lets you implement good city planning/urbanism and how much it encourages more of the problems today sees. I wonder if and if so how the sequel will improve on that.

[@Raum2901]

This a problem all city builders have since sim city, the genre mostly centers on american urbanism by definition (having residential and comercial spaces separate instead of mixed like in many countries for example)

[@Bohrman8]

Not well in my experience, the game is very car centric in how it expects you to design cities, especially without mods. The sequel apparently addresses that to some extent though so I can't wait to check it out.

[@wta1518]

@@Raum2901 That's mostly because mixed zoning is much more complicated to program. It's not like Cities: Skylines is meant to be Ameri-centric, it is developed by a Finnish company and published by a Swedish one after all.

[@stephengray1344]

There's a series of videos trying just that on the NJB Live channel (which is Not Just Bikes' second channel).

[@tristanridley1601]

CS is far worse than any of the old Maxis games for obsession with US Style suburbs. You literally start as a highway interchange... They only added public transport as an afterthought. They have tons of distortions of their traffic model to make US suburb style development work, and not something like Amsterdam. I've played dozens of city builders, thousands of hours. CS is the worst and most pro-car.

[@pizzasharkguy3807]

I'm lucky enough to be in one of the few places in the USA that are ACTUALLY walkable. Thank god!

[@gegitherein6039]

That's amazing, in my city Edmonton, I can literally go anywhere I want with only 6$, it's easily the best way to travel, I can just take a bus to the train station then take the train to another bus stop. I hope America realizes how good public transit can be in the future.

[@deathstrike]

Where I live in the mountains in America, unfortunately cars (namely SUV's and trucks) are not only a necessity, but they have had the reverse effect here. Instead of any kind of major public transportation that could have been built, they made it mandatory to own a vehicle by restricting how business is conducted. Big box stores like Walmart serve rural areas, but offer NO amenities such as being within walking distance, nor having delivery. Same with grocery stores. Only large cities have the populace to offer alternatives like public transportation or better bike or foot traffic paths. It's all based on how much revenue a place brings in. The smaller the area, the less revenue, thus the more effort it's populace must place on themselves. And rural, mountain, and distant towns have to basically rely on themselves for virtually everything. This is how the auto industry made itself the lifeblood of rural America. They basically made it so expensive and difficult for families to rely on anything less than a large, well fortified, well built SUV or truck to navigate the broken roads, difficult terrain, and utter lack of places nearby to shop.

[@mix3k818]

Man, your bike driving montages really do remind me of most of Poland. If a city has dedicated bike infrastructure, it's either fine or really good. When it's not there though (and trust me, even the bike-lenient cities are spotty on this), you end up in places like in Chemnitz.

[@MajimaEnterprises]

Same here in the UK. I go to my local city to ride my bike because it's safer and more relaxing than riding around the semi-rural area I live in. In the past, it would have been the opposite way around. We live in crazy times.

[@thepaintingbanjo8894]

Man I hope Cities Skyline 2 will have a map maker that's far bigger than the 5x5 mile nonsense we all get. It doesn't even cover 1/10 of the massive sprawl that is my home city of Denver.

[@Jack908r]

The North American mall is the perfect summation of suburbanisation. Its very little good, and mostly bad, only ever surviving on temporary cash from ultra good times.

[@klarastimelapses]

Definitely the best example of satelite mall in Germany is A10 Center in Wildau, close to Berlin. Sometimes even the A10 highway is clogged because of the traffic going to the mall! It was possible to build it closer to S-Bahn station to provide a good alternative for the people wanting to buy there, but no, they decided it was better to build it right next to the highway, 30 minutes walking away from the station. And examples of this type of malls are all over the Europe. USA is not the only place suffering from gigantic malls outside the cities