Phoenix: The Urban Desert (2003)

Phoenix: The Urban Desert, a 2003 documentary film produced by Northern Light Productions and the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, looks at rapid growth, suburbanization, and sprawl all around the Phoenix metropolitan region.
Check out the new and updated Making Sense of Place films at: msop.lincolninst.edu

[@Lzrdman91]

And in 2022 Phoenix gained from 2003 about 2.2 more million people.

[@MetroCollectablesandvlogs]

Crazy right! I been here since 2008 and man.... my area is so packed now. thats why we moved here was to get away from the crowds. Not anymore!

[@timward3116]

@@MetroCollectablesandvlogs The politicians keep smiling and talking about all the big companies they're bringing to the Valley, but they don't mention that a lot of the big companies end up bringing some of their employees with them and that the "good-paying jobs" are far outnumbered by the number of people already here in need of well paying jobs. (By the way, why do politicians always say "good-paying jobs" when the correct wording is "well-paying jobs"? I guess they're just trying to be folksy because most people didn't learn grammar in school. Maybe a focus group determined that a politician should seem uneducated in order to appeal to uneducated people? Or maybe they outlawed adverbs?

[@Frankoman64]

@@MetroCollectablesandvlogs Yea now to get away from the crowds you'd have to move to Black Canyon

[@MetroCollectablesandvlogs]

@@Frankoman64 absolutely ... even Coolidge, Florence, Eloy, AZ city ... its nuts

[@maxasaurus3008]

Who are you Yoda? Strange your sentence syntax is.

[@rredcrush]

I was born here in East Phoenix, May 1990 & it seems Phoenix is way more popular than the last time I lived there.. it`s shocking to me because nobody used to talk about living there..

[@desmondslater]

Dude its so overpopulated here its annoying

[@Wrldisyours]

Blame inflation 😳😳😳

[@Wrldisyours]

Blame Joe Biden and Joe Biden administration

[@realkaylajoy]

@@WrldisyoursLmao I moved here because Biden won and if I had to deal with his economy I was gonna be somewhere with good weather

[@samsquanch1996]

In 50 or so years nobody will live there, it will be way too hot to be habitable.

[@user-mg3kj5vg4l]

I am a first-gen Zoni. Seeing "Bank One" on the Tower brought back many memories. The World Series. I remember when LUKE AFB was "out there" and 75th-83rd Ave was the end of civilization in certain parts of the WV. I remember Glendale used to have that small town feel. I remember going to America West Arena where the Suns played. Shoot, I remember AC Green & Charles Barkley playing. I even remember the dark purple uniforms. I remember going to a Bulls/Suns game and seeing the "burning ball" graphics on the screen as it travelled through the "city" and hearing The Allen Parson's Sirius being played. I remember the crowd going nuts. I remember when Bank One Ball Park was built and the DBacks, with their purple, turquoise and white colors, were the hottest thing. Randy Johnson, Curt Schilling, Bob Brenley, Gonzo, Jay Bell were all part of the dream team. The 2001 World Series was a miracle and divinely planned. That was a much needed distraction from the horrors of 9/11. I think I still have the post game CD and ring they gave out in the 2002 season. Metro Center...cant forget that place. So many memories.

[@billyc9151]

My grandfather moved there in the late 1950s, and he and my grandmother would 'snowbird' all through their retirement years. They settled permanently just a few years before my grandfather died in 1992 and my grandmother left the city for good a few months later. I haven't been there since then, but I remember my grandfather telling stories of how small Phoenix (and Las Vegas as well) were back in the 1950s. He was a builder, and contributed to the early growth...but he loved the desert, and I truly believe he would hate to see how gargantuan the metro has become. His beloved desert, and the spaces between the cities are are a dusty memory now, where we spread his ashes in 1992 is now paved and housed -crowding the base of South Mountain.

[@benjaminsvorinic8515]

Great story, and I was born in Phoenix in 1992. No disrespect, but one life passes, another begins. Crazy 🤯

[@LibertarianMexican]

I live in Mesa, and my folks told me how small the valley used to be when the I-10 and I-17 were the only freeways.

[@drizzt8965]

I was born in Mesa in 1962...🤔@@LibertarianMexican

[@taylorc2542]

Meh. noeMalthusian hipsterism. The scariest cult is pretentious virtue signaling.

[@allencolvin4320]

Arizona holds a special place for me. When my late father was still alive, we would drive up into the hills around Tuscon. I still have an aunt and a few cousins in the Phoenix area.

[@jonsand7216]

Interesting to watch 20 years later

[@xayrosantacruz6923]

Love this so much!! Arizona really is a unique state each state with its own urban legends to facts, love ya!

[@sergeantseven4240]

So crazy, I was at tempe town lake park when they did the snow piles in this video and I was like 13 years old.

[@lylebarnard7447]

If you can put up with 105+for 6 months you will love this place

[@azgunner]

Stop being dramatic, it’s not 105 degrees plus for 6 months of the year here. It’s hot for a solid 4 months and starts cooling down after that with highs below 105 degrees.

[@lylebarnard7447]

@@azgunner Forcast for Phoenix 110 degrees enough said

[@aimlesslost]

My family moved to phx 100 years ago. There was plenty of water and quality of life was higher for them. It made sense to move here at the time. I doubt they would have moved here if it was a later era. It feels like "home" to me, but i often think of other places to escape if we run out of water / to escape summer high temps / to escape high air pollution / cost of living (at this point ) / etc

[@xScooterAZx]

Hehe,..I dream of escaping back to Hawaii. lol.

[@billveek9518]

We're not going to run out of water, do the research, check out the pleasant valley (before it's too late)

[@green_light_8806]

The indigenous peoples living there left it easy for my colonizer brothers and sisters. may yall have kindness, hope, and love in your temple!

[@fishrowe420]

I've been here since 81. I was 10yo.... I've been from Seattle to Boston since, but my forever home is in Ahwatukee. I LOVE the desert and all that Phoenix and AZ have to offer. ❤

[@michaelt.9372]

This is heartbreaking. This is nothing what Phoenix is like anymore.

[@laz288]

As a 26 year resident I have seen the decline and over population coming from California bringing their failed policies. So Sad.

[@Fatal_Inertia]

@laz228 there are the rare conservative Californians that actually believe in the Arizona dream, I think we can share our state with those people so long as they adapt to the Arizona way of life. But for those just looking to turn the great state of Arizona into another California, we should find a way to make this place so unappealing to them that they avoid it. Even at the cost of advertising this place as hell.

[@zanaynay]

I was born and raised in anthem. weird to see it like this. :0--

[@xScooterAZx]

This acts as though Phoenix is a new city. It isnt. It's 124 years old,and it's been growing since it's birth. The average temp is NOT 85 degrees. It's usually over 100 degrees for most of the year. Only dropping down in the winter time.

[@rmpm66gmailcom]

Think you struggle with the word AVERAGE...? 1 plus 3 plus 5 = 3 average... not 5?

[@lok777]

It is only above 100 for like 4-5 months in the summer. And it is not really hot until it hits 110 anyways.

[@xScooterAZx]

@@lok777 Really? I live here in Phoenix and it isnt pleasant once it hits triple digets. Perhaps you might not think that 108 or 109 is hot but every single person I know does.

[@lok777]

@@xScooterAZx I am OK until it hits 105-110. June-Sept are hot AF but the rest of the year is nice.

[@xScooterAZx]

@@lok777 I am originally from Washington state though Ive been in Phoenix for 24 years now and still wilt in 105 heat. XD

[@michaelhensel4022]

Arizona is the place to live, good times

[@boogitybear2283]

Not anymore. The whole country is becoming 3rd World with a 1st World Dressing.

[@azmadeclutch9666]

The year I was born

[@johnjay9404]

The problem is, people are like a virtual cancer. They collect in an area, spread and consume every resource. And when people have drained its host, they move to another area and the process starts all over again.

[@richardmenchaca8010]

San tan valley population prediction from the one lady on the video, she was right on the dot!

[@RedditTunesNews]

It’s was basically a desert back then

[@rapman5791]

“I aint gonna play Sun City” 🎵

[@Lzrdman91]

45:59 that neighborhood cleaned up for sure. Now 2-4K apartments litter that area.

[@joshpeck3575]

I have a video on my channel with that neighborhood it's actually still pretty bad lots of gun of gun shots and gang graffiti check it out on my page.

[@rodrigofranco7853]

Construcción was lk wow..concrete companies..hardrock..baker. suntec..all. montains..desert.. water..👍🙏

[@atatterson6992]

How can "Gonzolo" be a required part of the local economy when he sends all of his money to Mexico?

[@fishrowe420]

And now anthem is touching the north valley. One giant city. There's really only a few minutes of nothing, between here and Tucson. North Tucson is so close to Marena and that to Phoenix. ONE. GIANT. CITY. There's houses from west of Palo Verde nuke plant, to Gold Canyon out east.....

[@easchannel8710]

This was back when grass was the cool style and rocks were ugly

[@rossothecrimson7]

How many are from California??

[@cosmiccomrade3108]

Beware. This documentary reeks of the Club of Rome's Limits to Growth and Mathusianism.

[@williamkatzer7824]

How times change

[@rodrigofranco7853]

🥰😎👍

[@Cyrus992]

Misleading documentary. The boom of Phoenix was largely due to other areas going downhill. Folks wanted to escape Rustbelt economy and the high costs/taxes from states like California. Immigration (Arpaio and SB 1070) also played a huge role which then led to White flight.

[@atatterson6992]

Immigration increased because of Arpaio?

[@rapman5791]

Arpaio was hardly the reason for white flight. Peddle your nonsense elsewhere 🤡

[@Cyrus992]

@@rapman5791 you twisted my point. Immigration led to White flight and Arpaio

[@TylerChristoher]

People would rather cheat another individual by barely paying them, so they could buy more stuff they don't need, More luxury more vehicles bigger house, burn an individual and his life so you could have more. Greed. Insecurities. People need to think about people more I'm sick of it

[@miqbarrios1931]

2024: they still building freeways 🤦‍♂️

[@timward3116]

Interesting to see what became of Phoenix and its suburbs (which are basically huge smaller versions of Phoenix). Running out of water. Homeless drug addicts hopping around on street corners, sometimes screaming at traffic. Endless seas of over-priced and cheaply built dirt-colored stucco homes. A pedestrian-prohibitive non-descript downtown. Brown air. Insane politicians and losing candidates who claim they won regardless of what courts say. Double-digit inflation. A light rail that is basically busses hooked together. A massive teacher shortage. A massive cop shortage. A nurse shortage. Slave wages. But hey, the Superbowl is coming! And the winters are pretty nice!

[@ralphjohnson3202]

@ Tim Ward I'll take Phoenix over crappy ass Seattle any day you think the homeless problem is bad in Phoenix try living in Seattle this place is a total shithole.

[@timward3116]

@@ralphjohnson3202 So I've heard, Ralph. So I've heard. Maybe Seattle trully is worse most of the year, but we might give Seattle a run for its money. It's worse during winter, here, because the weather is more hospitable than in the summer. I remember my birthday several years ago, though. As I walked across the parking lot toward the door of the government office where I worked, I noticed something strange by the door. As I got closer, I could see it was the two butt cheeks of a bent-over homeless guy. As I ran my card through the reader, I watched his poop dropping down onto the sidewalk. One time, I went for a walk at lunch and saw a fat woman on all fours (her pants around her ankles and her fat round cheeks pointing skyward) on the lawn of the capitol building. I stood several feet away and watched her growling and burying her nose into the grass. She became aware of my presence, though, and lifted her head up, smiled at me, and panted. Seattle might have more homeless, but Phoenix might have more homeless nuts. Can we maybe call it a tie?

[@MetroCollectablesandvlogs]

100 percent! Soon our beautiful state wont have any more Desert. Because they will keep building subdivisions on it. Sad to watch

[@timward3116]

@@MetroCollectablesandvlogs I've watched the decline for decades, and this place is a mess... and it seems to be an unfixable mess. Oh well, it is what it is now. It would be nice if we could stop making it worse, though.

[@MetroCollectablesandvlogs]

@@timward3116 I hear that.... I to think its to late, they are letting more and more ppl in and keep expending. I mean look at the price of eggs at the moment. $9 for a 18 pack. Cmon now. and the average cookie cutter by me is 400k ..... it should be 280-320k ppl will find out the hard way. over paying for a house that was put up in a few months.

[@IamDaniel247]

The government is incentivising affordable housing in 2023 causing more and more population growth

[@jeffreykoran4820]

TOO MANY PEOPLE HERE...

[@scottdunn2178]

We moved to Phoenix in 1972 when I was 6. Sad to see the conservative Barry Goldwater state I grew up in turn into a leftist shithole...

[@Buckseed]

Phoenix is still very much Klavern...the Klansmen hate diversity. Thanks for proving that.

[@jodaciarmani8264]

You couldn’t pay me to live in that cookie cutter hell . Will somebody please show that developer the color wheele. How can they see where there home is when it’s camouflaged by every shade of brown

[@JeffSmith-it4tm]

Wa wa wa stay up north kid.

[@xScooterAZx]

@blobmonster9494 The power goes out down here in Phoenix every so often and we arent in "big trouble". We just hang in there till it comes back on. We dont whine all over about it.

[@gooseluck3269]

I’ve lived here for a few years, it’s so much worse than you could ever imagine. Hundreds of dying businesses with giant square colorless buildings about 10x too big than they should be. Endless sprawl with absolutely zero walkability, attempting to walk anywhere will legitimately kill you in the summer. Insane amounts of homelessness, during the summer they die in droves, thousands of uptight white flight refugees in their disgusting death boxes react to the issue with vitriol and hatred, the heat only amplifies anger on both sides. Everyone is miserable and angry, even in the winter, people are still statistically terrible to eachother, road rage is insane here. There is legitimately nothing to do ever, unless your idea of a great day is golfing in the blistering sun, and capping off the day at some hipster dive bar selling overpriced IPAs for miserable bearded men who will never stop talking about how Arizona was totally amazing before Californians invaded. The Sonoran Desert is a deadly, uninteresting hellscape, our lakes are filled with all sorts of disgusting insects and are always overcrowded, filled with grown men who call their jetski’s “toys”, ripping up the water and slamming pop country until the wee hours of the night. Seriously, this place is one of the worst cities in America, it takes literally everything wrong with the modern world, places it directly into the depths of hell, amplifies it all by 10, and then fills it with some of the most annoying people from all across our fertile habitable lands.

[@rapman5791]

@@gooseluck3269Who 💩 in your corn Flakes? Stay miserable ☀️

[@Fatal_Inertia]

I love Arizona, and always will. The Sonoran desert is my favorite landscape on the planet. But this documentary was an eye opener. I absolutely hate the amount of development going on in this state. But I understand people's desire to have a home on the edge of the city. We should keep it that way. Stop expanding. People are leaving because of it. If we're going to keep the Californians and snowbirds out, and preserve the land that we have left, we need to stop expanding and work with the housing that's available. Even at the cost of higher housing prices. Resources in the desert are few and far between, and if we're to divide those resources efficiently, then expanding is not the answer.

[@DontcallmeaCuck]

Such a NIMBY. Why don’t you go move to the Maryville

[@kinnertubbyson]

I'm from the future... DON'T MOVE HERE. It sucks. Everyone listens to Nickelback.

[@rredcrush]

Nickelback was still 10× better than the crap on the radio these days.

[@morenofranco9235]

Thanks, But No Thanks. This is planning against inevitable disaster.

[@atatterson6992]

I know, let's import 10 million more people from 3rd world countries, that'll help.

[@oby-1607]

What an oversized dump out in the middle of nowhere. People moving here just to have a home, not because of it being a destination. Do you live for your work or do you work for your life?

[@atatterson6992]

Good show but awfully heavy on the hispanic angle... i.e. the old mexican woman, 3 years in the country, wants to live on the golf course, really?

[@TeezyT_Sunrise]

KZbin Teezy T Phoenix. Songs the truth