US vs Dutch Suburbs: Which is Better?

Some people have asked me to make a video directly comparing a US suburb to a European suburb, so here we are.
And it was even worse than I thought.

[@eax2010EA]

It's paradoxical that US is praised as a place of freedom while having the strictest land zone codes.

[@majestyk3337]

The place of freedom where you may one day not be able to get an abortion.

[@maaiker2977]

Freedom is the freedom to do what you want and be safe. You should have the choice to cycle and do so safely. You should have the choice how you life....not be boxed in by zoning rules. You want to drive...fine but get a drivers license so you don't harm others. You want a gun...fine but you should get a license and people need to be protected from you. Etc etc. Thats freedom. Restricting people and taking away their rights to choose is the opposite of freedom.

[@tedd2361]

@@majestyk3337 Hmm, you may also need to know that Europe is much stricter when it comes to abortion. In most of Europe the legal limit is 11-20 weeks.In Croatia, Slovenia and Portugal the legal limit is between 1-10 weeks and in Finland , Poland abortion is illegal. In most of USA the legal limit is between 21-30 weeks. Vermont, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Colorado, Oregon and Alaska have the legal limit between 31-40 weeks and Texas that has the legal limit between 1-10 weeks. With Roe v Wade overturned some states will decrease the legal limit from 21-30 weeks to 11-20 weeks or 1-10 weeks and only a few will ban abortion on request, that don't include abortions due to mother life risk, mother health risk, rape etc.

[@dannymain542]

@@tedd2361 Wait what, are you saying that abortion is illegal in Finland?

[@tobindax430]

​@@tedd2361 Abortion in Finland is legal since the 1950's. In Poland it has become illegal since the 1990's except when the conception was the result of a criminal act or the woman's health is at risk.

[@MrCalls1]

One thing you didn’t point out. Is I didn’t see any Americans in your video. Even in the outdoor seating for the restaurant. For the Netherlands, I’m not sure there were any street view positions where you’d couldn’t stay still and rotate and find people. That’s a great demonstration of how hostile design is. America is not a habitat for humans, the Netherlands is.

[@2Banarne2]

i did spot some americans, just that they were in metal boxes :D

[@choonblaze]

@@davieee1168 nothing to do with population density, everything to do with how pedestrian friendly a place is designed. Plus, Netherlands is a tiny country. I live in Istanbul, we have 17 million people in one city and it's incredibly full of life and makes even New York City look like a lifeless remote island

[@choonblaze]

@@davieee1168 have you even watched the video? "Istanbul is totally different from the US" no shit? That's exactly the point. It's clear you cannot comprehend what a real lively city looks like. Your comprehension is so inept in fact, you blame it on the weather. "Warm climate more people hurr durr" no son, better city design = more people. Simple as that. Enjoy driving 15 minutes to grocery store and not seeing another soul I guess. Also Miami? Lel. Miami is a ghost town compared to a normal city.

[@JulesStoop]

@@davieee1168 This is not a comparison of countries, it’s a comparison of suburbs near large cities. Of course Minnesota is rather empty and the Netherlands is rather dense, but similar car oriented suburb design is found all over US metropolitan areas and similar bike/transit/pedestrian oriented design is to be found all over Europe.

[@daanwindt1633]

@@davieee1168 There's no reason America couldn't build suburbs that are just as compact as this, just because you have more space doesn't mean you have to fill it all up

[@MrMartinNeumann]

For everyone who thinks they would hate living in multi-unit housing in the Netherlands. Keep in mind that construction is different there. Houses are significantly better sound isolated (mostly a side effect from general insulation and being built from stone/concrete). I live in a 2 story apparent block with a large shared inner yard you tend to only hear your neighbors if you and them have the windows open.

[@stefanvulin9527]

In London the suburbs are mainly SFH and you wouldn’t really have an issue getting anywhere without a car. Everywhere has at least bus access and usually also an underground station nearby.

[@damiandavies4632]

Unfortunate Capitalism creates a climate of building at the lowest cost and making it look appealing to buyers. Hence the reason we have flimsy plastic siding in the US. I ama. California native living in Europe and I can attest to the fact urban planning actually exists in Europe unlike the US where the developers decide how we live with limitations of the building codes that encourage suburban sprawl. Eventually this method will end in the US. Swathes of land will be swallowed by poor infrastructure design. Americans need to get out more and see what the world has to offer. Most Americans don’t own a passport and operate in a sheltered society of assuming everything in the US is is automatically superior to anywhere else.

[@rubenverheij4770]

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: I think, [infrastructure] in The NLs is as good as [dikes] in The NLs. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

[@rubenverheij4770]

@@damiandavies4632 True, NL is in Eu. But there is a huge HUGE DIFFERENCE b'tween Latin speaking south and countries (in Eu) in the North. So, call it all Eu is (how I see it,) kind of, out placed* Compare the south of America with northern part of America, it's a kind of the same. It's a kind of the same if you say "In America" while there is a huge HUGE DIFFERENCE b'tween the south and north of America. Maybe better if you say next time "North of Eu" instead (if you mean the North of Eu), the same if you would say "North of America" (if you meant the north of America). Just my opinion. :) Ps. Hello, I am from The NLs! :) ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: * I meant: "kind of, out of place"

[@rubenverheij4770]

@@damiandavies4632 The LATIN SPEAKING countries in Eu (same in America), is SOUTH.

[@Ko-gy6cb]

We need John Carpenter to make a movie call "Escape from Suburbia" where the protagonist must save the president of the USA who has fallen on bike in the middle of suburbia. I would watch that.

[@hectorramirez5413]

Lol

[@Ashleyapples]

what does this have to do with the video

[@Ko-gy6cb]

@@Ashleyapples Not much, it's a suburbia themed comment on a suburbia themed video. I just tough of that while watching his video, and tough it was funny.

[@mardiffv.8775]

@@Ashleyapples That is called humor, with the purpose of making people laugh. People like you. Ko was referring to the cult classic movie "Escape from New York".

[@mardiffv.8775]

@@Ko-gy6cb I find it very funny too. I love Escape from New York.

[@BobWitlox]

By calling Weesp (or other European towns) a suburb, you're looking at it through an American lens. Just because it's near a big city doesn't make it a suburb. These are towns that have existed for centuries and grew organically separately from the neighbouring city. This sets it apart from the US. So it's a bit like apples and oranges. Towns like Weesp grew around an historic center. It's not built for people who want to live close to Amsterdam. The fact that shops and restaurants are located closer to where people live throughout the towns and cities is still a valid point though.

[@gnvinternationalambassador925]

People live there because its really close to Amsterdam (where they probably work)

[@r.v.b.4153]

@@gnvinternationalambassador925 That is mostly true, and most points of this video still stand. It would nevertheless probably be fairer to compare the American suburb to a suburb of Amsterdam that was actually created in the former countryside for the expansion of Amsterdam (e.g. Amsterdam-Zuidoost). Weesp is an old town stacked with houses from the last few centuries (mostly 17th-19th century, esp. 19th century front facades) centered around an even older church. It's aesthetically much more pleasing to the eye than commercial centres of "actual Dutch suburbs".

[@gnvinternationalambassador925]

@@r.v.b.4153 yes youre probably right

[@JanJaapZwaag]

@@gnvinternationalambassador925 no, they live there because it's NOT Amsterdam...

[@dikkiedik53]

@@JanJaapZwaag and now it's Amsterdam 🙂

[@ivsportiv]

For us, the biggest difference is the level of independence our infrastructure is for kids. We live in the Netherlands and our kids can visit their friends, do sports, go to the grocery store from a young age. Whenever we are in the US (we have family there), they feel really trapped not being able to go somewhere by themselves, especially now that they are teenagers.

[@BamBamGT1]

You forgot the biggest difference imo: the small businesses. I live just outside a city centre, and you find them throughout every neighborhood: A bakker, a butcher, a convenience store, a pharmacy. a family doctor. And just random small businesses. Like there's a dermatology practice 200 meters from my door. a psychologist working from her house a few houses from me, a bike repair shop, barber shop.

[@lucasrem]

If you live in a Dutch village, it's going in the same direction now, both US and EU, you need the car for daily grocery. Buy a townhouse? social housing projects?

[@YannickTG]

@@lucasrem we dont need the car for daily groceries wtf are you talking about. Did you even watch the video?

[@AnnekeOosterink]

@@lucasrem In a village there will be all kinds of shops in the centre. Or do you mean like, a hamlet, with 20 inhabitants? In which case they might not have a shop. The tiny little hamlet that my parents live in has a small restaurant just outside of it, and a school that's also a community centre, event hall and chip shop. It has maybe 50 inhabitants. And that's a generous guess. The two closest grocery stores are both 15 minutes away by bike, one in a "suburb" of a larger city, the other in the centre of a village, with three more grocery stores dotted around that village's centre.

[@rjh00]

In the Netherlands if there is a neighborhood then there very likely is a supermarket in the middle of it, often times multiple ones that compete against each other and if there is a supermarket and then because people are going to be shopping there, there's also going to be small take away (with limited seating) restaurant (again multiple ones, one is a fries and meat restaurant, one is a pizza shop another is a Chines restaurant, then there is also very likely a hair salon, oh and also a post office/bookstore. The great thing is that all these shops have the customer base to support them because of how dense the housing is. You do also have those really big stores, even with a lot of parking (though nowhere near the same amount as the US), but those are usually a bit outside of the city in their own area, that's where you find furniture stores, hardware stores, car dealerships, you know the types of stores that you don't need in your every day life, but only occasionally.

[@kakundra9997]

I live in a quite, peacefull neighborhood, but it’s just a 10 minutes walk to the train station where i work. Across the station there are several bars, some small restaurants, a bank and a post office. There’s a small store not far from my house. Bigger stores 10 minutes by car

[@kakundra9997]

In Belgium

[@rubenverheij4770]

@@kakundra9997 Which part of Belgium?

[@DenUitvreter]

The issue is that it's all related. The policy from the 50's to keep the inner city shopping and limit the big box stores has proven crucial. But it's not just infrastructure. It's also people shopping for fresher groceries more often to put into significantly smaller fridges. Besides those customs there are deeper cultural traits as part of the foundation of this infrastructure too.

[@kakundra9997]

The Flemish part. In a town near Aalst. You’re from the Netherlands, which place? Groeten van een zuiderbuur

[@deity794]

I think Almere is a better example of suburbs being build around big cities. Weesp was a village with its own extensive history. It was not build for Amsterdam. It did got swallowed by Amsterdam whole recently. Almere is a city that exists because the Netherlands pumped up a whole slab of land (used to be a sea) and started building cities on it. Purposely made to house parts of the Amsterdam population that wanted a house with a garden, for affordable prices etc. I have lived in Almere since I was a baby till I was 21 years old. Its a nice example of how urban planning can make a suburb a nice environment. Almere has the best busnetwork that I know of. It functions a bit as the metro does in other cities, and the busses are on a completely seperated network of roads. So they don’t get stuck in traffic. I lived in the oldest part of Almere that has the profile of a village not a city, but I could still take a bus to the city center every few minutes. Cycling is also done on its own seperated network of paths. Sidewalks are also everywhere.

[@qwertyuiopzxcfgh]

If the busses already have their own network of roads, why not just put rails there and turn them into a tram lines?

[@deity794]

@@qwertyuiopzxcfgh Should be possible, I don’t know why not tbh.

[@Wessel603]

@@qwertyuiopzxcfgh that would only work for bigger roads. now the bus can go trough a resident street and still join the bus network down the line.

[@arturobianco848]

I was thinking the same thing but it proves he did it ad random.

[@Maihquel]

@@qwertyuiopzxcfgh Why would you do that? In NL we have electric busses or busses on hydrogen.

[@Semmy27]

If there are no bike lines or seperated bikelines on the street, this can mean 2 things here in the Netherlands. 1. the road is build for 30km/h or less 2. the street design is only changed in 20 to 30 years. Otherwise the costs would be too expensive

[@marnixmaximus3053]

3. It's an old streetroad that's protected architecture or something

[@Semmy27]

@@marnixmaximus3053 Thanks, learned something new today!

[@Martin-oy2cw]

But I do like the single detached houses better than the flats in Weesp

[@-_-5683]

@@Martin-oy2cw I could definitely understand your argument here. Tbh it didn't look like the most wealthy/newest part of the town. The houses at 8:45 looks like the more new/rebuilt area that most neighbourhoods look like.

[@arturobianco848]

@@Martin-oy2cw I do to but we don't have the space in Netherlands besides the ones you saw in Weesp where pretty old the newer ones look much nicer.

[@jeffreyroberson7900]

Peter you are completely correct, I was stationed in the Netherlands for 4yrs,their cities( suburbs) are more convenient then most US cities. Shopping, museums, bars are a bicycle ride away, or a quick tram ride to get to them.

[@ralphholtkamp595]

tell me you only have been in the "randstad"without saying it 🤣

[@Youve_GotABeard]

I love this channel and how he is continually bringing to light how underwhelming and soul destroying suburban life is in America - where most Americans grow up at least, and experience their lives - in comparison to most places in Europe. As an American who moved away and settled in Europe fifteen years ago, I count my blessings every day for the privilege of being able to live here. I would never move back.

[@rubenverheij4770]

Which part of Europe? In the south, or north? I live in north of Europe. Me I like the north better. South of Eu is too chaotic, and in the summer it's too warm. And like the bicycle roads in my country too! :) Ps. I'm from the NLs, and I am driving the best bicycle in the world! I drive an Oma- fiets. Try this bicycle if you are in The NLs, they are so relax to drive (in The NLs)!!

[@Youve_GotABeard]

@@rubenverheij4770 I used to live in Utrecht, NL until 2 and a half years ago. Now I live in Zurich, Switzerland.

[@LONDONLEATHERBOY77]

@@rubenverheij4770 "South of Eu is too chaotic" ,,,hmm while the North is too dark and too dull....both still better than the US.

[@rubenverheij4770]

@@LONDONLEATHERBOY77 It is not I have something against the people, not at all! Not at a personal level. But I like the north better. It is just better organized (in the way I like it for me). And the topics ppl talking about are lot wider in the northern part, than in the south (but, that was the experience I had). (But, I must admit, the last time I was in the south of Eu, was over 10 years ago. Maybe it is a different/ better world now in the south (idk). But, in past life, I liked north better, but it might be, if I was there again, I would 've a better experience). :) And,.. I like the nature in the north better. It is more green and wet. I like it that way. You ever been in forest of Germany? It's só beautiful! :) Anyway,.. I like north better for me. But ... that's just my opinion. [Just my opinion]. If others have another opinion, fine by me. Each person 've its own taste and opinion. :)

[@rubenverheij4770]

@@LONDONLEATHERBOY77 I forgot, there is 1 thing I really don't like in their personality. It's when a person from the south goes angry. It is their temperament. I really really don't like it!! In my opinion it's better to stay cool and talk about it in easy way, instead of losing control. But... the nice part of temperament is, if a person with temperament is happy. So much body movement while talking. It is nice to experience. :)

[@cccpredarmy]

I live in a German village very close to french border. In fact those are 2 villages connected with about 2500 inhabitants in total. We have 2 supermarkets - one discount/cheap prices, the other more expensive with its own bakery and cafe. We also have a family-bakery and a family-butcher store close to the center of the village. About 3 restaurants I can name out of my head, if i'm not mistaken they serve rather traditional german dishes there. We also have a train station and about 3 bus stops spread across both villages with about 5 different buses going in any direction you want. The "urban center" or idk how to call it... "government center" of this whole area with its various smaller villages is considered a "town" with 4500 inhabitants only. Practically a "bigger village". Yet when you go there it's like visiting a real small scale city, with its own industrial area, central streets with restaurants, shops and drug stores. ALL of the villages are connected by VERY BEAUTIFUL bike/hiking roads, right between the mountains, which run parallel to the car roads, yet they are on average about 100 meters away from each other. When you bike or hike through them you never get the expereince of being bothered by car noise and you can enjoy your trip fully. And here comes the kicker: the villages and even the central "town" only consist of one-family houses with very few exceptions. In center the houses are sometimes "connected". I mean their walls touch but you can still clearly see that those are all different one-family houses. And yes you can still easily drive your bike everywhere since it has side walks. My point is: there is literally no excuse for building shitty car-dependend suburbs. If you want a good suburb - build it like central european villages!

[@joostprins3381]

Also depends on space, in the Netherlands space is limited, which causes the price of land being very expensive.

[@peace8373]

I have lived in Europe for years, and spent time in the Netherlands. To be able to walk to the shop, ride my bike on a path just for bikes, catch a train to get around, and hop a tram when in the city too. All makes for a livable environment. You do not have the drunks killing on the roads, they allow young adults to grow up without fear. But you think the USA is on top of the world, and are fooling yourselves with your ignorance of how others live. Now that the USA politics is about social issues instead of raising the quality of life, you will find your problems will never be solved. We are humans that have to learn to live together, fighting among each other will do nothing to raise your quality of life. All you do is allow the rich and wealthy investment class on wall street to buy the politicians you elect. They get the benefits, look at all the money the government gave them when you lost your home because they tricked you into a mortgage that was not real.

[@Cl0ckcl0ck]

Isolation breeds distrust. And Americans are very isolated. First in their neighborhoods and then in their cars. Looking a person very different from you in the face does more than 4 years of studying diversity in some college echo chamber.

[@gerardvermaat6944]

@@Cl0ckcl0ck nice comment. Isolation comes in many forms. What you said is so true

[@HladniSjeverniVjetar]

@@Cl0ckcl0ck It's all about living together....if you can't live together then something is wrong.

[@ernstlisman2956]

@18:33 FYI, these places you're calling suburbs are actually cities with more history in them than the average state of the US. Except for Almere, which could be seen as an actual modern suburb of Amsterdam, as the land it's on was sea until about half a century ago.

[@marias5088]

Well, I am originally from Russia, have not been back in over 20 years but I know from my dad who still lives there that even in villages they have good public transportation systems and can get almost anything delivered to them from basically anywhere in the country. In the US, you can live in a town that has 17K people which is 30 even 20 minutes away from a big city, and cannot get your groceries delivered to you. It is like they make you buy a car and purchase car insurance to support the economy but totally disregard the needs of those who do not want to own a car.

[@marias5088]

and obviously it is quite a distance to most grocery stores from where I live and I live in a big neighborhood...

[@ColeTrainStudio]

I'll have to let the people of Cahokia, Illinois know that their city that's been around since 700 CE has no history. As well as the people of Oraibi, Arizona whose city has existed since 1100 CE. And then I'll pop over Acoma Pueblo, New Mexico to let them know that their city that's existed since 1200 CE doesn't have any history. And all the other Native American cities that have existed for longer than or just as long as Amsterdam (founded 1275 CE) has *that are still populated to this day*. We all get your point; these Dutch cities being used as examples aren't suburbs and are old as fuck. However, you're doing the same thing by dismissing the *multiple civilizations* that were in North America before Europe invaded it a bit and took it by acts of war. European history is not older or richer than North American history. To illustrate that point even further, in 1624 CE, the Dutch bought 1,500 beaver skins from the Lenape city of Manahatta, which eventually was renamed to Manhattan and now is part of New York City. Indigenous maps for Manahatta go back as far as 1500 CE. It would be kinda of hard for the Dutch to have done that *had there not been a city with rich history there when they arrived*.

[@jooproos6559]

@@ColeTrainStudio Our cities can be much older than 1500!!Even before oooo!Of course they werend cities back then,but still a lot off houses,made off wood..

[@CoryPrior999]

yeah duh, that's not a flex - the US is 250 years old - why should it be a world power at all? Why should anyone talk about it at all, let alone as much as they do - nearly everyday? The US has 800 years to go before it can even begin to be compared to 50 countries which are all 1000+ years old (of continuous settlement and development to form in into the countries they are today, obviously, not talking about Friesland, Flanders and East Frisia no longer being called by those particular names)..... that's a false and idiotic comparison, which makes no sense. One country 250 years old...... 50 countries, over 1,000 years old..... get your priorities straight guys, start making more sense in the way you compare things lol

[@robertboender5816]

Think you're forgetting to mention that US system makes it really hard to maintain the infrastructure. Infrastructure is paid and maintained by taxes people pay and if you spread out buildings you get more infrastructure and less tax income to maintain it all.

[@johnmeraz7348]

I agree when suburbs spread out it a lot of road maintenance which why many American roads aren’t fix often to little tax dollars to support a lot of roads which we don’t need. American needs to better manage there land usage plus more water pipes etc to too much space equal way more expensive to fix which America problem

[@arturobianco848]

@@johnmeraz7348 You have to get rid of your ridicules zoning laws we all know why they came into being. Not wanting to bring the subject to rasicme but thats why you have them like that. Just bring the US into the 21 century you did an experiment that obviously failed.

[@samspade8830]

@@johnmeraz7348 I live in the suburbs and I love it. I'm more intune with Nature than living in any city across the world. The cities are meant for working and going to an occasional event, but definitely not to live in.

[@coenogo]

@@samspade8830 That's because you're used to American cities, which are almost always concrete hellscapes. Cities don't always need to have giants skyscrapers and endless concrete and asphalt. Look at Amsterdam Zuidas, the financial center of Amsterdam. It's completely made for walkability, easilly accesible by public transport, and it's a far more comfortable enviroment than any American city I've ever been to.

[@samspade8830]

@@coenogo To you, they're concrete hellscapes. I don't live in the city, I live in the rural suburbs. I'm very close to Nature. My home is surrounded by trees. But the local stores and shops aren't too far away either. Grocery store is a 5 minute walk. The mall and the various restaurants are a 10 minute drive. Not bad at all. Stop comparing America to European countries. American cities have lots of sidewalks and bike lanes. It doesn't matter if Amsterdam is better because Amsterdam is not America.

[@Conclusius68]

Living in the area, I have visited Weesp many times and I can confirm, it is a beautiful town, well worth a visit as a tourist (and not overcrowded with other tourists, like Amsterdam). A couple of remarks on your video. Weesp only officially became a suburb of Amsterdam in 2022. It has been its own municipality for centuries. This is important, because it was never designed as a suburb. Weesp already got city rights in 1355, granting it the right to build its own city walls. It used to be part of a series of fortifications around Amsterdam in the 17th, 18th and 19th century. If you take a look at the map again, you can see the river Vecht bending around the city center, creating a watery barrier around the old city fortifications. In those days, everything was walkable, because it had to be. Other than horses and boats, there was no other mode of transportation. Every development was mixed use. The city design reflects that history. This is true for lots of suburbs in the Netherlands and all over Europe, most of which have been inhabited since before AD 1000. All of these suburbs already had walkable cores and mixed use developments, from which they expanded in the 20th century. It is a bit sad to know that American cities and most suburbs also started as towns and villages that had every amenity within walking distance. Lots started along railway lines. According to Wikipedia, Woodbury, Min. was founded in 1844. If I were to visit Woodbury as a tourist, my first question would be where all the historic buildings went. It must have had a historic heart.

[@BrokenCurtain]

I think being created as part of Amsterdam's city defences (Stelling van Amsterdam) definitely counts as being a suburb. And Weesp being its own municipality kinda is the point of the video: Weesp grew an identity separate of Amsterdam, which resulted in it getting city rights. If suburbs in the USA went through the same process, they'd also become towns and cities in their own right. Woodbury used to be a small farming community, for example. This is even reflected in the langue. The Dutch word for suburb is "buitenwijk", right? AFAIK, this literally translates into "outer neigbourhood / district /area" or something like that. So if you somehow took the city away from the "buitenwijk", you'd still be left with a "wijk" - a place that can become its own village, town, city... or a municipality like Weesp. The word "suburb" on the other hand is purely descriptive and means "below or near a city [it belongs to]". Suburbs are just aspects of the city, so if you remove the city, then there is no suburb. They are no-places and cease to exist. If that happened in RL, the houses and streets would still be physically there, of course - but they would probably be quickly abandoned.

[@urbaneyetv1]

Great point, in the end. Where are all the historic US town centers gone ? Well, many are still here, but very small, since most of the growth went in big cities, and villages developed into modern suburbs later in the 20th century. Often times i think you can find some old packed buildings on main streets, but they count for a very small area compared to the crushing majority of the modern suburb land area. Similarly for bigger cities, where the ratio of the center's land area / suburbs area, are way smaller than the european ratio. Wether they destroyed the old buildings or not.

[@r.a.3984]

Omg , as an European citizen , I experience a crossing such a road in USA , I was terrified ! Because there wasn’t sidewalks , I though that I’m doing something illegal but I didn’t had a car and I didn’t knew what to experience back then ! And I just wanted to have a cup of coffee in the only one Starbucks that was 40 minutes walking from the house I used to live …

[@francoiscoetzer9920]

The US is really bad, no infrastructure planning, no long-term view, unsafe going about, only car driver transport. So bad and sad.

[@samspade8830]

@@francoiscoetzer9920 I'd much rather live in the U.S. than any country in Europe. The countries I've been to in Europe were beautiful, but I would never live there long term.

[@francoiscoetzer9920]

@@samspade8830 every country has it’s pros and cons, we opted for Europe for safety, quality of life and good food. Never looked back.

[@samspade8830]

@@francoiscoetzer9920 Cool, but safety, quality of life, and good food are here in the U.S., too. You can't lump all of America in one category. America is different in the North, South, East, and West. I love Europe and I love the history and various cultures there but some European countries have very snobby and rude people. I couldn't live there and tolerate that.

[@Maylolkoi]

@@samspade8830 which countries do you have in mind if I may ask

[@BrokenCurtain]

From Wikipedia: "Until the early Middle Ages the region around Weesp was an uninhabited peat bog. Weesp (Wesopa in Latin documents) was granted city rights in 1355 and celebrated its 650th anniversary as a city in 2005." That place was around before Columbus sailed to America. BTW, you can easily spot the city centre just by looking at that map: it's the part almost or fully enclosed by waterways, which were part of the city's defences. There's even an old fortress on one of those two islands. Sometimes, you can also see European cities that have a very distinctive, crown-shaped green belt, like Coevorden, Emden, Bremen, Hamburg or Gdańsk. Those are the old bastions that were razed and replaced by parks. On the inside are the city centres where you can find the town halls, museums, 1000 year-old universities, cathedrals and so on.

[@cccpredarmy]

Even more evidence for why there is no exxcuse for crap city planning for USA. Since USA considered to bring the best from "Old World" and keep advancing on it making it even better...

[@flierfy]

Weesp is a town, not a city.

[@BrokenCurtain]

@@flierfy Weesp had city rights since 1355. It was a city before places like New York, Chicago or Los Angeles were a thing.

[@flierfy]

@@BrokenCurtain No. Weesp has town rights. The English word for stad is town, not city.

[@BrokenCurtain]

@@flierfy Nope, the word "stad" (or "Stadt" in German) also translates into "city". That's why, for example, the Dutch Wikipedia article on New York starts with the sentence "New York is de grootste stad van de Verenigde Staten van Amerika". The Dutch (and German, too) language simply doesn't distinguish between towns and cities. We just use descriptors like "small city", "medium-sized city" or "large city" for that. The distinction between "towns" and "cities" is an English thing and a fairly recent development. I guess it's rooted in the age of Industrialization, when it became necessary to distinguish between the newly developing industrial centres and the places that lagged behind.

[@Sammykyt]

As an American, I acknowledge that despite the disaster of a city that Amsterdam is, the Netherlands is a nicer country overall and it’s suburbs are nicer for the most part.

[@robertwhitlet]

I agree. Amsterdam is a mess.

[@jooproos6559]

@@robertwhitlet So all those people in Amsterdam are stupid to live there??I dont agree!

[@Richard-ox6zk]

What America calls a 'single family house' is in the Netherlands usually more of an expensive, upscale house for the people who can afford it.

[@snoopyloopy]

Same here.

[@phu5005]

I’ve seen a few in my area under 2k sqft, but overpriced. Our current hm is a little over 1k, which was fine as a starter, but has been grossly outgrown with a full family, having relatives from other countries stay with us for 1month+, working from hm, etc. We’re looking to upgrade to around 3-4k to be comfortable.

[@lucasrem]

Richard 1 Most people in the US are too poor to afford an family house, ending up in a trailer park or some trashed neighborhood? Social housing projects, family house? Shops, needing a highway, of use the local shops? Townhouse in the US, or in Amsterdam?

[@Xilladan093]

@@lucasrem quiet u clown

[@rat7963]

I remembered I lived in a typical American suburb as a 16 year old and my high school band had a car wash event at a petrol station, would've been just five minutes to drive there by car. Problem is: I don't have a licence, so my only option was to bike there. However: you'd more likely get run over by a lorry if you try walking or biking straight there and the only safe "bike route" there took me a whole hour. Bus routes also suck around here too 🙃

[@Buildingmovies2]

this stuff is so obvious when you take a step back and look at it but the whole country is just so used to this all they just accept it as the standard thank you for your content!! it's great :) keep it up

[@badaboom1666]

This video shows very well the differences. I drove cars my entire life, living in France, England, Ireland and the US (10 years Colorado and Texas) and since I moved to the Netherlands in 2014 I am primarily using my bike for day to day activities. I was not using my car much so I got rid of it 6 years ago and now only own a bike. If I need a car I just rent one or use services like greenwheels which has cars all over the city to be picked up for an hour or a day, you just need the an app and a phone... Most of the shops I need are 3 min walk and 8 min bike ride for the outdoor market during the weekend... I will likely buy a car when I retire back in France but I am not looking forward to that part and will likely look for a place where biking will still be part of my daily routine. The american suburb will need some serious rethinking, not only in those super-rich zones but in the low- amd medium-income new developments. Making those changes is not rocket sciences, just copy some success stories in the US or Europe and see how it goes...

[@alex2143]

As a Dutchman, I think you hit the nail on the head when comparing the differences. And the two main reasons I think are that our roads are designed to treat biking as a first class mode of transport (which ties nicely into our public transport being a lot more accessible), and our housing is a bit denser (less detached housing). Let me describe my trip to the supermarket. Keep in mind that I think I live fairly far away from the supermarket (for Dutch standards at least). I get on my bike, and I bike out of the street where I live. It's a road that's fairly narrow and it's physically impossible to drive a car fast, but for bikes that's not a problem whatsoever. Then, I turn into a multi use pathway that goes through a park where you can often see people walking with their kids or their dogs. I cross a bridge across a small pond and cycle through a couple of other streets where people live, passing several playgrounds where you can often see children playing. I cross a road where, again, traffic is forced to be calm, and I can even get off my bike a cross a zebra crossing (which gives me the right of way since I'm a pedestrian if I'm not riding my bike). Then I walk across a nice sidewalk, park my bike in bike parking that's directly in front of the store, and I'm there. Total trip time, about 5 minutes. Number of roads crossed: 1 (or maybe 2 depending on how you count), both designed for my safety as well. I can go by car as well. Most of the trip goes across one interconnecting street that ties all of the sort-of cul de sacs together, and the maximum speed limit there is 30 km/h (and the road is designed so it's hard to go faster than that). This road also feels completely safe to bike on by the way, due to the traffic calming measures. I turn onto a road where I can go 50km/h, and this street has a separate bike path. Then a while later I turn off the street, into the parking lot, and I try to find a place to park somewhat close to the entrance. I still have to walk about a minute, but it's doable and more convenient if you have to do a lot of groceries. But it's very clear that it isn't intended to be the default. These videos made me realize that these surroundings didn't come about by chance, but rather through deliberate design which came after intense public pressure (because the Netherlands was on the same car dominated trajectory as the US), and just how nice it really is to be able to enjoy your surroundings.

[@StephenLocker]

One of the things that absolutely fascinated me when I first moved to Leiden was roundabouts that have cyclist as the priority traffic. I've not missed owning a car at all.

[@alex2143]

@@StephenLocker oh yeah those are great. They're pretty much all over the place over here, even in a lot of car dominant areas. They really help make intersections a lot safer and easier to navigate for everyone.

[@SwirlingSoul]

What we have in NL, is a mutually beneficial relationship between commercial and residential. Residents use the commerce, and the commerce uses the residents. If both make it easy and comfy for one another, both benefit. I do not understand why the USA caters to CARS over PEOPLE. PEOPLE hold a wallet, cars don't.

[@Richard-ox6zk]

The Netherlands is made to live in, America is made to survive in.

[@bloxyman22]

I dont see how it caters to cars when the cars have to stop every few meters because roads are crossing in every single direction. It Is just ineffective for both even if they thought they designed it well for cars.

[@SwirlingSoul]

Usa caters more to cars than pedestrians and bikers. They don't cater to them at all, often.

[@UnitedPacci]

@@SwirlingSoul USA is very outdated. The car industry use to have a big boom in the US long time ago. Most went bankrupt or moved overseas and still nothing is being done. Governments never really put that as priority. They are more busy in keeping the gun and war machine industry alive.

[@SwirlingSoul]

@@UnitedPacci And in the mean time they're missing out BIG time on proper revenue.

[@linuxman7777]

You can have Single Family Dominated places and still have great walkablity, look at any old American small town, or a Japanese Suburb to see what I mean, what matters more for walkability is that there is some commercial activity near residences, than whether or not there are appt buildings.

[@racecardriverrr4201]

Well Japanese suburbs have relatively dense housing

[@HelloWorld-yq9yy]

Exactly we don’t need massive towers to have walkable places. Europe and Washington DC both have height limits and are the most walkable.

[@NoirMorter]

I agree. Same in South Korea when I went there on my job and explored. To many arm chair urbanist they think one dimensional with a finely tuned focus on multi family structures.

[@neckenwiler]

Yeah, it's possible to have walkable areas dominated by SFHs, but the houses need to be much smaller and on small lot sizes (essentially, you need townhomes). I grew up on Capitol Hill in DC, which is mostly townhomes, and it's very walkable - but the houses are maybe eighteen feet wide. And the areas with amenities (restaurants, groceries, etc.) almost all have higher density housing nearby. Eastern Market and H Street, for example.

[@patriot9487]

@@HelloWorld-yq9yy most people who advocate for higher density don't want exclusively apartment towers, but rather 4 to 6 story townhomes or multiplex's. This is the perfect height to have the buildings not feel too tall but not too short.

[@Zharvuiys]

I live on the Eastside of Saint Paul, though, my family's favorite ice-cream shop is in Woodbury. As soon as I cross the city borders, I can see the change in density, zoning, etc.

[@Milennin]

I grew up in a medium-sized Dutch town in the 90's to mid 00's, and can confirm at how easy and safe it was getting to places on foot or bicycle. We rarely used our car, unless we needed to go somewhere in a city or a town much further away. Currently living in a fairly small Swedish town, and here too, going walking or biking is completely viable in most cases. It's definitely not as convenient as Dutch suburbs because Sweden likes to space out things more, but you can get by without needing a car pretty well. Depending on where you live, you can just use the public transport, which is actually a pretty decent experience.

[@micheldiab5553]

@asdasdwerwef sdfsdfsdf None of your business.

[@tvs26]

@asdasdwerwef sdfsdfsdf and why do you think that?

[@valyshknee4203]

@asdasdwerwef sdfsdfsdf What do you mean he's poor? Just because he uses the good public transport we have here and the great walkibility/bikeability instead of using the car means he's poor? Man you people in the US really need to get out of your cars aka high speed mobility scooters for your fat homesitting fast food eating obesity mobile driving ignorant asses to travel here to see how good it really is to be able to use your own leg muscles the way they're supposed to be used to go wherever you need to go, Doesn't even need to be the Netherlands, Just any country in Europe Literally even countries like Serbia, Bulgaria, And even the poorest country in Europe Moldova has better walkibility and bikeability than you in the US

[@joostprins3381]

The Swedes just have more space…

[@moth5799]

@asdasdwerwef sdfsdfsdf In lots of parts of europe everyone cycles and take public transit like light rail and trams. Using public transit doesn't make someone poor lmao.

[@rtvz-randomtvzemun1681]

I hope 🤞 your channel grows to at least a million subscribers and help people wake up for a positive change in our suburbs and cities to be more bicycle friendly, and walk friendly.

[@RealSergiob466]

There a channel called Not Just Bikes. He also talks about Netherland and walkable and bikable.

[@rtvz-randomtvzemun1681]

@@RealSergiob466 yeah but that guy gave up and moved his whole family to the Netherlands and he isn’t from the States he’s from Canada. From a suburb outside of Toronto. This channel is better he explains things in a more simplified way. The not just bikes guy has a lame voice and explains everything in a boring monotone sort of way.

[@RealSergiob466]

@@rtvz-randomtvzemun1681 I know he was from “Fake” London, Ontario. And I agree with him too because it’s about making better changes for pedestrians and adding and/or extending public transportation. Which is a great thing to learn.

[@RealSergiob466]

@@rtvz-randomtvzemun1681 I also know about Alan Fisher and he is from NJ and also learns about the same thing as “Not Just Bikes”

[@billuvill]

Great video! And it really shows that you mean a lot.

[@DPops-yf4zp]

I can tell you from first hand experience that even the smaller towns in Asia (20,000 or less population) have superior transit options than most large (1 million + population) American cities. In Korea there are dedicated pedestrian and bike lanes as well as walking, hiking and exercise parks. There are some places that do require a car to get to but the bus, train and overall public transit network throughout the entire country is amazing.

[@scooterbob4432]

No problem if you live in a small Philippine island. You can walk or ride your bicycle or just hail a tricycle. It's a motorbike with a covered sidecar. Amazingly, it can fit your whole 7 or 8 family members plus your live pig in the luggage rack, your son's pet goat and 2 sacks of rice on the roof. Tricycles are everywhere, even in the chaotic traffic of Manila, the capital city.

[@DPops-yf4zp]

@@scooterbob4432 Philippines is on my list to visit. As a hiker I am researching countries I can trek across and Thailand, Philippines and Vietnam are definitely up there!

[@scooterbob4432]

@@DPops-yf4zp Communication won't be a problem in the Philippines. Even poor folks in small towns can understand English. If you have a chance, try hiking in the southern Visayas island of Bohol, home of a thousand chocolate hills and Tarsiers, a small primate found only there.

[@moth5799]

Even in the UK we've got better transit options. There's a small village (2,000 population) near me that has a direct train line to london, along with buses to all the bigger towns nearby.

[@jennslife]

We just came back from the Netherlands, Belgium and France. We flew in Amsterdam and flew out of Paris. We took the bullet train to Belgium and France. The bottomline is the infrastructure is just different. They are pedestrian friendly. If you can't take a train/tram/subway you can take a bus. A lot of people do bike in the bigger cities. There are grocery stores within walking distance in the suburbs. Living accommodations are different but structures are built to be sound proof. They do have single family homes as you head out of the city. The outside of the homes may not be what you are used to seeing in America, however the insides can be beautiful and efficient.

[@dutchman7623]

The major differences are in the structure. If you would highlight the passenger rail system, you can see that in the Netherlands almost every town has a train station and probably more than one. High frequency service. And it is easy to get to a nearby city that has Intercity train connection over the entire country and international. Those without a train station have a bus connection to a nearby town that has trains. Looking at the highway system, it is dense as well, but usually the highway doesn't go through a city or town but around. You can approach the town from the outside. This leaves the city or town connected, not cut into small pie parts by crossing highways. Density of housing is gradual, going up near city/town center and lower to more you get out. Because we are very densely populated, we try to keep the urban areas compact. If we permit sprawl, there would be no space left for agriculture or nature. A neighborhood is considered to be a village, with all essential facilities, like a supermarket, school, shops, busstop etc. for daily needs. Six to ten of those neighborhoods circle the city/town center with specialized shops, cinemas, theaters, bars and restaurants. There are no real big cities, when you look at the urban area in the west of the country, you can see a lot of smaller cities that have grown together into a big urban area. Utrecht, Amsterdam, Haarlem, The Hague, Rotterdam and Dordrecht, are the major centers for musea, universities, and big events. But each has kept its own identity and character.

[@MB-oz7nv]

„I Mean“ :D But seriously great video. keep up the good work. kinda like the longer „live“ formats. Greetings from Germany

[@sammymarrco2]

aye that intro was very notjustbikes like

[@tonysdelicatessen]

Perhaps Weesp (pronounced 'Waisp') is not the best choice to make a comparison between a Dutch and a US suburb. Weesp is in fact a small historical town that received its city rights in the year 1335! About the same period in which Amsterdam was given that privilege. Recently, Weesp merged with the Municipality of Amsterdam and became a semi-independent city district. The old part of Weesp still shows all the characteristics of a small and compact historical Dutch town, with all amenities within walking distances. But this beautiful concept was not self-evident in the newly built suburbs of many big cities in the Netherlands. Between the sixties and eighties, a strict separation between living, working and recreation was the goal of many urban developer or city planner in the Netherlands. A similar approach as seen in American suburbs today. Resulting in boring, completely identical neighborhoods, without amenities, mainly built for transport by car. On the positive side: in Amsterdam these new suburbs were a hugh improvement for many residents of the old inner city neighborhoods. The opportunity for a bigger, better home resulted in massive relocations to surrounding smaller cities, suburbs and even to completely new towns built on reclaimed land. These so-called 'Vinex' neighborhoods and towns, named after the Dutch national policy document on urban planning and development, lost much of their luster in the following decades. As a result, this 'Vinex' policy has changed significantly since then. With much more attention given to local amenities such as small neighborhood shops, cafes, theaters, community centers, sports facilities, etc. And of course to adequate accessibility by public transport and bicycle lanes really everywhere.

[@hendrikdependrik1891]

Almere is a better choice. That city is literally inspired by Phoenix Arizona, is one of Amsterdam's biggest suburbs out there and with Almere 2.0 it's literally going to be the sprawling eastern flank of Amsterdam. The amenities are barely walkable, especially at the newer parts eastern of the A6 motorway. Hout, Oosterwolde and Overgooi are just terrible while they also have a few motorway supermarkets which is pretty non-Dutch.

[@lucasrem]

In Holland we don't have suburbia, Weesp is just an old village! Dutch people stay, and are not willing to move for Jobs, unable to trash neighborhoods, renovating or giving it to Allah.

[@marlieshilgersom3569]

@@hendrikdependrik1891 What do you mean inspired by Phoenix? Sources? Can't find any trace of that on the internet, and have never heard of that while living there for 21 years. It is more inspired by the English Garden Cities. I can't speak of the newer parts, but all other parts are perfectly walkable and bikeable.

[@northbreeze0111]

It's interesting to see how much of a difference it is. I live in a Swedish suburb of our capital in a single family home. I don't even own a car. 5 minutes bike ride to the store. Also, all our restaurants are located in the bottom part of existing buildings or so. Sure there might be some parking close by but you will never ever see that sea of concrete.

[@cybergrail]

Thanks for these insightful videos. I think they can help people like me to wake up and make a difference.

[@naturallyherb]

Such an eyeopener. Obviously the Dutch neighborhoods is so much better in so many ways, and it has many knock-on effects on other aspects of society as well: less cars, more bikes and walking, more public transit, better for the environment, better for mental health, better for socializing with your community as well.

[@rishabhanand4973]

better for physical health too. also, the lower noise pollution due to fewer cars (and lawn mowers) has a very positive effect on mental health

[@urbanistgod]

Dutch suburbs lack single family homes, which is what a lot of people want. There’s more than just “walkability and transit”

[@rishabhanand4973]

@@urbanistgod is it really what they want though? I mean yes, in a perfect world, everyone would get a large house, a big yard, and free, easy access to things like grocery stores, parks and other stuff and not pay much money for it. But when you can't get all those things, which things do they prefer? If you're in the US, it's easy to say they want a house and a yard because that's what people live in. Except, almost all land has just single family homes, and the few walkable areas that exist are super expensive, so it's not like most people have a real choice. Most people in the US don't even know that a walkable city without cars around is even an option that could exist.

[@urbanistgod]

@@rishabhanand4973 The U.S isn’t just made of suburbs. You’re not even American and you think you know everything about this country.

[@rishabhanand4973]

@@urbanistgod actually i am american. And I know the U.S. isn't _just_ suburbs. But they are a significant portion of the US

[@rogerwilco2]

Within 5 minutes walking, I have two shopping areas: 4 supermarkets, 1 florist, 4 restaurants, a pet store, a book store, a pharmacy, 3 drug stores, a bakery, 3 clothing stores, a photographer, a phone shop, a post office, 3 general stores, two bars, a bicycle shop, and probably a few I forget.

[@robmenzies862]

Do you live in Europe?

[@siloPIRATE]

I have a bunch of takeaways, markets (not supermarkets but smaller versions), a library, multiple schools, a park, post office, pharmacies and hairdressers in about 10 to 15 minute walk. That and multiple bus routes and miscellaneous shops including a florist. Add five more minutes to the walk and you hit a train station

[@urbanistgod]

Do you live in a single family homes or you need to share walls with strangers?

[@gklerk4170]

The most important thing is that even a small town like Weesp has it all in close proximity. Like everything to be a little proud of your local neighborhood. Your born identity. You don't need to leave that place to be happier, dreaming of a better life.

[@manuelt6654]

Nice video. Fun fact: most cities and towns in the Netherlands have a church in the center. If you ever get lost; just check the sky for the church tower. Everything is build around it. usually the commercial area with a marketplace and train station and around it all the residential areas.

[@marks.6480]

the secret (besides density) is mixed-use zones. In the Netherlands, you can have supermarkets and other shops in residential areas. The edge-of-town big box stores are actually outlawed (DIY stores and garden centres excepted) so people can go shopping on a bike or walking.

[@askopromet]

It would be great to see comparison between a medium size city (about 1 Milion population) a US city and a city in Spain, for example Valencia.

[@Richard-ox6zk]

I would like to see that too, but (as a dutch person who has been to Valencia), I don't think the outcome will be much more different than this video.

[@mucxlx]

Munich 1.8 Million and check out this insane public transport. Biking is also great in germany and you can go everywhere, but its not this big like in the netherlands or denmark. Its like 75% of that. Or cities like Copenhagen are insane with bikes.

[@tanner293]

@@Richard-ox6zk the difference would be that in the NL there is a lot of houses, in Spain or southern Europe in general is mostly apartment buildings also in the suburbs, not so many bike lanes as in northern Europe but yeah, definitely sidewalks everywhere, narrower roads, mixed zoning

[@phitc4242]

Not quite a million, but Zürich has ~430k

[@mardiffv.8775]

Thank you for reviewing my old home village of Weesp.

[@sneeuwgetsie]

Txs for this video. I now know that we are blessed here. Love from Nieuwegein, the Netherlands 😊

[@deviravellisimon]

i love this kind of videos. i live in the netherlands all my life, and its this kind of videos and opinions from people from other countrys that makes you appreciate the Netherlands more. I'm from Groningen. The biggest upside i can think of is the independence that people have in the netherlands, even children/teens. because most things are possible to do without a car.

[@longnguyen80]

You should also have an example of the houses at the edge of the suburb next to the commercial area. It looks so close on the map but even then you still need to cross a huge road which is not accessible at all.

[@hermh6913]

Nice video. One thing you have to consider is that almost every town in the Netherlands has a historic center. Weesp like any other village or town is a village wich has been there for hundreds of years, so it isn't really a suburb of Amsterdam. The newly build 'suburbs' in the 60's, 70's, 80's, are almost always build around a village or town that was there already. The spaces between the towns are almost always farmlands, and the policy is to keep those green spaces in between historic places to distinguish towns from each other. It is the enormous 'empty' space without historic villages and towns in the USA that made it possible to have almost no boundaries to sprawl.

[@maaiker2977]

Neighbourhoods: usually you have a grocery store (with post office and miniature drugstore inside), bakery, butcher etc nearby located on a square. Also restaurants and diy stores. And it has underground recycling containers to get rid of your glass etc. These areas basically supply everything that neighbourhood needs so that the elderly don't even need to travel far. And then you have the city centres that have the clothing stores etc...its like your malls but cozy. And the farmers market comes there several times a week. All the cyclepaths (and public transport) lead you to the city centre and the train/bus station. And from there you can travel anywhere. Its one huge network. You can travel anywhere....but if you don't want to travel or you can't...you don't really need to cause the bare necessities are inside the neighbourhoods already. And these businesses are run by families who live in these neighbourhoods. You know your cashier and she knows you. Its just more connected. And we know our neighbours in our street. We have street bbq's or surten neighbourhoods have annual festivities. Its a community. We had a neighbour that got sick...the street made a schedule...all the neighbours ended up walking his dog for him when he wasn't able anymore and got him groceries. And it takes a village to raise a kid. The kids are safe cause all the neighbours are keeping an eye on them when they play outside. Thats also a thing, every neighbourhood has play areas for the children to play and a primary school. The intend is to give neighbourhoods everything they need to be livable and safe.

[@macmartin86]

@5:39: I love the trees next to the restaurant, looks really cozy...

[@brandonm1708]

Sticking to the Minnesota theme, in another video you should go over parts of the Minneapolis 2040 Comprehensive Plan, and judge how you think the policies will positively/negatively affect the city

[@heloyou2b]

for me, as a man living in Eastern Europe city I got used to all these services around any street or any district in a city, town, or even a village, BUT the way how your American suburbs looks is just beautiful😍 yeah we have all those services nearby and a walkability, but sometimes we dream about those places with beautiful homes in a suburbs🤔

[@Spitsz01]

Good vid Peter!

[@EskiZagra]

Fun fact - you can compare US suburbs and Dutch suburbs even when you come to the Netherlands. What i mean by that is that MOST US cities are planned; this is the case for another city in the Netherlands - Almere, which is like 20km away form Weesp. It is a new city, from the 70s, planned from the bottom up and it still has some of the characteristics of a US wide space city. I don't particularly like it but if you go to Amsterdam or any of the other cities, you can see the difference in Dutch design and planning.

[@georgobergfell]

I do not recommend you to make a drinking game out of the excessive usage of the phrase "I mean" in this video 😬 it's not going to end well No hate, I'm just a nerd and wanted to point this out 😂 But to make this comment at least a little bit productive: you could have added suburbs from some other countries as well in this compasison. The Netherlands are of course the posterchild of city planning, but I don't know of any country that is as bad as the US. Dubai maybe...

[@Phillowownz]

Sure, but I wanted to compare the worst with the best here just to show the stark difference. There is of course middle ground to be had in other areas

[@Nico_M.]

@@Phillowownz Even if you compare US suburbia vs. EU suburbia (Rivas Vaciamadrid, near Madrid for instance), there are differences to note, such as lot size, public transport availability, walkability, social and recreational activities, etc.

[@Xilladan093]

@@Phillowownz clown

[@michaelgalligan1187]

I really want to live in the netherlands. It looks really nice to live there and the city planners legitimately care about the people that live there.

[@macairhead5137]

It’s not that hard for US citizens

[@StephenLocker]

Yay for Weesp getting a shoutout! Wasn't there that long ago. :D

[@maggot1917]

I've been to Germany. Gelsenkirchen area (not far from The Netherlands), which is considered part of the biggest metropolitan area of Europe... And it's literally all about the zoning as many have said. Because you'll be in the city still and all of a sudden there's woods and a house with a small farm and then you turn a corner and you're in a little area with shops and multi-family dwellings all with tram and bus service. Gelsenkirchen and Bochem are right next to each other and both cities have less than 100k people yet it feels so much more populated than that because everyone is out and about and having a good time. In Germany they even have these little park places where people rent a tiny slice of land to garden and they have tiny sheds with small kitchens and a bathroom so basically you can have a backyard if you live in a high rise (like my ex's family did). They also have kiosks which are little stores that you walk up to a window and get snacks/ice cream/candy like a convenience store with a small amount of seating, in a residential neighborhood!! I only learned that these cities are actually this small by watching a Climate Town video earlier this week, and i went to Germany in 2018 lol! You'd think these cities have so much more population than they do simply due to the staggering amount of people walking around all the time. I grew up near Rochester NY and it's triple the size of some of these places in Europe yet even on the busiest days you rarely see more than a few folks walking around and typically you can tell they're just trying to go somewhere else, not actually visiting the areas they are walking through.

[@Drrolfski]

So I live in the center of Amsterdam and my mother lives in a small town called Oisterwijk, which could be considered a suburb of the mayor southern city of Tilburg, which is itself within 2 hours of Amsterdam. For both of these places, every supermarket, local restaurant, or public transport is walkable. And the latter is typically within a 5 min walk. Impressive as that may sound, that's just what you get when you cramp 17 million people in a state roughly the size of Maryland. US city planning was never designed for this to work that way and seriously, why should It? Plenty of space to make use of as environmental issues weren't a thing back then. Honestly, the way North America has been developed makes perfect sense. Don't blame it for becoming outdated. It's just that changing that kind of stuff takes generations.

[@kinghadithefirst1853]

One thing to note about Woodbury is that like many outer suburbs in the Twin Cities, transit is really viewed as an option to bypass traffic to get into downtown. People don't think of transit as a serious way to get around at any time because it's just not available (or if it is, you need a ludicrous amount of patience) And remember, the Twin Cities is more than St Paul. 10 miles west is Minneapolis; that makes the Twin Cities more difficult to serve with transit since you don't have one but two major centers. So with Woodbury, your really best bet to get transit is in the theater (off Valley Creek and 494). The 351/353 goes to St Paul and the 353/355 into Minneapolis. Timings like many of these express bus lines really go around the commute times (think early morning for out of Woodbury and afternoon for out of downtown). You need an option to go into downtown at 12 pm? At least 2 bus lines. The 323 to Sunray than another to St Paul, and then the green line to Minneapolis But how do you get to the Woodbury theater? Why with a car of course! With suburbs in the Twin Cities, transit only really works out of the Hub and Spoke model as well as the Park and Ride system meaning you're either better off driving to them or living close to one. I am lucky to live within a 10 minute walk from a major transit center in Maplewood with an option to get to Minneapolis, if only it's more frequent than merely rush hour. Woodbury itself is gonna be served by the Gold Line BRT in a few years, which is a huge deal for the eastern metro to access downtown St Paul and eventually Minneapolis. But within Woodbury, you're out of luck. You need a car. That's why city design in the US sucks. Transit here really is more like either suburb to suburb (assuming that's an option) or suburb to downtown. Anything else really doesn't exist. Your best bet for transit really is closer to town. Central Ave in NE Minneapolis is served by the Bus 10 that comes super frequent (every 10 or so minutes).

[@doriancroatia2054]

Great video, congratulations! I live in Croatia and here I think we don't have suburbs at all for that sense. You either live in a city, small town or village. We techically do have suburbs, but for most of the part, these are just city districts located farther away from the city centre and belong to the administrative part of a certain city. But these are not suburbs made of single family homes, but rather of residental buildings and each of these suburbs usually have grocery stores, pharmacies, post offices etc. within 20-min walking distance. In the largest cities of the country, city buses usually serve way more vast area outside of the city than in US. It's also hard to tell difference between urban-suburban and long-distance transport here, because buses usually cover virtually any village or small town in the country with population 2,000 + and many people who live in villages 20 miles or more outisde of the city use longer-distance buses or trains to travel to work. But interesting point, I have family in Montreal, Canada and I notice the suburbs there actually do have frequent buses (even more than my town in Croatia) and grocery stores there are actually within walking distance of cca 20 minutes from virtually any house, so it's surprisingly good there. General feel is definitely like North America, but only on superficial level. When you look deeper, it's vastly superior to more or less any North American city for the matter of commuting, walkability and stuff like that.

[@martijn_sch]

This is fun to see from a Dutch perspective ;) When will you come here and have a look? I'd be happy to give you a tour. Greetings from Utrecht!

[@Oshjoshua]

Having lived in both the US and Japan, I would say the major issue with US roads is not that there isn’t bike lanes or sidewalks, but that people view the road as a “cars only zone.” Japan has plenty of super tight roads (the same width as the skinny road in Amsterdam shown in this video) that are used by cars, bikes, and pedestrians at the same time.

[@jamsstats1700]

It’s important to know the difference between a street and a road. A street is a destination where cars, bikes, and pedestrians all intermingle. A road is a high speed environment between two places. In the US, many [things that cars drive on] are both a street and a road at the same time, as there is no clear separation

[@davidrenton]

I think and even though Weesp seems quite recent , post WW2, a lot of cities in Europe are conurbations , i.e. they developed as individual towns or villages with their own centres, and over time merged with the greater urban centre. So in a way it's better to think of European cities as a collection of connected small town's as opposed to US cities which where pre planned as 1 urban blob with people living on the outskirts.

[@olevandongen96]

Weesp is roughly the same age as Amsterdam, it just didn't grow as quickly. The last bit shown, with the street with no cars allowed, that was medieval. But the rest of it, that was all developed after world war two.

[@coffeewithextrasuga1017]

the area I live in is single family houses only , however what makes it different from American neighborhoods is that our government allows certain business in here. these businesses are conducted in these houses, residents flip their garages or the ground floor of their homes into businesses for example, garage turns into a convenience, grocery or vegetable and fruits store , a pharmacy, beauty shop/ salon, stationary stores, Café, or even a dentist, general doctor, architect office , a gym... and yes all those businesses are in the same street , the farthest being the pharmacy which takes about 7-10 min walk.

[@tonylarose4842]

I used to go to school in woodbury and never noticed how bad it is. After watching videos like yours and from other channels. I have since driven through woodbury again and I absolutely hate going near it now.

[@tomgeraci9886]

Honestly, I would’ve loved to see you compare Woodbury and the Dutch city to a “happy medium” like an older suburb in the US or Canada (many suburbs in the northeast prioritize walkable development, as do suburbs in the Bay Area, Portland (OR) and Seattle)

[@Sparticulous]

What is a “happy “ medium to you

[@bradleypost8971]

Even places in the South have walkable areas. Winter Park, FL is in the Orlando area, famous for sprawling development.

[@Sparticulous]

@@bradleypost8971 do you look at the cities budget. Sprawl bankrupts cities

[@bradleypost8971]

@@Sparticulous I'm against sprawl just like y'all are. I'm pointing out that even in places with sprawl, there are places that are walkable. This is because that not everyone can, or even wants to leave their city or country. Personally, despite our flaws, I could never leave the U.S. It's my home and I can't imagine living anywhere else. A lot of Dutch suburbs look boring to be honest. Cities in places like Austria, Italy, and Switzerland are more aesthetically pleasing. I prefer little villages in the Alps to bland post-war tower blocks and rowhouses.

[@gringo1723]

​@@bradleypost8971 Easy to make analytical judgements of places of which You have NO LIVING EXPERIENCE. There are those among us who(m) are incapable of entertaining a change of venue or Life Style. It is a choice to stay in one place. This Posting offers an alternate perspective other than the homogenous " 'Murica is the BEST LAND IN THE WHOLE WORLD" mentality. Enjoy Your Stimulating existence and just stay right where You are. Honestly, we who have chosen to Live elsewhere appreciate YOU staying there.

[@abel6846]

The wee in Weesp would be pronounced as you would way, so Waysp. Also, a town like Weesp wasn’t planned as such before the 1900s. A town would have organically grown, with a centre with a church and some shops a probably bars/restaurants. Newer neighborhoods were modeled after this. It’s what we know. There were cul de sac-like neighborhoods build in the 70s and 80s, but people didn’t like them.

[@jackisraelson787]

W’s in Dutch and German are pronounced as a V so it would be like Vaysp

[@abel6846]

@@jackisraelson787 sorry dude, but l and many other native Dutch speakers do pronounce the w as a w.

[@jackisraelson787]

@@abel6846 oh ok never knew that

[@BeezOne84]

9:39 I love stumbling upon atmospheric shots like these

[@PaulJosephdeWerk]

In the US, cities are designed with cars in mind, while cycling and public transit are an afterthought. In the Netherlands, cities are designed or redesigned with transportation (walking, cycling, trams, trains, cars) all in thought. Sometimes (if not most of the time) it's faster to bike somewhere than it is to drive the car (a bike can take a direct route, while a car has to go around).

[@peachesdixon7567]

Love living in my American suburb. Big tree lined lots, big roomy houses, 2-3 fuel guzzling vehicles in garages, clean streets lined with unique free-standing houses sitting in beautifully landscaped yards all in walking/biking distance (with sidewalks) to 2 grocery stores, 3 pharmacies, medical clinics, vet clinics, dentists, gyms, convenience stores, hair/nail salons, attorneys, barbers, restaurants, bars, banks, churches, mechanic shops, butchers, schools, coffee shops, feed stores, garden stores, hardware stores, music schools, dance schools, parks, playgrounds, police stations, event halls, public transit and the 80 mile bike/walking path which is the levee of the Mississippi River. On top of these conveniences, I can hop into one of my vehicles and drive anywhere I want at any time I want. I never have to venture into the noisy, crowded, congested, dirty, crime-ridden, user-unfriendly city which is fine by me. Showing intersections of multi-lane commercial roadways is not reflective of American suburbs - at all. I have lived in multi-unit housing in city centers. The suburbs are better, but each to his own.

[@Bigmyoun1]

We have much more room so people spread out by choice. The Netherlands is a small country, it's smaller than most of our states, they don't have that choice. I recommend visiting because its a very nice country.

[@mardiffv.8775]

I agree with what you said, but there is also the factor of politics. US Politics made urban sprawl possible, while in the Netherlands, politics were anti-sprawl, unless there was no more space in a city/ town/ village. Only then sprawl was allowed, like the new Amsterdam suburb of IJburg (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IJburg).

[@hendman4083]

It is not a peoples choice, it is because of your euclidian zoning laws.

[@mardiffv.8775]

@@hendman4083 Yes, that is true. And Americans can only live in high rise appartement buildings or big family houses. I live in a 9000 SF house with a rear garden (2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom). You can not buy such a house in Merica. Really too bad.

[@PrinceWalacra]

The size of a country doesn’t matter when you compare suburbs

[@arposkraft3616]

i can use my own suburb as an example; its even on the wrong side of the river from the close large city, all major roads have bikepaths and sidewalks, i have at least 4 supermarkets of various sizes (all generally smaller then the US ones) within 5 minutes walking but also things like home decoration shops many restaurants a pool cafe and bunch of other entertainment venues, a small attractionpark, a small park, a large park a bit further (like 10 min bike) , a tram line, at least 4 bus lines with a major bus hub at the same 10 min bike ride away, a metro station about 15 minutes away, and this area isnt particularly wanted for commercial and has generally less then most suburbs

[@garrettcarroll5808]

I remembered when I used to play Total War games, and the games made sprawl as being super bad for effectively running your in-game settlements. Now I know why.

[@liuxoB]

The USA, the country of "freedom" where you are forced to use the car and sit in traffic for hours to get anywhere. A country with actual freedom, like the Netherlands, has any transit option you want and they are often all viable options to get anywhere.

[@samspade8830]

What a stupid argument you're trying to make. So far as freedom is concerned, Americans have the most. You're free to become increasingly successful or remain poor. There's way more opportunity than in any European country. Most Europeans live in small flats that are no bigger than cardboard boxes, and drive small 3 cylinder cars that can't even get out of their own way. Europe doesn't sound like freedom to me. Sounds congested, and noisy. I've been to a few European countries. The tourist areas and cities are full of history, but a lot of them are extremely dirty. There's no place like America.

[@cem4376]

Funny how you say it, I am Dutch and I indeed take the bus, the bike, car and walk to get to different places.

[@timelapsesofsingapore5674]

You should compare US suburb and a Singapore "suburb" very interesting comparison

[@ZWD2011]

We have better zoning laws here. Stores for stuff you need on a daily basis are often within walking or cycling distance. We don not need to take a car to do that.

[@humieskum]

As a frequent map user I use Google earth pro (it's free) why do you prefer the browser version?

[@MaartenvanderVeeke]

18:27 those places definatly aren't other suburbs of Amsterdam lol, search up where those trains go to get a good perspective of the Netherlands, it isn't only the suburbs over here, it is the entire country which is connected to one train system (every village with 40k people at least has one train station and the train leaves every 30 mins from any of those places)

[@RealConstructor]

Weesp has a train station with every 15 min a direct train to Amsterdam Central Station (17 min ride) on Saturday, Sunday and weekdays. So every day from 05:20 until 00:21 (Friday to Saturday and Saturday to Sunday an extra night train at 00.51). I think that is pretty decent public transport for a town of 20,000.

[@Freshbott2]

When you have low density, that isn’t trapped in a sea of low density, the infrastructure cost to serve it is so much lower just because of the smaller distances involved. Serving fixed line and 5G is cheaper and more competitive, the roads and transit are cheaper. Cheaper poles and wires. Cheaper schools. Charles Marohn put it when you put things five times further apart, you need five times as much infrastructure to serve them. In reality though things don’t scale linearly cause it becomes more wasteful. So five times the distance costs much more than five times. Municipalities just don’t have the money. Fighting NIMBYism isn’t about cultural preferences it’s a matter of a civilisation’s self preservation.

[@calessom3168]

Excellent content, one more point is that you can cycle to the train station and safely store your bike there whilst you travel into Amsterdam on the train.

[@Ayaan13550]

If there are no sidewalks, you walk on the road. You might think it's dangerous, but that’s what most people do in other 3rd world countries

[@maanvis81]

One major difference, Weesp only has 17000 people, woodbury has 70000 people. And they get all that infrastructure for just the 17000 people that live there

[@robertboender5816]

Take a look at Almere that's a real suburb of Amsterdam.

[@metalvideos1961]

how does that make any sense. its not even in the same province.

[@bolsterwow]

I live in the "Noordoostpolder" in the Netherlands. It was designed for cycling. One city in the middle with 9 villages around it all in cycling distance. Kids from the villages cycle for 30 minutes to Emmeloord every morning to go to school. And in the city there's even cycling-only bridges, built to encourge people to take the bike instead of driving a car. If you go by car you will actually be slower than on a bike.

[@HanemanHunters]

I've lived in a small town in Poland all my life. I don't have a car. My workplace is 3 km from my house, a supermarket is right next to my block. The town center is like 15 mins away by foot. As I grow older I appreciate more and more all that time I'm saving on a daily basis. I can reach any place in town on my bike in 15-20 mins tops. However, that mentality of "no life without a car" is still fairly common, even in small towns. Most people do drive. Some of my colleagues can't comprehend how I voluntarily make my life SO HARD by not getting a car. A few of them even tried to talk me into getting a car by highliting the advantages of being able to drive, you know, just in case I didn't know.

[@geordiepunchingahorse423]

Even for people living in the closest houses to the commericial zone in American suburbs, they have to cross a 6 lane stroad just to get to the Arby’s across their house

[@choonblaze]

Honestly, the only American city I can tolerate to live in is New York or rather, New Amsterdam what it's used to be called :) I lived in southwest Brooklyn for years by the sea and it was awesome. 100% walkable neighborhoods with giant sized sidewalks on either side of the road and subway stations everywhere. All kinds of grocery shops and supermarkets, hundreds of different cuisines, shopping stores etc. and this is just one part of residential Brooklyn. When I found out that in other cities people had to drive to go to grocery stores, I laughed at how embarrasingly bad that is. The rest of the USA cities look like shit in comparison, even Chicago can't compare to Brooklyn because Chicago is still too spread out and ghetto.

[@phu5005]

NYC - land of walkable neighborhoods & indiscriminate opportunity to be robbed, raped, and/or murdered anywhere you go. NYC is a crime-riddled cesspool under current mayor & DA.

[@choonblaze]

@@phu5005 sadly I agree. Isn't it funny European cities are even more walkable than NYC and have no crime? Shootings happen maybe once every few years and they make national headlines rather than "chicago weekly shootings" lmao

[@phu5005]

@@choonblaze - it’s not the guns, it’s the govt. chicago & nyc has some of the strictest gun laws in the country, yet the highest crime. Why? Criminals don’t care about laws. Then you have DA’s in these cities getting rid of cash bail, releasing criminals right back onto the street where they commit more crimes & defunding the police & charging victims with crimes for attempting to defend themselves when being attacked. Then these politicians’ solution is to restrict the rights of law abiding citizens more. There’s tons of big cities that are tough on crime & lax on gun laws that don’t have much gun violence.

[@kailahmann1823]

A rule of thumb for European street design: If there isn't a sidewalk, then cars and bikes aren't supposed to be much faster than walking speed (aka around 10 km/h). If there isn't a bike lane, then cars aren't supposed to be much faster than bike speed (aka 30 km/h). This is regulated with both signs and the actual street design - requiring drivers to obey these speed limits, if they don't want to damage their car.

[@asmrdesigned]

Having lived in both myself, I can attest to the fact that living in the Netherlands is amazing. The country has spectacular public transit, amazing bike lanes infrastructure and very good healthcare system. The country focuses on their youth, family/ friends public health and education, and as a result they're one of the happiest countries in the world. The nation is also uniquely beautiful, and great location to explore the rest of Europe.

[@sanderw7153]

Now compare the number of golf courses. Why does the US have so many golf courses? Also, why does Google maps display them in the same green as it displays publicly accessible parks? They should display it in black or something to make clear how to the vast majority of people those areas are not accessible at all. They are water wasting land hogging blight.

[@AlexCab_49]

Suburbia is a real estate cash cow and was built for the white middle class to buy and for the realtors and developers to take in money. That's why suburbia looks so monotone and is so car centric. Unfortunately profits is what rules the US and having everyone live in dense urban or suburban environments with reliable mass transit isn't very profitable to real estate developers and banks.

[@johnnybaxter8078]

wait till they find out sprawl bankrupts cities

[@gosmarte669]

Both have pros and cons. I am Dutch/American living in the US. There are definitely lots of advantages to living in The Netherlands from a logistics and time perspective. But the Netherlands has limits due to its size and this is creating a lot of problems with regards to housing availability and affordability, and a paralyzed government that continues to build the required homes necessary to house its citizens. People don’t realize that The Netherlands is the 3rd most densely populated country in the world per square km. The country is full. Many Dutch people have been on waiting list for years and live with parents or very tiny homes or apartments that they rent. And now those people are being pushed out by immigrants because the government gives them priority for special housing projects. This creates a lot of social dissatisfaction and frustration with the government. Yes there is absolutely something to be said for the efficiency and compact infrastructure but I am not sure if that is by choice or necessity. There is very little green space in Holland. Many streets barely have trees or green. Many homes all look the same. Very little creativity in home design. I always feel locked up when I’m in Dutch towns or cities and I have a feeling most Dutch people would more space to live. You also need to consider the history of both countries. There is absolutely room for improvement for US urban design but keep it into perspective and unless you have lived in both places it’s hard to give a fare comparison.

[@DonGivani]

There's lots of green in Holland. Even in the cities. We have the Green Heart, which is an ecological structure between Utrecht, Amsterdam, The Hague and Rotterdam . In each cities , there are lots of parks. In every big city you bike 10 km and you're in the green spaces.

[@SideWalkAstronomyNetherlands]

In a normal modern country you can bike or walk or use a train or buss, you are not locked up, and nobody is forced to go through a traffic jam etc...or forced to buy an expensive car..

[@rogerwilco2]

It would really help if you had a clue how to use Google Maps. You keep claiming you can't figure out if something is there, while Google Maps can just show you. It would also have really helped if you had planned this out a little more. Check the distances to a "shopping list" of some common destinations. A school, a supermarket, a restaurant, a pharmacy, a bakery, a bicycle repair shop, a clothing store, a train station, an airport. look at the area before you start recording. Give it a little more thought before you start recording and the content would be a lot better.

[@gklerk4170]

He clearly want to stay honest to the viewer instead of making things up.

[@aappelman5639]

Indeed. And the superfast clicking all over the place makes the video chaotic and unpleasant to watch.

[@friddevonfrankenstein]

Wow, this is the first time ever that I get first view :D EDIT: To make this a little more constructive than just some "FIRST!!!!111" comment..;D I'm originally from Germany and went to hig school for a year in Indiana. I was somewhat shocked about the absolute lack of sidewalks and street lighting in the area where I lived (Heritage Lake in case you want to look it up). I mean yes, it was pretty rural but HL still is a community of a few thousand people. I rode around on a bike and when I was out after dark, it was DARK. It really felt like you're simply not supposed to be outside of a car. I could never get used to the fact that it isn't weird or annoying to ask for a ride and managed to find a moped with a leaky head gasket for $25. 49cc of salvation :D

[@NoblesseObligeify]

You can also check out the differences in places where you can your hobbies for instance soccer, baseball OR indoor activities like a bar, painting etc

[@Donantoine]

As a Dutchman I never realized this. But is indeed very nice to go to work, on your bicycle; cycling keeps me fit. But the downside is that we live on a very small piece of the earth, so our cars, houses and gardens are small, but still extremely expensive.