What People Get Wrong About Dense Urban Living

[@aerob1033]

I don't think people who have never lived in an urban neighborhood realize just how calm and quiet even very dense residential streets can be. I think everyone who goes to New York City should pay a visit to one of the regular neighborhoods in Brooklyn for this reason and just walk around for a little while. Brooklyn is densely-populated even by European standards, but it is worlds apart from, say, Midtown Manhattan, and what people picture when they think of New York (Times Square, mostly).

[@HallsofAsgard96]

I think Brooklyn Heights is an excellent example

[@steemlenn8797]

Ever been to a "Eastern Bloc" prefab settelement? They were not build for the car and while there live a lot of people, it's not loud. And there is probabyl more green and trees than in the 1/10 dense suburban world. And because it's so dense, it makes sense to have public transit. And of course other amenities like a grocery store or a dctor. It's so much better than the suburban life where oyu have the constant noise of lawn mowers or guys with a chain saw or circle saw doing something extremely noisy.

[@machtmann2881]

I remember going to Sunset Park/Bayridge and noticing how peaceful it is with the townhomes and business streets just a block or two away. It's completely different from Williamsburg or downtown Manhattan but it's still dense, urban living

[@jetfan925]

Some of my relatives actually or used to live in Midwood and Far Rockaway, as far as I know.

[@JordanPeace]

Even in Manhattan, neighborhoods like East Village, Hell's Kitchen, and both the Upper East/West Side are dense residential areas that have quiet and calm areas in them that are still vibrant and in close proximity to the job centers that draw people to the city

[@SaveMoneySavethePlanet]

People also tend to think that “dense neighborhood” means everyone lives in a skyscraper. When in reality, many dense neighborhoods actually just have loads of triplexes, and townhomes, with the occasional 2-3 story condo building.

[@DelNiceBeto]

It can also be not forcing everyone to have a half acre lawn

[@SaveMoneySavethePlanet]

@@DelNiceBeto exactly. Maybe I’ll do a video for my channel later about what might happen now that California has gotten rid of SFH zoning. Lots of people are scared that the whole state will turn into condos, but I think we’ll mostly just see an ADU added to every property. People will barely notice but population density will go way up.

[@tomrogue13]

I wonder if we should say cities are compact versus dense since to not city folk has a somewhat negative connotation (okay I'm in this group as i live in rural Michigan)

[@graham1034]

The issue being that few of those kinds of neighbourhoods have been built in the past few decades in Canada/US.

[@SaveMoneySavethePlanet]

@@graham1034 yup your absolutely right. I’m really hoping that taking away California’s SFH zoning this past year leads to more development along these lines in the future. NIMBY’s gotta NIMBY though…so who knows what will happen in the end?

[@mklinger23]

This was my exact experience. I grew up in rural NJ. the only city experience I had was Manhattan. This made me hate cities. I never wanted to live in one. I wanted acres of land where I could live far from everyone else. Then I met my girlfriend from queens. I still wasn't the biggest fan of the city, but I was definitely more open to it. Fast forward to now. I moved to a suburb of Philly and after working in the city, I got a lot more comfortable. I now live in south Philly. It's a very similar feeling to my rural town imo. Parking is still a pain, but I don't drive much so it doesn't really matter. The main difference is I'm able to walk/bike/take the bus to everywhere I need to go. I was never able to walk to a restaurant growing up so this is a life changer. Over the course of 2-3 years, I went from hating cities to feeling like I need to live in one.

[@peterbelanger4094]

Philly is a dump.

[@buttorr]

philly is a great place growing up here is great glad you enjoy it

[@seanziewonzie]

I moved from a "sleepy" suburb of a major american city to one of Montreal's 'missing middle' neighborhoods. I can confirm that the latter is SO much more peaceful. The big reason is cars. I have never been woken up by a roaring pickup truck here, nobody drives faster than 15mph, and when walking to get groceries I can actually hear myself think.

[@jsocials]

Suburbs are becoming less peaceful and practical than urban cities because of the over reliance on driving everywhere vs. in Urban areas where the majority walk and use public transit. Alot of the driving in cities are public transit vechiles, supply trucks, and tourists. Also the money saved yearly by not owning a car. Atleast $10k per year.

[@mygetawayart]

that's the paradox. You'd think you'll live a quieter life by being where less people are but in reality, because what makes cities loud is cars, if you live in a dense urban area with traffic regulations and lots of public transit, you'll rarely be disturbed by constant traffic, whereas, since everyone has to drive in the suburbs, cars are everywhere all the time.

[@AlexCab_49]

I think New York is a great example of what ppl think city living is like vs reality. Most ppl in New York don't like even live in Manhattan, they live in the outer boroughs and Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx are also very dense and still full of more quiet residential neighborhoods.

[@NamelessProducts]

Getting people to understand that density =/= skyscrapers and concrete jungles is one of the most frustrating obstacles to explaining good community design. The best argument I have come across is that **rural farm towns, before the car, are enjoyable places because they are dense.** I partially grew up in rural Ohio. Most of which was built before the car and therefore have downtowns that are walkable. I grew up on **six acres** and was still able to walk to the grocery store. My brother lived a town over and lived across the street from his work, the bar, and the bank all while living in a house that was a 4-bedroom 2-bath with a detached 4-car garage. Both of these towns were less than 2k but still walkable. Furthermore, both these towns once had regular passenger rail service for when you needed to leave town to larger population centers. When I moved to a town in Florida (Punta Gorda), almost ten times the population of my rural town in Ohio, the nearest grocery store was over an hour walk away. Efficient land use, walkability, and good civil design come at all levels of community.

[@colormedubious4747]

The next time you're in Orlando, check out Baldwin Park and Avalon Park. Both are New Urban style communities with dense village centers that have apartments above retail/office, with nearby live-above townhomes and single-family houses closer to the edge of the community. They each also have a drugstore in the village center as well as a Publix. The centers are within easy walking distance of the entire community and a very short drive from surrounding neighborhoods. Baldwin Park is a repurposed military property and Avalon Park is a greenfield development. Both have nice public spaces and plenty of water features.

[@peterbelanger4094]

"community"??? wtf is that?

[@colormedubious4747]

@@peterbelanger4094 TV show.

[@spektriye]

@@colormedubious4747 publix w

[@colormedubious4747]

@@spektriye The OP said he lived in Florida. That means his local grocery store is probably Publix, so I noted two compact communities in Florida that have a Publix within walking distance of every home.

[@jlpack62]

Even sections of Manhattan aren't uniformly places that one might consider "downtown". There are plenty of densely populated, quiet residential neighborhoods in addition to the noise of Midtown, the Financial District, or the commercial stretches of major arteries like Broadway.

[@fatherfountain1906]

yeah like harlem and greenwich village

[@joshromanowski640]

A lot of non urban people also visit cities and assume they can drive everywhere just like in their small town or suburb. Then they say how stressful cities are and hate on urban life. I would be stressed too if I drove around in traffic all day and expected to find parking at every stop. Like you don’t hate cities, you hate DRIVING in cities! The benefit of city life is that you have a ton of activities and resources in walking/biking distance. Dense urban neighborhoods are awesome when you realize the car shouldn’t be your default mode of transportation.

[@wwsciffsww3748]

And if your city has functioning public transit, then you now have a way to get around thats fast, cheap, easy, and environmentally friendly

[@peterbelanger4094]

A lot of people just plain ASSUME. Urban people ASSUME things about non urban people. Ever consider some have lived in all those areas?

[@laurie7689]

I lived an urban life as a young kid in Baltimore Maryland when the crime wasn't as bad as it is today. The neighborhood that I lived in was peaceful. The homes were essentially rowhouses. It was dense living and there were always people about. I absolutely hated it. It didn't matter that there were amenities and activities nearby. I still hated it. I live in the suburbs now AWAY from the amenities and the activities. Except during the morning and evening when folks are commuting to and from the larger city to work, I don't have to hardly ever see another human being - and that is what I like BEST about living in the suburbs.

[@Jon_Nadeau_]

@@peterbelanger4094 Agreed! What urbanists don't often realize is that most suburban people used to live in the dense urban areas, especially back in the 80s in 90s. Most suburbanites have already experienced the urban life when growing up and HATED it, and no I'm not talking about the downtown areas with skyscrapers. I'm talking about places with little to no single family homes, an a bunch of condos and triple decker homes you have to share with annoying neighbors plus most have no yards. Thats why people started to move out since the 80s. I left in 2012 when I bought my homes and never looked back.

[@iykury]

i live in a suburban town in utah and don't really leave very often. one time i drove to salt lake city, and it was terrifying (the freeway exit dumped me into a five-lane one-way stroad packed with cars), so i swore that from then on i would take the train if i visited again, even though it's slower.

[@alex_blue5802]

When I lived in Portland I was constantly having to explain to my parents that I was in a safe residential neighborhood that had nothing to do with the protests downtown. Even better we had shops and restaurants within walking distance, so there was little need to ever go downtown.

[@peterbelanger4094]

I live in the Portland area now, the protests are not the problem, they never really were, the side effects are, they ended up handicapping the police and now crime is out of control. There is also the blight of homelessness across the entire metro. this place sucks.

[@MisterVercetti]

@ghost mall The problem is, it takes time for the restoration to take effect, whereas the effects of a major defunding tend to be harsh and swift. Portland is probably still at least a couple of years off from law enforcement being restored to its capacity prior to being kneecapped by the Defund the Police debacle.

[@secretagentcat]

@@MisterVercetti nobody was defunded to the point of unworkability in portland. Your point is moot

[@TommyJonesProductions]

Suburbanites only see the city when there are tons of other suburbanites visiting. Then they complain about city traffic, never understanding that they ARE city traffic, and, after they go back to the burbs, the city traffic goes WAY down.

[@youweremymuse]

I moved from South Carolina to Chicago. When I showed my grandma a street view of my neighborhood on the northside, she was shocked. I think she was under the impression that I lived in a concrete jungle and have to dodge stray bullets from gang fights every time I walk out my front door. The truth is that I rarely feel unsafe in my neighborhood and haven't had any problems with noise at all. I'm a very light sleeper and an insomniac and I haven't once been woken up by noise from outside. In addition, I feel way safer walking and biking in Chicago than I would in the suburban neighborhood I grew up in. Of course there will always be people who prefer a suburban single family with a giant yard and a two car garage. And to them I say congratulations! You have plenty of houses to choose from. But for those of us that want to live somewhere where you can walk to the grocery store and ride the train to work, it's extremely difficult to find affordable housing.

[@plangineer1375]

Your balanced view of urbanism is very appreciated! So many KZbin urbanism posters are focused on expressing their specific biases: particularly anti-car, anti-suburb and anti-(North) American rants. Your videos do a great job of showcasing the plethora of options without the "Karen" attitude. 😀 Keep up the great work!

[@saifis]

I live in Tokyo, the loudest thing I encounter working from home for a long time is the children going and coming back from school, since I live next to a middle school you hear them yelling and running around, but outside that not much else. I think I hear car honking..... once or twice a year at the house.

[@dannymongrain4788]

another great video, thanks!! I couldn't have said it better myself. I was born & raised in a small town in a remote region in Northern Quebec and I also tough of 'downtown Montreal' as Montreal as a whole (because that s the only place I had visited younger). I've been living in Montreal for 22 years now and found an awesome family and diverse neighborhood in Rosemont-La-Petite-Patrie. My kids can develop their autonomy at 7 & 9 years old by walking to the nearby school, park & shops, something that was absolutely impossible for me at their age. Within 10 minutes of walking distance I have access to more than 100x cafés, restaurants, small owner shops & boutiques, medical care, various small and medium food store, 3x metro stations, lots of bike paths, librairies, sports facilities, etc, etc. If only these 'missing middle' high-density neighborhood could still be built. They don't make these anymore yet the demands for them rises and rises thus the costs makes us wonder who might be our future neighbors in 10 years from now, beside couples of doctors, lawyers and other high income

[@warw]

Incredible video as always. I had someone make this argument recently and this is a great, concise way to explain to them what I'm talking about.

[@waisinglee1509]

I currently live in Singapore, one of the most densely populated cities in the world, and it does not feel crowded at all. The government has in place measures such as a cap on private vehicles, easy access to public transit, green spaces, etc in order to avoid the chaos you sometimes feel in very densely populated cities such as Kowloon.

[@OhTheUrbanity]

We've never been, but we'd love to visit Singapore or Hong Kong to see how it feels to us. And of course the transit...

[@waisinglee1509]

Hit me up if you guys are ever in SG. Bring your bikes if you have any and I can show you guys all over the island via transit and bike. The gov't is moving very fast in building out the Park Connector Network (PCN) all over the island. It's a multi use path/trail whose latest design is more than just a nod to walkers. The gov't would rather build this than more hospitals for an unhealthy aging population. Haha (trekker at fastmail dot fm)

[@Korpiloukku]

You didn't bring up the fact that usually population density is relatively low in downtowns or major business districts. Sometimes there can be over 50 000 jobs inside one square kilometer but there is very little or sometimes almost none housing. Neighbourhoods right next to downtowns or CBDs on the otherhand can be quite densily populated and the most desired urban areas are usually close but not right in the middle of the city.

[@stickynorth]

Yup! Single-use ghost town office parks in the sky... Thankfully almost every high rise these days is mixed use or a part of a mixed-use development that aims to create transit-oriented development microvillages around station sites! Those are ideal if you ask me!

[@otsoko66]

That is less common in Canada -- lots of people live in the downtown core in big cities here. I lived in downtown Montreal for over 20 years (and walked to work) - there were lots of people around in the evening and at night. I think that it's related to the perception of crime - people just aren't afraid to live downtown in Canada. We have criminals - but they just want your stuff, they don't want to hurt you.

[@MrOlympuse410]

This concept of a "downtown" as a central hub for an entire city is a very North American concept. Being from London, there are so many cultural "centres" spotted all around the city that it doesn't have a "downtown", off the top of my head you have Shoreditch, Islington, Wembley, Kensington, Hammersmith, Greenwich. The square mile in the centre is the CBD with a lot of landmarks but it's not the only destination worth seeing. It comes back to this idea of car dependency meaning you don't have commercial hubs for different residential areas - you have endless residential areas with a massive drive to anything useful, so you just have one big block of non residential stuff and it becomes the only place that isn't a sea of single family homes. Not that London doesn't have its problems of course

[@rebekahsegun8319]

Don't forget Kingston, Putney, Canary Wharf, Brixton, Stratford, Hounslow, Knightsbridge, the West End, Wood Green, etc. The actual City of London (ake the "true" downtown of London) only has about 7000 inhabitants.

[@MrOlympuse410]

@@rebekahsegun8319 exactly!

[@meteorical8036]

A major part of what makes downtown important is office space. I live in San Francisco where most people don't drive and each neighborhood is structured around a commercial hub. Downtown serves an economic purpose more than a cultural one, people don't need to go there for entertainment or commercial, but it's where the tallest buildings and biggest companies are. Don't get me wrong, car dependency is a major issue in North America, but there are many cities that are "decentralized" in the way you describe yet have a downtown.

[@MrOlympuse410]

@@meteorical8036 I wouldn't say that's any different though - in my home city of London, office space and big companies are fairly evenly distributed too.

[@meteorical8036]

@@MrOlympuse410 There is office space mixed in everywhere in both cities but there is less in residential neighborhoods and more in central business districts. It is not evenly distributed in London.

[@scpatl4now]

Thank you for making this distinction. So many neighborhoods would be so much nicer if they allowed a mix of low rise housing mixed with small shops and businesses. These are the places so many people like to visit yet they can't make the connection to where they live. In Atlanta, there are many places that are downtown adjacent that could benefit from this type of mixed zoning. Some in their natural progression were going in this direction, but then they gentrify and the single family homeowners block any and all changes to the area pushing things like 4 to 6 unit buildings and small shops out. If you are in a downtown adjacent place, you should be willing to relax your zoning to accommodate these types of things. These areas can't be treated like the suburbs since they were not designed to be that way.

[@wwsciffsww3748]

I think the Beltline is helping a lot with this. There's a mix of housing, retail, parks, etc along it, and none it is skyscrapers/super high density. Yes there are some single-family home neighborhoods along it, but I'm hoping that some of it is rezoned for, say, missing middle housing. Now we just need more transit

[@scpatl4now]

@@wwsciffsww3748 I would qualify The Mayfair as a high rise. It is a block from the park on 14th st

[@Jacksparrow4986]

I absolutely feel you. As a kid, I lived pretty rural most of the time. I slept in the 2nd floor in a house that was just slightly elevated on the edge of the valley - I heard cars 1-2km away (and saw their headlights). It was a surprising experience when I stayed with someone who lived in a residential area in a city - way calmer.

[@rileynicholson2322]

Even if you do live downtown, it doesn't really matter once you're inside your apartment, which is where most people spend most of their time. The only major concern becomes noise which is almost entirely created by cars and can be easily mitigated by building soundproofing into new buildings.

[@agatien]

Or getting rid of cars!

[@peterbelanger4094]

That depends on what building you are in. Many apartment building have thin walls and busy common spaces, so the chaos can be ever present if you get the wrong address. Not to mention that renting is TERRIBLE, with how corporate management controls most rental units, it's like having an extra layer of tyrannical government over your life. Condo boards are not much better. A lot of people would rather not have to deal with that extra hassle. One of the reasons single family homes are so popular, especially in neighborhoods without HoA's. So, if you don't like living in apartments, urban life may not be for you.

[@mindstalk]

@@peterbelanger4094 You can have walkable high density with houses. Just have to give up big lots.

[@ЮрийБогомолов-б8щ]

​@@peterbelanger4094 single family houses also have very thin walls that can be easily broken by a *punch* lol. BTW they aren't soundproof at all

[@AntonioDavid-qu3zq]

In SFH at least you don't hear on an hourly basis your neighbors footsteps, conversations, TV, vacuuming, or anything else they're doing.

[@TheNomoNom]

People definitely underestimate how loud the suburbs are, especially the more affluent ones that invest a lot of time into lawn care and hire teams to mow the lawn for them. Right now I have three sets of lawn mowers and one leaf blower going off that will each take an hour (not sure how it could take that long) and inevitably 20 minutes after they're done a new lawn will start mowing. Winter is a bit quieter but when it snows everyone has to plow long driveways. And don't forget that everyone Has to have a car, since there is no public transit or bike lanes, so even cul-de-sacs have minimal car traffic at 3am. Plenty more mid-life crisis cars too ;)

[@SwiftySanders]

In the US, people are binary thinkers. They think in black and white. If its not one thing, its the opposite of that thing. Never-mind the fact that there is a world in between. People here in the US often use downtown living to block dense walkable areas because they do not want to compete for parking or they are concerned about their rent going up as a result of “gentrification” which has become a catch all for changing anything in a neighborhood for the better. Even though many minorities and black people benefit, “gentrification” sounds rich and white to many Americans and thus is easy to demonize.

[@machtmann2881]

Ugh so true. It is no wonder the US has become so polarized and divisive in more and more areas of life with our binary way of thinking.

[@michaelvickers4437]

Remember that it REALLY IS black and white. So much of the decline of older, denser urban parts of American cities has come because of racial attitudes. Black people starting to move into neighbourhoods previously identified as White areas - either directly from the South as part of the Great Migration, or simply moving out of less desirable areas as Blacks got more economic power, or were displaced from more central neighbourhoods by highway developments or "urban renewal" - set off White Flight to farther-flung suburbs, further out from from the Downtown core, aided by the development of the Interstate system.

[@ace20016]

I haven’t seen a gentrified neighborhood where a lot of the black residents weren’t push out.

[@SwiftySanders]

@@ace20016 Labeling everything as gentrification doesnt help black people. Thats the point. Not building enough and dense enough housing is gentrification because it hurts black people by artificially increasing prices beyond the prices that current residents can afford.

[@Alina_Schmidt]

2:05 „just to be loud and express their views“ includes hearing church bells on every sunday morning in a village when you aren‘t even religious….

[@EnjoyFirefighting]

Used to live in a city of 200k inhabitants, only 300m walking distance from the lively historic city center; The apartment house was standing in the 2nd row from the street which formed a loop but basically was a dead-end; On the other side there was a huge private park from a mansion two houses down the road. It was super peaceful and quiet, except for the weeks where the funfair took place 300m in the other direction, 2 times a year. Now I live in a village of 10k inhabitants outside our state's capital. The capital's downtown area is roughly 20km far away. The apartment building is again in the 2nd row, but this time it's the village's main road with lots of car traffic, some truck and farming traffic and primarily EMS units rushing down the road with sirens. If by far isn't as quiet. Also there's barely any green around us any more, no park, no garden, nothing.

[@mdhazeldine]

I think part of the problem is that many Canadian cities are quite polarised between suburbia and high rises. In the UK where I live, there's a much more gradual transition and we generally don't have as many skyscrapers (although that has changed a lot in recent years).

[@MarioFanGamer659]

That's what I also thought, that it's a side effect of the Missing Middle.

[@NickLinnen]

Love this explanation. The fact that there are options when it comes to density and living in an urban place is such a good thing to keep in mind when considering where to live!

[@fallenshallrise]

High density from low rise buildings is great to live in and great for the neighborhood. In giant towers with basement parkades just encourage people to elevator down and drive out of the neighborhood to work and shop and recreate. Smaller buildings encourage you to walk out your front door. Add a lot of them and local businesses can open up and thrive because of all the local foot traffic. The downside is that I am adjacent to downtown so 5 out of 7 surface streets running east/west in my neighborhood have heavy traffic during rush hour, even now. But at least there are no lawn mowers / leaf blowers all day on the weekends.

[@mremumerm]

But just connect that giant tower to public transit and people not that the elevator down to transit out, without ever a need for a car.

[@RamonInNZ]

Loved little just on the edge of Auckland's CBD, our tower was on a ridge and views were amazing. 15 minute walk to allsorts of ammenities and open spaces/parks were everywhere

[@LeManotas]

I live 100 feet from the corner of Avenue du Mont Royal, a main commercial street of Le Plateau, the Montreal neighbourhood mentioned in the video. I gotta say, I love my street so much, it's super green, it's calm even with the noisier street around the corner. And it's very convenient to have all the stores, restaurants and even the metro station within a 5 minute walk! I wouldn't trade walkability for the suburbs...

[@Randomdive]

This is especially true for Chicago - the best, most livable areas here are medium to high residential density areas outside the loop (our central business district). It's almost entirely commercial space with very little residential space, and you're generally more likely to run into tourists or commuters rather than residents. For example, Lakeview East and Edgewater Beach both have at least four times the population density as the South Loop, despite being far outside of what you might consider "downtown".

[@spektriye]

Chiraq

[@jpmeyer09]

Yeah Lakeview is a mess

[@occamsrazor1285]

0:17 That goes the same for people in cities regarding life in rural areas.

[@Cyrus992]

You can have dense areas dominated by single family homes of around 15,000 per square mile. Sadly they are found in new subdivisions of Las Vegas and too car dependent

[@a.j.santiago303]

Perception can be a crazy thing. I've lived in practically every type of environment and they all have their positives and negatives. The part of your video that really struck home with me is the noise factor. I lived in noisy areas and prairie-quiet areas of the Bronx. I currently live in an Orlando suburb that, with a major expressway, shopping centers, an abominable and very busy 'stroad', new car wash, lawn mowers, dogs, loud-ass cars and trucks, plane traffic, and new development all within earshot make my neighborhood far from a sleepy suburb. My NYC family calls it "quiet and spacious," and native Florida family calls it "the city." I wouldn't call it either, but I understand both points of view.

[@peterbelanger4094]

I understand completely. I too have lived in all types of areas. There are good and bad neighborhoods everywhere. And we all have a slightly definition of what "good" and "bad" mean. Not to mention our needs and preferences change as we get older. I grew up in upstate NY, I was always excited about visiting "the city" as a kid. Now, I don't care for the place anymore. City living is geared more for highly social young adults. It's just an overwhelming burden to older folks. A lot of people do the urban thing for a while, but then get burned out and go out to the country.

[@michaelvickers4437]

It's interesting that large, noisy dogs is identified as a specifically suburban phenomenon. Is it that in denser neighbourhoods there are too many people right nearby, so you wouldn't get away with having your big, loud dog staked outside in your yard? Is it that the same kind of person who anti-socially has a large, noisy truck or other loud vehicle in the suburbs, also is likely to have a loud dog? I'm intrigued by this association.

[@SNeaker328]

@@michaelvickers4437 more open air space means you can hear dogs barking from further away. Nothing inbetween to muffle the noise. I've experienced this visiting my family in the 'burbs. I have a harder time sleeping there with the noise from the crickets and tree frogs and dogs than I do in my quiet bedroom in Queens.

[@compdude100]

I was just on vacation to the East Coast and when I was in New York, I stayed in a hotel in Jamaica, Queens. I stayed there as opposed to Manhattan (where most of the hotels are) because it was somewhere I could park at and then take the subway into Manhattan, since I was doing a roadtrip down the East Coast. It was pretty interesting to walk along the streets and though there were quite a few people out and about, it didn't feel overwhelmingly busy like a place like Times Square does. And there were still quiet residential streets that I could walk on; the only "busy" street was a 2-lane arterial lined with shops.

[@PaigeMTL]

The Deftones show was my favourite b-roll surprise this time

[@annach109]

My friends live downtown east end near distillery and frankly it’s a very calm and quiet neighbourhood despite being filled with tall condo towers and having plenty of retail and restaurants on the ground floor. But they don’t have big malls, stadiums, or office towers which make their neighbourhoods nice. Liberty village seems more busy to me but Liberty is very very dense and it has lots of shopping and restaurants that attract people from nearby neighbourhoods. But it’s still nowhere near as chaotic as downtown core or the young street corridor.

[@NooneStaar]

Atlanta surprises me by how big it actually is and how it's literally just dense neighborhoods sans the center with skyscrapers. There's tons of single fam homes along with duplexes, quadplexes, etc with denser housing getting more prominent the closer you get into the city. It's cool to see how it's really just like suburbs but less yard a lot of the time with tons of trees still and sidewalks along with roads. If people knew you could still own a single fam home if you want to rather than living in an apartment or duplex they'd prob sign onto the idea more. Especially if they don't care about yardcare, you still have enough yard in most places for a garden, but not something so big you have to spend an hour mowing per week. People talk about not wanting to live in a pod, but don't realize forcing zoning for suburbs only forces tons of people to live in pods in cities bc getting an apartment or quadplex has been not allowed :p

[@superj8502]

"i don't wanna live in a pod" proceeds to spend several hours every day in a dangerous moving pod where you can't even stand up.

[@Brooklyn94269]

First time I’ve heard someone say Atlanta has dense neighborhoods

[@NooneStaar]

@@Brooklyn94269 Compared to the suburbs I've seen / been in. It's a decent mix between single family homes packed together nicely, middle housing, and high-rises.

[@Brooklyn94269]

@@NooneStaar atlanta is literally just dense suburbs in my opinion, a lesser dense and southern version of LA . But still nowhere close as dense / walkable as northeast/ Midwest cities

[@NooneStaar]

@@Brooklyn94269 ehh inner core of cities is always more dense than the outskirts

[@user-ux7nd8tg1o]

My apartment this summer in Seattle has a bunch of mid-rise condos nearby. By far the largest source of noise in that area is the busy street running through it; once you get off that street it's a very calm place even though it has good density, and if we got rid of cars, that area would be super peaceful. Likewise, in my college town, the only reason my apartment is noisy is that it's along a major street for thru-traffic.

[@BobaVolcano]

2:15 Vancouver resident here. This statement is changing rapidly....

[@kenny1514]

As not just bikes stated "cities are not loud, cars are loud". I work downtown between Maisonneuve Ouest and rue Sherbrooke, and it's drastically louder due to cars driving by, than where I live in the vieux port at the corner of 2 small one way streets ( you can neither drive fast, nor are there multiple lanes). Even on weekends when there're lots of tourists walking around the vieux port, it's still quite. It only gets loud on weekends at night when all the suburbanites drive into the vieux port with all the loud cars, to party and enjoy the restaurants. If you are not on the main restaurant streets (St-Paul, McGill, de la commune, Notre-Dame) you still get lots of tranquility even the weekend nights.

[@kimsmoke17]

2:58, turn left on the corner, then 4th house down on the left/south side. I lived there for 2 years as an undergrad. So crazy to see in a random KZbin video. Lol. It’s a Small world indeed.

[@jayDB5]

An excellent video, thank you!! This is one I will definitely reach to for sharing when conversations lead to discussion of urbanism and density :)

[@elizabethdavis1696]

3:35 look how pretty those brick buildings are with the blue trim. It add color but not too much

[@Amir-jn5mo]

thank you for your continued fight for urbanism. I'm so glad we have Canadian KZbinr like you, paige sounders and notjustbikes to advocate for better urban development in Canada.

[@jjcimer]

I grew up in the Toronto suburbs and now go to school in Montreal. I lived on a quiet residential street growing up but I still find that living in the plateau is many times quieter than where I grew up in the suburbs due to the slow traffic speeds and dense buildings that block out sound.

[@Pystro]

I would like to add that even in Europe, living downtown is unpopular with most people. People here know that living downtown brings a lot of problems with it (that for most aren't outweighed by the ease of getting to places): party goers every weekend, frequent events, constant car traffic (unless your street is closed off for one of those events), historic streets or alleyways that are too narrow for car traffic, difficulty finding parking, drunks congregating at the main train station from 2pm to late at night (of which the last 3 probably don't apply to American cities - at least not the train station part). But since most of us grew up knowing dense parts of our cities that aren't downtown, we don't associate those problems with density (not even the density of public housing high-rises) - at least people from the city don't. There are other ways how American cities could increase density other than building multiplexes, though. Like embracing the row house instead of building only nominally "detached" homes that waste space by leaving a 4-foot gap to each neighboring lot; eliminating "generous" front yards that nobody ever uses in favor of either building right against the sidewalk or leaving a front yard just large enough for the stairs up to the front door, some flower beds, the trash bins and maybe some bike racks. Narrower roads or highways; Local streets don't have to be 2 generously wide driving lanes and 2 parking lanes, you can often get away with a one-way street network with 1 driving and 1 parking lane; A 4+4 lane highway doesn't need so much free space in the median and one the edges that it could be widened to a 9+9 lane configuration. Keeping supermarkets INSIDE residential neighborhoods so that you can decrease the parking lot size slightly. The typical American building style seems to be so much in love with having ample space (even in places where that makes cities look desolate) that space just gets wasted indiscriminately.

[@ColonelRPG]

Really good perspective on city living!

[@linuxman7777]

When it comes to noise, it is the culture of the people living there that matters most. For example all Japanese cities I have been to were very quiet, regardless of density but many American Cities and Suburbs are loud, unless you go to a neighborhood of either Northern-Europeans or Japanese/Koreans it is much quieter

[@linuxman7777]

@@n.a.199 Older Suburbs where African Americans are starting to move into. In the Exurbs and Rural Sprawl areas it is quiet, but many first gen suburbs are quite loud now

[@Krommandant]

Thanks for helping us visit these cities intimately :) Good camera work and editing! 5 stars documentary

[@kariminalo979]

One of my favourite neighborhoods in Europe is Mestre located west of Venice. It's dense, walkable but also just nice in general. There's a sense of an urban environment but not necessarily crowded, almost like a hidden gem with all the necessary urban infrastructure but with just a more calm and nicer atmosphere. I've come across similar neighborhoods in Paris such as Suresnes and Enskede in Stockholm. These neighborhoods make an efficient use of low to mid-rise mixed use developments. I wish there were more garden cities acting like smaller cities and urban villages within large megacities.

[@mmontgomeryy]

Living in Hochelaga in Montreal was much quieter and calmer than any trip I've taken to the suburbs where giant roads, highways, parking lots and crowded shopping centres add a ton of noise and chaos to the environment. I'm also quite happy that I've found a happy middle near Ottawa now.

[@BoomerSwan]

Lived in Ottawa for 10 years, visit Montréal regularly... So I know those areas well. I now live in the Hague, and it's something else. Much of the city is 3-4 storeys, and it works sooooo well.

[@Chris-qj3dk]

I loved this video! People in small towns always say that living in Toronto must be so noisy. I live in East York and my neighbourhood of Pape Village is full of midrises. But I find East York way more peaceful and safe than the small town I'm from. Mostly due to cars. East York is full of cyclists and pedestrians. Most speed limits are no more than 40 km per hour. There are so many beautiful parks and cafes. I'd prefer East York over any suburban neighborhood any day!

[@carfreeneoliberalgeorgisty5102]

Toronto actually kind of has 3 "downtown" areas. There's the main one down by lake Ontario but parts of Midtown Toronto and the Yonge Street section of North York are also like busy big city "downtown" areas even if they aren't officially "downtown". In addition there are a lot of commercial streets that could easily be "main street" areas in smaller towns and cities.

[@steemlenn8797]

Tokyo is Urban. And still you have lots of silent neighborhoods and you can even have three city cores in walking distance from your house. And three million+ passenger/day trains tations too.

[@carfreeneoliberalgeorgisty5102]

@@steemlenn8797 urban form is quite diverse around the world and varies from city to city and neighbourhood to neighbourhood. If safety/crime wasn't an issue I think that it would be really cool to live in a slum like Medellin's comuna 13 or Brazil's Favelas for awhile. Middle Eastern cities are also pretty cool, especially neighbourhoods like Istanbul's Kadikoy and Balat or the port city of Alexandria Egypt. Not every city looks like Hong Kong.

[@mremumerm]

I lived along the Danforth, obviously what would be a "main street", but every time i left the downtown area, which symbolically used the Don Valley as my reference point, i felt i came into a different place. Added bonus i had multiple ways of doing it Subway/Streetcar/Bike and even a decent series of connecting walks.....

[@joe42m13]

I grew up in a dense Los Angeles neighborhood of 50k people, but most housing was single family homes on small lots and 2-3 story apartments. Shops and corner markets were sprinkled throughout, so you never really needed to leave the area unless it was for something specific, and we had several bus lines and a train station to connect you to the rest of the city in every direction

[@Zarrx]

Your channel has become one of my favourite urbanism channels

[@mremumerm]

Great video. The other thing people don't seem to realise is the urban noise quickly becomes white noise when you live there. I lived along the Danforth for 20 years, and 10 years on an apartment fairly close to the subway line. It was always interesting to have people visit and hear (feel) the subway vibrations something i quickly stopped to notice and only would when they would mention it.

[@smk2457]

This really applies to Tokyo (minus the CBDs like Shinjuku, Shibuya etc). Walk a few streets from the station and it's dead quiet with hardly anyone around. The only reasons I don't want to live in high density residential neighborhood in Tokyo are 1.cost of living and 2. train crush.

[@c.d.9035]

Thank you for this. I live in an urban neighborhood amid a lot of low-income housing, both Section 8 and directly supported by the city. Our neighborhood also has some of the most affordable single-family houses, either to own or to rent, with plenty of good jobs within an easy commute. That helps make it possible for young people, immigrants and artists to move here and try to get ahead. Our neighborhood has drug addicts, government- and military- supported industry that brings ecological mayhem, homeless people sleeping under bridges, women who move here tryng to escape and protect their children from abusers, community-supported ecological restorations, gang-related murders, bike paths, a strip mall, and a moderately deadly stroad. And me, a 65-year-old widow living on social security with two cats and a front yard full of vegetables. This neighborhood defies description; it gets classified as low-income, food desert, gentrifying, decaying, and all sorts of other things. But we all manage to live here and make it work, sort of. I never see neighborhoods like mine reflected. There's no one stereotype that describes us.

[@cool2rule2]

I’m from Quebec City but live in Montreal. The number of times I’ve heard that Montreal is “too crowded”… but they’ve only been to Canadiens games or shopping on St-Catherine on a Saturday -literally the only crowded places in the city

[@gregboike4674]

Great video, and important to add that this scales differently in every place. I live only 2-3 blocks from the heart of my city’s central business district, but with a population of only 150,000, even those 2-3 blocks creates a quiet neighborhood atmosphere!

[@kookamunga2458]

Whenever I turn on KZbin I am immediately inundated with car commercials. I rarely see bicycle commercials. The auto industry is wasting their time on me because I don't have any desire to become status obsessed anymore because that's so shallow and boring . Car-centric folks think there's isn't any room in a dense urban environment for their oversized Suvs and they are right .

[@rishabhanand4973]

Yeah new york has done a lot of things right in terms of walkability, and accessibility to public transit. they really need to do more to get rid of all the cars though.

[@magladek]

Amazing video, great way to cover the "missing middle" as the often ignore dense urban living without the noise and dangerous heavy car traffic. Love the addition of Google Earth views to contrast the downtown and dense residential areas!

[@RyanValizan]

I live in downtown KCMO loop and it is definitely bustling and chaotic at times. However, there are still a lot of peaceful housing roads to walk on, some are quieter than others. I prefer the energy of the city, and the abundant choices for transportation available to me because of my centralized location. There are a lot of good walkable neighborhoods farther south of downtown, but I prefer to be where the action is.

[@paxundpeace9970]

We have to really differentiate between Old Downtown like the well known Main Street and the CENTRAL business district with its highrise tower blocks like you see in New York down town up to mid town but much much less in uptown new york.

[@ltandrepants]

lived in inner city new orleans and now in brooklyn. love toronto, been many times. couldn’t imagine not living in the city! i’d miss all the easy access to everything!

[@cooljonathan]

I just got back visiting my parents and I did not remember how noisy their house is. They live in a small town, but on a major road so there is almost constant car traffic noise during the day; the only chance for quiet is at night. I live in a city but I live on a bike route rather than an arterial so it is much quieter than their house.

[@Raeistic]

This is such a good point! Thank you for pointing this out ^^

[@pongop]

I didn't know Margaret Atwood is Canadian! Very interesting video that helped me think differently about cities, urban living, and downtowns. I like living in mid-sized cities. There are things to do, diversity, and good food, but it's less busy and hectic than large cities, including the downtown. But it's nice to know that you can find similar neighborhoods within large cities, and that there is more to large cities than their downtowns.

[@harktischris]

I think what people misunderstand the most is that density of residences isn't what causes the noise, it's density of commerce (cars obv relevant too). Even in terms of traffic planning, residences aren't major trip generators, compared to office buildings or stores. (A recent personal example is when NIMBY neighbors manage to get a traffic study done on a proposed new residential multi-unit, they were in disbelief at the low expected traffic impacts. After the building got built, one of the NIMBYs professed that they hadn't really noticed much of anything at all, so "[they] guess it was OK.")

[@yusux]

People in suburban USA always say "city living is not for me... it's too crazy, loud, dangerous and crowded" like brother, that is such a narrow minded way of thinking.

[@Adventurenauts]

I lived in CDN for a few months and my life was changed. I live in NH now and it's so loud compared to CDN.

[@xBris]

I've lived downtown in a couple of European cities and love it - everything is walkable and it's green and quiet and just pleasant all around. When I moved to Toronto for a while, I also chose downtown - near Yonge/College - and it was SOOOO loud. I expected it to be loud, but it was so damn loud, I couldn't sleep without noise cancelling headphones. North America is just a terrible place to live if you're an urbanite but also value a good night's sleep.

[@Immortalcheese]

You could argue that these inner city neighbourhoods are still "suburbs". They're just suburbs done correctly. Most of the homes here are still single family, or townhouse complexes. These are much more efficient than living in a wide open suburb where you need a car to do anything because of how spaced out things are.

[@eechauch5522]

I don’t even think this should be a debate. Primarily residential neighborhoods close to the city are suburbs. Wether they officially belong to the city or not is often quite random, depending on the history of the area. Many official American suburbs are honestly much more debatable, considering how disconnected they are from the adjacent city. Many of them would honestly be more fittingly recognized as their own urban areas and should be developed accordingly.

[@NicksDynasty]

You showed Detroit when speaking about downtown violence but downtown Detroit is very clean and safe...

[@joedavenport2477]

Detroit is going through a renaissance now.

[@NicksDynasty]

@@joedavenport2477 For the past few years yes. Detroit's been making its way back to its heyday

[@paxundpeace9970]

It is like up uptown and downtown in New York only a few people live in the financial district but many more do life in mid town or Harlem. While still having appartment blocks and townhomes despite being miles away from the CBD. Even a huge chunk of the out borough is 3 to 6 story residential or mixed use in New York.

[@jsocials]

I also found I was more involved in my community, more agile and fit cause I walked everywhere vs drove everywhere and was more calm cause of less traffic. Urban living has a lot of perks.

[@Simon-tc1mc]

As someone living in Chicago in an 8 story building, my neighborhood is nothing like downtown. My neighborhood is very green and pretty laid back.

[@Rahshu]

I have been complaining about this for years! People think of The City, and they think first of Manhattan and rarely much else. It's a cartoon view of a city, and it's also sometimes combined with an idea of what city life is supposed to be like and how the people are supposed to act. All the varieties get lost and subsumed into this preconceived notion. It sucks, but it's true.

[@respect411]

i disagree with your comment about violence in the center of US cities. usually in the us poorer and more violent neighborhoods are on the periphery or at the very least not downtown. while this may have been true in the 60s or 70s almost all US cities have revitalized their downtowns

[@ThaDuke11]

As a resident of downtown Detroit which is the city they showed as they mentioned that, I agree.

[@Warriorcats64]

This is pretty much the Bay Area to a T, I happened to grow up in that sort of neighborhood [albeit in the hills], far quieter than rando Texas 'burb I live in now. Much of Houston is like this too.

[@sarahmihuc3993]

I'm a little late, new to the channel... But I agree. My husband & I are from a rural, almost remote town. My first city was Montreal, I lived in a missing middle neighbourhood, and I have been grumpy ever since I had to move away. Since then we've lived carless in either detached home suburbs or downtown high-rises (mostly those), and both have serious drawbacks. We've lived in Calgary and Gatineau, both of which are pretty lacking in good-quality dense urban housing, Gatineau much less so. We recently bought a detached house in a mixed neighbourhood (what I mean is it has some dense housing and even some high rises under construction, but it is mostly older detached homes without ridiculous amounts of lawns or spacing.) The reason I was originally pretty adamant about wanting a detached home was that it's what we were used to from childhood and that dense housing wouldn't have enough privacy. As I get older and wiser, I'm not sure we'll buy a detached home again and I still miss my Montreal dense neighbourhood. That was part of the motivation for coming back east, is that Alberta was just not the place for us... It's very car-centric, everything is spread out, there are almost no pre-car era neighbourhoods meaning it's almost entirely detached house suburbs and stroads. I much prefer living in a walkable, dense neighbourhood where I can buy what I need nearby without having to deal with dangerous drivers & road designs.

[@HarryLovesRuth]

Gas powered leaf blowers are a scourge upon humanity. One day in the fall of 2001 there were six yards crews blowing leaves in my neighborhood. It sounded like an air raid in a movie. As for traffic, people really can't envision a world where every housing unit doesn't come with two cars. There was recently a big argument about a residential building going up in our Central Business District that didn't have "enough" parking. Or enough parking in the right spot. Or having to carry one's groceries from the adjacent parking garage to one's front door. Dude. Buy a wheelie cart. (And you can get to the three grocery stores from Downtown via transit.)

[@steemlenn8797]

JOING THE LBRA! The Leaf Blower Riddance Alliance! Free giude on how to use a broom with every year of membership!

[@HarryLovesRuth]

@@steemlenn8797 I'm on Team Rake, but brooms are good for paved areas. I'll also cop to using an electric leave blower on our gravel driveway. We lose less stone that way. But it's just on the driveway. Those yard crews start at the back of a lot and blow the leaves all the way to the front.

[@mikefernandes1542]

1:22 if you don't mind me asking, this shot made me curious - were you living at UofT's Graduate House? If so, that's a funny coincidence as I'll be working there for my new job and living right nearby and I'm super excited! Will be a huge change from my suburban upbringing.

[@OhTheUrbanity]

Yep, I lived at Grad House for a year or so! Hope you enjoy Toronto.

[@robertpaterson3229]

The fights that the Annex puts up to block developments there really bother me. Many writers, professors, and intellectuals who (broad brush strokes) support density and urban living live there. It sometimes feels like they like all of those things until it affects them directly, essentially the height of NIMBYism.

[@MidnightBreezey]

Man, as someone who actually lives in Atlanta city-center, I can't really relate to how you describe 'downtown'. This city is extremely compact, but not particularly lively most of the time. Downtown basically rolls up after 6PM every night, and Midtown is mostly like the way you describe the 'dense quiet residential' areas on weekdays. Things get a bit livelier on weekends and during events, but it's really not anything crazy. We've got 2 college campuses, a sports arena, the clubbing district, and the gayborhood all within 1km of my home and I haven't found it overwhelming. I say that as someone who was born and raised in rural America. Then again, I haven't been present for any large scale protest yet, so we'll see how that goes when it happens.

[@polishtheday]

Great video. I’ve always tried to live within a forty-five minute walk from downtown because it’s the best compromise but have always wanted to live downtown. Maybe I will the next time I move.

[@maxpowr90]

Plenty of Maple Leaf blowers in Toronto that are quite noisy. :P

[@BrianThrives]

Good points, all.

[@superchamo23]

Moved from suburban ottawa (orleans) to the Plateu in Montreal and ill never go back. As the video mentions, my little street is actually less noisy than my street in Orleans (mainly due less cars, leaf blowers and the constant mowing...)

[@emilerenard9941]

Le plateau a world class neighborhood so glad i grew up there

[@johncaswell2648]

It goes both ways. Just look at all the urbanists in these comments bashing non-urbanists as the cause of all their problems... I'm glad you mention not everyone wants the same things from where they live, but I feel like sometimes that's not given enough attention. Full disclosure, I live in a suburb, out on the edge of town (turns to farmland after a few blocks in two directions) but that's mainly because I can't afford a farm (yet, anyway... it's the goal). I totally get why not everyone wants to live that way, and I can see the appeal of an urban lifestyle, but I'm willing to make the tradeoff of large distances for the things I do want, like being able to grow my own food and build things using loud equipment without bothering anyone. Believe me, you don't want me as your next-door neighbor, and I'd rather not have to compromise on my projects to avoid being "that guy" on the block. All I'm asking is stop hating people like me for making a different choice and tradeoffs, and people like me will probably stop being so opposed to breaking up the current mess of things like single family zoning (I'm already on board to the idea, although I do have some concerns). I understand that I'm a guest when I visit the city, and I'd be happy to take transit when I do so if it worked (the nearest big city has awful transit so I'm forced to drive). Just asking for the same in return.

[@jayDB5]

Great points, thanks for sharing John! I very much agree agree with you that bashing people with preferences for different-density residential-living than whichever you happen to prefer isn't going to get anyone anywhere in terms of having better places to live. I might refer you to the comment made by @J B above, about how, prior to cars, even rural areas could be considered dense (overall) in terms of having a good mix of residential and commercial uses, along with decent-to-good pedestrian facilities, such that many trips/errands could be made without a car. I appreciated this perspective and think it helps refine where urbanites can/should "point the finger" in these discussions. In my opinion, the problem is when we get large swaths of residential-semi-dense areas (i.e. not enough area to grow food or use power tools without bothering) that require you to travel on a high-speed road (or stroad) to get to anything beyond your neighborhood, with few to no facilities for pedestrians to get anywhere beyond the neighborhood. Emphasis on the 'large swaths.' Or, taking the issue even one step further up the ladder in an effort to find wide consensus, the real problem is when rules and regulations require (or result in) only one development pattern for entire regions of land. Again, thanks for sharing your thoughts! I feel like I very much understand where you're coming from - and I hope you never find me bashing people for their preferred residential-density. Would be curious to hear your take on my thoughts here as well. Peace!

[@johncaswell2648]

@@jayDB5 I think the comment you're referring to is really talking about small town more than rural, at least the way I think of it. You aren't going to get too many actual farms (from my perspective, spending significant time on my grandma's "small farm" of over 200 acres while growing up) nearby until things just get naturally spread out. Small towns are also great, but not really what I'm looking for myself. If we're talking the pre-car era, think more like the farmer who had to give the whole day over to "go into town" on his horse-drawn buggy, not the folks who lived on the main street of that small town. You can see why they were some of the first to adopt cars when they became available and affordable, because it made that day long chore a few hours instead. I don't think forcing any one type of housing or artificially restricting the availability of any type is good, but this is where I get into some of my concerns about eliminating single family housing entirely - a lot of the people who want single family housing want it surrounded by other single family homes. If it were eliminated entirely, say someone's lot gets sold and a low-rise apartment building gets put up next to someone else's single family house. That could reduce the desirability (to many of the people who want a single family house) and therefore the value of that person's house. I don't think the "real estate as an investment" concept is so great, but it is generally desirable for large purchases like a house to hold their value relative to inflation, at least. I think the area I live provides a good template. Within a short walk of my house, there are 3 story apartment buildings, duplexes, and townhouses, but they are mixed at a block level, rather than at the lot level, which means you pretty much know what you're getting in each area while still having a mix of densities. I guess if I had to summarize I think more zoning types that cover smaller areas - more fine grained - would be a good compromise. And I'd be all for a little more mixed use. There's a park just a little ways from me that has a school across the street, and it's a huge park. A small shop could be put in there and it would still be a huge park, and folks from the neighborhood could get small essentials and schoolkids could grab school supplies and snacks during recess or whatever. The main grocery store is also in walking distance but we do have to cross one stroad to get to it (mostly footpaths the rest of the way though), could save some trips to that. I think cars and stroads get a little more blame than they really deserve. Yes, oil and car companies have lobbied for a lot of things that did help their positions, but that wouldn't have done all that much if cars didn't provide some value to people, so I don't think it's all as intentional and conspiratorial as some suggest. I actually captured some footage on my commute the other day that I've been wanting to put together into a video, because there's a country highway on my way to and from work that is in the process of what I'm calling "stroadification" and I think it's a really good example of how nobody sets out to intentionally build a stroad, they more just happen as areas change over time. I'm not saying stroads are good, they're definitely not, but unless we understand what causes a road/street to "stroadify" we probably won't be very successful at preventing or fixing them. And that's coming from the perspective of someone who doesn't really like driving a car to get where I'm going. I like cars in general, but not as transportation, more as a hobby. I prefer to get around on two wheels, and I prefer those two wheels to have a motor between them, but I'm in the minority on that so cars must have some appeal as appliance-like transport or there wouldn't be so many of them, I figure.

[@HarryLovesRuth]

@@johncaswell2648 Your comment about stroads being somewhat organic really resonates with me. The stroad nearby was once a State Highway. (If you are a Robert Mitchum fan, it was once Thunder Road.). Business follows the traffic, and over time, "road improvements" make the area less and less hospitable to pedestrians and cyclists. You can watch it happen with any new interstate exit in the US. I'd argue that the better approach to stroad prevention would be street/highway standards that mandate mixed use paths and active pedestrian crossings whenever a two lane county or state road hits the point where engineers would consider "improving" it. Trying to retrofit pedestrian and cycle infrastructure is really hard. Rural residents benefited enormously from the utility provided by an automobile. But county roads could still be used for pedestrians and horses back when cars were unable to go that fast. My grandmother walked to school on two lane county road. Now that cars can go fast (and are tempted to do so when congestion is low,) walking along the edge of a rural county road just isn't safe. That's why I think that we must have an active approach to road design. Otherwise walking and cycling will only exist where there is density.

[@josephfisher426]

@@HarryLovesRuth Those things are commonly included in road improvements, but their positive effect pales in comparison to the negative effect of the widening.

[@geoff5623]

There's a small area in Kitsilano, Vancouver where some taller apartments were able to be built (6 to ~15 floors, while pretty much everything else is 3 floor apartments, duplexes, or SFH), and it is not any louder or busier around them than any of the other residential streets. Because they have more space required for street setback and most have lawns or pools over top of their underground parking, the streets around them even feel more 'open' than some other areas - there's barely any space between the three story apartment buildings, and the SFHs frequently have large hedges at the edge of their property line.

[@donmc1950]

We lived in downtown Ottawa for 5 years but had to move out due the all the late night parties of our neighbors. One needs a good night's sleep. Ottawa simply does not have enough noise bylaw enforce ment

[@emilyplunkett6034]

I work in the Glebe in Ottawa, and while in Toronto about a month ago, I stayed at an AirBnB in the Bloordale neighbourhood (close to Dufferin Station). I would live in both neighbourhoods in a heartbeat. Although both definitely would have their downsides, the opportunity to just live and work in a single urban neighbourhood is very appealing to me.

[@Chris-qj3dk]

I live at Pape and Cosburn north of Danforth and it is so peaceful, walkable, and cyclable. I feel more peaceful here than in my car dependent suburb I grew up in outside Montreal (Laval). People don't realize how amazing these dense urban neighbourhoods are! I have the best greek restaurants right next to me plus tons of green space!

[@ZachJ-0]

2:27 to be fair about your bike being stolen, how you locked it up made it a very appealing target. Compare yours to the bike next to it in the video. Your u lock wasn't through any of the wheels, nothing securing the front wheels either.

[@OhTheUrbanity]

Yes, but at the time we did not have a sense that stealing wheels was a thing. Also, after that picture, someone ended up cutting straight through the frame (and leaving it there, which was just as confusing)

[@ZachJ-0]

@@OhTheUrbanity That sucks, I'm sorry to hear that! Hope you never have that happen to you again.

[@stickynorth]

Mid-rise, mid-density... The preferred alternative to MOST development... Although I am a huge proponent of skyscrapers... In SELECT locations... I.e. landmark locations that need density and clarification... I.e. The CN Tower moment...