cities4people
cities4people
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Vauban: a German car-light neighborhood too good to be true
Starting in 1992, development of a new car-light neighborhood called Vauban began in Freiburg, Germany. Completed some 15 years later, it shows the benefits of walkable cities. So why has Freiburg failed to repeat, much less improve upon, this success?
Coverage by a New York Times reporter: e360.yale.edu/features/what_makes_europe_greener_than_the_us
The disaster in the Guardian: www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/mar/23/freiburg.germany.greenest.city
My old blog post on it: notesfromotherside.blogspot.com/2009/10/guardian-on-freiburg.html
Photos of Merzhausen by Cora Pascale: ruclips.net/channel/UC0jDL4oAlM5OOr1pSwOp7Wg
Photo of Unité d’habitation in Berlin by David Pachali, CC 3.0
Просмотров: 4 517

Видео

Let people co-design their neighborhoods, and you get walkability: the case of Freiburg, Germany.
Просмотров 2,5 тыс.Год назад
Housing and urban planning are where car-centric cities become especially unpleasant. Citizens of Freiburg are forming "building groups" (Baugruppen) and "rental housing syndicates" (Miethäusersyndikate) so they don't have to build all the parking spaces requitred by the city. Videos in Germany on Miethäusersyndikate: ruclips.net/user/results?search_query=mietshäuser syndikat erklärt In English...
Freiburg is fighting to become walkable after being resigned for cars post-WWII
Просмотров 3,2 тыс.Год назад
Thirty years ago today, I moved to Freiburg, where I lived for 26 years. So today, I celebrate that anniversary with this video! Freiburg is one of the most walkable cities in Germany, but it is fighting to undo decades of car-centric urban planning. It is home to one of the strongest cycling campaigns in Germany and recently doubled the size of its pedestrian zone. In this video, we look at so...
The Open Bike Sensor maps how closely cars pass cyclists. Will The Police respond?
Просмотров 1,5 тыс.2 года назад
The OBS is open, so you can become involved. Contact the community below to see how you can start mapping your city. All photos of Karl Drais, his two-wheeler, and the castle are in the public domain. Photo of the sensor data from Zweirad Stuttgart. Police pic adapted from Ernie Longmire on Flickr, CC BY 2.0. OpenBikeSensor groups: www.openbikesensor.org/map/ OBS on GitHub: github.com/openbikes...
Stuttgart has a whole cycling route! (Kinda {sorta})
Просмотров 3,4 тыс.2 года назад
Stuttgart's Cycling Route 1 looks like any other street in large parts. In fact, I'd have had trouble finding it at all if I hadn't had a guide: I got the co-founder of the city's cycling campaign to travel down it with me. Turns out, he's an automotive engineer!
To build better cities, ask people what they want
Просмотров 9542 года назад
When a car driver killed four pedestrians, city officials in Berlin reacted by building... protected bike lanes. It was an attempt to show action, but it backfired because the changes caused new problems without fixing all the old ones. So the city asked a transport-planning professor to look into the matter, and he got a group of students to survey what locals want. The result could be a neigh...
Bikes, not tanks: a Berlin bike demo for Ukraine
Просмотров 3712 года назад
The German government plans to lower taxes on fuel. These cyclists would prefer less dependence on oil and public transport that's more affordable and convenient.
Is Groningen the most walkable city in the world?
Просмотров 77 тыс.2 года назад
Spend a few days in this north-east Dutch town of 200.000 people, and you might not want to go home. The Dutch may have gotten everything right here and might have invented the "superblocks" that Barcelona recently made famous in the process. Perhaps because Groningen largely flies under the radar compared, say, to bug cities like Amsterdam, Paris, and Barcelona, Groningen's early progress has ...
Hamburg is one of Germany's most advanced cities for walkability. That's the bad news.
Просмотров 7 тыс.2 года назад
Hamburg is building some impressive bike lanes, just not consistently. And the city also fails in enforcement on its few car-free streets. I spoke with some of the people driving the call for walkability, including some folks behind a car-free neighborhood.
We should pay people for doing without a car
Просмотров 8142 года назад
Many countries offer bonuses for purchases of electric vehicles, but doing without a car is much better for the climate, the environment, and making cities liveable. Why not offer people an incentive to do the right thing?
How Berlin cyclists demonstrate for more respect in dark months
Просмотров 4612 года назад
The clocks have been set for winter, so it gets dark early again. Cyclists now travel in the dark regularly. In Berlin, they rode 22 km through town one evening to draw attention to themselves in the hopes that car drivers will pay more attention.
Berlin's oldest, longest, least known car-free street, Swinemünder Strasse, is suffering.
Просмотров 3,1 тыс.2 года назад
Thanks party to the Berlin Wall, Swinemünder Strasse was made car-free in the mid-80s. But after reunification, it found itself back in the middle of central Berlin and has been fighting to keep cars out for decades. The history of the neighborhood, once probably the largest rebuilding project in Europe, is fascinating, and the present-day struggle sheds light on the ways that Berlin's city off...
What else could we do with parking spaces? Parking Day 2021 in Berlin
Просмотров 2,8 тыс.2 года назад
In September 2021, I visited four stations of the Park(ing) Day campaign in Berlin to take space back from cars and give it to people. What struck me most was how different each place was. 0:00 Intro 1:31 Hagenauer Strasse 3:48 Gleimstrasse 5:48 Trelleborger Strasse 7:23 Ossietsky Platz
Cyclists and pedestrians are being killed in Berlin
Просмотров 6752 года назад
Cycling activists regularly hold vigils when a cyclist is run over by a motorized vehicle which happens, on average, every month. This video shows what one such vigil looked like and explains what Vision Zero is: the goal of zero deaths from cars in the city. It can be done, as cities like Oslo show. Fragments - AERØHEAD soundcloud.com/aerohead Creative Commons - Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unpo...
A car free neighborhood in car-centric Berlin: Möckernkiez
Просмотров 15 тыс.2 года назад
Designed by the residents themselves, Möckernkiez is a car-free neighborhood in central Berlin. Founded as a cooperative, the residents don't own their own apartments, but rather shares of the entire complex. When the kids leave home, they can switch to a smaller unit if they want. And the whole area is an open shared space safe for the elderly and children but only until you reach the first st...

Комментарии

  • @yannickingermany
    @yannickingermany 29 дней назад

    I moved here during corona. Thanks for the history lesson

  • @moulinyan
    @moulinyan Месяц назад

    going there to meet a girl who doesnt care about meeting me anymore. RIP

  • @machiel5888
    @machiel5888 Месяц назад

    Beatles + Groningen + Walkability = a subscription and a like from me. Thank you!

  • @christalwong70
    @christalwong70 Месяц назад

    Thanks for the quality video and witty humour! "What you see hear, is one German attempt to explain... not viruses, but rental syndicates." haha!

  • @cb7560
    @cb7560 3 месяца назад

    Great video. I know Freiburg well, but never knew this. I thought all of the crap was built was because of the bombing! Given how Frankfurt has reconstructed some of its old Altstadt, it would be nice to see Freiburg close this road, and rebuild the whole area as it once was.

  • @kayd9441
    @kayd9441 3 месяца назад

    Have a look at the brand new Spinelli Quartier in Mannheim. They had the same idea: one central car park, a lively centre, Baugenossenschaften that chose how to build, tram&bus connections… as a town council we went to visit to see how we could develop a new quarter in our town. Spinelli was our ‚good example‘, Heidelberg‘s Bahnstadt was our ‚bad example‘.

  • @kehalimakonnen9955
    @kehalimakonnen9955 4 месяца назад

    I lived in Hamburg Germany for many years and loved it.I went to school and worked for so long and I like Hamburg and it's people very polite etc. What I want to say is that is about Heidelberg I been there there a couple of times .It's very beautiful University town too many students clean place wherever you go I recommend that city to be visited by students and tourist who love Germany .thanks

  • @guerreiro943
    @guerreiro943 4 месяца назад

    This stuff deserves more views.

  • @solaroweder3707
    @solaroweder3707 4 месяца назад

    Ex-automotive engineer here. Cars used to be useful, beautiful machines being build to a specific purpose. In that sense they are the same as bicycles and both are loveable. It's just that...they aren't anymore. Today cars are overweight, oversized, overtechnodized lumps of material that are mostly not designed to a distinguishable purpose. Or even if so, they cannot be used to that purpose. There is traffic jam where you want to go with it and there are no parking lots where you want to park it. I used to love cars until I noticed that they do little more than destroy the living-space we call cities. I love bicycles since then. Also I stopped developing cars. I recently moved to the greater area of Stuttgart. Today I noticed there even was a "Radroute 1" and checked it out on Google Maps. Thanks for the walkaround of the area. It is what I expected...

  • @republicfryslan
    @republicfryslan 5 месяцев назад

    Go there in the weekend... it will not be walkable...

    • @bert2526
      @bert2526 5 месяцев назад

      @@cities4peopleFilmed during the covid pandemic. It was quiet in the streets.

  • @pavld335
    @pavld335 6 месяцев назад

    That looks like a great place to live.

  • @gabibel.585
    @gabibel.585 6 месяцев назад

    ❤ Tolles Video ❣ Liebe Grüße aus der Swinemünder Straße 👍😍 Habe auch noch nie ein Auto gehabt 👍 Fahre seid Jahren alles mit dem Fahrrad 🚴‍♀️👍🙋🏻‍♀️🍀

  • @thegiggler2
    @thegiggler2 9 месяцев назад

    Most of the open space is taken up by bike parking.

  • @rubalfromthehimalayas
    @rubalfromthehimalayas 9 месяцев назад

    ruclips.net/video/a0a7R8E7W-4/видео.htmlsi=NcDKocKyxM2lVFg_

  • @ThePinkPearll
    @ThePinkPearll 9 месяцев назад

    Me watching this a year later think 🤔 wow a lot has changed in Groningen, and it’s more walkable than before 👏🏾

  • @theultimatereductionist7592
    @theultimatereductionist7592 10 месяцев назад

    8:25 Well, Germans could simply give up drinking beer.

  • @theultimatereductionist7592
    @theultimatereductionist7592 10 месяцев назад

    7:01 I would DIE to have this amazing network of underground bicycle paths in the United States. To me, THIS looks GOOD! But, I understand your point: it was all to pander to cars above them.

  • @chasekwas
    @chasekwas 10 месяцев назад

    This video is awesome!

  • @RenghisKhan
    @RenghisKhan 10 месяцев назад

    It's not all great I have to add. The yellow tiles can get very slippery when wet, which is hell for cyclists. The fact that the sidewalks and streets have the same colour ensures that people will always be walking in the middle of the street and their movements are completely unpredictable because pedestrians don't see themselves as participants in traffic. Not a week goes by without me on my bike driving into some fool who is completely oblivious of his surroundings and doesn't react to any bell signal (I got a 118db horn on my bike now but even that doesn't suffice mosttimes). The idea seems to be to create more shared space for bikes and pedestrians which I think is a really, REALLY bad idea. As I said, pedestrians don't regard themselves as participants in traffic but in shared spaces they definitely are. I expect a major increase in accidents involving pedestrians and bicycles. Even the signs saying 'Hier houden we rekening met elkaar' (here we look out for each other) will not change that as long as pedestrians are doing literally ANYthing but looking out for others. But apart from that Groningen is definitely trying to return the city to unmotorised traffic and it's doing a better job than any other city I have ever visited.

  • @kailahmann1823
    @kailahmann1823 11 месяцев назад

    What's really ironic to me is that Vauban is primarily centralized parking, while Merzhausen really looks like it was originally build for "not owning a car" (as those weren't common back then).

  • @Pringle1001
    @Pringle1001 11 месяцев назад

    Groningen like many other cities is no longer what it used to be 🥲it is very sad to see the city where I was born unsafe and taken over.

  • @thorstent2542
    @thorstent2542 11 месяцев назад

    Where this settlement now stands was previously a dilapidated commercial area with little public, what was there on this section with the narrow pedestrian and cycle path were almost cyclists passing through. Normally, even in other sections of this street, the footpaths are wider.

  • @ClayShentrup
    @ClayShentrup 11 месяцев назад

    why is he speaking German?

  • @hoihoi9866
    @hoihoi9866 11 месяцев назад

    Most boring people live in Groningen

  • @inesalag
    @inesalag Год назад

    Looooooove it! Thanks

  • @Jo_Kuiper
    @Jo_Kuiper Год назад

    Groningen has a slogan: "nothing tops Groningen", in Dutch "Er gaat niets boven Groningen"

  • @katydid2877
    @katydid2877 Год назад

    I don’t care for that canyon effect with all the buildings so close together. I would feel like I was walking down a bunch of alleys. That’s just me. I don’t like crowds of people. That’s why I’ve always lived in the suburbs.

  • @katydid2877
    @katydid2877 Год назад

    Now do winter.

  • @roodborstkalf9664
    @roodborstkalf9664 Год назад

    Groningen was the first city in the Netherlands and also in the world to start this new way to look at mobility in the early 70's, that is 50 years ago. So realize it takes a few decades to see convincing results. In principle any city of similar size can do the same, but be smart and see what can be copied and what not. First many cities in the Netherlands followed Groningen 40-45 years ago and 20-25 years ago cities in neighbouring Flanders and some cities in Western-Germany started doing the same. In the last 10 years cities in many parts of the western world started copying parts of what has been done in Groningen. The two politicians who started this all, Max van den Berg and Jacques Wallage should be honored because on this subject they had a farreaching vision that proved to be correct.

  • @s0nY2
    @s0nY2 Год назад

    Muss sagen eure Videos sind echt toll mich würde es freuen wenn ihr so einen bericht auch mal über Gießen macht. Was hier Passiert sollten auch mehr Menschen sehen es ist ein schönes vorbild für viele Städte

  • @Smikster
    @Smikster Год назад

    14:15 these people are exactly whats going wrong with the Netherlands. Completely brainwashed by social media and big corporations they just behave like sheep without there own critical thinking skills. Its horrible what these marxist schools are teaching the young people.

  • @MrAronymous
    @MrAronymous Год назад

    Street-facing shops aren't a "strip mall" lol.

  • @circusbysilk
    @circusbysilk Год назад

    Hmm it's at least a city where you can unicycle VERY well! A lot of amazing places where you can practice stunts and stuff

  • @LimitedWard
    @LimitedWard Год назад

    Forgive me for making such connections, but this type of co-op situation feels vaguely similar to HOAs in the US. The biggest difference, of course, being that everyone in an HOA owns their own private property and only the public spaces are shared. Do co-op comminities set rules on the look and feel of each house, and how do they deal with the types of conflicts that can occur between management and the people living there?

  • @wohlhabendermanager
    @wohlhabendermanager Год назад

    0:06 Wenn das Video erstmal mit Bildern aus meinem alten Stadtteil beginnt.... :O

  • @dalladi
    @dalladi Год назад

    Germans are so intense.

  • @mrm7058
    @mrm7058 Год назад

    Nice idea, but sadly bland and ugly architecture.

  • @undyla-chan1675
    @undyla-chan1675 Год назад

    What about motorcycles? I'm a huge fan of motorcycles and funny enough I never learned how to ride a bike. Would they be allowed or are they treated the same as cars?

  • @clare2385
    @clare2385 Год назад

    I've lived in Freiburg since 2018 and this is the best video I've seen about this city. Almost everyday I walk to university because I enjoy to move around a bit before my day starts and after my day ends. I walk along Kronenstraße and I cross Kronenbrücke. Right before and after Kronenbrücke the sounds and smells are most disruptive and I have to wait at a traffic light on each side. If I'm calling someone they can't hear my voice and we have to wait until I can cross. In summer, there's barely any protection from the sun at heat alongside Kronenstraße and it's impossible for me to continue my walking ritual. I really love taking walks to university but it could also be so much more pleasant.

  • @philippkern9031
    @philippkern9031 Год назад

    The main reason why the netherlands are better than Germany is because the NL has no car industry.

  • @Wayclarke
    @Wayclarke Год назад

    I live just ten minutes away from here! I'm glad to see a channel that explores these sorts of areas in depth and also rightly criticises the backwardsness of people who hold on to car-centric living to the detriment of us all.

  • @lizardperson2293
    @lizardperson2293 Год назад

    I just wanted to say that I LOVE your videos. They're so well made and edited! Thanks!

  • @elhugo13
    @elhugo13 Год назад

    I want to live in a cooperative.

  • @tten8192
    @tten8192 Год назад

    amazing what can be done when politicians are not beholden to oil lobbyists

  • @SirMrDany
    @SirMrDany Год назад

    They failed due to a bad city council. The removal of buses throughout the inner city is a really bad choice as you now have bigger distances to walk.

  • @talijahtalijah1258
    @talijahtalijah1258 Год назад

    As far as i know, there are two countries that are really serious about building a car-free or bicycle infrastructure. Namely, Holland and Denmark, Holland builds ambitious bicycle garages that are out of this world and spending billions of € on general bicycles' infrastructure.

  • @matthewcain2880
    @matthewcain2880 Год назад

    I wish they’d keep it no more than 3 stories high designed for mix use

    • @ianhomerpura8937
      @ianhomerpura8937 Год назад

      Six stories is also fine, like the one shown in the video.

  • @matthewcain2880
    @matthewcain2880 Год назад

    So it’s pretty much an apartment complex without cars

  • @eugenecharrington
    @eugenecharrington Год назад

    When will we have carfree towns in the Philadelhia, DC metro areas in Philly we dont even have car free blocks yet.....when is my question???