@@Rodrigo15x Nothing wrong with it, it's just a chain restaurant, so don't expect fine dining. I'd consider it a half step above Olive Garden / Red Lobster type chains. I personally like it. Definitely try one. Any place that you can order abominations such as "pizza with chicken breast as the crust", is worth visiting.
There seems to be a self-contradictory argument that "walkable housing is too expensive, therefore we shouldn't build it" whereas 1) the reason it's so expensive is because not enough of it is built and 2) non-walkable housing is even more expensive when you factor in driving costs
Part of the problem seems to be the way it's financed. Fannie, Freddie, landlords, etc. don't care about income vs. (transportation + housing), all they care about is income vs. housing. Fannie and Freddie also don't want units in multiuse developments.
If zoning laws were disbanded and all taxes were replaced by a single land value tax then I'd bet that in 10 years, city design would've changed in large part to being extremely walkable and housing prices likely might have crashed (assuming there is no hyperinflation) but I don't think such polices would ever be implemented in the US anytime soon since most people don't seem to know/care about Henry George & Mlton Friedman's policies anymore...
Yes, let's build more sprawl that offloads transportation/access costs onto the individual and multiplies all the horrible externalities of our poorly conceived transportation system
@@philipwirth3603 Yes, the infrastructure is built with federal money. But the community has to pay for the maintenance. As we all know, they can't afford it. Well, they can. But then they have to increase local taxes, which makes the incentive to live there go away. Hence Ponzi scheme.
We moved cities and made some major changes. We moved from a car-dependent, single-family home to medium-rise apartment in a walkable neighborhood, and we sold both of our cars. We are paying quite a bit more in housing costs. However, we're overall paying less due to saving money on: 1. Depreciation costs of 2 autos 2. Fuel, maintenance, insurance, and tax costs of said autos 3. Other, non-obvious things like: 3a. Gym membership - get decent exercise walking around and cycling 3b. Costco membership - don't feel the need to stockpile when the grocery store is 2 minutes by foot The first 2 alone save well over the price difference in housing. So, our overall monthly costs have declined quite a bit. And, we're happier overall since we don't deal with driving/traffic stress anymore, and getting out and going interesting places is so low-friction. It's refreshing not having to find/pay for a parking space when we arrive!
Oh wow, I haven't seen that meme before! I'm so glad you shared it! 🤣 There is definitely a deficit of walkable places in the US that skews the results. That last study you mentioned is really great, so thanks for that. Pew Research also has data that a little less than 50% of the US population says that they would like to live somewhere within walking distance of shops and restaurants. The fact that this is under 50% has been used by some people to show that Americans prefer the suburbs. But I see two things: First, obviously 50% of neighbourhoods in the US are not like that. So there's clearly a deficit. But second, there are so few good walkable neighbourhoods in the US that many Americans have literally never experienced one, as there are none near them. So even though they have no experience with good urbanism, almost 50% of Americans would like to live somewhere more walkable. That's astonishing. And I suspect that number would be much higher if good urbanism existed in more places in the US, so that more people could experience it.
It’s been my experience that walkable parts of American cities (college areas, new urbanist, pre wwii cores, and century plus old towns not destroyed by highways) are, REALLY expensive due to IMO demand >> supply. Where I live (one of these pockets of nice in an otherwise dreadful car hell metro) this is absolutely the case. The only time that’s not the case Is if the area is deemed “undesirable” (black).
Glenwood Park in Atlanta (of all places) is exactly the type of development I wish we had more of. It was also wildly successful, and actually got some zoning rules changed. Although they fought tooth and nail to get the city and GDOT on board. I wish someone would do a deep dive video into that area.
Your theory tracks, given that less than 50% of Americans have a passport, which implies over half the country has never/will never visit any true walkable communities abroad
I thought of Not Just Bikes when I went to Mackinac Island for the first time just this past weekend. There are thousands of bikes in just a tiny urban area around the docks. Tons of shops and hotels. Everyone pays big money to go to the island. A ferry ticket is $30. Fortunately a bike ticket is only $15, because rentals are more than that. I brought my DIY ebike and it was a wonder to be in a place where cars are banned. The smell of the horses is a bit much, but once you're out in the state park area, there's clean air and tons of trails for cyclists. I was plenty glad to have my e-motor to tackle the hills and distance. I've lived in Michigan my whole life and never been to the island. It's truly worth a trip, for anyone who likes boats, bikes, and nature!
I'm in Ukraine and what's described in this video is positively dystopian - no way I'd ever wanna move there. EDIT: towards the end of the video, there was this "choice" presented between walkable cities and suburbs. But I live in a walkable suburb in Ukraine - is that not even the author of this video is not familiar with? that's really scary and underlines the authors point actually about how bad things are urbanism-wise over there.
4:50 what's wild is that every single major city used to have walkable and transit-dense downtowns before they were almost entirely demolished for parking lots and interstates. Look at an overhead view of Houston in 1950 vs 1970! There's an argument that "we can't just redo our whole city for transportation," but that's exactly how we got in this mess!!
This is what I was thinking while watching. Framing urban sprawl and car-centric culture as some kind of freely emergent preference doesn't make sense given how aggressively subsidized the auto industry and infrastructure has been throughout the 20th century. If people had to pay the actual cost of urban sprawl, there would be far more walkable towns and cities IMO.
as a Canadian, just realised I've taken more vacations in Europe than our closer southern Neighbour, the USA. One reason is because I don't want to go to a place where I have to get a rental car.
Yeah it’s a bit of a bummer getting a rental car because they’re expensive, you have to learn to drive in a new major city and usually have to get some kind of expensive insurance unless it’s included in your credit card because you worry about someone hitting a car that’s not yours. I usually also vacation in the few walkable cities of the USA that have public transport or that I have relatives and then take vacations in England that have public transport. Or I can try Montreal again they have good walk ability
Seriously though, it's sad that Disney World, a theme park resort with a huge system of buses, water taxis, Skyliner/cable cars, and monorail, has better transportation than legit cities in the US. AND they're all free to use! You don't even have to stay at a Disney resort to use the transportation Disney and transportation go hand in hand. Walt loved trains and I don't blame him. Disneyland Paris has direct high-speed rail access to Charles de Gaulle International, the rest of France, Amsterdam Centraal, and London St. Pancras as well as RER access to Paris and its suburbs. Hong Kong Disneyland is on MTR's Disneyland Resort Line (plus the trains are adorable). Tokyo Disney Resort has Maihama station on the Keiyō and Musashino Lines. And Shanghai Disneyland is on Line 11 of the Shanghai Metro.
Disney's transit has the advantage that its purpose (moving people from hotels to Disney's theme parks in the morning, and back in the evening) is naturally suited to a hub-and-spoke topology. Hub-and-spoke is also popular with city transit systems, but while it's great for people who work "downtown", it's inefficient for suburb-to-suburb commutes or shopping trips.
The main reason they have these robust transportation systems is to make the paying guests as comfortable as possible to keep them in the parks as long as possible in order to remove as much money as possible from their wallets. If it wasn't furthering their bottom dollar, it wouldn't exist.
Yeah, _but_ it's funded on the basis that you are paying a massive amount of money in their parks, and either significant parking fees, or significant resort fees, or both. It's not "free."
@@richardhasson265 Yes which goes to show that people want to stay in places with good transit. It also shows how transit improves local businesses and is more cost efficient than maintaining copious amounts of roads and carparks which just leads to more traffic and more dissatisfaction due to pollution, stress, etc.
@@danielbishop1863 if the majority of people/hotel goers need to commute to reach services or work it means that there is a possible need for more mixed use development, applied to a real world situation it would mean that more shops and businesses should be mixed in with residential areas so they can walk or cycle to work as to relax pressure on public transport systems
This is the GEOGRAPHICAL expression of all of the ways American civilization has gone wrong in the last 40 years. I grew up and have lived in four American cities, three of which are among the best in this regard, and another of which is almost quintessentially the worst regarding walkability. I am a Chicago native who has also lived in Manhattan, in Boston, and in...Los Angeles. With American civilization and civic life failing almost apocalyptically, I have long ago begun to pine for Europe. But two anecdotes regarding my time in Los Angeles are telling, I think. Soon after arriving in Los Angeles and not yet familiar with it, I hadn't yet fully realized how unlike it was to the REAL cities I was used to. I decided to walk from Culver City, where I was staying, to Venice and Santa Monica. I imagined that since the distance was not that great, that there would be some sort of pedestrian infrastructure that would accommodate my intention. Instead, I found myself walking through tall weeds along the freeway, being gawked at by drivers passing by who regarded me as some sort of alien who had somehow lost his way. Then, shortly thereafter, the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica became one of my favorite places to go. It was and remains a highly popular destination. I very soon realized why: it was four simulated blocks of what a REAL city is supposed to be, with pedestrian life, a varied streetscape of interesting shops, and fellow citizens engaging in a personal way -- a simulacrum of the genuine urban life I was used to. Of course, there were only four blocks of it, as opposed to whole neighborhoods, as in Chicago, Manhattan, and Boston.
Here's the thing, unlike alot of Europe, America's a free country. You're free to leave, you're free to move. Turns out people are allowed to not follow your world view.
@@TheOwenMajor What did Rick Rose say that suggested everyone should live in an urban environment? What he said is that americans like those environments, they're just rare. Also, in case you forgot, those freedoms do not extend to what types of buildings can be built
Loved the theory-laden video for something a little more... philosophical in the academic sense? Can't wait to hear your thoughts on real estate as an investment tool
Hey Ray, I know you read some of these so I figured I'd say as a long-time subscriber (sub-5,000 if I remember? Gotta chase the urbanist youtuber early-subscriber clout) that I would really like to see more of this type of content. As someone from the Front Range Urban Corridor hellscape, you've opened my eyes to seeing there's a better way. Keep up the good work, I hope you can inspire more people my age to rally around more sustainable urban landscapes.
I want so badly to live in an area that actually has sidewalks and pedestrian centered area and walkable spaces! I have looked all over for someone to discuss this in detail. Thank you.
Man, that replication of Venice in Las Vegas was so faithful, I couldn’t even tell if it was outside or indoors. The sky was so blue, and the clouds were so white! Reminds me of the movie, A Boy and His Dog. If you really hate American architecture (like I do), check out James Howard Kunstler's,The ghastly tragedy of the suburbs. Bravo CityNerd!
I love Top 10 vids as much as the next guy, but I really appreciate this kind of deeper dive and analysis of a topic. My wife and I have absolutely experienced this residential dissonance when we were looking to buy our first home in Nashville back in 2017. We explained to the realtor that we preferred walkability, but there were so few realistic options that even somewhat fit this criteria, that we ended up buying in a location that wasn't walkable at all (we could walk to Shelby Bottoms Park so that was a definite perk but they usually don't sell groceries in the park nor is it a place to hold down a job, etc.). I thought your framing of this topic was on point, with all the walkable urban simulations that we construct so that people can tickle a memory for a few hours or a day or two of what it once was like to be a real bipedal being
This was definitely an awesome one, it’s nice to understand when talking with people who don’t consider walkability important or understand it, why they may feel that way or even what other factors they agree
I think walkability and density don't necessarily need to go hand in hand. If you plan single family housing with public foot/bike paths connecting back yards and allow mixed use development, you can create spaces that are not dense but still have walkable infrastructure and destinations people want to visit and work at.
On the topic of universities being super walkable, it would be great to see a video on some of the best college campuses for transit, walkability, or just general urban design. I'm a Georgia Tech student so I'm rooting for them to land a spot on the list, but I think it'd be interesting to see how campuses across the world stack up!
I'm also a GT student! I love how walkable GT is and how many spaces are car-free, but the grocery and laundry options for students living west of campus are pretty limited. I love MARTA train stations being so close for transportation around the city and to/from airport. Wish MARTA busses were more reliable though as it's a long walk from west of campus. GT is so cool for being in the middle of a major city but still having that secluded "campus" feel.
I'm curious to see if this would skew towards those in the middle of a big city the likes of UT Austin, places that are college towns like A&M (College Station), and then whether it'll be newer or older schools. Maybe those factors won't have an effect on anything at all!
@@Jetliner college towns often have good, free public transportation provided by the university, so I wouldn't be surprised if they are equally or even more competitive
Lifestyle Centers = "Outdoor shopping malls" and aren't really the same because once you've eaten and you've went to the one store you might enjoy... what else are you supposed to do? Coffee shop maybe, then a bar... but they're the sorts of places that have to charge enough to afford the same rent as the Zara or the Coach store in the mall there so it's gonna be expensive and not some place to just hangout for a few hours without dropping >$100. But in Europe you can stroll down a street, take some selfies with vines on old brick, find a wine bar with a wine flight and good charcuterie board for 20-40euro and just hangout and talk with your friends or read a book and there isn't a line of 30 people rushing you and wanting your table.
Tangential, but one thing I like to do is help tourist looking to visit the large city I live near find things to do in the city. I regularly tell them things like "Oh, just park your car at x location and walk several miles hitting these attractions (public gardens, museums, historical sites) along the way", and I quite regularly will get messages back from, like, people from Texas talking about how much fun they had following my recommendations, and lamenting that their home city is so much less interesting. I bite my tongue, but man do I think about how much of the difference really just is "Get out of your car once in a while".
Love the channel! If haven't already, should do a video on top edge cities to major cities. Like Arlington to DC (even though it's technically a county), Oakland to San Fran, Jersey City to NYC, etc!
I stumbled upon a video of Skyline's play through for car free city perhaps this is why this channel was recommended to me. First thing after I saw your City planner video I thought of was the title, City Planner plays Skyline's city builder. It would be first one I saw, but I seen other similar videos with other professions. Not sure if doing this would make your channel more popular but it would be fun to watch:) Personally I wish Pike Street Market and downtown area in Seattle didn't allow cars, it would be whole quieter and less stressful to live and be in those areas. Covid helped quiet down the area but its slowly getting louder. I haven't own a car in decades but public transportation in big cities can suck too. And as wheel chair user downtown Seattle doesn't maintain its sidewalks very well consistently so its can be difficult.
To go on a bit of a tangent from the video, being someone who's gone from living relatively rural and driving everywhere I have to go to living on a college campus where driving places is massively optional (technically) I think I can sum up my current thoughts with this... I like driving my car in my hometown. There's very little traffic anywhere and there's plenty of parking no matter where I go. However, there are lots of times where I would just drive somewhere to park where I can walk, like driving to school to walk around at school, or going downtown to get a slugburger and ending up just sitting outside for a while waiting on it in the summer heat. I'd walk around the corner connecting up and downtown after I finished up at the gym on some nights. Honestly I like walking well enough, but I can't just write off cars like that. In my very niche situation in the Mississippi summer sun I'd get my slugburger order, drive 2 minutes to less than half a mile down the road to the park, find a shady parking spot, and eat my slugburger while watching youtube in my air conditioned car and also having a beautiful atmosphere outside around me without having to experience the sweltering heat; I call that a good lunch break. Cars are good for a couple things: independently going where I want to without the need of concerted interest, and transportation of stuff. Living in a semi rural area, going to fishing ever so occasionally or swimming, disc golf, etc.--natural areas-- is made a lot easier if not just possible. Also when I want to go to another major town or city, I can always haul more than myself and whatever my sorry ass can carry in a couple of bags thanks to my car. Still tho, I don't need to do either of these other things super often, so yeah I think I could handle a more urban area if it meant I didn't have to use my car as often. Honestly there's upsides to rural and urban areas, and I believe both can continue their completely separate existence and different styles of infrastructure. Suburbs are always labeled as the problem and I can see why. They basically take the wastefulness of constant use of cars from rural areas and say, "because you're an accessory to a city of some kind, you're going to have to drive into a location where getting in and just parking somewhere can be a hassle just so you can get out and walk somewhere." Public transport or nearby merchants seem like way better options. America needs to better define and narrow the line between an area that has plenty of space for car centric infrastructure and areas where pedestrian infrastructure would save time and money.
I think that's fair, and I bet most urbanists would agree. Rural areas are where the food production happens and are necessarily low density. Cars/trucks will always be there and they serve a useful purpose. Rural areas are also not going to be super intense on infrastructure since there aren't many people and don't demand city level services. Dense walkable urban areas are also a good idea since they provide the most conveniences for people without massive mobility overhead, efficient use of public space, and efficient use of infrastructure. The density also makes public transportation more viable. And then we have suburbs. It's this weird in-between that doesn't do anything well while being super wasteful. They are not dense enough to be walkable so require cars, but also dense enough to have crappy traffic. They also require city level services so are pretty intense on infrastructure but not dense enough to make efficient use of said infrastructure. Most of my friends who grew up or had children in the suburbs did not like the experience at all, and I can understand why.
Excellent vid, and I would like to see more like it over the classic top 10...I grew up in Columbia Maryland, perhaps one of the best examples of planned suburban single family living. My brother has lived nearby Raven's stadium for the past 15 years, me in Prague for about as long. He has two kids, I've just had one, and while we both would like to have a garden, going out and doing stuff without a car is simply more important. BUT, while Baltimore is still rather affordable (and should get it's own vid), Prague, and many cities simply aren't anymore for a lot of people, as the vid correctly shows. And here we can see where being economically disadvantaged in the US is really crushing: longer commutes (time is money, plus more costs for transport), less driving (less physical exercise), less healthy food options (more obesity), higher health costs. I loved the meme at the beginning, as it shows how disconnected a lot of commentators on 'urbanist' vids really are. For sure, there is some NIMBYism, but mostly, people cannot afford to live in walkable urban areas, and then snooty elitists who do look down on them. It's no surprise these disadvantaged people go on to follow a dictatorial demagogue with religious fervor...
@@JonZiegler6 because of lack of upzoning. People want to complain about every new building. Too much traffic, it blocks my view, blah blah blah blah. Many reasons for it and they’re all bad.
@@uhohhotdog yea, and it's not a question of politics either... I fully admit to being against a bus line that goes by my buildings, partially becuase nimby, partially becuase the bus is too big for the street, but there's a big difference between not liking something, and actively trying to stop it
We lived in Chicago (Lincoln park and lakeview) for 5 years and fell in love with the idea of walking and public transportation. So much easier than where we grew up in Fl. Now we live in San Diego which is infinitely better with regards to weather but you have to have a car. It is essentially one big suburb with only a few exceptions. I really miss stepping out of my apartment on the sidewalk and knowing there are 100 restaurants, bars, shops, markets, etc all within a few walkable blocks. we recently came back from Mexico City (la condesa and roma norte neighborhoods) and the area we stayed in was not only beautiful but also walkable. Now if we can just move there we will get the best of warm weather and a walkable environment
@@info781 they are. It’s relative. Im in San Diego so they were cheap compared to where we live now but yes they are quite expensive colored to most of CDMX other than polanco i guess.
Everything you need can be walked to. And if you leave the ship, it dumps you into either a very walkable touristy neighbourhood, or to public transit / bus tours where you can go see something cool.
The best car free place I ever lived was Old Town Alexandria, VA. Didn’t have a car for several years, took transport or biked into DC for work. The thing that really killed it, besides cost, was if you wanted to have kids it sucked. There are a lot of uber wealthy people there, so their kids go to private school, so the public schools suck. That ultimately was what drove me more suburban, that I could move not far away and get excellent public schools. It does not look to be an uncommon problem with very high housing cost areas.
Not sure if you've done a video on this, but one of the challenges people move to the suburbs is a growing family and better schools. Are there walkable cities that have good schools for growing families (that are safe and affordable)? Maybe an interesting topic to cover if havent already. Cheers!
I like the change of pace from your more typical content! I heard about a study a couple of weeks ago that determined the deadliest roads for pedestrians in the US, citing US 19 (?) in the Tampa area as the worst. If you're ever looking for a more doom-and-gloom topic to cover, that would be cool. If you're ever planning a more positive urban design video, it would be cool to see the most freeway-light major cities in NA. I'd be interested to see if my hometown (Winnipeg) makes the list, as freeways have been banned there since the 60s.
Part of what makes the Farmers Market what it is is it does not allow chains. They made an exception for a Starbucks at one point, then went back to the old rule.
you actually zoomed into a town in Michigan where I grew up next to. Ironically, that specific town is one of the most walkable ones in southeast detroit thanks to its downtown. My parents and I would bike there all the time in the Summers for dinner when I was young (Northville).
I know the area you are talking about, I agree with you that it is walkable but most of Northville is the complete opposite. It is interesting that he picked that area when making the analysis.
Portland, Oregon, has high walkability in many neighborhoods, and it's more affordable than Seattle. My neighborhood's transit and walk scores were 97 and 98. I didn't own a car and loved it.
Moved out of Seattle five years ago. With regard to people in Seattle valuing walkability, I must point out that Seattle is literally an impossible city. To go from one area to another funnels you through hideously over stressed contact points, and it is grotesquely unfeasible in general to be a pedestrian in Seattle. The only way to make it work is to live and work in the same neighborhood. If you live downtown and work in the university district, for instance, you experience hell on earth during every single commute. I used to visit Seattle when I lived in Portland and when I lived in Vancouver BC. I always marveled at how you had to literally know all of the routes in order to go anywhere. You cannot just start walking somewhere, because you'll find yourself trapped. It feels like the entire town is designed to be driven through.
Long time viewer, first time commenter -- this video (and nearly all of your content) is top shelf stuff. I do wonder as more content is created like this that more will realize that a more sustainable lifestyle (of which a walkable neighborhood is a major part) is part of their own "pursuit of happiness". At least, that is my hope. Personally, in two weeks my family is abandoning Seattle suburbia and moving into Tacoma next to the light rail station to (mostly) abandon the automobile lifestyle. But, I'm not certain the issue is lack of homes for people to make that decision. There is plenty of affordable inner-city options out there (assuming you are not on either of the coasts) but most of America just has not embraced it yet.
the more and more i watch your videos i am blessed to live in the dc metro politan area its walkable and has great transportation and feels like a city even in some of the suburbs
Minimum parking requirements, restrictive zoning, car centric city design tips the scale to low density suburban sprawl. Even in a mixed use development with shops, offices, and apartments, the parking requirements make them expensive. First, directly by increasing the cost of construction which is passed through to renters, buyers, and other consumers. Secondly, the opportunity costs of more units. Instead of parking lots or parking structures, other buildings could be on that location. Buildings can be taller since they are not restrained by the amount of parking they can provide. There can also be more partitions per building (smaller and cheaper units). Parking requirements favor fewer larger more expensive units since they cost the same in parking requirement as the equivalent number of smaller cheaper units.
Madison Wisconsin. We don't have great public transport (bus is decent for the US). But I do not need to own a car to live my life as a non-college student. It exists in the US. But like, only here and maybe 5 other places
Keep these types of videos going!!! 10 best are great but its good to have more then just the easy to watch cheesecake and get into more of the meat of the problem! Things like how did we get here? and some stats driven ideas on how to get out of it would be great too! Keep up the amazing videos! 👍👍👍👍
The conclusion is kind of backwards. Its not that people choose to live in unwalkable places, its that those are the kinds of places that have residential districts. Your average person cannot choose to live near disneyland or las vegas. You go where there is even remotely affordable housing, and that is usually so far from a walkable commercial area that you HAVE to drive in order to get to it. People want to live in spaces where they don't have to drive to get anywhere, we are not given a choice. Plenty of city planning focused channels have already explained this in detail- it is borderline illegal to create the kind of environments that people both want and need because it impacts fossil fuel, automotive, and related industries who want to keep the entire country dependent on their services.
Planners would disagree. Dense development has been trumpeted by planners for two decades at least, and advantaged in my area for nearly that long. But it takes time to develop, and there's a constant tension between attracting demand, keeping the product affordable, and exceeding the carrying capacity for undesirables. Both the planned town centers in the suburbs of my metro area have troubled middle schools. They were already on the downslope when they were three-quarters built out...
@@josephfisher426 I feel like you ran into a major point when you used the word 'undesirables'. Because even if this is not your intended use of the term, historically 'undesirables' refers to 'the poor', and any social minority like non cishet people, racial/ethnic minorities, and religious minorities. And the system we created- even if there are no prejudiced people running them- operate with goal of preventing these kinds of people from feeling like they have access to anything nice and useful that is built. We built a nation that functions on the ideal that one type of person is better than the rest and are the only ones who should have access to the nice things we build and we prevent policies and production which might benefit all citizens equally because of these biases built directly into our legal system including land development.
@@Sumguyinavan_ I used the term deliberately. There are indeed people who are undesirable by someone else's choice: a minority or the merely poor. That can be avoided (in the US discrimination against a social minority is not as hard to avoid as it seems to be in Europe), though I agree that systems are often still not set up to serve them well. There also are troublemakers: addicts, thieves, the chronically unemployed. They make success at life more challenging for the honest poor in particular, because they are poor themselves and thus likely to be the neighbors of the honest poor... especially if located via subsidy in one of these nice new deliberately constructed urban areas. Anyway my point was that they struggle, and too soon in the life cycle of a new community.
The hermetically sealed part actually makes sense. Do YOU want to walk around a walkable area when it's 100F? And get sunburned in like 5 minutes while you're at it? No thanks! Bring on the covered walkable neighborhoods!
The appeal of Disney Malls isn't just the foot traffic; it's the aspect where it's a gated community where you won't encounter panhandlers and canvassers.
The first thing people buy when they can afford it is distance from other people, especially poorer people. The ersatz walking found in places like Disneyland is a novelty for a self-selected group.
Perhaps it's because on vacation people don't need to worry about normal things like supplying a household with goods and groceries, or commuting to work. All of those are much more difficult without a car. A vacation is an artificial, temporary environment, when people are happy to simply wander around and stop at restaurants a lot. Normal people can't afford to do that very much in their daily life.
And the surrounding neighborhoods of College Towns - I think there's a definite bubble effect that has a distinct character - commercial, residential, parking, transit, bikes, walkability, etc.
I work at the gondola rides and take the bus, often times watching your videos on my way to work/home. So its neat to see you highlight the absurdity of it, because it is bizarre when you take a step back and break down what exactly it is
Living in Northern VA, it seems silly that people would pay DC rents for luxury apartment on top of lifestyle centers in Fairfax County. But, people living in those units shows that people who choose the suburbs still may prefer living in a dense/walkable environment. If city centers are the only places that meet that preference, then that residential dissonance for those who want to be close to work/family/where they grew up in the burbs is bound to be worse, I imagine.
part of the issue seems to be that not all freedom of choice is created equal- after all, the freedom to choose to live in walkable neighbourhoods inherently takes a backseat to the freedom of developers to choose not to build walkable neighbourhoods or the freedom of cities and towns not to zone for walkable neighbourhoods
I think a lot of people live in the suburbs not only for privacy, but to get away from the constant traffic noise. (Ironically, perhaps, as them needing to drive to leave their suburb just produces more traffic and noise.)
Brand new to your channel but this is right up my alley & love this VOD! I've always valued walkable living but never truly experienced it not even at Uni. I've lived in CA, OK (uni), TX, HI, CA & now OR. The closest I got to "walkable" was Kapolei, HI & still didn't have a grocery store/market within "pleasant" walking distance. I constantly dream of moving "downtown" or closer to Portland for more walkable options but the cost alone kills it for me every time! 😮💨
I grew up in the suburbs of an American city and now live in a walkable place within that city. I'm also a young and able-bodied person. Here are some reasons why my family would never want to move to the city: - Lack of parking - Extreme variations in weather you have to succumb to when you walk everywhere--heat/humidity, cold, rain, snow, etc. I feel like this is less of a problem in Europe? - Lack of grocery store options. You can get virtually any kind of food you want out in the suburbs, plus you can load more into your car if you need to buy food for multiple people. I live alone so this isn't as much of an issue. - Higher cost of living - Lack of interior space - Insane traffic - Higher crime, and I don't think this is racially coded at all because the suburbs around here are extremely diverse but much safer.
I would love more content like this! I really enjoy when creators pursue whatever their interests, and the theory part of city planning is equally as interesting as seeing what’s already been done
Here is my personal experience: I have spent time in walkable cities and very un-walkable suburbs. The problem with any comparison is that when I'm in a city, I'm usually on vacation so my experience is going to be biased. In recent years, I've spent substantial time in Italy and New Orleans and I was definitely happier than I was in my suburban milieu. While I think the fact that I was on vacation, not thinking about work, and experiencing novelty every day definitely played a role, there was something energizing about the environment compared to the suburbs. So I think, despite the poor sample size and bias, the premise that quality of life in a walkable area is higher is accurate. But, here's the big round BUT. Under normal, daily circumstances, a walkable environment is better, when things go even slightly pear-shaped, having a house with some space around it suddenly becomes a major asset. When the pandemic hit and our idiotic government started locking everything down, all I had available to me was my backyard, small as it is. If I had been living in a more dense style of housing, I would have been miserable. And that's living in Seattle. Imagine in some country where the government was even more draconian about lockdowns. So the first thing that needs to be addressed is that lockdowns need to be banned. Hard ban. Jail time for anyone in government who even proposes it. But even that edge case isn't the whole of it. If you're in dense housing, god help you if you're having a loud argument or loud sex or loud singing practice. I sure as hell wouldn't do it. Privacy is a big reason I am a fan of lower density housing. So we also need strict regulations that mandate soundproofing on all housing, especially in dense areas. I should be able to have Rob Halford come over and sing "Painkiller" at full volume and the neighbors wouldn't hear.
Ocean beach, NY on Fire Island is a perfect example of a huge vacation spot for long islanders which you can only get to by ferry. And when you’re there you have a car free walkable town with residential streets made up of narrow bike paths
I actually do try to avoid crowds. A cruise sounds like a nightmare and I tend to vacation off season to avoid crowds. I like public transportation though and wish the US would prioritize it over more roads.
LOVE content supported with regression-based studies. It seems that the U.S.'s current car-centric design is a case of the negative externalities of post-war/Great Depression progress, and the issue now is that even if we could definitively say that everyone wanted walkable communities, no individual is willing to pay the cost to reverse the last 80 years of urban design...the classic case of a "market failure" in which decisions that make sense at the individual level end up being bad for the group.
The main reason is because of diversity. People don't want a bunch of you know whos walking around the neighborhood. Diversity brings low trust, and if you don't trust people, you don't want to live close to others and you don't want people walking around by your house or apt all day long.
A lot of the pre-sprawl walkable streetcar suburb type places are the ones that have seen the biggest balloon in housing prices. There’s clearly demand for these types of places that are walkable, it’s just that since the 50’s it’s largely been illegal to build anything besides detached single family homes, so the supply of pre-war walkable neighborhood housing is extremely low for the demand for this kind of housing. Enjoyed your video a lot as always!
Yay! Baltimore shout out! Honestly it has it's issues like any city, and it's a lot of issues, but it's honestly kinda under appreciated compared to the other north eastern cities. Fells Point is a really walkable area. Plus the architecture in Mt Vernon is gorgeous, there's the Walters, the harbor, lot's of good stuff!
I have something to recommend. There's a podcast called "Cities After", exploring cities after many economic problems, after neoliberalism, car infrastrucrure, Capitalism. It's amazing, I'm sure you align on a lot of values
Do you know what the interesting thing that you bring up golf is that those golf carts are more so used out of necessity. People bring with them a lot of golf clubs, which are very heavy on their own, but most people have a huge golf case with a set of 14 golf clubs, and maybe some golf balls and a few light snacks. Plus you go golfing with several people. It’s easier to have a golf cart to stick your golf clubs in the back of them carrying those golf clubs hundreds of yards from hole to hole is probably more physically demanding and definitely less fun than the sport of golf.
That's why ma favs in LA were Westwood Village (with UCLA included) and Venice Beach. I'm from Europe, and these were the only places for me to feel a bit at home and finally not so overloaded by US of A lifestyle :)
In my state, there's a small town (~1k), and it's an extremely popular regional vacation spot. This is because it's the only town that hasn't been touched by car-centric infrastructure, so it still has a main street and shops other than Walmart and McDonalds. My family visited that place a few times, and I always left wondering why my town could be like that-having an actual identity.
I think one reason why Seattle is so expensive and in-demand is not just the walkability, but also because it's functionally exclusive. It's only easy to experience Seattle if you're already there. I live in Tacoma. I would love to venture up to Seattle sometimes, but transit between the two cities is severely lacking for everyone except those who work office hours in a tower somewhere between the stadiums and the Space Needle. If I want to clock off at 5 in Tacoma and catch a show in Ballard at 7, I have only one option. And unfortunately, that means trying to find parking within a half mile of where I'm going. The people who can do that easily are people who already live in Seattle, and pretty much no one else. It's like a club, and only a fistful can afford membership comfortably. But on a better note, Tacoma is getting more and more walkable every year. I like that. It would be really nice to have a fast, frequent regional rail, though.
Whilst cost is an issue in living in a walkable neighbourhood, it is also $/m2 and/or size. If you can afford a large free standing house, you can also afford a 3 bedroom apartment in a walkable area. The problem is that many people see buying a big house in the burbs as better value for money and/or more of a status symbol where to show off to your friends.
I will say - not all of us living in suburbs live here by choice. I, and surely others like me, would love to live somewhere culturally dense and walkable, with solid public transit, etc. Why don't I? Well, those places are few and far between, tend to be expensive, and with kids (and not being able to afford private school) you're often putting them in some of America's worst public schools that way. Most urban areas also see an uptick in crime, which again - if you have kids, is something to take into account.
At 05:13 you say, I believe, "ersatz pedestrian friendly downtown". If I may nitpick the pronunciation, it's "air"-satz (second held was just fine), not "ur"-satz. :-)
Nobody else seems to have gotten pedantic about how, “pursuit” meant “object of one's continued exertions, what one follows or engages in.” So I get to!
there are plenty of walkable/transit accessible areas in atlanta - it’s just most of the suburbanites may be afraid to live there due to various prejudices (which has been true for half a century). so i feel like many/most of the suburbanites have given up on the city
i’ll also say that the beltline is transforming the number of walkable neighborhood housing options in atlanta, but it’s also definitely worsening their affordability
I’ve lived in multi family units, I’ve lived in single family housing, no comparison, would sell it tomorrow to move to a walkable neighborhood if I could
It has to be said that Disneyland is basically public transportation nirvana. Trains, monorail, streetcar, bus, horse-drawn carriage, paddle wheel, sailing ship, many random boats, even new modes like the Peoplemover. It’s clear that Walt was an urbanist and was absolutely in love with transportation. Long before Epcot, Walt wanted to build a perfect town, and I think that is what’s in Disneyland’s bones.
10:25 you and Tony Soprano share the same frustration as to happiness vs the pursuit of it being guaranteed. He called it a loophole to his psychiatrist 😀
Video idea: “make your own walkable neighborhood”. Oak Ridge (Tennessee) is a town without a downtown, but there is a residential neighborhood called Woodland that is adjacent to a sizable shopping district. Within an easy walk of the homes in Woodland are 2 grocery stores, 3 pharmacies, a WalMart, 2 department stores, several clothing stores, several restaurants, movie theaters and other stuff. In a practical sense, you can easily live car-free there and in fact there is a much more complete selection of useful businesses than most US downtowns have. But the shopping district certainly isn’t a traditional walkable place. There’s a sea of parking and even a lack of sidewalks in spots. So the idea is “make your own walkable neighborhood” by taking advantage of the close proximity of all those useful businesses even though it wasn’t designed to be walkable. There are probably many similar opportunities across the country. Link to Google maps for the neighborhood: goo.gl/maps/zzemt61nsbx8YrWs6
It's weird that I need to point it out but those walkable European cities are some of the most desirable places to live in the world. Asking Americans about what they think about walkable cities is like asking a blind person what their favorite color is. I've lived in a walkable city my entire life and I can tell you that people that come from car dependent cities sometimes take years to reorient their thinking and habits. Once they do, they realize how bad they had it all those years.
7:14 this outdoor area seems like a good idea until you factor in that its sometimes ~110 degrees in the summer in Vegas and you have tons of drunk (therefore probably dehydrated) people there
There are plenty of ideas for shadowing that area with canopies or shaded walkways along the edges of the pathway. People in hot desert climates, like Morocco, still have pleasant walkable cities with the help of some shade
The line about "fine dining options" as the camera pans over a cheesecake factory was perfect. No notes, 10/10
I think that was a joke, but malls like this will have nice places to eat. The one by me in NJ does
The fact that it recurs multiple times in the video makes it even better.
Is Cheesecake Factory bad? It looks pretty good and Ive always wanted to go to one.
@@Rodrigo15x Nothing wrong with it, it's just a chain restaurant, so don't expect fine dining. I'd consider it a half step above Olive Garden / Red Lobster type chains. I personally like it. Definitely try one. Any place that you can order abominations such as "pizza with chicken breast as the crust", is worth visiting.
Cheesecake Factory is fine, but hardly what someone might look for in an authentic European urban experience.
There seems to be a self-contradictory argument that "walkable housing is too expensive, therefore we shouldn't build it" whereas 1) the reason it's so expensive is because not enough of it is built and 2) non-walkable housing is even more expensive when you factor in driving costs
Part of the problem seems to be the way it's financed. Fannie, Freddie, landlords, etc. don't care about income vs. (transportation + housing), all they care about is income vs. housing. Fannie and Freddie also don't want units in multiuse developments.
If zoning laws were disbanded and all taxes were replaced by a single land value tax then I'd bet that in 10 years, city design would've changed in large part to being extremely walkable and housing prices likely might have crashed (assuming there is no hyperinflation) but I don't think such polices would ever be implemented in the US anytime soon since most people don't seem to know/care about Henry George & Mlton Friedman's policies anymore...
Yes, let's build more sprawl that offloads transportation/access costs onto the individual and multiplies all the horrible externalities of our poorly conceived transportation system
@@philipwirth3603 Yes, the infrastructure is built with federal money. But the community has to pay for the maintenance. As we all know, they can't afford it. Well, they can. But then they have to increase local taxes, which makes the incentive to live there go away. Hence Ponzi scheme.
We moved cities and made some major changes. We moved from a car-dependent, single-family home to medium-rise apartment in a walkable neighborhood, and we sold both of our cars.
We are paying quite a bit more in housing costs. However, we're overall paying less due to saving money on:
1. Depreciation costs of 2 autos
2. Fuel, maintenance, insurance, and tax costs of said autos
3. Other, non-obvious things like:
3a. Gym membership - get decent exercise walking around and cycling
3b. Costco membership - don't feel the need to stockpile when the grocery store is 2 minutes by foot
The first 2 alone save well over the price difference in housing. So, our overall monthly costs have declined quite a bit.
And, we're happier overall since we don't deal with driving/traffic stress anymore, and getting out and going interesting places is so low-friction. It's refreshing not having to find/pay for a parking space when we arrive!
Oh wow, I haven't seen that meme before! I'm so glad you shared it! 🤣
There is definitely a deficit of walkable places in the US that skews the results. That last study you mentioned is really great, so thanks for that.
Pew Research also has data that a little less than 50% of the US population says that they would like to live somewhere within walking distance of shops and restaurants. The fact that this is under 50% has been used by some people to show that Americans prefer the suburbs. But I see two things:
First, obviously 50% of neighbourhoods in the US are not like that. So there's clearly a deficit.
But second, there are so few good walkable neighbourhoods in the US that many Americans have literally never experienced one, as there are none near them. So even though they have no experience with good urbanism, almost 50% of Americans would like to live somewhere more walkable. That's astonishing. And I suspect that number would be much higher if good urbanism existed in more places in the US, so that more people could experience it.
It’s been my experience that walkable parts of American cities (college areas, new urbanist, pre wwii cores, and century plus old towns not destroyed by highways) are, REALLY expensive due to IMO demand >> supply.
Where I live (one of these pockets of nice in an otherwise dreadful car hell metro) this is absolutely the case.
The only time that’s not the case Is if the area is deemed “undesirable” (black).
Glenwood Park in Atlanta (of all places) is exactly the type of development I wish we had more of. It was also wildly successful, and actually got some zoning rules changed. Although they fought tooth and nail to get the city and GDOT on board. I wish someone would do a deep dive video into that area.
Your theory tracks, given that less than 50% of Americans have a passport, which implies over half the country has never/will never visit any true walkable communities abroad
I thought of Not Just Bikes when I went to Mackinac Island for the first time just this past weekend. There are thousands of bikes in just a tiny urban area around the docks. Tons of shops and hotels. Everyone pays big money to go to the island. A ferry ticket is $30. Fortunately a bike ticket is only $15, because rentals are more than that. I brought my DIY ebike and it was a wonder to be in a place where cars are banned. The smell of the horses is a bit much, but once you're out in the state park area, there's clean air and tons of trails for cyclists. I was plenty glad to have my e-motor to tackle the hills and distance. I've lived in Michigan my whole life and never been to the island. It's truly worth a trip, for anyone who likes boats, bikes, and nature!
I'm in Ukraine and what's described in this video is positively dystopian - no way I'd ever wanna move there.
EDIT: towards the end of the video, there was this "choice" presented between walkable cities and suburbs. But I live in a walkable suburb in Ukraine - is that not even the author of this video is not familiar with? that's really scary and underlines the authors point actually about how bad things are urbanism-wise over there.
4:50 what's wild is that every single major city used to have walkable and transit-dense downtowns before they were almost entirely demolished for parking lots and interstates. Look at an overhead view of Houston in 1950 vs 1970! There's an argument that "we can't just redo our whole city for transportation," but that's exactly how we got in this mess!!
This is what I was thinking while watching. Framing urban sprawl and car-centric culture as some kind of freely emergent preference doesn't make sense given how aggressively subsidized the auto industry and infrastructure has been throughout the 20th century. If people had to pay the actual cost of urban sprawl, there would be far more walkable towns and cities IMO.
as a Canadian, just realised I've taken more vacations in Europe than our closer southern Neighbour, the USA. One reason is because I don't want to go to a place where I have to get a rental car.
Yeah it’s a bit of a bummer getting a rental car because they’re expensive, you have to learn to drive in a new major city and usually have to get some kind of expensive insurance unless it’s included in your credit card because you worry about someone hitting a car that’s not yours.
I usually also vacation in the few walkable cities of the USA that have public transport or that I have relatives and then take vacations in England that have public transport. Or I can try Montreal again they have good walk ability
@@blorpblorpblorp Amen!
@@blorpblorpblorp
Axe, hatchet and arrows are so much better.
You could always try Mexico...
@@blorpblorpblorp majority of murders are by people who knew each other. You don’t have to worry about firearm based violence from strangers.
My family loves to road trip. I've seen 38 states.
Seriously though, it's sad that Disney World, a theme park resort with a huge system of buses, water taxis, Skyliner/cable cars, and monorail, has better transportation than legit cities in the US. AND they're all free to use! You don't even have to stay at a Disney resort to use the transportation
Disney and transportation go hand in hand. Walt loved trains and I don't blame him. Disneyland Paris has direct high-speed rail access to Charles de Gaulle International, the rest of France, Amsterdam Centraal, and London St. Pancras as well as RER access to Paris and its suburbs. Hong Kong Disneyland is on MTR's Disneyland Resort Line (plus the trains are adorable). Tokyo Disney Resort has Maihama station on the Keiyō and Musashino Lines. And Shanghai Disneyland is on Line 11 of the Shanghai Metro.
Disney's transit has the advantage that its purpose (moving people from hotels to Disney's theme parks in the morning, and back in the evening) is naturally suited to a hub-and-spoke topology. Hub-and-spoke is also popular with city transit systems, but while it's great for people who work "downtown", it's inefficient for suburb-to-suburb commutes or shopping trips.
The main reason they have these robust transportation systems is to make the paying guests as comfortable as possible to keep them in the parks as long as possible in order to remove as much money as possible from their wallets. If it wasn't furthering their bottom dollar, it wouldn't exist.
Yeah, _but_ it's funded on the basis that you are paying a massive amount of money in their parks, and either significant parking fees, or significant resort fees, or both. It's not "free."
@@richardhasson265 Yes which goes to show that people want to stay in places with good transit. It also shows how transit improves local businesses and is more cost efficient than maintaining copious amounts of roads and carparks which just leads to more traffic and more dissatisfaction due to pollution, stress, etc.
@@danielbishop1863 if the majority of people/hotel goers need to commute to reach services or work it means that there is a possible need for more mixed use development, applied to a real world situation it would mean that more shops and businesses should be mixed in with residential areas so they can walk or cycle to work as to relax pressure on public transport systems
This is the GEOGRAPHICAL expression of all of the ways American civilization has gone wrong in the last 40 years. I grew up and have lived in four American cities, three of which are among the best in this regard, and another of which is almost quintessentially the worst regarding walkability. I am a Chicago native who has also lived in Manhattan, in Boston, and in...Los Angeles. With American civilization and civic life failing almost apocalyptically, I have long ago begun to pine for Europe. But two anecdotes regarding my time in Los Angeles are telling, I think.
Soon after arriving in Los Angeles and not yet familiar with it, I hadn't yet fully realized how unlike it was to the REAL cities I was used to. I decided to walk from Culver City, where I was staying, to Venice and Santa Monica. I imagined that since the distance was not that great, that there would be some sort of pedestrian infrastructure that would accommodate my intention. Instead, I found myself walking through tall weeds along the freeway, being gawked at by drivers passing by who regarded me as some sort of alien who had somehow lost his way.
Then, shortly thereafter, the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica became one of my favorite places to go. It was and remains a highly popular destination. I very soon realized why: it was four simulated blocks of what a REAL city is supposed to be, with pedestrian life, a varied streetscape of interesting shops, and fellow citizens engaging in a personal way -- a simulacrum of the genuine urban life I was used to. Of course, there were only four blocks of it, as opposed to whole neighborhoods, as in Chicago, Manhattan, and Boston.
Here's the thing, unlike alot of Europe, America's a free country. You're free to leave, you're free to move.
Turns out people are allowed to not follow your world view.
@@TheOwenMajor What did Rick Rose say that suggested everyone should live in an urban environment? What he said is that americans like those environments, they're just rare.
Also, in case you forgot, those freedoms do not extend to what types of buildings can be built
Yeah, Third Street has always been really nicely done.
Loved the theory-laden video for something a little more... philosophical in the academic sense? Can't wait to hear your thoughts on real estate as an investment tool
Oh interesting
That would be an interesting video
Hey Ray, I know you read some of these so I figured I'd say as a long-time subscriber (sub-5,000 if I remember? Gotta chase the urbanist youtuber early-subscriber clout) that I would really like to see more of this type of content. As someone from the Front Range Urban Corridor hellscape, you've opened my eyes to seeing there's a better way. Keep up the good work, I hope you can inspire more people my age to rally around more sustainable urban landscapes.
Thanks for letting me know what you wanna see, and thanks for being an early subscriber! Respect
I want so badly to live in an area that actually has sidewalks and pedestrian centered area and walkable spaces! I have looked all over for someone to discuss this in detail. Thank you.
ME TOO😊
Man, that replication of Venice in Las Vegas was so faithful, I couldn’t even tell if it was outside or indoors. The sky was so blue, and the clouds were so white! Reminds me of the movie, A Boy and His Dog. If you really hate American architecture (like I do), check out James Howard Kunstler's,The ghastly tragedy of the suburbs. Bravo CityNerd!
I love Top 10 vids as much as the next guy, but I really appreciate this kind of deeper dive and analysis of a topic. My wife and I have absolutely experienced this residential dissonance when we were looking to buy our first home in Nashville back in 2017. We explained to the realtor that we preferred walkability, but there were so few realistic options that even somewhat fit this criteria, that we ended up buying in a location that wasn't walkable at all (we could walk to Shelby Bottoms Park so that was a definite perk but they usually don't sell groceries in the park nor is it a place to hold down a job, etc.).
I thought your framing of this topic was on point, with all the walkable urban simulations that we construct so that people can tickle a memory for a few hours or a day or two of what it once was like to be a real bipedal being
This was definitely an awesome one, it’s nice to understand when talking with people who don’t consider walkability important or understand it, why they may feel that way or even what other factors they agree
I think walkability and density don't necessarily need to go hand in hand. If you plan single family housing with public foot/bike paths connecting back yards and allow mixed use development, you can create spaces that are not dense but still have walkable infrastructure and destinations people want to visit and work at.
On the topic of universities being super walkable, it would be great to see a video on some of the best college campuses for transit, walkability, or just general urban design. I'm a Georgia Tech student so I'm rooting for them to land a spot on the list, but I think it'd be interesting to see how campuses across the world stack up!
I'm also a GT student! I love how walkable GT is and how many spaces are car-free, but the grocery and laundry options for students living west of campus are pretty limited. I love MARTA train stations being so close for transportation around the city and to/from airport. Wish MARTA busses were more reliable though as it's a long walk from west of campus.
GT is so cool for being in the middle of a major city but still having that secluded "campus" feel.
I'm curious to see if this would skew towards those in the middle of a big city the likes of UT Austin, places that are college towns like A&M (College Station), and then whether it'll be newer or older schools. Maybe those factors won't have an effect on anything at all!
@@Jetliner college towns often have good, free public transportation provided by the university, so I wouldn't be surprised if they are equally or even more competitive
Lifestyle Centers = "Outdoor shopping malls" and aren't really the same because once you've eaten and you've went to the one store you might enjoy... what else are you supposed to do? Coffee shop maybe, then a bar... but they're the sorts of places that have to charge enough to afford the same rent as the Zara or the Coach store in the mall there so it's gonna be expensive and not some place to just hangout for a few hours without dropping >$100. But in Europe you can stroll down a street, take some selfies with vines on old brick, find a wine bar with a wine flight and good charcuterie board for 20-40euro and just hangout and talk with your friends or read a book and there isn't a line of 30 people rushing you and wanting your table.
Tangential, but one thing I like to do is help tourist looking to visit the large city I live near find things to do in the city. I regularly tell them things like "Oh, just park your car at x location and walk several miles hitting these attractions (public gardens, museums, historical sites) along the way", and I quite regularly will get messages back from, like, people from Texas talking about how much fun they had following my recommendations, and lamenting that their home city is so much less interesting. I bite my tongue, but man do I think about how much of the difference really just is "Get out of your car once in a while".
Love the channel! If haven't already, should do a video on top edge cities to major cities. Like Arlington to DC (even though it's technically a county), Oakland to San Fran, Jersey City to NYC, etc!
I stumbled upon a video of Skyline's play through for car free city perhaps this is why this channel was recommended to me. First thing after I saw your City planner video I thought of was the title, City Planner plays Skyline's city builder. It would be first one I saw, but I seen other similar videos with other professions. Not sure if doing this would make your channel more popular but it would be fun to watch:) Personally I wish Pike Street Market and downtown area in Seattle didn't allow cars, it would be whole quieter and less stressful to live and be in those areas. Covid helped quiet down the area but its slowly getting louder. I haven't own a car in decades but public transportation in big cities can suck too. And as wheel chair user downtown Seattle doesn't maintain its sidewalks very well consistently so its can be difficult.
So glad you're adressing this! It feels like cities can only imagine walkable spaces if they're proposed by developers.
To go on a bit of a tangent from the video, being someone who's gone from living relatively rural and driving everywhere I have to go to living on a college campus where driving places is massively optional (technically) I think I can sum up my current thoughts with this...
I like driving my car in my hometown. There's very little traffic anywhere and there's plenty of parking no matter where I go. However, there are lots of times where I would just drive somewhere to park where I can walk, like driving to school to walk around at school, or going downtown to get a slugburger and ending up just sitting outside for a while waiting on it in the summer heat. I'd walk around the corner connecting up and downtown after I finished up at the gym on some nights. Honestly I like walking well enough, but I can't just write off cars like that. In my very niche situation in the Mississippi summer sun I'd get my slugburger order, drive 2 minutes to less than half a mile down the road to the park, find a shady parking spot, and eat my slugburger while watching youtube in my air conditioned car and also having a beautiful atmosphere outside around me without having to experience the sweltering heat; I call that a good lunch break.
Cars are good for a couple things: independently going where I want to without the need of concerted interest, and transportation of stuff. Living in a semi rural area, going to fishing ever so occasionally or swimming, disc golf, etc.--natural areas-- is made a lot easier if not just possible. Also when I want to go to another major town or city, I can always haul more than myself and whatever my sorry ass can carry in a couple of bags thanks to my car. Still tho, I don't need to do either of these other things super often, so yeah I think I could handle a more urban area if it meant I didn't have to use my car as often.
Honestly there's upsides to rural and urban areas, and I believe both can continue their completely separate existence and different styles of infrastructure. Suburbs are always labeled as the problem and I can see why. They basically take the wastefulness of constant use of cars from rural areas and say, "because you're an accessory to a city of some kind, you're going to have to drive into a location where getting in and just parking somewhere can be a hassle just so you can get out and walk somewhere." Public transport or nearby merchants seem like way better options. America needs to better define and narrow the line between an area that has plenty of space for car centric infrastructure and areas where pedestrian infrastructure would save time and money.
I think that's fair, and I bet most urbanists would agree.
Rural areas are where the food production happens and are necessarily low density. Cars/trucks will always be there and they serve a useful purpose. Rural areas are also not going to be super intense on infrastructure since there aren't many people and don't demand city level services.
Dense walkable urban areas are also a good idea since they provide the most conveniences for people without massive mobility overhead, efficient use of public space, and efficient use of infrastructure. The density also makes public transportation more viable.
And then we have suburbs. It's this weird in-between that doesn't do anything well while being super wasteful. They are not dense enough to be walkable so require cars, but also dense enough to have crappy traffic. They also require city level services so are pretty intense on infrastructure but not dense enough to make efficient use of said infrastructure. Most of my friends who grew up or had children in the suburbs did not like the experience at all, and I can understand why.
Excellent vid, and I would like to see more like it over the classic top 10...I grew up in Columbia Maryland, perhaps one of the best examples of planned suburban single family living. My brother has lived nearby Raven's stadium for the past 15 years, me in Prague for about as long. He has two kids, I've just had one, and while we both would like to have a garden, going out and doing stuff without a car is simply more important.
BUT, while Baltimore is still rather affordable (and should get it's own vid), Prague, and many cities simply aren't anymore for a lot of people, as the vid correctly shows. And here we can see where being economically disadvantaged in the US is really crushing: longer commutes (time is money, plus more costs for transport), less driving (less physical exercise), less healthy food options (more obesity), higher health costs.
I loved the meme at the beginning, as it shows how disconnected a lot of commentators on 'urbanist' vids really are. For sure, there is some NIMBYism, but mostly, people cannot afford to live in walkable urban areas, and then snooty elitists who do look down on them. It's no surprise these disadvantaged people go on to follow a dictatorial demagogue with religious fervor...
NIMBYs are the reason these places are unaffordable
@@uhohhotdog because nobody wants to allow multi-unit housing? If not, why?
@@JonZiegler6 because of lack of upzoning. People want to complain about every new building. Too much traffic, it blocks my view, blah blah blah blah. Many reasons for it and they’re all bad.
@@uhohhotdog yea, and it's not a question of politics either... I fully admit to being against a bus line that goes by my buildings, partially becuase nimby, partially becuase the bus is too big for the street, but there's a big difference between not liking something, and actively trying to stop it
@@JonZiegler6 no idea what your point is. NIMBYs actively stop these things by complaining to the cities when the plans are proposed.
We lived in Chicago (Lincoln park and lakeview) for 5 years and fell in love with the idea of walking and public transportation. So much easier than where we grew up in Fl. Now we live in San Diego which is infinitely better with regards to weather but you have to have a car. It is essentially one big suburb with only a few exceptions. I really miss stepping out of my apartment on the sidewalk and knowing there are 100 restaurants, bars, shops, markets, etc all within a few walkable blocks.
we recently came back from Mexico City (la condesa and roma norte neighborhoods) and the area we stayed in was not only beautiful but also walkable. Now if we can just move there we will get the best of warm weather and a walkable environment
Those neighborhoods in CDMX are very expensive for that reason.
@@info781 they are. It’s relative. Im in San Diego so they were cheap compared to where we live now but yes they are quite expensive colored to most of CDMX other than polanco i guess.
“Cruises are urbanism” is a take out of left-field, but it’s definitely interesting
Everything you need can be walked to. And if you leave the ship, it dumps you into either a very walkable touristy neighbourhood, or to public transit / bus tours where you can go see something cool.
The best car free place I ever lived was Old Town Alexandria, VA. Didn’t have a car for several years, took transport or biked into DC for work. The thing that really killed it, besides cost, was if you wanted to have kids it sucked. There are a lot of uber wealthy people there, so their kids go to private school, so the public schools suck. That ultimately was what drove me more suburban, that I could move not far away and get excellent public schools. It does not look to be an uncommon problem with very high housing cost areas.
Not sure if you've done a video on this, but one of the challenges people move to the suburbs is a growing family and better schools. Are there walkable cities that have good schools for growing families (that are safe and affordable)? Maybe an interesting topic to cover if havent already. Cheers!
I’ve adopted Baltimore as my hometown in my adult life, and I can’t express how much I appreciated your Charm City aside/shout out
Yeek! That is the city that I was born in and lived part of my young life in. I hated it. To each their own, I guess.
I greatly appreciate the theory and data behind modern research in urban development theory!
I like the change of pace from your more typical content!
I heard about a study a couple of weeks ago that determined the deadliest roads for pedestrians in the US, citing US 19 (?) in the Tampa area as the worst. If you're ever looking for a more doom-and-gloom topic to cover, that would be cool.
If you're ever planning a more positive urban design video, it would be cool to see the most freeway-light major cities in NA. I'd be interested to see if my hometown (Winnipeg) makes the list, as freeways have been banned there since the 60s.
I am certain he did this video already, I don't know if Winnipeg was big enough to make the list but I recall Vancouver being on top.
Part of what makes the Farmers Market what it is is it does not allow chains. They made an exception for a Starbucks at one point, then went back to the old rule.
you actually zoomed into a town in Michigan where I grew up next to. Ironically, that specific town is one of the most walkable ones in southeast detroit thanks to its downtown. My parents and I would bike there all the time in the Summers for dinner when I was young (Northville).
I know the area you are talking about, I agree with you that it is walkable but most of Northville is the complete opposite. It is interesting that he picked that area when making the analysis.
I lived in Chicago for over 20 years, and having to walk and take public transportation everywhere gets old around year 2.
Portland, Oregon, has high walkability in many neighborhoods, and it's more affordable than Seattle. My neighborhood's transit and walk scores were 97 and 98. I didn't own a car and loved it.
"more affordable" doesn't really help when it's still largely unaffordable
Moved out of Seattle five years ago. With regard to people in Seattle valuing walkability, I must point out that Seattle is literally an impossible city. To go from one area to another funnels you through hideously over stressed contact points, and it is grotesquely unfeasible in general to be a pedestrian in Seattle. The only way to make it work is to live and work in the same neighborhood. If you live downtown and work in the university district, for instance, you experience hell on earth during every single commute.
I used to visit Seattle when I lived in Portland and when I lived in Vancouver BC. I always marveled at how you had to literally know all of the routes in order to go anywhere. You cannot just start walking somewhere, because you'll find yourself trapped. It feels like the entire town is designed to be driven through.
Long time viewer, first time commenter -- this video (and nearly all of your content) is top shelf stuff. I do wonder as more content is created like this that more will realize that a more sustainable lifestyle (of which a walkable neighborhood is a major part) is part of their own "pursuit of happiness". At least, that is my hope. Personally, in two weeks my family is abandoning Seattle suburbia and moving into Tacoma next to the light rail station to (mostly) abandon the automobile lifestyle. But, I'm not certain the issue is lack of homes for people to make that decision. There is plenty of affordable inner-city options out there (assuming you are not on either of the coasts) but most of America just has not embraced it yet.
Very funny CF digs, laughed out loud multiple times. But yeah great content, thanks for making videos.
the more and more i watch your videos i am blessed to live in the dc metro politan area its walkable and has great transportation and feels like a city even in some of the suburbs
Minimum parking requirements, restrictive zoning, car centric city design tips the scale to low density suburban sprawl.
Even in a mixed use development with shops, offices, and apartments, the parking requirements make them expensive. First, directly by increasing the cost of construction which is passed through to renters, buyers, and other consumers.
Secondly, the opportunity costs of more units. Instead of parking lots or parking structures, other buildings could be on that location.
Buildings can be taller since they are not restrained by the amount of parking they can provide.
There can also be more partitions per building (smaller and cheaper units). Parking requirements favor fewer larger more expensive units since they cost the same in parking requirement as the equivalent number of smaller cheaper units.
Madison Wisconsin. We don't have great public transport (bus is decent for the US). But I do not need to own a car to live my life as a non-college student.
It exists in the US. But like, only here and maybe 5 other places
Keep these types of videos going!!! 10 best are great but its good to have more then just the easy to watch cheesecake and get into more of the meat of the problem! Things like how did we get here? and some stats driven ideas on how to get out of it would be great too!
Keep up the amazing videos! 👍👍👍👍
The conclusion is kind of backwards. Its not that people choose to live in unwalkable places, its that those are the kinds of places that have residential districts. Your average person cannot choose to live near disneyland or las vegas. You go where there is even remotely affordable housing, and that is usually so far from a walkable commercial area that you HAVE to drive in order to get to it. People want to live in spaces where they don't have to drive to get anywhere, we are not given a choice. Plenty of city planning focused channels have already explained this in detail- it is borderline illegal to create the kind of environments that people both want and need because it impacts fossil fuel, automotive, and related industries who want to keep the entire country dependent on their services.
Planners would disagree. Dense development has been trumpeted by planners for two decades at least, and advantaged in my area for nearly that long. But it takes time to develop, and there's a constant tension between attracting demand, keeping the product affordable, and exceeding the carrying capacity for undesirables. Both the planned town centers in the suburbs of my metro area have troubled middle schools. They were already on the downslope when they were three-quarters built out...
@@josephfisher426 I feel like you ran into a major point when you used the word 'undesirables'. Because even if this is not your intended use of the term, historically 'undesirables' refers to 'the poor', and any social minority like non cishet people, racial/ethnic minorities, and religious minorities. And the system we created- even if there are no prejudiced people running them- operate with goal of preventing these kinds of people from feeling like they have access to anything nice and useful that is built. We built a nation that functions on the ideal that one type of person is better than the rest and are the only ones who should have access to the nice things we build and we prevent policies and production which might benefit all citizens equally because of these biases built directly into our legal system including land development.
@@Sumguyinavan_ I used the term deliberately. There are indeed people who are undesirable by someone else's choice: a minority or the merely poor. That can be avoided (in the US discrimination against a social minority is not as hard to avoid as it seems to be in Europe), though I agree that systems are often still not set up to serve them well. There also are troublemakers: addicts, thieves, the chronically unemployed. They make success at life more challenging for the honest poor in particular, because they are poor themselves and thus likely to be the neighbors of the honest poor... especially if located via subsidy in one of these nice new deliberately constructed urban areas.
Anyway my point was that they struggle, and too soon in the life cycle of a new community.
The hermetically sealed part actually makes sense. Do YOU want to walk around a walkable area when it's 100F? And get sunburned in like 5 minutes while you're at it? No thanks! Bring on the covered walkable neighborhoods!
Video idea: Top 10 most bikeable cities in the world. Example: Oulu, Finland, which was featured in a Not Just Bikes video.
The appeal of Disney Malls isn't just the foot traffic; it's the aspect where it's a gated community where you won't encounter panhandlers and canvassers.
The first thing people buy when they can afford it is distance from other people, especially poorer people. The ersatz walking found in places like Disneyland is a novelty for a self-selected group.
I first read about this subject in the mid-90s with The Geography of Nowhere(1994) when the author talks about "main street" in Disney World.
Perhaps it's because on vacation people don't need to worry about normal things like supplying a household with goods and groceries, or commuting to work. All of those are much more difficult without a car. A vacation is an artificial, temporary environment, when people are happy to simply wander around and stop at restaurants a lot. Normal people can't afford to do that very much in their daily life.
Do a video on university transit and walkable colleges please
And the surrounding neighborhoods of College Towns - I think there's a definite bubble effect that has a distinct character - commercial, residential, parking, transit, bikes, walkability, etc.
I work at the gondola rides and take the bus, often times watching your videos on my way to work/home. So its neat to see you highlight the absurdity of it, because it is bizarre when you take a step back and break down what exactly it is
I really enjoyed the tone of this one. Another great video.
Living in Northern VA, it seems silly that people would pay DC rents for luxury apartment on top of lifestyle centers in Fairfax County. But, people living in those units shows that people who choose the suburbs still may prefer living in a dense/walkable environment. If city centers are the only places that meet that preference, then that residential dissonance for those who want to be close to work/family/where they grew up in the burbs is bound to be worse, I imagine.
part of the issue seems to be that not all freedom of choice is created equal- after all, the freedom to choose to live in walkable neighbourhoods inherently takes a backseat to the freedom of developers to choose not to build walkable neighbourhoods or the freedom of cities and towns not to zone for walkable neighbourhoods
I think a lot of people live in the suburbs not only for privacy, but to get away from the constant traffic noise. (Ironically, perhaps, as them needing to drive to leave their suburb just produces more traffic and noise.)
Brand new to your channel but this is right up my alley & love this VOD!
I've always valued walkable living but never truly experienced it not even at Uni. I've lived in CA, OK (uni), TX, HI, CA & now OR. The closest I got to "walkable" was Kapolei, HI & still didn't have a grocery store/market within "pleasant" walking distance.
I constantly dream of moving "downtown" or closer to Portland for more walkable options but the cost alone kills it for me every time! 😮💨
The tram lines on the streets with no tram feel like an insult
There are walkable American cities such as Portland Maine, very recommended
I have a suggestion for a future episode: what are some successful ways you’ve seen people advocate for making changes?
Great video had to laugh at the subtle shots at Cheesecake Factory at 4:30 and 6:57😂 “fine dining establishment”
I grew up in the suburbs of an American city and now live in a walkable place within that city. I'm also a young and able-bodied person. Here are some reasons why my family would never want to move to the city:
- Lack of parking
- Extreme variations in weather you have to succumb to when you walk everywhere--heat/humidity, cold, rain, snow, etc. I feel like this is less of a problem in Europe?
- Lack of grocery store options. You can get virtually any kind of food you want out in the suburbs, plus you can load more into your car if you need to buy food for multiple people. I live alone so this isn't as much of an issue.
- Higher cost of living
- Lack of interior space
- Insane traffic
- Higher crime, and I don't think this is racially coded at all because the suburbs around here are extremely diverse but much safer.
I would love more content like this! I really enjoy when creators pursue whatever their interests, and the theory part of city planning is equally as interesting as seeing what’s already been done
Thanks for the Baltimore shout out. Would love to hear your in-depth thoughts on my home town region
Here is my personal experience:
I have spent time in walkable cities and very un-walkable suburbs. The problem with any comparison is that when I'm in a city, I'm usually on vacation so my experience is going to be biased. In recent years, I've spent substantial time in Italy and New Orleans and I was definitely happier than I was in my suburban milieu. While I think the fact that I was on vacation, not thinking about work, and experiencing novelty every day definitely played a role, there was something energizing about the environment compared to the suburbs.
So I think, despite the poor sample size and bias, the premise that quality of life in a walkable area is higher is accurate.
But, here's the big round BUT.
Under normal, daily circumstances, a walkable environment is better, when things go even slightly pear-shaped, having a house with some space around it suddenly becomes a major asset. When the pandemic hit and our idiotic government started locking everything down, all I had available to me was my backyard, small as it is. If I had been living in a more dense style of housing, I would have been miserable. And that's living in Seattle. Imagine in some country where the government was even more draconian about lockdowns.
So the first thing that needs to be addressed is that lockdowns need to be banned. Hard ban. Jail time for anyone in government who even proposes it.
But even that edge case isn't the whole of it. If you're in dense housing, god help you if you're having a loud argument or loud sex or loud singing practice. I sure as hell wouldn't do it. Privacy is a big reason I am a fan of lower density housing. So we also need strict regulations that mandate soundproofing on all housing, especially in dense areas. I should be able to have Rob Halford come over and sing "Painkiller" at full volume and the neighbors wouldn't hear.
actually, in properly built apartment buildings, loud arguments, sex, and singing practice are not a problem: you can't hear them through a wall.
I really like the philosophical deep dive approach!
Ocean beach, NY on Fire Island is a perfect example of a huge vacation spot for long islanders which you can only get to by ferry. And when you’re there you have a car free walkable town with residential streets made up of narrow bike paths
I think this kind of video goes very well with the unique cadence of your voice....
I actually do try to avoid crowds. A cruise sounds like a nightmare and I tend to vacation off season to avoid crowds.
I like public transportation though and wish the US would prioritize it over more roads.
LOVE content supported with regression-based studies. It seems that the U.S.'s current car-centric design is a case of the negative externalities of post-war/Great Depression progress, and the issue now is that even if we could definitively say that everyone wanted walkable communities, no individual is willing to pay the cost to reverse the last 80 years of urban design...the classic case of a "market failure" in which decisions that make sense at the individual level end up being bad for the group.
The main reason is because of diversity. People don't want a bunch of you know whos walking around the neighborhood. Diversity brings low trust, and if you don't trust people, you don't want to live close to others and you don't want people walking around by your house or apt all day long.
A lot of the pre-sprawl walkable streetcar suburb type places are the ones that have seen the biggest balloon in housing prices. There’s clearly demand for these types of places that are walkable, it’s just that since the 50’s it’s largely been illegal to build anything besides detached single family homes, so the supply of pre-war walkable neighborhood housing is extremely low for the demand for this kind of housing. Enjoyed your video a lot as always!
Yay! Baltimore shout out! Honestly it has it's issues like any city, and it's a lot of issues, but it's honestly kinda under appreciated compared to the other north eastern cities. Fells Point is a really walkable area. Plus the architecture in Mt Vernon is gorgeous, there's the Walters, the harbor, lot's of good stuff!
Oh that David Foster Wallace reference is glorious
I have something to recommend. There's a podcast called "Cities After", exploring cities after many economic problems, after neoliberalism, car infrastrucrure, Capitalism. It's amazing, I'm sure you align on a lot of values
Do you know what the interesting thing that you bring up golf is that those golf carts are more so used out of necessity. People bring with them a lot of golf clubs, which are very heavy on their own, but most people have a huge golf case with a set of 14 golf clubs, and maybe some golf balls and a few light snacks. Plus you go golfing with several people. It’s easier to have a golf cart to stick your golf clubs in the back of them carrying those golf clubs hundreds of yards from hole to hole is probably more physically demanding and definitely less fun than the sport of golf.
love the more theory, philosophical element of this vid!
Check out ‘Post Houston,’ a new entertainment mall built out of Cold War Era post office (right by train station) !!
That's why ma favs in LA were Westwood Village (with UCLA included) and Venice Beach. I'm from Europe, and these were the only places for me to feel a bit at home and finally not so overloaded by US of A lifestyle :)
Feel like this is even true in hometowns. The most popular places in the city are downtown, big malls and other walkable places
Shoot I was hoping to get my comment in sooner. Episode suggestion; traffic calming measures VS emergency vehicles and delivery trucks.
In my state, there's a small town (~1k), and it's an extremely popular regional vacation spot. This is because it's the only town that hasn't been touched by car-centric infrastructure, so it still has a main street and shops other than Walmart and McDonalds. My family visited that place a few times, and I always left wondering why my town could be like that-having an actual identity.
This video is brilliant! Thank you
I think one reason why Seattle is so expensive and in-demand is not just the walkability, but also because it's functionally exclusive. It's only easy to experience Seattle if you're already there.
I live in Tacoma. I would love to venture up to Seattle sometimes, but transit between the two cities is severely lacking for everyone except those who work office hours in a tower somewhere between the stadiums and the Space Needle. If I want to clock off at 5 in Tacoma and catch a show in Ballard at 7, I have only one option. And unfortunately, that means trying to find parking within a half mile of where I'm going. The people who can do that easily are people who already live in Seattle, and pretty much no one else. It's like a club, and only a fistful can afford membership comfortably.
But on a better note, Tacoma is getting more and more walkable every year. I like that. It would be really nice to have a fast, frequent regional rail, though.
Whilst cost is an issue in living in a walkable neighbourhood, it is also $/m2 and/or size. If you can afford a large free standing house, you can also afford a 3 bedroom apartment in a walkable area. The problem is that many people see buying a big house in the burbs as better value for money and/or more of a status symbol where to show off to your friends.
Kids can be loud and need to move around.
Thanks for a thought provoking video
I will say - not all of us living in suburbs live here by choice. I, and surely others like me, would love to live somewhere culturally dense and walkable, with solid public transit, etc. Why don't I? Well, those places are few and far between, tend to be expensive, and with kids (and not being able to afford private school) you're often putting them in some of America's worst public schools that way. Most urban areas also see an uptick in crime, which again - if you have kids, is something to take into account.
When I went to Universal Studios, I always wondered what made the Universal City section feel so cool... Probably the lack of cars.
this video is amazing.
literally the solution to the housing crisis
At 05:13 you say, I believe, "ersatz pedestrian friendly downtown". If I may nitpick the pronunciation, it's "air"-satz (second held was just fine), not "ur"-satz. :-)
Nobody else seems to have gotten pedantic about how, “pursuit” meant “object of one's continued exertions, what one follows or engages in.” So I get to!
there are plenty of walkable/transit accessible areas in atlanta - it’s just most of the suburbanites may be afraid to live there due to various prejudices (which has been true for half a century). so i feel like many/most of the suburbanites have given up on the city
i’ll also say that the beltline is transforming the number of walkable neighborhood housing options in atlanta, but it’s also definitely worsening their affordability
I feel like we can’t get rid of car entirely but at least get them out of the cities
I’ve lived in multi family units, I’ve lived in single family housing, no comparison, would sell it tomorrow to move to a walkable neighborhood if I could
It has to be said that Disneyland is basically public transportation nirvana. Trains, monorail, streetcar, bus, horse-drawn carriage, paddle wheel, sailing ship, many random boats, even new modes like the Peoplemover. It’s clear that Walt was an urbanist and was absolutely in love with transportation. Long before Epcot, Walt wanted to build a perfect town, and I think that is what’s in Disneyland’s bones.
“we live in a society” - ray delahanty, 2022
10:25 you and Tony Soprano share the same frustration as to happiness vs the pursuit of it being guaranteed. He called it a loophole to his psychiatrist 😀
This was fantastic, thanks!
Video idea: “make your own walkable neighborhood”. Oak Ridge (Tennessee) is a town without a downtown, but there is a residential neighborhood called Woodland that is adjacent to a sizable shopping district. Within an easy walk of the homes in Woodland are 2 grocery stores, 3 pharmacies, a WalMart, 2 department stores, several clothing stores, several restaurants, movie theaters and other stuff. In a practical sense, you can easily live car-free there and in fact there is a much more complete selection of useful businesses than most US downtowns have. But the shopping district certainly isn’t a traditional walkable place. There’s a sea of parking and even a lack of sidewalks in spots. So the idea is “make your own walkable neighborhood” by taking advantage of the close proximity of all those useful businesses even though it wasn’t designed to be walkable. There are probably many similar opportunities across the country. Link to Google maps for the neighborhood: goo.gl/maps/zzemt61nsbx8YrWs6
Mackinac island Michigan is a town where cars have been outlawed.
I live in the Historic district of Ellicott City Md. our main street is walkable
It's weird that I need to point it out but those walkable European cities are some of the most desirable places to live in the world. Asking Americans about what they think about walkable cities is like asking a blind person what their favorite color is.
I've lived in a walkable city my entire life and I can tell you that people that come from car dependent cities sometimes take years to reorient their thinking and habits. Once they do, they realize how bad they had it all those years.
7:14 this outdoor area seems like a good idea until you factor in that its sometimes ~110 degrees in the summer in Vegas and you have tons of drunk (therefore probably dehydrated) people there
There are plenty of ideas for shadowing that area with canopies or shaded walkways along the edges of the pathway. People in hot desert climates, like Morocco, still have pleasant walkable cities with the help of some shade