I always wonder what the Constitution would have looked like if it was written in 1889 instead. I like to think things like a right to safe housing would have been included. And maybe the Constitution would have at least mentioned cities, or even explicitly given them some powers. Who knows, though.
To be fair, the largest city in 1790 was New York with 33,000 people, and that was considered a large metropolis by the standards of the time. No one could have predicted how big cities would soon become given the technology of the time, not to mention how populous America would become.
@@abuelita4094 Look at european cities though, they grew far less than american cities even with the coming of cars. I'm thinking that would be nice material for another episode.
Our top 5 mega-cities should be separate states in the union. They would get fairer representation in Congress, especially the Senate. The Senate perpetuates a rural bias. Maybe the Senate should be abolished altogether and its seats added to the House.
Considering how history plays such a massive part in why US cities are horrendously abhorrent for almost everyone vs most European cities being great for almost everyone (speaking primarily of accessibility and mobility), it'd require either a incredibly long, in-depth video with a complicated emphasis on the hundreds of years, and even around a thousand or so years of time the people of Europe have had to build up and plan out their cityscapes. Either that, or one could go as basic and simple as possible and create a insanely short video lacking any real details other than the obvious - the US has only really had around 250 years, while Europe has had between 600-1600 years to build up their towns and cities. Here is something I will say myself on the subject however that should be up your alley so to speak, seeing as it is a very major difference between the US and Europe: When the US went on their massive rapid expansion and mass-construction spree of freeways everywhere (the interstate system), they got inspired to do so by Germany's Autobahn. However, Dwight Eisenhower (the one who commissioned their construction in mass after seeing the Autobahns in person and president at the time) felt the need to make them run through the heart and core of each city and towns urban center. Europe has never done this, nor has Russia. They knew the inherent issues and major problems that would happen if they did so. The US did. And as a result, the US has suffered so much congestion, traffic problems and other issues from it. It was why Dwight had never seen any of the autobahns doing that. Instead, much like other freeway systems in Europe, they've always acted more as a border/buffer zone between the big, central, urban city/cities, and the outer suburban towns and cities on the outskirts of the big, urban cities. This way, there is no real interruptions or problems with the road networks as a result. Moscow is arguably the best example of why with bigger cities, a "ring" system is by far the most intelligent, efficient and effective use of a freeway system in and around a massive city and it's smaller suburban counterparts. It also a circular flow of traffic at high speeds to quickly jump from one side of a city and metro area, to another with ease and a almost natural flow. From the outer rings of the system, there is then what I refer to as "arteries" - freeways that then continue in a normal, straight format, attaching/connecting other towns, areas, parks and cities with each other. But these always sit on one side of these smaller cities and towns throughout Europe and Russia. The cities and towns just cease at the edge of the freeway. They act as if it is a barrier to further city development, and so they instead most often build away from it, also spreading along one side of it.
They can't learn from each other. US cities are designed for comfort,individual space and distance from the commerce regions, it follows a similar housing plan to Native Americans..meanwhile the Euroepan planning is designed for family-communal(tighter housing), and commerce(nearby ammentiies and mom and pop shops). I guess the only cities to follow a European style would be California since it started off as Mexican and Spanish missions towns. Even today LA(except outskirts)and San Francisco feel more Spanish and Mexican than American(eastern) in terms of Urban development.
I never knew that Urban Development was so interesting until I stumbled upon this channel a few months back. Thank you for the consistently great content!
Great video as always :) As a European viewer, I would love to see a video comparing the planning tradition in the US with a country in Europe, like Germany or the UK. The Netherlands might be an interesting one as well - a huge contrast to the US geographically!
Especially being that European cities were built along ancient roads and settlements. In America we just bulldoze over everything because we like square shaped cities.
Square shaped cities with straight avenues and quarters have been invented by the Spanish military engineers at the time they begun colonising America and built villages from scratch. If you visit Guatemala (and probably other Latin American countries) you'll find mountainous towns with straight streets going up and down over hills and rocks, sometime even so steep that a car can't climb them, but following the architect's square design. In European towns, we followed the slope of the mountains with zigzag streets, and just widened and modernised the path of ancient natural trails.
@@BangFarang1 Actually the greeks started that way earlier and the romans adopted it aswell. The ancient greeks built their cities in a grid pattern, only slighly adapted to the topography. The romans took it further and had a typical lay out for their frontier cities with a cardum and decumanum, with public buildings and the forum in the center in a certain lay out. They only changed the pattern if the topography made it impossible. Rome was the exeption in the roman empire, not the rule. ;)
Would love to see a dedicated video on redlining. Contrary to popular belief, segregation was not a uniquely southern problem. Residential segregation was enforced nationwide. Cities like Chicago continue to be very divided along racial lines and it's largely as a result of our city's history of redlining and encouraging racial segregation. It's a very shameful history that does not get nearly the attention that it deserves.
Given the state of African American communities now, it's not clear how "shameful" those redlining practices were. After redlining was abolished, the black middle class all but disappeared, and with it the family structure necessary to an effective upbringing. Segregation wasn't all good, but it was hardly shameful. At least in segregated communities, we had black shopkeepers, barbers, governments, and education systems. Since integration, income, out of wedlock births, and wealth have all worsened in relation to the rest of America.
Yep, its still a problem today, even where I live in the Bay Area, which is considered one of the more progressive places in the country. There are clear areas for white people, others for rich asian/indian tech workers, and poorer people/minorities. I feel it's more of a class issue these days because the rich asian people segregate the poorer ones out of their communities and refuse to build housing for poorer asians the same way white people do the same for poorer people/minorities. Gentrification is a serious issue and im afraid it looks like rich nimbys arent going to give a shit until their janitors and taco bell employees and such get priced out of the area and they have to do the dirty work themselves.
@@karenwang313 It's almost as though people want to live and socialize with others that are like themselves. This seems like the natural order of things, however offensive it may be to the religion of multiculturalism.
@@kungfoochicken08 Yeah but thats not the American ideal, America was suppose to be a multicultural country where your neighbors are of all races and religions. This is especially harmful when before the late 1900s white people owned 99% of the wealth in the country. Its still like that today but not as bad. When white people own 99% of the wealth and want segragation, this is the end result. Black people living in poverty even in 2019, thats how far the effects have gone, so no, segregation was a terrible idea, i dont care if you like black people more and white people like white people more, thats fucked up.
Trivia: Daniel Burnham also planned the so-called City Beautiful Manila during the US occupation of The Philippines, but it was not entirely implemented due to WWII. Hence, there are various neo-classical buildings in Manila today around the planned administrative center back then.
I appreciate city beautiful for never forgetting to include the racist - but true history of America. Lots of people gloss over the injustices that POC, specifically black Americans, have gone through at the expense of America and its “development.” Keep up the great videos
I learned a lot really enjoyed this l video and really really appreciate you not glossing over the impact of urban planning to Black and brown communities. I never really thought about cities pre-colonization. It's quite interesting.
I’m Dutch, and I’m super pleased with the cities here! I live in The Hague, and the amazing tram network as well as the great national railway system allows many people to avoid car use. On top of that, the many historic buildings mean that the majority of the city looks absolutely beautiful. There’s the occasional brutalist monstrosity (really how on earth did people think those would improve a city??) but designers are generally shifting back towards nice-looking buildings. (The “Babylon” building is a good example. It’s unique in design yet looks really good. (And best of all, no exposed concrete!!))
The Hague is almost too well planned. Comercial zones, industrial zones, residential zones and historic quarter, all segregated yet neatly integrated by a great transportation system. But it doesn't seem organic to me... But maybe it's just me, I've lived all my live in a city without much planning, that grew as needed and everything is mixed, not great..
I visited The Hague when I studied in Amsterdam. The Hague is wonderful. Having lived in the Netherlands for a little bit, I wondered why the hell my city (Chicago) did not have trams. The city is built on a grid, perfect for trams...then I dug into it a bit more. This video even has a picture of Chicago with trams over 100 years ago. We had bunch of them and they were great. But the car industry in the U.S boomed like crazy and it was economical to have a car in the U.S more so than anywhere else in the world. Because of that, a lot of the public transportation infrastructure in the U.S was kind of dismantled in a way. At least in my city that is. My city has one of the best transportation systems in the U.S and even then it isn’t that great. We have subways, metros, longer commuter trains, buses, bike sharing etc....but a lot of the rails were built over a hundred years ago and have not really been upgraded. That’s why we have to light our tails on fire in the winter so that they can continue working.
While what they did with their settlements was interesting for sure, Native Americans were not an urban culture and did not build cities in what is now the United States the way European settlers and their descendants did. The examples he listed were the exception and were small of scale by comparison.
THE point, Jeff, is that he made mention of them and their differences, even slightly. Though the urban tradition of the Native Americans was likely minimal and entirely lost due to cultural extermination, they are still a vital part of the history of the land use and human development of the United States and the land it lies on. I don't understand the point of your initial comment other than to sound like you want to be smarter or to discredit a people you likely fail to recognize as a relevant culture.
Forgets to mention that MEXICO had designed the cities of San Francisco,Los Angeles,San Antonio, Santa Fe etc. Mexicans(NAHAUTL peoples) had been present in those regions years before the US even existed. I guess Mexico is like the Germany of the Western Hemisphere, half of it territories were robbed. Silesia,East Prussia etc...are German.
This video ticks off all the boxes as an introduction to the history of city planning in the U.S.. Good job. Ever since little Ms. Jacobs battled with the Penn Station destroying Goliath figure of Robert Moses, city planning as an object lesson of the forces of good and evil, has ensnared history buffs like myself. My dear old prof, Ray Mohl, was a lovely guy who also turned me on to this particular aspect of the American story. But my dad, a plumber, gave me the best insight into design, from a house to a city, when he said "poop always runs downhill" so build accordingly.
I'd like to hear what made people move from San Francisco to LA & SD and why everyone moved to Houston (other than oil)? Was it around the time that Air Conditioning became prevalent?
Gold rush and manifest destiny also agriculture. Los Angeles County was the #1 producer of agriculture in the world essentially what they central valley is today. The agriculture in LA and the Bay area is why the areas developed the way they did.
Just used you as a reference in a local Multi-Model planning meeting. I love your work and commitment to the new direction that the world needs to travel toward.
This may not be within your field of expertise, but I would find fascinating a video on historical and ancient city planning. Ancient cities are quite a different beast from American colonial cities. Colonial cities start as nothing, but in ancient cities, you are building on and planning around hundreds or even thousands of years of prior development. There were many unique challenges in that era, like the necessity for fortifications, access to water, and limitations of building materials. It would be fun to watch and I surmise fun to research as well.
I love how suburban development is always mentioned in discussions about the success of cities....when it's literally the phenomenon of people fleeing cities as far as possible for them.😑🙄😒
That's a very narrow and shallow view of the topic. Suburbs date back at least as far as Roman times, where they were generally quite close to the city's walls and gates. Even in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, streetcar suburbs were located close to central business districts. Sprawling suburban and exurban development patterns began to emerge in the 1920s when privately owned automobiles became affordable. Wealth flight became a broader middle class phenomenon after World War II, as rates of violent crime increased in urban neighborhoods.
@@colormedubious4747 I agree, I think the real issue is there’s no distinction in the word between street car suburbs, European suburbs, and American car centric suburbs without using several other words. Suburbs by themselves aren’t bad, but sprawling rural density car centric suburbs are pretty awful.
I think an interesting addition to this timeline would be including Riverside, IL. It was possibly the first planned community and was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted
Yep, thanks to the invention of the Air Conditioner, the popularity of low density sprawl, and the rise of car-ownership and the creation of the interstate helped fueled growth in the southwest
Good, concise summary. I think Olmstead founded the Garden City Movement with his plan for Buffalo, which remains in place. Moses had been thwarted also on Fire Island, where he wanted to build a multi-lane highway across the island; and Brooklyn Heights residents successfully forced him to divert the BQE (which is causing problems now with attempts to renovate it).
You should make an episode on Woodstock this year and the city planing surrounding festivals that came after it. Also, you should take a look at LGBTQ+ city planning too (gayborhoods), since it's also the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots.
Also, you should take a look at LGBTQ+ city planning too. what is there to plan? they can live in the city where ever they would please. i would see it as terrible if people would make special neighbourhoods for LGBTQ+ only. people are people that is all.
love this channel! but almost choked on my pasta when u said "birth of my third kid" after saying you were a PhD student. truly amazed at ur quality content even more!
You should really do a video on how to build a city that is resistant to sea beast attack. I was unaware how much of an issue it really is for coastal areas.
@@MarloSoBalJr Don't forget suburbanization too. Few US cities have weathered the effects of sub urbanization well. New York City and San Francisco are probably the two old US cities that best progressed past the effects of suburbanization.
@watergod 83 to be fair, as a non-American. I notice both Republican and Democrats doing it equally, all the time. It’s really annoying but also quite sad seeing you guys always at each other’s throats.
I like your series; it’s a helpful intro to city planning issues, history, etc. Transportation planning, however, only changed because of people demonstrating and demanding more inclusion in plans, not because of the planners themselves. Even now, planners and engineers will default to the standards and not consider local impacts in a deep way.
I know, you're channel is almost exclusively about America, but is there a chance to see something like this for European city planning, or city planning in a special European nation? I believe it might be interesting. There are a number of different problems for European cities through history: a longer documented history, the bigger need for fortifications, more restricted space, different demographics, political and cultural movements compared to America, the problems of post-war rebuilding and probably several more.
Yep, I want to do one someday. Their history is much more affected by rebuilding after the world wars, for example. The history of Paris itself (and London) could be an entire video.
@@CityBeautiful what about Vancouver BC, just north of where you are? It's an easier trip and city is different enough from the US in terms of urban planning and public transit.
How about China.. ?? China loves learning about America and Europe..how about we Learn from the Asian countries. I mean you guys do have the biggest economy and America holds a lot of your immigrants. It would be nice to know where our immigrants are coming from. see why they are leaving their countries for America and Europe.
@@zaired Sorry, but I have to correct your correction. Could you compare the mass transportation solutions for a small city like Moncton, New Brunswick, and for a bigger city like Montreal? Yes, I'm Canadian, and I would like to know what you think.
Excellent video. Your videos about city planning are some of the most interesting videos I watch out of all my UA-cam subscriptions to random topics :)
City Beautiful you’re welcome. I live in Baltimore City and you wouldn’t believe how much history is here. Give it a look someday if you haven’t already.
@@mrbrainbob5320 That's subjective - it depends where you draw the boundary between city and suburb. There's currently a debate as to whether Greater London needs to be extended again to take in some places that are very much London suburbs, but weren't so much 60 years ago.
@@lipkinasl you didnt understand what I said. I meant that british cities are very suburban as in cities are dominated by 1, 2 and sometimes even 3 story residential homes.
I love how easy to understand your content is, you get a shower of likes from me. In the future would you consider doing a video on how to improve poor areas in cities without causing gentrification? Or does anyone have any resources on the topic. I am just casually trying to improve my understanding on a basic level.
Maybe you could do an examination of how high-speed rail affects commutes from and settlement patterns in exurbs, the best case study being Japan. Or at the very least, do a reaction to Wendover’s trains videos.
Great video but I hope that by 2 years plus after upload that people have pointed out that this video's sound volume setting is way too high. Nothing but respect and love for you and your work though, and thank you for your time spent on these wonderful videos! I'm not a city planner by any means but I appreciate being able to dive into these worlds of intelligent people making practical decisions that affect our society in so many important ways.
As an practicing Urban and Regional Planner I think you did a bang up job on this video but I would throw one MORE topic that we are now having to 'address' - the impacts of climate change. In addition to City Planning duties regarding development proposals, I was also the floodplain manager.
City forms also shape people's politics. Gated communities, cul de sacs, traditional down towns, town houses, 19 century apartment buildings, brutalist apartment blocks, pedestriansed central business districts all shape electorates.
Along the whole West Coast (everything west of the Sierras and Cascades), rising housing costs have led to over half the population becoming rent-burdened, yet housing costs are still rising even now. Gentrification is accelerating even in regional cities, and is more or less already complete in the major metropolitan centers (San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle). I think the next major era of city planning, at least on the West Coast, isn't going to be rich-people-only projects like "urban villages": It's going to be rent controls, tenant rights laws, densification, and regional mass transit.
The problem is that rent control exacerbates a housing crisis. Ridiculous zoning laws and housing regulations along with high taxes has made building new housing incredibly expensive in Californian cities. The solution can't be to further cut potential profits from developers. That just drives them elsewhere, like Texas, prolonging the housing shortage in California. Make it easier and more affordable to BUILD housing, and the supply could start to catch up to the demand.
I’m from the north east (like closer to Toronto). I’m always interested in US history, but this whole time I’m watching this video, I was constantly wondering what was Canada doing, especially just north of the Great Lakes lol.
Having a hard time distinguishing what I'm looking at in the center of the picture at 3:45. What exactly is that coming down from the building in the center of the picture right above the words?
Hey City Beautiful, I am looking forward to watching your new upload when I later can but quick question have you seen cheddars latest video on street design flaws? If so what is your 2 cents on it! Thanks a ton.
So is it better to improve cities in a series of small steps rather than using a master plan, in your opinion? Also, I'd love to see a video on what you'd do if you were given two decades and a reasonable budget to redesign and upgrade an existing large American city!
Your question touches on one of the fundamental debates in theory of planning practice. Incrementalism vs. comprehensive planning. I honestly think there is room for both. It's important to have a long-term vision, particularly when cities are building infrastructure that can last decades or more. But shorter, five-year plans are useful for staying nimble in a changing world.
Houston is amazing, no zoning laws. My high school had a cow pasture across the street from it. My middle school was next to a beer distribution plant.
I am an Urban Planner from India and just love your Channel. Can you please make a video on Form Based Codes and how they are different than the conventional zoning? FBC is an emerging concept in India and we are still trying to figure it out.
I really appreciate you mentioning pre-colonization cities!!
Agreed, Cahokia is one of the most fascinating societies Ive read about!
MC M unfortunately there’s not much left there if you go and visit. 😔
check out the history of Mexico City for another fascinating story, though!
The English didn't found new york though.
@@j4296 Yeah, I was hoping New Amsterdam would get a look in. Still a good vid though.
Indeed, more like that would be great!
Ah yes, Thomas "America will always be rural" Jefferson.
At least it would've been mostly, if less autocentric cities sprung about.
I always wonder what the Constitution would have looked like if it was written in 1889 instead. I like to think things like a right to safe housing would have been included. And maybe the Constitution would have at least mentioned cities, or even explicitly given them some powers. Who knows, though.
To be fair, the largest city in 1790 was New York with 33,000 people, and that was considered a large metropolis by the standards of the time. No one could have predicted how big cities would soon become given the technology of the time, not to mention how populous America would become.
@@abuelita4094 Look at european cities though, they grew far less than american cities even with the coming of cars. I'm thinking that would be nice material for another episode.
Our top 5 mega-cities should be separate states in the union. They would get fairer representation in Congress, especially the Senate. The Senate perpetuates a rural bias. Maybe the Senate should be abolished altogether and its seats added to the House.
"It's a story told in three acts...
The first was the Housing Act of 1937"
I like what you did there
Lol literal Acts, i didn’t catch that until i read this comment
As a geography student this channel is really opening my mind.
I like the random sea creatures.
#seamonsterlove
They're not random, they coincide with wars... I think
What was the one in the top left in 1954? Korean War?
What’s the orange sea creature featured on the west coast called?
@@AmberRen The Trump fish
I would love to see a video on the differences between European and American cities, and perhaps what they could learn from each other.
I get into this a little bit in my next video on bike infrastructure.
@@CityBeautiful Excellent, looking forward to it.
Considering how history plays such a massive part in why US cities are horrendously abhorrent for almost everyone vs most European cities being great for almost everyone (speaking primarily of accessibility and mobility), it'd require either a incredibly long, in-depth video with a complicated emphasis on the hundreds of years, and even around a thousand or so years of time the people of Europe have had to build up and plan out their cityscapes. Either that, or one could go as basic and simple as possible and create a insanely short video lacking any real details other than the obvious - the US has only really had around 250 years, while Europe has had between 600-1600 years to build up their towns and cities.
Here is something I will say myself on the subject however that should be up your alley so to speak, seeing as it is a very major difference between the US and Europe:
When the US went on their massive rapid expansion and mass-construction spree of freeways everywhere (the interstate system), they got inspired to do so by Germany's Autobahn. However, Dwight Eisenhower (the one who commissioned their construction in mass after seeing the Autobahns in person and president at the time) felt the need to make them run through the heart and core of each city and towns urban center. Europe has never done this, nor has Russia. They knew the inherent issues and major problems that would happen if they did so. The US did. And as a result, the US has suffered so much congestion, traffic problems and other issues from it. It was why Dwight had never seen any of the autobahns doing that. Instead, much like other freeway systems in Europe, they've always acted more as a border/buffer zone between the big, central, urban city/cities, and the outer suburban towns and cities on the outskirts of the big, urban cities. This way, there is no real interruptions or problems with the road networks as a result.
Moscow is arguably the best example of why with bigger cities, a "ring" system is by far the most intelligent, efficient and effective use of a freeway system in and around a massive city and it's smaller suburban counterparts. It also a circular flow of traffic at high speeds to quickly jump from one side of a city and metro area, to another with ease and a almost natural flow. From the outer rings of the system, there is then what I refer to as "arteries" - freeways that then continue in a normal, straight format, attaching/connecting other towns, areas, parks and cities with each other. But these always sit on one side of these smaller cities and towns throughout Europe and Russia. The cities and towns just cease at the edge of the freeway. They act as if it is a barrier to further city development, and so they instead most often build away from it, also spreading along one side of it.
They can't learn from each other. US cities are designed for comfort,individual space and distance from the commerce regions, it follows a similar housing plan to Native Americans..meanwhile the Euroepan planning is designed for family-communal(tighter housing), and commerce(nearby ammentiies and mom and pop shops).
I guess the only cities to follow a European style would be California since it started off as Mexican and Spanish missions towns. Even today LA(except outskirts)and San Francisco feel more Spanish and Mexican than American(eastern) in terms of Urban development.
TheCriminalViolin that is really interesting. Search for ‘London’s unfinished motorways’ by Jay Foreman, I think you’ll enjoy that
I never knew that Urban Development was so interesting until I stumbled upon this channel a few months back. Thank you for the consistently great content!
It's important that we all understand how "The Projects" came to be.
Great "visionaries" inherited lots of tax dollars and grand intentions.... which ended up being a total failure in many areas.
Great video as always :) As a European viewer, I would love to see a video comparing the planning tradition in the US with a country in Europe, like Germany or the UK. The Netherlands might be an interesting one as well - a huge contrast to the US geographically!
Especially being that European cities were built along ancient roads and settlements. In America we just bulldoze over everything because we like square shaped cities.
Square shaped cities with straight avenues and quarters have been invented by the Spanish military engineers at the time they begun colonising America and built villages from scratch. If you visit Guatemala (and probably other Latin American countries) you'll find mountainous towns with straight streets going up and down over hills and rocks, sometime even so steep that a car can't climb them, but following the architect's square design. In European towns, we followed the slope of the mountains with zigzag streets, and just widened and modernised the path of ancient natural trails.
@@BangFarang1 Actually the greeks started that way earlier and the romans adopted it aswell. The ancient greeks built their cities in a grid pattern, only slighly adapted to the topography. The romans took it further and had a typical lay out for their frontier cities with a cardum and decumanum, with public buildings and the forum in the center in a certain lay out. They only changed the pattern if the topography made it impossible. Rome was the exeption in the roman empire, not the rule. ;)
Yes, the netherlands please
@@johanwittens7712 What about Cairo? That's probably the most oldest city in the world.
Gotta love a video that talks about how design decisions impact people's lives in major, meaningful ways. :D
Thanks Peter!
do you know any more like this?
this channel is like the jackpot of youtube, very good vids
Would love to see a dedicated video on redlining. Contrary to popular belief, segregation was not a uniquely southern problem. Residential segregation was enforced nationwide. Cities like Chicago continue to be very divided along racial lines and it's largely as a result of our city's history of redlining and encouraging racial segregation. It's a very shameful history that does not get nearly the attention that it deserves.
In fact it was supported and sometimes required by the federal government. The Color of Law is a great book on this subject.
Given the state of African American communities now, it's not clear how "shameful" those redlining practices were. After redlining was abolished, the black middle class all but disappeared, and with it the family structure necessary to an effective upbringing. Segregation wasn't all good, but it was hardly shameful. At least in segregated communities, we had black shopkeepers, barbers, governments, and education systems. Since integration, income, out of wedlock births, and wealth have all worsened in relation to the rest of America.
Yep, its still a problem today, even where I live in the Bay Area, which is considered one of the more progressive places in the country. There are clear areas for white people, others for rich asian/indian tech workers, and poorer people/minorities. I feel it's more of a class issue these days because the rich asian people segregate the poorer ones out of their communities and refuse to build housing for poorer asians the same way white people do the same for poorer people/minorities. Gentrification is a serious issue and im afraid it looks like rich nimbys arent going to give a shit until their janitors and taco bell employees and such get priced out of the area and they have to do the dirty work themselves.
@@karenwang313 It's almost as though people want to live and socialize with others that are like themselves. This seems like the natural order of things, however offensive it may be to the religion of multiculturalism.
@@kungfoochicken08 Yeah but thats not the American ideal, America was suppose to be a multicultural country where your neighbors are of all races and religions. This is especially harmful when before the late 1900s white people owned 99% of the wealth in the country. Its still like that today but not as bad. When white people own 99% of the wealth and want segragation, this is the end result. Black people living in poverty even in 2019, thats how far the effects have gone, so no, segregation was a terrible idea, i dont care if you like black people more and white people like white people more, thats fucked up.
#seamonsterlove
Trivia: Daniel Burnham also planned the so-called City Beautiful Manila during the US occupation of The Philippines, but it was not entirely implemented due to WWII. Hence, there are various neo-classical buildings in Manila today around the planned administrative center back then.
Really glad I found this channel 👍
Abandoned TN History i feel the same
5:10
Sea Monster included for good measure. 10/10
I appreciate city beautiful for never forgetting to include the racist - but true history of America. Lots of people gloss over the injustices that POC, specifically black Americans, have gone through at the expense of America and its “development.” Keep up the great videos
How is white flight an injustice?
@@dudelove8662 Did you not just see his whole redlining part?
Yes it's not like the history of slavery isn't constantly shoved down our throats...
LMFAO
i love how these channel dont have any song playing in the background .
I learned a lot really enjoyed this l video and really really appreciate you not glossing over the impact of urban planning to Black and brown communities. I never really thought about cities pre-colonization. It's quite interesting.
I’m Dutch, and I’m super pleased with the cities here! I live in The Hague, and the amazing tram network as well as the great national railway system allows many people to avoid car use. On top of that, the many historic buildings mean that the majority of the city looks absolutely beautiful. There’s the occasional brutalist monstrosity (really how on earth did people think those would improve a city??) but designers are generally shifting back towards nice-looking buildings. (The “Babylon” building is a good example. It’s unique in design yet looks really good. (And best of all, no exposed concrete!!))
The Hague is almost too well planned. Comercial zones, industrial zones, residential zones and historic quarter, all segregated yet neatly integrated by a great transportation system. But it doesn't seem organic to me...
But maybe it's just me, I've lived all my live in a city without much planning, that grew as needed and everything is mixed, not great..
I visited The Hague when I studied in Amsterdam. The Hague is wonderful. Having lived in the Netherlands for a little bit, I wondered why the hell my city (Chicago) did not have trams. The city is built on a grid, perfect for trams...then I dug into it a bit more. This video even has a picture of Chicago with trams over 100 years ago. We had bunch of them and they were great. But the car industry in the U.S boomed like crazy and it was economical to have a car in the U.S more so than anywhere else in the world. Because of that, a lot of the public transportation infrastructure in the U.S was kind of dismantled in a way. At least in my city that is.
My city has one of the best transportation systems in the U.S and even then it isn’t that great. We have subways, metros, longer commuter trains, buses, bike sharing etc....but a lot of the rails were built over a hundred years ago and have not really been upgraded. That’s why we have to light our tails on fire in the winter so that they can continue working.
i have a crush on the netherlands with their farming and land reclamation...dont even mention their cities
Thank you for not falling into the Eurocentric trap! Native Americans need representation!
I wanted to add more too, but I wanted to keep this video shorter than 15 minutes.
The name Native Americans was given by the Europeans. in your face! lols
While what they did with their settlements was interesting for sure, Native Americans were not an urban culture and did not build cities in what is now the United States the way European settlers and their descendants did. The examples he listed were the exception and were small of scale by comparison.
THE point, Jeff, is that he made mention of them and their differences, even slightly. Though the urban tradition of the Native Americans was likely minimal and entirely lost due to cultural extermination, they are still a vital part of the history of the land use and human development of the United States and the land it lies on. I don't understand the point of your initial comment other than to sound like you want to be smarter or to discredit a people you likely fail to recognize as a relevant culture.
Forgets to mention that MEXICO had designed the cities of San Francisco,Los Angeles,San Antonio, Santa Fe etc.
Mexicans(NAHAUTL peoples) had been present in those regions years before the US even existed. I guess Mexico is like the Germany of the Western Hemisphere, half of it territories were robbed. Silesia,East Prussia etc...are German.
Really well done! Love your Sea Monters
This video ticks off all the boxes as an introduction to the history of city planning in the U.S.. Good job. Ever since little Ms. Jacobs battled with the Penn Station destroying Goliath figure of Robert Moses, city planning as an object lesson of the forces of good and evil, has ensnared history buffs like myself. My dear old prof, Ray Mohl, was a lovely guy who also turned me on to this particular aspect of the American story. But my dad, a plumber, gave me the best insight into design, from a house to a city, when he said "poop always runs downhill" so build accordingly.
Could you talk about the City of Atlanta?
Great overview of a much maligned profession. Love the sea dragons falling in love at 12:33.
This was an absolutely brilliant video. Thanks for the history. May we use it to continually build better.
I appreciate your accurate urban planning videos I know I can trust.
Oh man that transition into the promotion was smooth!!
How to found your channel today. Exactly what I was searching.
Keep making more videos like this
Congrats on being a dad. Super cool to share that with everyone.
I just love this channel
Thanks!
As a very rural minded person these city videos are very informative thank you
I have to hand it to you. Your ad/sponsor transitions are pretty smooth.
I love your channel and now Im assigned to watch this video for a class of mine
I'd like to hear what made people move from San Francisco to LA & SD and why everyone moved to Houston (other than oil)? Was it around the time that Air Conditioning became prevalent?
Jeeto Its because of cheap housing. (Along with other reasons)
San Francisco has a very limited land area. It is both a city and a county, so it cannot expand.
Gold rush and manifest destiny also agriculture. Los Angeles County was the #1 producer of agriculture in the world essentially what they central valley is today. The agriculture in LA and the Bay area is why the areas developed the way they did.
4:34 just gonna leave that earthquake there...
Oooh, so that was an earthquake! Thanks! I thought it was just a thingy to highlight SF 😅
Отличное видео! Здорово по пунктам разложил всё, про некоторые федеральные акты не знал, буду теперь изучать. Спасибо!
Thank you for telling the truth about American history and the city, and not whitewashing it.
Just used you as a reference in a local Multi-Model planning meeting. I love your work and commitment to the new direction that the world needs to travel toward.
"Sewers provide fresh air" is such an interesting statement. Thanks for the video!
This may not be within your field of expertise, but I would find fascinating a video on historical and ancient city planning. Ancient cities are quite a different beast from American colonial cities. Colonial cities start as nothing, but in ancient cities, you are building on and planning around hundreds or even thousands of years of prior development. There were many unique challenges in that era, like the necessity for fortifications, access to water, and limitations of building materials. It would be fun to watch and I surmise fun to research as well.
Wow. You just became my favorite new UA-camr.
I love how suburban development is always mentioned in discussions about the success of cities....when it's literally the phenomenon of people fleeing cities as far as possible for them.😑🙄😒
That's a very narrow and shallow view of the topic. Suburbs date back at least as far as Roman times, where they were generally quite close to the city's walls and gates. Even in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, streetcar suburbs were located close to central business districts. Sprawling suburban and exurban development patterns began to emerge in the 1920s when privately owned automobiles became affordable. Wealth flight became a broader middle class phenomenon after World War II, as rates of violent crime increased in urban neighborhoods.
@@colormedubious4747 I agree, I think the real issue is there’s no distinction in the word between street car suburbs, European suburbs, and American car centric suburbs without using several other words. Suburbs by themselves aren’t bad, but sprawling rural density car centric suburbs are pretty awful.
I think an interesting addition to this timeline would be including Riverside, IL. It was possibly the first planned community and was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted
Great video. Love how you saved your sponsor until the end, an integrated it very seamlessly.
Wow. All the big cities shifted to the southwest. Chicago, NYC, and Philly are the only ones holding it down!
Patriotis 😬 I hope so because houston is getting more and more populated 😤😤
Faizan A we southerners don’t care about large cities
what about the northwest? they need to bright at least once
Yep, thanks to the invention of the Air Conditioner, the popularity of low density sprawl, and the rise of car-ownership and the creation of the interstate helped fueled growth in the southwest
Good, concise summary. I think Olmstead founded the Garden City Movement with his plan for Buffalo, which remains in place. Moses had been thwarted also on Fire Island, where he wanted to build a multi-lane highway across the island; and Brooklyn Heights residents successfully forced him to divert the BQE (which is causing problems now with attempts to renovate it).
Congrats on your growing family!!
You should make an episode on Woodstock this year and the city planing surrounding festivals that came after it. Also, you should take a look at LGBTQ+ city planning too (gayborhoods), since it's also the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots.
Ooh, gayborhoods is a GREAT idea and not on my list already. Thanks for the tip!
Also, you should take a look at LGBTQ+ city planning too.
what is there to plan? they can live in the city where ever they would please.
i would see it as terrible if people would make special neighbourhoods for LGBTQ+ only.
people are people that is all.
@@sirBrouwer
You don't seem to understand what they're referring to.
@@IvanSN no not at all.
what does it imply then?
@@sirBrouwer
I think they're referring to the natural development of LGBT+ communities inside of cities, rather than "forced" or "planned" placement.
It’s all about the shape of the grid from the map. There’s nothing better than a sexy grid, perfectly broken where needed.
0:48 The sixteen hundreds saw the French and English join?
You mean the Dutch, with New Amsterdam, right?
Don't forget Sweden!
Great video. Love the random sea dragons
Another great video . Have you played citie skylines since you talk about building and the game is all about maintaining a city ☺️
This deserves so much more views in 2020
love this channel! but almost choked on my pasta when u said "birth of my third kid" after saying you were a PhD student. truly amazed at ur quality content even more!
You should really do a video on how to build a city that is resistant to sea beast attack. I was unaware how much of an issue it really is for coastal areas.
Congrats on 100k!
Congrats with 100 000 subs!
It's sad seeing my faithful city of Baltimore slowly killing itself from within. No one has an answer for it either.
Wonder why
@@pottingsoil Crappy politicians (50+ years of Democrats) and opium crisis... and overall horrible ethics from it's citizens
@@MarloSoBalJr Don't forget suburbanization too. Few US cities have weathered the effects of sub urbanization well. New York City and San Francisco are probably the two old US cities that best progressed past the effects of suburbanization.
@watergod 83 to be fair, as a non-American. I notice both Republican and Democrats doing it equally, all the time. It’s really annoying but also quite sad seeing you guys always at each other’s throats.
Glad to see a new video on your channel
Really enjoy your videos. Would like to cite you for an academic writing i'm doing. How should i do it??
I like your series; it’s a helpful intro to city planning issues, history, etc. Transportation planning, however, only changed because of people demonstrating and demanding more inclusion in plans, not because of the planners themselves. Even now, planners and engineers will default to the standards and not consider local impacts in a deep way.
Love this channel.
I know, you're channel is almost exclusively about America, but is there a chance to see something like this for European city planning, or city planning in a special European nation? I believe it might be interesting. There are a number of different problems for European cities through history: a longer documented history, the bigger need for fortifications, more restricted space, different demographics, political and cultural movements compared to America, the problems of post-war rebuilding and probably several more.
Yep, I want to do one someday. Their history is much more affected by rebuilding after the world wars, for example. The history of Paris itself (and London) could be an entire video.
@@CityBeautiful what about Vancouver BC, just north of where you are? It's an easier trip and city is different enough from the US in terms of urban planning and public transit.
Y'know, it's called UA-cam not WeOnlyLetAmericansUploadVideosTube for a reason.
@@CityBeautiful *HAUSSMANNNNNN* *YEAH!*
How about China.. ?? China loves learning about America and Europe..how about we Learn from the Asian countries.
I mean you guys do have the biggest economy and America holds a lot of your immigrants. It would be nice to know where our immigrants are coming from. see why they are leaving their countries for America and Europe.
What an awesome and succinct introductory and refresher video.
Do a video on the fall of historic cities like Cincinnati who embraced suburbs and didn’t adjust to technological changes
But can u compare the mass transport solution for a small city like moncton nb and bigger cities like montreal yes im canadian and id like ur imput
@@zaired Sorry, but I have to correct your correction.
Could you compare the mass transportation solutions for a small city like Moncton, New Brunswick, and for a bigger city like Montreal?
Yes, I'm Canadian, and I would like to know what you think.
Excellent video. Your videos about city planning are some of the most interesting videos I watch out of all my UA-cam subscriptions to random topics :)
Thanks Kyle!
City Beautiful you’re welcome. I live in Baltimore City and you wouldn’t believe how much history is here. Give it a look someday if you haven’t already.
Working as an urban planner in the UK. Interesting to see the vast differences between the UK and US urban planning systems
Their are some similarities that surprised me for example british cities are very suburban
@@mrbrainbob5320 That's subjective - it depends where you draw the boundary between city and suburb. There's currently a debate as to whether Greater London needs to be extended again to take in some places that are very much London suburbs, but weren't so much 60 years ago.
@@lipkinasl you didnt understand what I said. I meant that british cities are very suburban as in cities are dominated by 1, 2 and sometimes even 3 story residential homes.
I love how easy to understand your content is, you get a shower of likes from me. In the future would you consider doing a video on how to improve poor areas in cities without causing gentrification? Or does anyone have any resources on the topic. I am just casually trying to improve my understanding on a basic level.
I'm actually a med student, but I have some sort of passion for city planing and traffic engineering. Keep up the great work, I really appreciate it!
Super happy that the sea monsters got together in the end :)
Sault Sainte Marie Michigan was around long before several of these cities that you mentioned. It was founded in 1668.
Great job! This should be shown to City Planning Committees nationwide.
I sooo love these videos! It just makes my day a bit better... Thanks!
Always very intrigued by historical cities
Hey man! Im in Appleton, was curious what parts you come from! Love that we have our very own wisconsinite sponsored by skillshare!!
I grew up in Door County. I actually lived in Appleton for a couple of years as an adult, too.
Maybe you could do an examination of how high-speed rail affects commutes from and settlement patterns in exurbs, the best case study being Japan. Or at the very least, do a reaction to Wendover’s trains videos.
Huge amount of info here. Thanks for all the expertise shared here.
Great video but I hope that by 2 years plus after upload that people have pointed out that this video's sound volume setting is way too high. Nothing but respect and love for you and your work though, and thank you for your time spent on these wonderful videos! I'm not a city planner by any means but I appreciate being able to dive into these worlds of intelligent people making practical decisions that affect our society in so many important ways.
As an practicing Urban and Regional Planner I think you did a bang up job on this video but I would throw one MORE topic that we are now having to 'address' - the impacts of climate change. In addition to City Planning duties regarding development proposals, I was also the floodplain manager.
City forms also shape people's politics. Gated communities, cul de sacs, traditional down towns, town houses, 19 century apartment buildings, brutalist apartment blocks, pedestriansed central business districts all shape electorates.
You should do a future video on the Olmsted Park system in Louisville KY
Yeah, I'll definitely try and do an Olmsted video at some point. Really interesting stuff.
He did the parks in Buffalo too
Along the whole West Coast (everything west of the Sierras and Cascades), rising housing costs have led to over half the population becoming rent-burdened, yet housing costs are still rising even now. Gentrification is accelerating even in regional cities, and is more or less already complete in the major metropolitan centers (San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle). I think the next major era of city planning, at least on the West Coast, isn't going to be rich-people-only projects like "urban villages": It's going to be rent controls, tenant rights laws, densification, and regional mass transit.
The problem is that rent control exacerbates a housing crisis. Ridiculous zoning laws and housing regulations along with high taxes has made building new housing incredibly expensive in Californian cities. The solution can't be to further cut potential profits from developers. That just drives them elsewhere, like Texas, prolonging the housing shortage in California. Make it easier and more affordable to BUILD housing, and the supply could start to catch up to the demand.
I’m from the north east (like closer to Toronto). I’m always interested in US history, but this whole time I’m watching this video, I was constantly wondering what was Canada doing, especially just north of the Great Lakes lol.
Having a hard time distinguishing what I'm looking at in the center of the picture at 3:45. What exactly is that coming down from the building in the center of the picture right above the words?
It looks like a pair of pipes, covered in(probably asbestos) insulation
Excellent video. Thank you for sharing it with us!
Hey City Beautiful, I am looking forward to watching your new upload when I later can but quick question have you seen cheddars latest video on street design flaws? If so what is your 2 cents on it! Thanks a ton.
I haven't seen it but I'll try and check it out soon. Thanks!
What about the earlier French sites along the Mississippi when did those trading posts turn into cities
Yeah, I thought about including those but many took awhile to turn into cities, while the Spanish ones had more of an urban intent right away.
City Beautiful oh I gotcha
thank you for your high quality videos :)
sincerely
fellow urban planner
I love this channel! Such great videos
Would be interested in a video learning about euclidean zoning and if there is any shift in a newer zoning practice for our modern century
So is it better to improve cities in a series of small steps rather than using a master plan, in your opinion? Also, I'd love to see a video on what you'd do if you were given two decades and a reasonable budget to redesign and upgrade an existing large American city!
Your question touches on one of the fundamental debates in theory of planning practice. Incrementalism vs. comprehensive planning. I honestly think there is room for both. It's important to have a long-term vision, particularly when cities are building infrastructure that can last decades or more. But shorter, five-year plans are useful for staying nimble in a changing world.
Houston is amazing, no zoning laws. My high school had a cow pasture across the street from it. My middle school was next to a beer distribution plant.
A church in my neighborhood is Infront of a Sex shop and a police station not to mention a middle school 1000 feet away.... Dallas is fucking amazing
Great video man. Keep up the good work!!
What city is the aerial video of at 12:06? Absolutely apocalyptic...
Any chance on a video of town squares? History and best/ favorite ones?
This is high quality, thanks
I am an Urban Planner from India and just love your Channel. Can you please make a video on Form Based Codes and how they are different than the conventional zoning? FBC is an emerging concept in India and we are still trying to figure it out.
Wonder when will India have good urban planning. Most of our cities look like overgrown villages.
this is your best video