The Netherlands Is INSANELY Well-Designed | American Reaction
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- Опубліковано 24 вер 2024
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Why The Netherlands Is Insanely Well Designed
• Why The Netherlands ...
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Thank you so much for watching! The Netherlands seems really incredible. :)
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That Factot 75 food seems to be a very needed solution since Americans seems to be forgetting how to cook...and the price Is accessibile
Carmel Indiana is doing it the Dutch way, i try to share a link but YT delete it.
BicycleDutch have a video on his channel about it, so there is hope for America.
What the Netherlands has, you can call it more freedom
Thanks, Heidi. 😊
But not everything is fine. Here also, the government is messing things up 🫣
yes we are
People who only want cars do not want easy, safe and affordable transportation for everyone. Children in the USA are dependent on their parent for transportation until they got their driver's licence. In the Netherlands they cycle there themselves. THAT IS FREEDOM.
And a bicycle is 1/100 the price of a car. So you don't have to lease it. Americans life in debt and call themselves free....
Those who have never experienced good life quality in public space, might not even know to want it, because they don't know its worth.
Here in Rotterdam it's so cool and cute 😂 to see a parent driving with a 4 and 5 year old on the bicycle lane. Everyone should have that freedom.
It's due to urban zoning. In most of the US it is prohibited to mix commerce with residence. That's why everyone lives in suburbs far away from everything else. It's well intended but there's no good reason people can't live in walking distance of their grocery store.
What @nukubulibre says. The main motivator is children in the later years of primary school and secondary school going everywhere (school, clubs, friends) alone. _HUGE_ timesaver.
The original video skips over the fact that the major reason the Dutch wanted to improve their streets and make them safe for pedestrians and bikes was the huge number of fatalities, not least among children. The slogan 'stop de kindermoord' or 'stop the child murder' was used to campaign for better, safer infrastructure. And that was nationwide, not just Rotterdam, in the seventies.
tbf this guy is somewhat wrong about why the size of houses are smaller. I'm a planning student in the Netherlands and some suburbs where the houses are a lot bigger (and more expensive), still have great cycling infrastructure. We do not build smaller homes because of bicycle infrastructure or shops for that matter no, (although we do aim for 10 minute to 15 minute cities). The reason why we have smaller homes is because the land you purchase is simply much more expensive because it's so densely populated. Lots of people can't even buy houses here (40% rent) and rent is very expensive outside the social housing system (about 40% of all rented homes in the Netherlands are social). So it's natural for us to build smaller, more densely populated housing projects so everyone can actually live somewhere. But there are lots of places where houses are bigger (in cities) with great cycling infrastructure, but if you want a house as big as in Florida, you need a lot more money than in Florida unfortunately. It's basically for the super rich, especially in cities. In the Netherlands more densely populated = more expensive.
Also, cars are still the most popular use of long distance transportation in the Netherlands. Even more popular than in most European countries. Public transport is crazy expensive here.
To add to that is that family size has decreased a lot since the 60s which also means we need more houses for smaller families. One way to achieve that is by building smaller houses.
@@vals_loeder the bonus is less floor space to vacuum and cheaper to heat doing the winter months.
@@vals_loeder yeah. Worst part is, most big Dutch cities like Rotterdam had a bigger population in the 1960s than nowadays with the same amount or even less housing than now. Effect of individualism basically and suburbanisation
Hebben we gevraagd om 15 minuten steden? Of dat jij plannen uitvoert van Klaus schwabb? Daarvoor betaal ik je opleiding niet voor.
Wel fijn dat je zo eerlijk bent. En eens kijken of we je opleiding hiervoor kunnen aanpakken. Heg is te gek voor woorden.
You dont really lose space in a walkable area, you lose space that's 100% your but you gain parks, cafes etc and you still have some space thats yours. You dont need a home library or home cinema when you just have a library or cinema.
And once ypu meet your neighbours without metal encasements, you might gain friends, be less afraid, so it becomes even safer.
The size of a country argument is completely irrelevant to be honest. We dont cycle from one side of the country all the way to the other side, we use it to get to school, work, to do shopping, go out with friends etc, all things that - a lot of the time - you can do within a reasonable distance of your home. It all depends on how your cities are designed. For the Netherlands bike paths are given as much a direct route as possible, while cars are made to drive the long way around. In contrast in the US, even if you need to go get something trivial like a bottle of milk from the nearest convenience store, you're already forced to go by car because thats the only option the civil engineers and urban planners have given you.
It's funny how Americans always think we cycle just because our country is flat and dense populated. But New York (yes, just the city) is half the size of The Netherlands. It's dense populated and flat as well. Yet you Americans rather sit on a comfy chair waiting for the light to become green than getting to work faster by cycling.
I life in the south west province Zeeland (Sealand) where the Delta Works are and this is absolutely not dense populated. As a kid I went to school 5 towns away and had to cycle 45min single trip everyday.
Its all about infra
@@dimrrider9133 The roads in the US are twice is wide as in the Netherlands. All you need is a line that seperates car and cycle lane.
@@TheJoaveck the they still have a lot to do Traffic calming, Make roads and streets and get rid of the stroads ;p
they bulldozed their citys for stroads wich are very dangerous.
The Netherlands have no stroads.
Kids in NL learn traffic from a young age on, whereas in the US kids sit in the backseat until they are allowed to drive as minimal trained teenagers:
Guess, who is the better driver?
@@TheJoaveck We barely have any traffic light compared to the USA as well. The interstate is stupid too. Keep your lane is such a stupid rule. The European idea of the place of a car is as right as possible. This would mean that cars can overtake trucks and slower vehicles easily. Saving time. And saving time is one of the reasons why we would take a car.
It is true that the USA is less densely populated, but more then 90% of bike trips in the Netherlands are trips within a city. So that is viable all over the world
Exactly! And that also puts an end to "... but America is so much bigger!" - size of the country doesn't matter if you're not regularly traveling that distance anyway.
Only 2% of the US landmass is used for urbanization! In US cities a cycle infrastructure could certainly work.
@@evdweide Yeah but I can also see that in america you'd have to ride your bike 10 km before you reach a supermarket. Not saying its impossible but if they would want a bicycle infrastructure they'd have to think about changing residential zones in shopping zones.
@@kevartje1295
-mixed zoning, midrises, corner shops...
-no allmighty HOAs
-street design for the intended purpose, no horrible minimum parking numbers
...
Just need an understanding of what's possible and then go for it!
@@la-go-xy public transport and bikes are for broke boys...
Americans drive cars because is the greatest country in the world and RICH.
There's one thing that is rarely mentioned in all these videos about The Netherlands. And that is our roads. We not only bike a lot but we drive a lot too. Did you know that the vast majority of our asphalt roads are paved with open asphalt? It drains rainwater away immediately so even when it rains heavily there's hardly any spray so visibility is a lot better even in bad weather. We're so used to it by now we just forget. And it's not just the highways, main roads in a lot of the towns and villages are paved with open asphalt as well. I think driving here is really different compared to the US. Shorter distances, the design of the infrastructure plus the amount of and variation in traffic participants demand that you're super alert all the time.
When I went to the Netherlands last July, I was driven around on probably about 2-300km of roads. As someone coming from the UK in its current state, it was massively eye-opening. In all that distance, I saw maybe 2 or 3 potholes, or areas where the road surface wasn't quite flat. In the UK, you can't go more than about 100 metres without encountering several potholes. I know you probably pay more in tax to pay for your road infrastructure, but to be honest, I'd be happy to pay more in taxes if we got something like that out of it. It would certainly be better than the current situation in the UK where nobody wants to pay for anything, but then get upset when things are in such a poor state.
@@bujin1977 we safe money on tires, shocks and rims
@@benwouda
The Dutch hardly safe money on shocks. Not with all them speed bumps.
Great for reducing speeds, hell for ambulances, firetrucks, policecars, busses, closeby buildings and nearby residentes
Amsterdam Schiphol Airport has 1 runway called Polderbaan which is 3.1 miles from the terminal building. It’s a 10-15 minute taxi to the runway. The last time I flew out of Amsterdam, I took off from Polderbaan and I saw a farmer tending to his crops close to the runway.
Also in the Netherlands they have wildlife bridges. They are these super cool bridges that go over roads so animals can cross safely. You should look them up. They are very cool and very considerate to the needs of our animal friends.
@@Sam-pv7bd and the Dutch are complaining they have to pay so many taxes. Not realising all these infrastructure needs money to stay so smooth and excessive to all different kind of transportation.
Regarding people not wanting change: I'm convinced that _most_ of those people don't know any better. They just can't imagine what it would be like because they have no experience with it and can't relate to it. But most of those people _would_ start to cycle, for instance, if cycling became safe and convenient where they live, and then not want to go back.
In the 70's, as mentioned briefly, there was an uprising,a national protest with the slogan 'stop child murder!' Referring to the many road deaths that predominantly took children. That eventually swivelled the political environment to the bike-centered planning we have today. It did not come easily.
About if other Americans want it also. Remind them that if you focus your planning on pedestrians and cyclists, the car drivers are equal winners. They could drive their cars just to the outskirts of the cities and take public transportation or a bike. But even if they still prefer to only drive their car the roads would have a lot less trafic and driving will become more pleasant. The only thing they need to give up that will really hurt is 'right on red' which is a lare killer of cyclists and pedestrians.
Great reaction vid :)
Fun fact about the largest bike parking garage in Utrecht. The bike parking is on one end of the train station, there is another one at the other end, having a capacity of around 4500 bikes. Not nearly as big, but still really big. And the next two garages are not far away either. All those parking facilities have cctv and permanent watch, and they are all free for 24 hours.
I live in the outskirts of Utrecht. If I go by car, it takes me 25 minutes to get to the parking garage, which costs around 10 euros per hour (!) to park there. Cycling takes 20 minutes (which is less) and parking is free. This really encourages people to go to the city center by bike instead of the car.
Imagine 20 million cars in such a small country, it would be permanent congestion everywhere.
You should watch the video from not just bikes about traffic lights in the Netherlands as well, this says a lot about why travelling around this country is so much nicer than the US. The video is called "Why the Dutch Wait Less at Traffic Lights".
Having grown up in Canada and driving in all of the lower 48 states and now living in The Netherlands I can honestly say it blows me away how nice it is to live and get around in this country.
Americans that say ''thats not what we want'' are simply oblivious to the rest of the world. They've been told their entire life the US is the greatest country on planet earth so when there is a bit of criticism they feel offended. They simply don't know better, so why not stick with what ''works''. Also it's hard to point out what makes everyday life kinda awfull in the US. Infrastructure plays a major role in that but people fail to notice its effects because they've never thought about it and never had better infra.
I'm old enough to have know the Netherlands when it didn't have all the brilliant bike and public transport stuff, and believe me, the Dutch took about 50 years to get things sort of right. There was a lot of trial and error over the years. The main problem is that other countries (does't matter which one) never believe that what works once can work again. They all want to invent their own wheel, over and over again, and then they get discouraged and give up.
A levee is another word for Dyke or stop bank, seperating land from water.
A dam, in this context, seperates water from water and often have locks that can control flow and waterlevels
Levee / Dyke: No water goes through during normal operation.
Dam: Water can flow through during normal operation, but at a reduced and controlled rate.
Locks are basically boat elevators; having doors on 2 sides and flowing water in/out of the central "chamber" (the lock itself) so that ships and boats don't need to brave any rapids-like elevation changes.
@@Tyrope nope, dam can be build to not allow water to through in normal operations. In both Dutch nor English. Just take the second sentence on the english Wikipedia page on "dam". Anyway, in a Dutch context, the dams are mostly used to block and redirect water to other natural or artificial streams of water, rather than to limit flow. Meanwhile, the afsluitdijk or the Enclosure Dyke that seperates the large internal lakes from the north sea, does allow flow from in to out and is named a Dyke..
@@jezusbloodie Perhaps we call it a dyke because in the first drafts of the 'drooglegging' that were made after WW1, they were thinking of poldering the entire Zuyderzee, turning it all into land. These plans were changed at a later date for both economic and environmental reasons. Or perhaps it's just because to Dutch ears, it sounds better than 'Afsluitdam' - that sounds more like the name of a non-existing town.
The best example for this working in other cities, is Paris. They've implemented this since a couple of years and it's a HUGE success.
Nice! I don't remember noticing the bike infrastructure, but I LOVED the metro in Paris. 💜
@@HailHeidi it's a very recent thing. Since 2020 they started doing it, but it's going very fast. A very good example of a modern city switching to bikes/pt and away from cars.
Schiphol airport was once a treacherous piece of water that often wracked ships. The 'shiphol' consists of 'schip' (ship) and 'hol' (hole) as it was a (hell) hole or a grave for ships.
@@dikkiedik9463 schiphol means ship wood (hol(t) betekent 'hout')
I always wondered what was up with that weird name!
Read the history. De naam Schiphol komt al voor in een op 11 september 1447 gedateerde, perkamenten brief over grondoverdracht (vier maden lands, liggende in Aelsmerbanne in Sciphol).[7] De exacte oorsprong van de naam staat niet vast, de deskundigen verschillen hierover van mening. nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luchthaven_Schiphol
One thing is correct With 500000 flights day and night its became for the people in the cities around it a real noise and pollution hell
most people overhere call it after 2000 when the 5 track opened a Schiphell thats for sure
After the waterflood of St. Louis, they hired Dutch engineers with their expertise of managing water.
St. louis will be a lot saver now.
Thats The Netherlands/Holland too!!
Greetings from Holland😊
I'm curious, greetings from the Netherlands, founder of New Amsterdam (New York) ❤
There is one city on the right track in the USA. Search for Carmel Indiana.
I moved to Holland full time after working here for 9 months a year over 4 years. Now 10 years on from that move I see my working life ending here aswell.
The Netherlands! NOT Holland! Because that is only 2 provinces!
@@jeffreyscholte4737They never learn 😂. Just like they still call it The Netherlands while it's been only one Netherland since centuries. The other part is the Dutch speaking half of Belgium
@@TheJoaveck Hahaha yes, true! And I'm a proud Dutchie😊😉
@@jeffreyscholte4737 Nope just Holland .
It's Hup Holland Hup en niet Hup Nederland Hup !
@@rambok-gi7zp Nope. It is OFFICIALLY The Netherlands! Totally not Holland anymore!
The Netherlands is always fighting against water, because The Netherlands is below sea level. The Netherlands also helped New Orleans to make it safe for the future because of Katrina . Because of our experience
I believe Amsterdam and New Orleans are almost exactly the same size and the same average height below sea level. There's a video about that somewhere.
And warned newyork years ago about the potential danger it was in. Now they are helping in the planning to improve things so flooding won't happen again.
Size of the country doesn't matter. It is a choice, you you choose for cars, or do you design you city's more centered on cyclist and pedestrians.
Yes it does. Some places in the US you would not be able to live without a car. No trains, no buses, and 50 km into town in 35 Celsius. I once saw a docu about a German farmer. He bought himself some land in Russia. Going into town for shopping, it took 36 hours, each way. I believe he was glad he had a car.
@@Gert-DK that's the point, because everything is designed for cars in the US that's why you need a car
If the US had better infrastructure you wouldn't need a car to go anywhere
@@Trickaz94 You do not make a railway to service a few hundred people out on the prairie. The US is huge, you need cars if you don't live in a city.
Look at the Midwest, just long and straight roads through farmers fields.
Yes, the infra structure in the big cities are getting better overthere.
Hundreds of US mayors have been in Copenhagen, to see how the infrastructure is made there.
They are working on it.
@@Gert-DK that's just a lie Americans keep telling each other, sure if you want to travel from state to state then you gonna need a car, no discussion there
But most people don't travel from state to state on a daily basis
Also the way American cities are designed is just not sustainable, if all the stores are miles away yeah it's logical you take the car, but that's the point, if cities could build stores and other necessities near where the people actually live outside the cities, people wouldn't have to drive everywhere
The suburbs are to spread out for public transport to be feasible or for people to walk or bike anywhere
It's not just a matter of "slap a bus stop or bike lane on it and call it a day"
For the more rural areas you do have a point, that's just not doable, but that's the same in the Netherlands
@@Trickaz94 You don't have a clue how big the US are and how the demography looks. In the Midwest, there are very few people. But they are needed there. They produce food. Not only for the US, but also worldwide. There are also raw materials and more. Without a car, no food or no raw materials. It is as simple as that.
I live in Groningen, located in the north of the Netherlands and 6th biggest city in the country.
The city where they tested rain sensors on traffic lights, so when it rains cyclist get a green light more often and people sitting nice and dry in their cars have to wait a bit longer. And the only city in the Netherlands where at many traffic lights give a green light to all cyclists from all directions whithout causing a lot of accidents. Unlike some other city's where they tried this.
Want to know more? Streetfilms made a great video about Groningen:
ua-cam.com/video/fv38J7SKH_g/v-deo.htmlsi=vI7pC89nJoxLsLOc
@@Jurjen_Warrel_Ottenhoff Almelo has these all bike go on green lights as well. The test in Rotterdam was a big fail a few years back
@@raisan5989 Ah, nice to know it does work in other places.
What they actually have to do in the USA is, when they build a new neighborhood, immediately build a decent sidewalk for pedestrians and children to play, that is already a big improvement in terms of safety and it takes less space than what they think there in the USA. usa. In addition, they can build a shopping center in the middle of the neighborhood, no, not those ridiculous megastores but smaller ones like here where you can buy your stuff every day, it saves a ridiculous amount of time, traffic jams, travel time and many more benefits. anyway, they love the car
Sadly mixed use zoning is still illegal in many places in the US.
Suburbs with their own corner stores would solve so many problems.
@@MarceldeJong dat dus
The Netherlands is about the same size as an average-sized state in the US. So it's basically a very well-designed state, in comparison to the US...
Yes you should not compare the US with the Netherlands but only heavy populated states or parts of them or just metropolitan area's.
The average US state is much larger. The Netherlands is only a big bigger than the smallest US states. But has an economy comparable to Illinois. If small US states had so much money they would be able to afford infrastructure as well.
If someone says “we dont want that bc we love cars” the perfect awnser is “how more ppl chose public transport or commute via bike the less cars on the road the better the traffic flow”
Hey everyone! Just to clarify, a levee and a dam aren't the same thing. A levee is like a barrier built alongside rivers to prevent flooding of nearby land. Think of it as a long wall. On the other hand, a dam is a structure built across rivers or streams to hold back water, creating a reservoir or lake. It's more like a big block. So, levees = flood prevention on the sides, dams = water control and storage across. Hope that helps! 👍
Hi Heidi, I am Twan van Creij from the Netherlands. I know the US is a car-driven culture, but I was really supprised by the city of San Francisco. They have actually seperated bike lanes throughout the city. It is different then in the Netherlands, but I realy respected that. Hope this info is of value to you. have a great day.
The bike lanes are forming a network of recreational or fast bikelanes through the whole country. You can ride your bike through the whole country without having to share the road with cars
Utrecht girlie here, growing up i didn't realise how lucky we are with how easy it is to get places without a car, we have biking garages all around the city, plus it's much easier for kids and teens to travel before they get their drivers liscence, and growing up cycling everywhere also gives us experience with traffic situations, wich will help in the futere when driving a car
I am from Amsterdam myself and am a tourguide in the only working polder windmill of Amsterdam. You are always welcome!
CPH.
Copenhagen Airport has one more benefit. The railroad also goes into the airport, not only the Metro. You might have seen all the red ticket automates, before reaching the Metro in the airport. Here are escalators to the airport train station, you can board a train to the rest of the country or a train to Sweden. That's why many Swedes use this airport, it is easy to come home to ABBA-land.
At Schiphol airport, you get on the train, not the metro!
The train station from the NS (national railways) is underneath the arrival and departure halls.
From the train station platforms, take the escalator or lift, and you are in the departure hall.
After arriving at Schiphol by aeroplane, you go down the escalator of the lift to the train station platforms and board a train to any train station in the Netherlands. There are even international trains that stop at Schiphol. You can go to, for instance, Antwerp, Brussels, Paris, and more.
@@c.e.g7448 Same in CPH.
5:58 you mention that Americans like their cars but from what I’ve heard the driving experience in the Netherlands is much much better than in the States because the infrastructure is so good. We have less traffic, better roads, better behaved drivers (to do with schooling but also with driving not being a necessity and therefore only people that want to drive, drive) and therefore a better experience. I know this is not reality but it seems to me that Americans should actually want to aim for this sort of infrastructure.
And driving is not a competition, just a means to get around. Public space is shared with everyone, even those without metal around them.
Since housing is becoming increasingly unaffordable, smaller houses should be considered. Also in the USA. Probably more people would consider it if the where available.
The bad thing is that Utrecht still needs more room for bikes
Believe it or not, the Dutch sometimes also fight against infrastructure like this. 😅
By the way, our King is visiting Atlanta at this moment and later this week New York.
No he is not, he is home. 🙂 But he will soon be going to Greenland. He should have been in the Faroe Islands right now, but it was cancelled.
@@Gert-DK I think you are referring to different kings.
@@eckligt There can be only one King 😁
Who gives a dam(n)?
Who cares? 🥱
I'm sure it wasn't politicians listening that changed things, it was activists who became political and even became politicians themselves that created the conditions for change.
Nearly every benefit in working and living conditions that 'the people' gain is hard fought for over decades and even centuries. There is hardly ever a kindly benevolent government that does this without being elected with that in mind.
The us is the literal opposite of the Netherlands if we talk about house / infrastructure sizing. So that may be one of the reasons why bicycles are so populair in the Netherlands. Its just easier and more convenient because of the close distance of most facilities, like grocery stores and for short distances your likely to be faster on you destination, and in the big cities its a lot easier to find a spot to park your bike than park your car. Also most people don’t have much traveling distance to school or work. In the Netherlands the average commute is about 14 miles where 38 percent of the people dont leave their municipality at all for work or school.
4:10 So if you use a bike to get to a transit station, then public transport... Then how does that public transport take you to your final destination? If public transport is that good, then why do you need a bike to get to public transport in the first place? If there's a gap in public transport at the start of your journey, then surely there'll be a similar gap at the end...
Remember sharing walls doesn't just save space. It saves a lot of energy too. Connected homes are easier to keep cool in summer and keep warm in winter, because the amount of walls exposed to outside elements gets cut in half. And no matter what kind of privacy you like, at some point energy is going to be a problem for all of us.
For example: when i go to work I take the bike to go to the train station(About 2 miles from my home). I go on the train to Amsterdam for work( 25 miles) I get out on Amsterdam Central Train Station and take the bus or tram to work(about 4 miles) The busstation is on a one minute walk from my work. Alternative method is to take the bike(rental bike)to work from Amsterdam Central Station. Did i answer your question?
At every main railway station and a lot of smaller ones you can hire an OV Fiets (bikeshare - €4,55 per day at the moment) using the same card that you use to ride the train, i.e. your credit or debit card. So if they have to be somewhere in another town, a lot of people will either ride their own bike or take a bus to the train station, then pick up an OV Fiets when they get off the train and ride it to their final destination.
Many cities in Europe have a pedestrian only city centre.
What do they have outside city centre? 🙂
Im 71, when I was 16, I demonstrated for a car free city centre. It’s funny that what started so small, is now normal everywhere. In that days people thought we were idiots. 😀
@@Gert-DKiin the Netherlands they have a system within the city there are 3 kind of roads. One for going to another neighborhood. One kind for getting in the neighborhood. And one to the houses in the neighborhood. For example there is a road that goes between different neighborhoods. In my neighborhood there are three roads that go from that road into the neighborhood. With bicycle paths and roundabouts. And from there you go to your own street. These streets have speed bumps, one way directions for cars, and a speed limit of 30 km.
The pavement is also different.
The highways go normally around the cities.
But in one city, Maastricht, it was not possible to have it around the city, so the highway went through the city. 10 years ago they decided to make it under the ground. What once was a highway, is now a long park.
@@jannetteberends8730 Ahh, I saw that. It was from a very "red" city. Forgotten the name. A small but compact city.
@@Gert-DK a red city? What is that?
The infrastructural overhaul of Dutch infrastructure did not start in the 70s . It already had started in begin of the 50s . But due to the economical and financial bad time after WWII it went slow . How ever as time progressed , so did the economy and so the mega infrastructure overhaul project caught speed .
in the 7ties they bulldozed Amsterdam for cars till de kindermoord came up
A dam closes of a waterinlet or waterway, a levi keeps water inside the waterway or prevents it to go to dry land or places we don't want it.
I have just become a citizen in the Netherlands, after living here 6 years. It is actually a lot better than shown here. Inter city travel is not just possible but easy, on completely dedicated cycle paths. The scale of things needs to be remembered, I am at least 3 cities/large towns away from Amsterdam, but 35km as the crow flies. In South Africa, I considered myself part of a city up to 40km away. Property size was a hard adjustment 😂 but the convenience is next level.
The argument you mentioned that people don’t want that is so ridiculous to hear for me 😅 I mean better bike infrastructure in cities does not mean you can’t travel by car anymore. You give people freedom, to choose their preferred way to get around safely. Freedom is something that should sound appealing to US citizens haha 😜
9:09 "But some people do not want to live this close to their neighbours". - That's exactly the point: what do I see myself and my fellow human beings as? As a group of individuals who just happen to live within sight of each other? Or as a community that is there for each other, helps each other and - yes - sometimes gets on each other's nerves, but that's part of it. One is the American model, the other is the European model. I prefer the second. :)
living in a neighbourhood where you're close to each other has so many benefits.
yes, some times you end up getting irritated by some neighbours (yelling children or someone's bbq blowing right into your house)
but the benefits outweigh them by a lot.
think about things like:
- people that can keep an eye out when you're at work or on vacation.
- always a few neighbours who are able to see the neighbourhood children playing, so the chances of something happening to one of them is really low. (there are always several adults within helping distance)
because our children play without adults constantly hovering around them, this gives them more independence.
- people that can help out when you need it
Also, it helps to build tolerance for other people and the different ways people do things. It creates a less individualistic society and greater willingness to help each other. Either directly or through the support for social programs (like universal healthcare). I think a lot of problems in the US could benefit from a little more (forced( social interaction.
He talks about Rotterdam shifting more towards a bike-friendly infrastructure, but all the footage you see while he talks about this is Amsterdam.
I love when he talked about mills to drain the land and showing the famous mustard mills at Zaandam
In his mind: Windmills is windmills! 😄
As a Dutch person living abroad, I never realized how good our urban planning was until I lived abroad for several years. If you watch a few more videos from channels like @NotJustBikes or @CityBeautiful you will understand a lot more about urban planning, transport and the impact it has on most importantly happiness of the people. What I noticed was that a lot of people seem to think the Dutch have less cars per capita than most other countries. We are considerably high on the list of cars owned per capita with 588/1000. The top 20 is mostly dominated by Micro-Nations and USA is number 8 with 908/1000. In the city I currently live motorbikes/mopeds are pretty much the only convenient method to get around conveniently. Cycling or walking is way too dangerous and cars will certainly get stuck in traffic and parking is a disaster. I would never let a child get around here unaccompanied anywhere until they are old enough to drive a motor vehicle while I could pretty much bike anywhere I wanted from age 7/8 back home. Which is why I will almost certainly be saying goodbye to the lovely tropical weather I am currently enjoying to get back to unpredictably rainy Netherlands when I have children.
The difference between a dam, a dike or a levee: a Dam is a manmade structure that cuts a body of water. Hence: to start, a dam has water on both sides, later you can pump out the water on one side and strengthen the dam to keep the water out. A Dike has water on only one side and mainly lays on the side of the water, sea, lake or river and prevents the water from getting onto dry land. A levee is designed to keep water in, therefor most of the time lays on both sides of a stream. Greetings from The Netherlands.
What do you mean 'keep water in'? Isn't a levee the same as a dike?
@@paddotk yes, only the purpose is different.
1 downside of the Netherlands is that building costs you a lot of years, because everything is tought out.
I'm originally British, but now live in NL. I also visit USA regularly as I have family there. Because of its size, not everywhere in USA could benefit from Dutch-style infrastructure, but there are plenty of places that could. What I like least about USA are all the stroads and strip malls that are so ugly and impossible to access without a car. My wife and I have 2 bikes each, and ride them most days. We also have a car which we use for longer distances or large loads. When we visit the USA, there is a train that will take us directly from our local train station to Schiphol in one hour. The escalator then takes us up one level from the train platform to the central concourse of the terminal. I think I'm going to live out my days here. (NL has almost exactly the same population density as NJ, btw.)
I see why you don't wanna share walls with your neighbors, as most of your walls probably are made of cardboard not? Thats not the case over here, walls between houses are build from 2 layers of concrete or bricks, (with their floors floating on isolation so you don't hear clacking heels) which prevents direct contact noise but also lowers the transition of noise through them. Next to that, grounds pace is expensive as their is so little of it and can go up to 50% or sometimes over of the part the property price build-up. (Hence you see more layered housing instead of spread out)
Netherlands is well designed.... god created the world, the dutch created the Netherlands... we just could do a better job than him😁
Americans always think that the Dutch people prefer biking over driving cars.... WE DO NOT PREFER BIKING OVER DRIVING! Gasoline is ten times more expensive in The NL. Just parking your car in the city is very costly and so is car-insurance and road tax. That´s why the Dutch people ride bikes a lot, because driving a car is very expensive
3:27 it is even worse when you concider that per capita The Netherlands have as much bikes as Americans have guns.
I have 3 bikes. The first is an e-bike, and my main means of transport. I use it 5 days a week to get to and from work. I live 13KM from work, which is just over a 30 minute commute. The other two are a bike I use whenever I take the train. It’s a bike I don’t care if it’s stolen. The third is a bike I use recreationally. It’s not a race bike, but one that is build for higher speeds and longer distances. It is build to take a lot of bagage. It’s called a “trekking bike.”
On my commute, 10 of those 13KM are completely separate from cars. The rest is on either bike lanes, or quiet residential streets, where cars don’t go faster than 30km/h (19m/h).
A dutch guy here. I still own a car, but i own it for pleasure. I just use it for fun, and dont have to rely on it. We sure do have a good car scene here, and still i ride my bike for commutes. And about the housing, its really hard to get a house and expensive to rent or buy. Size of the house depends on the size of your bankaccount...
In the Netherlands it's not an either-or proposition regarding transport. Most dutch households own at least one car and several bikes, they'd also at least occasionally use public transport (train, bus, tram, metro) and people aren't shy to walk.
The key is to focus on safety (for all) first, efficiency second. Sustainability then usually has automatically follow as the third principle.
Several bikes? You must live in het Gooi or something, that's really not a normality. As the guy in the video says, it's 1.3 bikes per person.
From what I understand you could say that a levee is a piece of land that gets used to keep other land dry, or to make other land available (i.e. for building housing and using it as land to grow crops on).
A dam is a single wall that is also supposed to stop water, but is used in other pieces of water like a river. And is often still capable to let some water through.
In other words: levees separate water from land and dams separate water from water. I looked at some pictures of the two, maybe that helps understanding it.
I lived/worked in and around Assen for three years (whilst I had a home in the UK), I took a train from home into London and over to Gatwick, flew to Amsterdam and walked to the train up to Assen direct from the airport all without going outside once I got to the train station in the UK - of course I only did this trip when I was taking a break for some reason.
A levy stops water from flooding land. A dam blocks and stores river water. The main difference is that a levy prevents floods, while a dam controls water flow.
The Netherlands has around 17.5M people but 23.5M BIKES.
And with that, the Netherlands has the most bikes per capita globally.
Nope, Denmark is nr 1... 1,37 pr cap.. And we have all this aswell, it´s not unique for "Holland"...
If you want to compare Schiphol with American airports, six airports currently have more annual passengers: Atlanta with 104M, Dallas Fort Worth with 81M, Denver with 77M, Los Angeles with 75M, O'Hare with 73M, and John F. Kennedy with 62M. Amsterdam is currently at 61M.
For Chicago airports, there are two O'Hare and Midway. O'Hare is the main one and has a subway connection.
Dutch here: a levee is a river dam that holds the water when river water is high (springtime), a dam hold up high tides from ocean water (twice a day up to four meters normally) the gates only close during very high tide with strong winds...
In a country where a 1 hour commute by car is considered a short commute, it will not work. a 1 hour commute on bike is around 10-15 miles this is a long commute on bike.
One would also need shops close by, schools close by, work close by. this is all engrained in Dutch culture and infrastructure. No mega supermarkets like Target or Wallmart, but more smaller grocery stores and supermarkets. The closest supermarket to my home is around 10 minutes by bicicle, around 6 minutes by car (you have to drive differently) and then there is a parking problem, making you wait a few minutes to be able to park. So going shopping by bike is more efficient for the small groceries. If I have a lot of groceries, I can order on-line and most of the time get it delivered for free (by either buying certain products, or buy a subscription for about $15 per year with unlimited free delivery if your cart is above $60, which is easy for the big shopping)
I don't think many Americans would think that a 1 hour commute by car is a "short" commute, haha, but I see what you're saying.
The country being larger is in no way an excuse for bad cycling infrastructure. You don't bike to the other side of the country after all. You bike in about a 15 km/10 mile radius from your home.
Levees are walls built to keep water OUT from some place. Like in New Orleans.
Dams are walls built to keep water IN somewhere like Hoover dam near Las Vegas and lake Mead.
Copenhagen airport is just bis. As a swede living on the southwest coast of Sweden I just take the train that goes all the way from Gothenburg over the bridge in one go to take the flight from there instead of Gothenburg/Landvetter, which is a bit outside of the city so it actually takes longer to get to that even though its half the distance from me. So convinient. And you get flights to so many more places as well. And everything is clean and fast.
The size of the country is a red herring. The cities may be further apart, but even in the US most of daily life happens in an area that could be easily walkable or cyclable if only it was safe or convenient, or it could be, if zoning rules were changed so that convenience stores etc. could be built in residential areas.
Not so much in rural areas.
Of course Americans (have to) like their cars ... because they heavily depend on them, due to the lack of good alternatives.
levee: a wall made of soil or other materials that is built next to a river to stop the river from overflowing (= coming out of a place because it is too full).
dam or dike: a long wall that prevents water, esp. from the sea, from flooding a place.
Difference between a dam and a levy (dijk) is that a dam will have water on both sides. A dijk has land on one side
Europeans are amazed by America. And years later when the internet came I learned that Americans are amazed by Europe. Quite funny! O and I'm Dutch, by the way, living in the Amsterdam region.
as a proud Dutchie this vid makes me even more proud :) well done, Heidi! :) Keep up the good work and welcome in The Netherlands! :)
When it comes to the size of the houses; don't forget that there is alot more available space in the Netherlands. For example; Arizona had seven to eight times the area and les that have of the number of people living on that land.
The Netherlands is insanely well-designed - because it's DESIGNED !
Other countries have to make do with the geography that they have.
The Netherlands can decide what sort of land use they need and then just go and make something suitable... (o:
Schiphol as a trainstation directly from Amsterdam.The train stopts under the lanes for the handeling off the passengers.
Levee's and dams. A levee is a dike. Simply said a raised amount of ground along the coastline so the water can't get over it. A dam is an amount of ground, concrete or other stuff that closes a waterway. With other words, you have a kind of fjord and you close the entrance with material. In the Netherlands there are also permeable dams. They are open when the waterlevel is normal, but can close when it gets to high.
Along the coastline you'll find dunes, not dikes. I think you mean alongside rivers and canals.
@@paddotk Yes dunes, or dikes when there are no dunes.
I was looking at a video, on the 9th of july 2024, police karma in the USA, and there was a driver with a car that blocked the street to stop a cyclist who was cycling on the road and the police came and gave the car driver a fine. Because the cyclist had all the right to drive on the road. Greetings from Roelof.
Dam vs levey vs dyke: A dam closes off a waterbody. So you can create a lake behind a dam in a river or you can change a part of sea into a lake. A dyke keeps the water within the designated limits of its regular bedding. It prevents rivers or in this case the sea of getting places where it should not be. A levey can either be a dam or a dyke, but refers to the construction. For it to be a levey it must be constructed out of earth, dirt and/or clay.
I'm dutch, and I love the efficient system we have with our homes. I wouldn't (necessarily) want to have a whole building to only myself or my family (it just sounds like more maintenance if im honest).
The only problem I have with our home (which isn't the same case in every city) is that our garden is pretty small. You can only just sit outside and have dinner, but there is not enough space for much activities. But because the system is very efficient with the space we have, we don't have to travel far for pretty much anything. I can visit several malls (like 3 or 4) by bike in less than an hour (half an hour if I'm doing groceries fast) and visit a library on the way back if i want to. Building with more efficiency and less centered around cars also allows for more space to just walk, or for more kids playgrounds (and we usually build walking paths around those so you don't have to look like a creep). In fact, roads in my area are so safe that kids (used to) play football/soccer on the roads when there were no driving cars in sight.
I am having a hard time imagining how it must be to live in America, but from the things I understand/hear I'm more grateful that I'm raised up here.
People often forget to mention the main reason bikes are popular in Holland: the country is flat as a pancake!
Sweety, I have been living here all my life, and at the moment I am shootng and throwing "seed-bombs" of beautyful flowers all over my aerea, so the world will be more beautyful, with more butteflies etc. Different mindset from people that just want to gass each others kids, you know. Little efford, a lot of beauty.
Heating is both a lot more necessary and expensive in the Netherlands. This is why comparing the Netherlands at 52-53 latitude and Florida with Miami at 27 degrees is a bit ludicrous. The Netherlands transposed on the Northern America continent would be in Canada, not the US, let alone the southern most states.
It's not completely fair how the Netherlands is usually portrayed.
It's still a car orientated society. Outside of the big city centers owning a car makes life a whole lot easier. Most infrastructure is for cars and actually very well designed as well.
In my opinion the best promotion for bike lanes is pointing out the fact that it gets rid of a lot of car traffic. Less cars means the people who choose to drive a car get the chance to enjoy it more but ignorance and populistic rhetoric make for a heavy opposition
What country can you name that is more bike-oriented?
@@paddotk Countries like Belgium and Denmark are quite similar but less manic about the infrastructure, Belgium being notoriously poor at infrastructure and Denmark with a more than three times smaller population.
For comparison, Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands are together smaller than the average sized state in the US but each with a gdp in the top 40 of the world.
But even in a country like Colombia I've ridden very busy bike paths and on Sundays they close certain roads to cars.
@@ChymoNZM I don't see how comparing size of NL, BE and DK to USA states is an answer to my question, besides this is inaccurate (together they compare to some of the larger states).
As for Columbia, this may be true but I've heard stories from people who've biked through the entire country and said it's anything but cyclist-friendly (dangerous roads where cars almost push you off the road, packs of wild dogs chasing you everywhere, ...).
I still don't see how any of these countries are more cyclist-friendly in any way than the NL is.
@@paddotk What's your point? I've told you Denmark and Belgium are basically the same. A lot of places trying to catch up to decades of modern construction as well so the orientation is there.
The size is significant because there are plenty of local areas that have decent infrastructure though not throughout the country. North West Germany (maybe the size of the Netherlands) looks a lot like the Netherlands with a lot of bike paths but they haven't made it country wide.
According to Google the average state size, including the really big states, is around 180,000 km2. The three countries combined are about 110,000 km2. Not sure that's accurate and is of course not accounting for specific states. But that's why I feel it's not completely fair to compare entire large countries to what is something like a local area of densely populated, flat Netherlands which also has rural parts where cars still rule.
And yes riding a bike in Colombia is a scary yet beautiful adventure like a lot of activities in the country, though maybe less so for the locals. At least they try but it's pretty obvious they don't have a lot of resources to throw around.
The thing is that bigger houses doesn't necessarily mean that it cannot be done. You can keep bigger houses and have more bicycles and bicycle paths, because of electric bicycles. You can move much faster and over further distances without a lot of effort. As for Schiphol airport, there's a trainstation below the airport directly accessible from the airport. Just one escalator down.
Obviously this is a generalization. In Nijmegen, a city with a population of 190.000 people we have the American system of transport. With unfinished and fewer bicycle lanes, plenty of potholes, 9 lanes of asphalt for cars when only 4 are needed and bike lanes only separated from cars doing 30mph by a coat of paint. It sucks to live here, but at least everyone agrees. That's why the price of a low budget home is like 100k cheaper here than the place I'm from. I'm originally from a slightly smaller city as well. Just shows how important getting around in the Netherlands is.
Zeur niet, bro, Nijmegen is great. You have the Snelbinder, the Rijn-Waal Pad, that cool bike lift up to the Oversteek, and plenty of good cycle paths, especially around the university.
A little bit off-topic but still:
Europe population 746.4 million...
Salmonella cases 65208
USA population 334 million
Salmonella cases 1.35 million
That's 40 times more per capita if you hate calculators.
I loved living and cycling in Holland. I don't drive a car and I was only ever 7km from work so cycled every day to/from work. So nice to have a seperate cyclepath from car traffic
Copenhagen airport is so efficient and clean. Love The Netherlands and Denmark
we also have neighborhoods like the one shown in florida, but they're rich neighborhoods with villas.
they too have excellent public spaces and (bike)infrastructure.
also, next time someone tells you they want to keep driving their cars all you need to do is tell them that nobody is trying to take their car(s) away or stop them from using them.
we have plenty of cars and excellent infratructure for them AND a very good bike infractrusture, it's not an either-or situation at all.
and for when you encounter someone that is against placing bike infrastructure...
maybe this argument works: 'would you rather have a three-lane road that's constantly congested or would you rather have a two-lane road where congestion is rare because a bunch of people decide to take their bike instead of their car?'
I live in the Netherlands, but I really appreciate how the United States is organized. It's not so rigid, with diversity in neighborhoods and often a grid layout in the road structure. However, it's a pity that public transportation is poorly managed in the US.
Grid layouts are a terrible idea, it just causes traffic gridlock because it makes it seem to easy to drive around a city. There is a reason in the Netherlands we design our cities so that cars have to drive around city centers instead of straight through it.
And diversity in neighbourhoods? Every suburb in the US looks exactly the same. Cul-de-sac street layout, massive single story homes that take up way too much space, mowed grass lawns without anything growing on them. Completely lifeless. I would end myself if I had to live in one of those.
For living closer together without hearing your neighbours talking, we Europeans invented something called "brick walls". You should try it! 😉
Haha very true!!
A concrete wall (you only use bricks on exterior walls) unfortunately doesn't isolate sound well enough. If only...
@@paddotk We usually use bricks for indoor walls as well. They're thinner, but still bricks.
@@ThePixel1983 Ok, I didn't know that. What country do you live in? And isn't concrete more practical though?
@@paddotk Germany, and you said it yourself, concrete is less insulating, both for sound and heat. (In case you don't heat one room on a floor.)
At 11.50 you can see my team's rowing boat at the bottom of the picture of the Zaanse Schans! ❤
i have lived in the N
etherlands all my life and i can say traveling is very smooth
If you fly to Stockholm, Sweden you can take the Arlanda express from Arlanda airport to Stockholm central station. And worth spend money on compared to the snail busses
Bloody expensive, not worth the money.
Visited just over a month ago and the friend I was visiting advised me to take the bus because the train wasn't worth the cost.
@@Jurjen_Warrel_Ottenhoff Very expensive.