how optimistic of you compared to Not Just Bikes and yet considerate to him at the same time, you're the best commentator for advocating public transit and decreasing car dependency on cities especially suburbs!
Thank you for making this video. While fixing a car dependent city isn't easy, making it better is better than doing nothing. I sure appreciate this video as well as the positivity from other urbanists throughout today. Keep it up!
You don't get the point of NJB, in Europe making a bike friendly city is as simple as putting in cycle paths. In the US this would work in city centres but nowhere else because everything is build so far apart, even with cycling paths you would have to cycle an hour to go to a shop. The US is broken by design.
@@buddy1155 I understand that things built after World war II or more spread out and more difficult to fix, but those large parking lots do serve a lot of potential for infill development, and those wide stroads do have a lot of room for BRT. In fact, there is a UA-camr who did a video on this.
@@reubendensmore4648 Those large parking lots are needed for people who live in suburbs far, far away. Those shops next to those parking lots can't survive on a few infill houses, those shops are huge. To fix it you need to break everything down and build it up again.
Also, like, there are quite a few cities in North America where car-free living is not just possible; it's better than owning a car in said city. When I first moved to Boston, I gave up my car because I knew that driving and storing a car in Boston is a massive headache. I lived car-free and primarily used bicycles not because I was an orangepilled urbanist, but because it was the fastest and most convenient way to get around. The urbanism came later. I think that cities like Boston-Cambridge, NYC, Minneapolis-St Paul, San Francisco-Oakland, and Montréal are already capable of hosting car-free life, and they are only going to get better with time. While I would say that cities like Houston, Phoenix, and Las Vegas are all too far gone, that doesn't change the fact that English North America is full of fantastic healthy cities
Very true! One thing I'm constantly told is that "if you wanna be involved in planning, you have to be patient." This is indeed correct because changes take time and efforts!
@@morethantransitt Absolutely! Also, Boston today looks very close to how Amsterdam looked in the '70s. New England is definitely poised to be the Netherlands of the Americas because we have preserved much of the 19th century density, and even rural places have walkable areas in the town centers
Oregon was doing urbanism long before UA-cam even existed, not to mention NJB. We enacted urban growth boundaries and all-public beaches, as well as the bottle bill, in the 1970s. Today, Oregon has some of the most urbanist cities and rural areas in the nation.
I live car free in a suburban town outside of Pittsburgh. You just have to temper your expectations. Yes you will have access to less amenities than you would if you had a car. But I am fortunate enough to have a grocery store in walking distance but if more people would temper their demands, more people could live car free.
NJB need this drilled through his skull: PHYSICAL constraints (like PHYSICAL limits on how long we can maintain suburban infrastructure etc) are ABSOLUTE. Politics is not. ANYTHING is achievable politically. PHYSICAL CONSEQUENCES of politics are absolute. Politics itself is not.
I mostly agree with some of NJB's arguments, but I have to disagree with what he labels as 'North America.' I understand that 95% of the US and Canada is essentially a giant parking lot crisscrossed by 8-lane arterials and stroads, and these places might be impossible to save. However, what about the 5% of cities that are making efforts to reduce car dependency, create safer streets, and improve active and public mobility? I will take Montréal as my example, a city that NJB hasn't really covered on his channel. For a North-American city, it's impressive how much progress has been made in the last decade. The cycling network spans over 901km, with a plan to add 200km of bike infrastructure before 2027. This week, the first phase of a 67km metro expansion was inaugurated, adding a fully automated and frequent service to the existing 69km of subways. Change can be seen every day. Roads are rebuilt according to modern standards by implementing curb extensions, paved and segregated bike lanes, wider sidewalks, and trees. Overall, this city feels very different from the rest of the continent. Biking and transit are normal modes of transportation as they're both quicker and cheaper than driving. I can think of more cities like Montréal that have the potential to become livable and vibrant cities. Philadelphia and Chicago are examples that come to mind. Being told to 'give up' feels invalidating for those who have contributed to making their city a better place to live. It also fails to recognize that some places are well-designed and worthy of improvements. Of course, for most American cities, it will take many generations for there to be a significant shift in mentality and practices, but we shouldn't forget about the ones that are one decade away from being desirable places.
For the longest time I thought Montréal does not exist in NJB's version of Canada. I don't remember him covering or at least mention the city in any of his videos until I saw a screenshot of his tweet about Canada being "borderline" bc Montréal is salvageable or smth to that effect, idr the exact words. Montréal, despite its efforts to become more liveable, is notoriously underestimated and under reported bc of the language barrier. Just take for example CityNerd's tier list for NA cities and urbanism. Going in I know he will rate Vancouver as the best in Canada for urbanism bc I have seen his past videos and he always had a massive hard on for Vancouver but I share the sentiments of a lot of commenters on his video that he did Montréal dirty.
@@morethantransittPotential. Seems to be the only word I can agree to. It could be infinitely better, there is just one tiny problem: North America doesn't care. Sure, there are pockets of hopeful projects, just the drive to change isn't there. North America is a lost cause because the loudest win, every effing time. There is no 'sense of place', don't like it, move away. That isn't the way society used to work. North Americans are the quintessential loners, out there to grift the fastest dollar and eff the rest.
As a tourist, Montreal was great even 20 years ago. But that's the thing: "North America" has most of it's problems with transit not in the larger cities ( transit works decently most places ) or small towns ( one main street, you walk) but the sprawling non-gridded suburbs that surround them, growing around rows and rows of single-family houses with lifestyle-centers attached to the interstate. The kinds of areas where a lot of people live very spread out, and planners never really cared. Where in some countries they'd plop down some rows of commie-blocks, which imho is not better, but for other reasons. Streetscape design is only one aspect. I do laud Not Just Bikes for observing what is different and better in his new country so that we can learn from it. And while some things are obvious - all roads should have sidewalks as standard feature - others are not. Allowing other uses in residential areas might require traffic planning for example, nobody likes to be the neighbor of that in-home-church...
Thanks, this an excellent take. I was disappointed to see NJB's shocking lack of awareness of how privilege plays into the ability to "flee" a place. The idea that those who are privileged should leverage that privilege to flee their home for a place with better mobility seems a bit too similar to billionaires building bunkers and buying up good farmland so they can persist while others suffer in the climate crisis. It is tremendously individualistic neoliberal approach with zero class consciousness and a lack of revolutionary courage.
"I was disappointed to see NJB's shocking lack of awareness of how privilege plays into the ability to "flee" a place." SAME!😡😡 Above all, someone who claims to give a shit about global warming WOULD NOT BREED!
Okay you don’t need to go all tanky about it. I don’t know what NJB ever decided North America shouldn’t fix its problems, but fixing America will take a long long time. I would say longer than it took to do the damage. The Netherlands can’t be pointed to to say it doesn’t take long, they had to undo 25-30 years of damage. North America will have to do 50-60 years of damage, plus whatever time from this moment until the change starts. It’s within someone’s right to flee, that doesn’t mean it right and possible for everyone. But I don’t see anyone sooking about immigrants to the US leaving behind people in their own countries. Same should apply to anyone. You talk about the lack of privilege of people who can’t leave. Also consider the lack of privilege of people who don’t feel that they can make a meaningful difference at home. Not everyone can and still live the life they wanna live. And someone like NJB has done more for North American urbanism from abroad than most people can locally. So take a pinch of reality, realistically, you’re being the pessimistic one not him. I’ve made the decision to stay put where I am, and I know I’ll die decades before things are solved here.
It's the classic catch 22 of "we don't have enough people to support our cause, which causes less people to support our cause, and because less people support our cause, we don't have enough people to support our cause". The only way to break free from the paradox is to become the change you want to see. I find Jason's statement that he "gave up on America" quite... ironic. He sure seems to talk a lot about America for someone that supposedly doesn't care anymore about what happens over here. Anyways, I agree with your message. America isn't entirely hopeless like NJB thinks. We have a few good historic cities that already have a walkable urban core, and we have a few "semi-urban" cities that are rapidly becoming more walkable and transit-oriented (like Seattle). While I don't think ALL of America will become a pedestrian paradise, I do think we'll see certain cities improve for the better, and we might see a few high-speed rails that connect certain cities together. The other day I saw that brightline is planning on building a train that goes from LA to Las Vegas, that could potentially bring up the interest in high-speed rail in America, as Las Vegas is a popular "weekend destination" for a lot of LA residents.
Can I say thank you for making this video. Honestly I’m 50/50 on this. On one hand I personally disagree that people should give up on North America and more specifically the USA. I get his point and I’m not going to invalidate how Jason feels because he lived the life of car dependency that millions upon millions of people in NA were forced upon and he’s experienced the alternative. And if his channel is for the people who look to move then that’s fine (I’m not one of those people but I still love his content) but I do wish he would have some level of faith. Do I agree America as a whole will be fixed…god no! With the politics and culture and tons of wasted land I do not think America will ever get into a place where it’s like Europe or Asia. I mean for gods sake some stuff that makes other countries so much better urban planning wise is literally ILLEGAL in the US. But not ALL of America is bad. Alan Fisher made a video about this explaining how the Rust Belt of the USA has great stuff to work with and are home to the best states when it comes to urban design which comes with a full list of positives and we see some other major cities and even some small one trying to make changes. I’ve been blessed to be born in the Rust Belt (NYC) and I plan to move to Providence after I graduate college. Is it a perfect city? No. But it has a good foundation to work with and I’m happy to go there. Even while my pessimistic attitude towards America as whole is there I still have faith in some areas that I know can and will improve in the future. It’s like how Yet Another Urbanist did it. Lived in Reno, tried to advocate, city wouldn’t change and still car dependent, added all types of struggles to his life, realized that he would better advocate somewhere is in a city that better suited his needs and was focused on improving so he moved to Seattle. Same thing happened with Oh! The Urbanity. They wanted a better quality of life so they moved to a more progressive city that better suited their needs. Like NJB said in his tweet their advocacy would go much farther in a better city and that's the truth. As for the privileged part I can see why it rubs some people off. I mainly just saw it as Jason cementing who in general who his content is for/catered too and that is people who have the ability to move after living a life in car dependency. He has always been about supporting other urban planning channels like the ones he mentioned in his tweet but I will admit his pessimism does kind of take away some of that support because again they are the ones based in NA. To sum it all up Jason does have valid points when it comes to NA and he is right to establish who his content is catered too. But his pessimism toward the USA does come across in a bit of a disappointing way because some places in America do have a chance. Sorry if this is too long!
“Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good”. I’m beyond disappointed with NJB. His language echoes the language of “white flight” and the resulting ghettoization and neglect of American cities. You know the whole thing I thought sustainable urbanism was supposed to address! My first reaction to that tweet was white hot rage but now I’m honestly just baffled. What does he think sustainable change looks like? A 100,000 white 30-something professionals with remote jobs moving to western europe?
I agree with you here, pessimism isn't helpful. I noticed you included video from all over the US (including rural areas). The only hope is really for areas around major/notable cities, where people are already moving. A rural Arkansas town won't see these changes because there is no money or opportunity, and no one is moving there (without existing family ties).
I have footages from Canada too! And true, cities with an already strong infrastructure for transit, walkability and biking are inherently more hopeful than car-dependent cities. Changing these cities however, is still doable, just very difficult, but not impossible and for sure will take generations. I do feel hopeful in the end, because I want my future generations don't have to go through all these same experiences that we have been going through!
PHYSICAL constraints (like PHYSICAL limits on how long we can maintain suburban infrastructure etc) are ABSOLUTE. Politics is not. ANYTHING is achievable politically. PHYSICAL CONSEQUENCES of politics are absolute. Politics itself is not.
To quote a song I like: "I was born here, I'll probably die here". I'm fortunate enough to be from somewhere that values transit and good urban design (MTL). It's not as good as the Netherlands. There's good metro access but big chunks of the city aren't accessible by transit, and the regional train network is seriously lacking (I should be able to take a commuter train to Sherbrooke). There's a million things that frustrate me about Montreal, and Quebec in general, but it's home. My family lives here, my friends live here, and this is where I can be in my culture. So I'm not gonna move to Amsterdam. I'm gonna stay here and fight for the city, and province, that I want. I've got it better than some of my friends. I've got a friend in Lincoln, NE, and he's not gonna live car-free. He hates when people tell him he should move to Chicago. His family lives around him, he's from there, his career is there. He's gonna stay, and fight, and I respect him for it. Some people do choose to move, and I respect that. Some NEED to move, and I definitely respect that too. But some of us have to stay and fight. I don't think we should be allowed to give up on North America. Our predecessors fucked this place up. It's up to us to fix it.
Absolutely! I believe we hold the power to change, especially being the young generation. There have been lots of pushes, and I'm so glad seeing young people are being involved in voicing their concerns. Also, may I ask what song is that?
His point seems pretty valid. A huge number of areas in the US are simply not fixable, due to their physical reality and resistance from so many residents. There are plenty of actual cities in the US that can become very high quality places to live, but that itself will be extremely difficult and span over the course of generations, due to the physical reality of what we've done to our cities and the resistance to the changes from many of the residents. Cities certainly can be made back into livable cities with a LOT of concrete changes in legislation and a LOT of local advocacy, but both of these are missing throughout the US. However, it really seems the endless expansion of suburban sprawl across the US cannot be retrofitted into being nice, livable places
I reckon in the future these sprawling suburban hellscapes are not going to be retrofitted. Rather they are going to resemble inner city detroit and be left abandoned as younger generations lean toward the city. Ideally most North American downtowns are fairly walkable. It would essentially just be about creating more of downtown and slowly expanding outward demolishing the remnants of the sprawling hellscapes to create actual dense walkable mixed use places. People would essentially have to let go of the suburbs and vote with their dollars, at that point the real estate developers would have to respond. The quicker the culture changes the quicker we can build better cities. And I’m pretty optimistic because surprisingly a lot of people I know are also talking about this.
Car dependence means for poor people they will be locked out of the economy. Car dependence for financially healthy liberals means they will be annoyed. Let's stop advocating for low income people and run away because we're annoyed.
@@DivinesLegacy IIRC Chuck Marohn is also a strong critic of suburban retrofit. Strong Towns advocates focusing on downtowns first and foremost, because it's by far and large the only fiscally responsible option.
As Jason and other channels have shown time and time again, Netherlands looked like a hopeless lost cause of car centrism extremism in the 1970s, yet THEY TURNED THINGS AROUND! If Netherlands can do it, so can USA and Canada.
I think it's important to remember that change tends to be exponential. Car-oriented development started off slowly in the early days and then rapidly accelerated in the 1960s. In much the same way, human-oriented development is just taking a foothold in the US (again). It will start off slow, but as more and more people buy in to the movement the faster progress will be made.
I love this and am in complete agreement. I have a small channel where I have created some short videos of walking in Eugene, Oregon, specifically in response to NJB's constant bashing of our country and Canada. Of course, his main thesis is correct, but he only mentions the US to single us out for consternation, and any data points or examples that contradict his narratives are dismissed outright. On his most recent video, I got in to comment early referring to some of my uploads from Eugene. I got a mix of reactions, from support to those saying, "This only represents 1% of the US. The rest of your country is trash", or words to that effect. Don't complain about the car-centric suburban areas of North America as if they are irredeemable, and then mock any progress that is made.
"Of course, his main thesis is correct, but he only mentions the US to single us out for consternation" EXACTLY! He needs to broaden his criticism, like the way Adam Something does, who criticizes Arab oil states and their car centrism.
@@theultimatereductionist7592 I agree. Is he trying to fight urban sprawl, or just cancel North America? I imagine if North America were to address its urban sprawl problem in a meaningful way, NJB would no longer have a useful foil to rail against.
Don’t worry. People with half a brain side with you. It took me only a couple minutes to realize that NJB was a cherry picking, America-bashing progressive
Thanks for making this video man. The constant hate on North America from a lot of other channels is starting to get pretty old. I can barely afford next month's rent, the idea of moving to another continent is not even fathomable for me. Also I do enjoy where I live, and I would rather see my city improve than just completely abandon it.
I’m with the OP on that. Despite living in a pretty typical suburb in America i do enjoy some aspects and would love to see it get better. Not just completely leaving it behind.
I agree completely. While I am a strong proponent of walkability and whatnot, I find Not Just Bikes's stance of fleeing his own home, constantly belittling his own countrymen, and hawking doomerism about a whole continent spineless, insufferable, and deplorable. Places are made up of the people who love them and change them for the better. Not every place will ever be up to Not Just Bikes's standards, and yet there are so many places in America that are making continuous tangible improvements and are wonderful places to live! The Netherlands went through the same thing previously and now it's happening in America. Not to mention people live in and move to places for way more reasons than just urban fabric. There are very good reasons for why there is a massive brain drain from Europe and the rest of the world to America despite whatever lack of urbanism one may tout.
Excellent video. You brought up a lot of good points in just five minutes. North American cities still have a long way to go, but there is lots of noticeable progress being made every single day, and we definitely shouldn't give up on that. I also made a video responding to NJB and one of his cult followers wants to take me to court over it (I wish I was kidding).
In2023, Montreal ranked #1 in the world for sustainability ... Always ranked in the top best Copenhagen index biking cities... Montreal closes 10 major streets in the summer for pedestrians only , largest urban parks in Canada and Quebec has the lowest emission of greenhouse gas in North america ... Montreal just inaugurated a next express metro ... Montreal i offers the best quality of life in Canada
It definitely offers the best urbanism in Canada (and the US) by a wide margin. But these "top x" lists are all bullshit. I love the "top biking cities" and it's like...if that isn't a list of 20 cites in the Netherlands, they're completely bullshit...and they are.
I'm well aware of the journey Netherlands went through to have their infrastructure. Each place in different countries are at a different time to get to more travel options. I can take inspiration from hearing about Netherlands, some of Germany, Finland, Japan, a Columbian, city, parts of London Oxford, Cambridge and even Montreal how the future could be if we do what we can to push for better transport where we live. Yes, some people move to where they wish for better transport options but others campaign to make their places better even if it's one small step at a time. It's all good. I'm also enjoying watching what parts of the USA is starting to do in their neighbourhoods and I'm not American nor have I ever visited there. I'd check it out wherever in the world they want good sustainable travel and robust communities.
You're right. This is why I bike in Winnipeg (which has seen lots of bike infrastructure go up in the last 10 years, not withstanding the brutality of our winters and inefficacy of city street cleaning). Also, you deserve a tonne more subscribers. I was here before you blew up! :D
I don't think his tweet was helpful, but I also think it's wildly missrepresented. First, on whether the US and Canada are fixable. Yes, we have made "progress"...but cities are dynamic places. Progress comes in the form of changing direction. And the "progress" that has been made is to slow...ONLY SLOW the tide of destruction. To this day, we are building unsustainable sprawling suburbs FASTER than we are repairing the damage. We haven't even stopped destroying our cities. That to me is why it is impossible to fix. We aren't even moving in the right direction yet, we've only ever so slightly started to turn. It will take a generation just to start seeing our cities improve on average.
I' glad you made this, I could not agree more. The entire Strong Towns concept seems similar, the goal of finding ways to move your own place forward incrementally, because it is yours. I saw this evolution happen in Charlotte, NC from about 10 years to five years ago when I used to travel there for work at six to 10 times per year. The Blue Line light rail was going in, and to Charlotte's credit, virtually the entire line is now adjacent to medium to fairly high density residential apartments and condominiums, plus all of the brewpubs, coffee cafes, and other sorts of amenities you would want to see in a transit oriented, walkable place. And this is in the heart of arguably the most sprawling city in the USA. Respect how others want to live, but demand the space and ability to create a place nearbye for how you want to live. I believe that is the way forward, and I see it in places all over North America.
NotJustBikes thinks that the entirety of North America is defined by the design of Southern Ontario, when that couldn't be farther from the truth. That discounts all of the amazing work that's been done in just a decade. Calgary, Vancouver, and Montreal have all made serious strides towards improving walking, cycling, transit, and land use, with BC offering the most extensive plan for the future that truly deals with the most fundamental challenges we face. That includes a 20 billion dollar transit and cycling expansion in Vancouver as well as new provincial legislation that will greatly increase density. However, he never wants to look at the work cities are making because it doesn't conform to his "NA Cities are doomed" narrative.
I think Jason is just realistic about how deep the "car only" thinking has burned into every single aspect of urban planning in the US and Canada. Even when changes are happening, it's usually just that one street. The fight to create guidelines for better streets has no even started - and after that the fight to implement those would begin. Also in one aspect Jason is even to optimistic: streets aren't due for redesign every few decades, they are only due for resurfacing.
Culture and bullshit like that is easy to change. THAT is NOT a PHYSICALLY DETERMINISTIC thing. But, PHYSICALLY CHANGING what we have already built: the costs and hardship of doing that IS physically deterministic: independent of any psychology or stupid people's prejudices.
Ok, I’ll be the contrarian. I’m sorry but NJB is not wrong. I’m an engineer. I’ve worked in public service for nearly 20 years. I’ve witnessed firsthand the contempt and sanctimonious attitude of the political class. Disparage me all you want. Call me negative, call me a pessimist. Go right ahead. But American “optimism” combined with limited binary thinking means that the realists and the pragmatists, like NJB, like me, are labeled as negative and pessimists. He is not wrong when he says the US is NOT where the Netherlands was back in the 70s. It’s not just that the Dutch and the US went different ways, we went in completely opposite directions! Even if we stopped and turned around, it would take TWO GENERATIONS to come back (do not make the mistake of underestimating American exceptionalism and the power of “we’re a special snowflake and have nothing to learn from other countries!”). But the thing is, outside of a very few, notable cities, we’re not turning around. In fact, the nature of American politics is that a future city administration will come in and undo any gains and that’s assuming the state government or federal government won’t force cities to stop! We’re still building more and wider roads and freeways. We’re still building more sprawling car dependent suburbs. In fact, I’d wager that if you were to move past the rosy optimistic sounding headlines, for every city that is looking to “reverse course,” 10 more cities are building car dependent suburban developments (and some are doing both). Americans are terrible at self assessment and self reflection. The more we realize that something is a bad idea, like killing trans and rail networks and destroying neighborhoods for freeways, the more we actually double down on it. The more the “old guard” circumvent new laws with gimmicks like hov lanes and auxiliary lanes as sneaky road widening, sticking buses onto road shoulders and calling it “high capacity” or BRT bus lanes, or claiming that widening roads will reduce VMTs and GHGs because it reduces traffic congestion. We’re objectively further away from change than we’ve ever been and firmly committed to not stopping or even turning around! And the only strategy advocates have is begging, carrying signs, holding hands and singing kumbaya. The Dutch, on the other hand, literally rioted to stop their cities and neighborhoods from being destroyed by car infrastructure. I’m sorry, but it’ll be hundreds of years before we look anything remotely like the Dutch do today, if we ever get there at all. You can all beg really hard and hope it will make a difference if you want. Meanwhile, I’ll be planning my exodus out of this car infested hell hole and moving overseas before I’m too old to drive and have to rely on crappy transit and dangerous bike infrastructure.
I was thinking the same thing as you. I like that he's optimistic, but it'll be way too long before we see any of this legitimately start to be developed. One point he brought up was how people don't have the luxury of just moving, and while I agree, NJB never brought up that point. NJB focuses on what American cities *can* and *should* be doing. But as of right now, Americans at large couldn't care less sadly.
Physical consequences of politics are absolute. But politics is not. If rightwingers can move politicians in THEIR direction by being violent and aggressive then leftwingers can move politicians EVEN MORE in OUR direction because OUR causes are MUCH more important: like making the world a fairer place as opposed to a less fair place.
What is "the political class"? You mean those who choose to run for office? If they can listen to shitheads who know nothing about virology spread antivaxx bullshit, which only hurts people more with no quantifiable benefit for anyone, then they CAN and WILL listen to JustStopOil activists. Climate activists and public transit activists and Green Party just need to do what stupid religiontards do when THEY protest against completely harmless things that don't affect anyone else (like trans people using a bathroom): ADVOCATE USING GUNS for our cause.
@@theultimatereductionist7592 I used to think that way also. But life has taught me it very rarely works out that way. Politics is like a sport, where the opposing team has bribed the refs to ignore their fouls so they can cheat you want. It would seem that the only solution would be to cheat also, but the refs will always call foul on you but not the opposing team. Rightwingers get away with being violent and aggressive because politics is rigged in their favor. If leftwingers tried to move the politicians in a similar manner, they would be accused of being violent extremists and subjected to police brutality without question, while, on the other hand, rightwingers almost never get subjected to any kind of police brutality. Frankly, my expectations for the future of America are extremely low. Most of these optimistic adovcates are relatively new and have yet to experience any kind of real blowback from the owner, political, and NIMBY classes. When they do, they’ll be in for a very rude awakening and I suspect the movement will fall apart, just like every other movement in the last 20 years.
I’m glad I am not alone in my feelings regarding the direction NjB has taken with his content and the way he interacts with his viewers… like cool you had the money and privilege to completely upend your life and move to an entirely different continent, guess that gives free reign to belittle those who can’t do that?
He didn't belittle anyone. What I'm tired of is people missrepresnting what was said. He simply said that we shouldn't have to live under car domination (true) and that the US cannot be fixed in our generation (true). The only choice to avoid that is to leave, and acknowledged not everyone not most people, can or will, and directed those people to creators who are specifically talking about how to fix the US and Canada.
Anti-car mentality has existed since cars were invented. Take any uni module on mobility and it's common academic knowledge that public transit creates more sustainable cities. Almost everyone working in American urbanism knows this, and wants to fix NA cities this way. Giving up on the future of the entire continent has always struck me as kinda ignorant, and isn't exactly conducive to actually making progress
I’m a big believer in Neil Howe’s 4th Turning generational theory. He has recently stated that young people will get the community they desire. In the context of transport I can see major changes as the younger generations take over n want the change this video speaks about. It will take a crisis, unfortunately. I have no idea the source of the crisis. But u younger advocates can really make the arguments needed during that time to change the transport infrastructure of North America. As a 40 yo, I hope we do. I see my parents age poorly bc they don’t move enough. They r stuck in a car dependent lifestyle that is killing them. Eventually they will have to give up the house n all they have worked for for nothing (a deeper conversation on Medicare/Medicaid). I would like to eventually be somewhere I could age n not have to deal with driving. While still feeling safe n not being gouged from high cost.
I’m watching this video again after Calgary’s City Council passed the new housing strategy. There’s still a long road ahead, but it’s a big step in the right direction. I’m feeling optimistic!
100%. We gotta be patient. And I'm pretty sure the urbanism of our cities will be a unique urbanism that has its own human-centric components that is different from that of Europe!
I think it was a great statement by Jason because with this he started the discussion thats nessesary to get the changes that You desire. I live my entire live in the Netherlands in place near Amsterdam
Indeed he is not...he even acknowledges that most people cannot or don't want too. He directs anyone who does to other UA-camrs who take the problem in the US. All he really said was that we should not have to live under car domination, but the ONLY way to achieve that is to move...that the US and Canada cannot be fixed in our generation, which is undeniable...we're literally making negative progress--building more sprawling suburbs than urban developments even now.
Still don't understand why so many people are "fed up" by Jason´s tweet. What he wrote is true. If you want to live car-free now, moving elsewhere is the only possible way. I live in Czechia, quite a car-centric leaning country in recent years but definitely better than NA. But still I know that there is near to zero chance that something will change in the near future (people who advocate for better cities are commonly labelled by people and some media as terrorists and such). But I choose to stay in the Czech countryside because it is easier to stay than to move somewhere else. But I would never keep someone here against their will as my "selfish" "family" is passively doing. Don't take me wrong I absolutely understand you as well. But this topic is entirely subjective and everyone should do what they see as the best for their well-being. Some may move some may stay.
So the fuck what? Many people label anti-abortionists and christians and Republicunts and conservatives in the USA terrorists, mainly because they are. That hasn't stopped all of them from getting into power. Some have gotten into power. But the more we attack them, the fewer who do. EVERY event is a numbers game. ANYBODY can be put into power. You just need to be as RELENTLESS and aggressive as your enemies/opponents.
When someone labels YOU a "terrorist" (and assuming they mean "terrorist" is a negative thing) then they CAN NO LONGER CLAIM YOU ARE A "government shill" (as a negative thing) because, BY DEFINITION, THEY saying terrorism is bad is THEM saying government is GOOD. So, WE can call THEM government shills: WE can say government is bad and so being against government (criminal/vigilante) is GOOD.
NotJustBikes is a rude Canadian. He is also quite pretentious. He gets to live in top tier 1st world countries and has an extremely poor understanding of economics. When it comes to why most us towns and cities are not walkable today, it is for economic reasons, in that the big box stores killed off local retail, and that no amount of urban planning can fix that. We can definitely improve our places, but it will require a shift in our values, and our economics. And I think the urbanism will have to have American characteristics.
I admire the contrarian argument and I do hope that people help change their cities for the better. However it's often that you don't recognize how terrible your city is until you've seen one better so I overwhelmingly encourage people to travel and bring back the good things
Personally, I feel this is a too negative take on what Jason of NJB wants to bring across. I never took it as "everyone better moves out", although I get he is pushing limits. Bottomline, I still believe he wants to make people aware of viable alternatives to what the US and Canada have chosen as some kind of norm for urban planning and city design. He seems to do this in a way to shake things up and I believe he does create some kind of wave which actually triggers changes and make people think. I also get his frustration in all of this, as many cities in the US and Canada are still moving in the wrong direction, where stupid arguments remain to be used that should have been burried decades ago with the good examples that exist. However, I do understand it is not a nice feeling when being continuously bashed as a country, but if you consider it being an attempt to make people think differently, it is not all that bad.
Negative? Or realistic? Is it possible that NJBs take is the negative one, due to a complete lack of awareness of social equity and a blindness to his own privilege? Typically his content is excellent, but I feel like that particular comment really missed the mark on why a lot of people consume his content in the first place.
While I do agree that the "If yo don't like it here, flee" argument comes from a point of privilege and maybe even irresponsibility, NJB's opinion that North American cities are "unsalvagable" is unfortunately true in most cases. First there is suburbia, which was designed exclusively for cars. Public transport simply does not work in such a neighbourhood. Many bus lines in NA are "snaky" already because one line has to serve such a large area, thus increasing travel time substantially. Unless you demolish them all (and good luck with that) these areas will never be walkable, and they make up a big chunk of the residential areas found in US&Canada. Then there is the culture. American individualism is so strong that it doesn't look like the attitude will change anytime soon. I mean, the average car is getting bigger, not smaller. Finally, for intercity traffic there is genuinely very little progress in HSR. Given how long it's taking California to build theirs, I highly doubt any kind of "network" will materialise in the next generation or so. The Netherlands was able to transform because it still retained its urban fabric and density, while many downtown areas in the US were fully bulldozed. It's a destruction that is much harder to reverse. So yeah, sadly it is a lost cause for the vast majority of places (except maybe the biggest cities).
:"First there is suburbia, which was designed exclusively for cars. Public transport simply does not work in such a neighbourhood. Many bus lines in NA are "snaky" already because one line has to serve such a large area, thus increasing travel time substantially. Unless you demolish them all (and good luck with that) these areas will never be walkable, and they make up a big chunk of the residential areas found in US&Canada. " THAT IS A PHYSICAL CONSTRAINTS, caused by past political choices. Those are absolute. Correct. " Then there is the culture. " Culture is NOT an absolute deterministic thing. Culture is a CHOICE. EVERYTHING that humans do IS culture. A crime. A murder. War. Life-saving medical care. Political activism. Antinatalists and Atheists and Green Party and urban planners against car centrism ARE PART OF CULTURE.
As Jason and other channels have shown time and time again, Netherlands looked like a hopeless lost cause of car centrism extremism in the 1970s, yet THEY TURNED THINGS AROUND! If Netherlands can do it, so can USA and Canada.
Why "unsalvageable"? With this "all or nothing" mentality nothing will get done. Every place is "improveable", with everyday work and continuous activism.
I do get a little bit disappointed in his pessimism sometimes. I understand that that's reflective of his personal life choices, and I can't blame him for wanting to be somewhere safer and more enjoyable. But isn't the whole point of his channel to show people something better that actually exists, and therefore encourage them to make the change? An urbanist channel that just results in people doing their best to move to better places will just leave people behind without creating any positive change beyond the few people who are able to help themselves.
@@therealdutchidiot most of his videos are pointing out differences between North American cities and Dutch cities, advocating for how things are done in Dutch cities. His videos don't specifically advocate for changes in North America, but I don't think you can really say that there isn't a general theme of 'look how much better things could be' - and I don't think its effect is only to make people jealous of Europe, there are a lot of people who look at that and realize problems and want to make their own cities better I just think he doesn't lean into that enough sometimes, he's a little bit too doom and gloom
It's good to have a balanced view like this. However, I think it's unique to the individual. If you're able/willing to move, why not? My issue is not that planning/change is slow itself, it's that it's slow because of the intensity and depth of our cultural attachment to the way things are; primarily a car dependent culture. To stay and work with it is an incredible and immense uphill struggle against the powerful force of culture. It may not be possible here. I imagine in the Netherlands it was possible because their culture is more open to logical arguments, from what I understand anyway. (I realize that's kinda broad statement, but I studied their educational system for a while and I and many others came to that general conclusion about their culture). Whereas our culture is so black and white, right and wrong, it's so difficult for change to happen. I constantly hear of things in NL like if there's a pot hole, you complain, and it gets fixed. That kinda general trust in things getting done is more open and flexible for change that has logical arguments. And though yes, it does definitely seem they met opposition, even in the form of violence, imagine how much opposition we'd meet here? While I appreciate the optimism, I don't think it's a realistic kind of optimism. North America just really does suck in a number of ways, and urbanism is one of them. We also have many strengths, that is for sure. But I don't hold out any hope on this particular topic for the near future. I think accepting and acknowledge that is a more kind thing to do than promote an optimism that doesn't take the whole of the power of culture into consideration. A lot of what Not Just Bikes talks about is that very power of the culture. His snarky, and sometimes judgmental, reaction is just a reaction to that power of the culture. It's not wrong to want to get away. To say we're privelaged for even wanting to do that is another form of judgement, IMO. It's possible. Our country is mostly founded on people crossing boats, broke AF, wanting to get away from things that didn't work where they lived. It's just that dream died here, and it died at the hands of oligarchy and financial and power distribution. It's ok to acknowledge a broken country, and it's ok to want to go somewhere better. We don't need the extra level of judgment for wanting that. It is though, as I say again, nice to hear the other views and possibilities you present. And I do genuinely wish and hope for this to happen. I think it'd be so beautiful if we could change. There are so many things lovely about North America. I hope it works out for us.
Eh, seems to me you didn't understand his first episode. But hey, you do you. He got tired fighting against windmills, and had the means to move for the sake of his family. What you do is your business.
No, the issue is Transit is not worth saving.... Outside New York and few big Cities, Public transit should stop being federaly funded, return federal taxes to states they came from and let states run the cost effective transportation rather than infrastructure empires like old 19th century tycoons. Let it modernize or let it die.
Modernizing means taking Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW) and its massive devastating costs deadly seriously and more seriously than any current law or philosophy or economic ideology and choosing the fairest transportation systems to benefit EVERYONE that minimizes AGW. If that means outlawing the manufacture and sale of unnecessary oversized SUVs and trucks, then tough shit: good.
"Let it modernize or let it die." And the politicians will certainly let it die, even in New York State and California and the only solution in the United States will be more cars, more roads, wider roads, express lanes, HOV & HOT lanes, auxiliary lanes, allowing peak hours travel in breakdown lanes, etc, until the world runs out of oil or we wreck the planet from GHG emissions and have to flee to Canada. It's all because we're one exceptional nation under God, meaning we're really, really, really, really stupid (you know what "special" means) and we accept imaginary friends who watch our every move as our personal lord and saviour!
Great. NJB Jason acknowledges he is incredibly LUCKY to be able to move that 99.999% of everyone else on the planet cannot do. Now. Let's see NJB Jason acknowledge the harm he forced onto the world by having kids.
The ultimate solution is to stop artificially increasing the cost of driving rather than trying to downgrade our quality of living to fit within high-density shitholes dependent on public transit that gives you less mobility than someone with a riding lawnmower.
You seem to think that every walkable, reasonably dense neighborhood in North America is like Kensington, Pennsylvania; West Baltimore, Maryland; and The Tenderloin and Skid Row, California. A trip to and walking and taking the métro in Montreal will disabuse you of that notion.
@@64bitmodels66 You think I'm the only person who enjoys having trees in their neighborhood? And no, a few tiny trees surrounded by pavement don't count. The densification experiment has been ongoing for over a decade in many North American cities, and the results are in: Precisely 0 cases where densification has increased affordability or quality of life! It's not complicated either, guess what happens when a neighborhood is deforested and paved over to build your mIxEd UsE zOnInG dream. A mix of giant 4-plexes, skinny homes and perhaps the odd corner store are built, none of which escape the threshold of architectural tumors. No body is paying an extra 50% on their grocery bill to shop at a smaller store, so instead of travelling to the nearest Walmart through low-density neighborhoods they get to fight their way to the nearest Walmart through a high-density shithole. In countries as large as Canada and america it is a human rights violation to build a neighborhood where the dominant structure isn't trees. In fact, every neighborhood should be an urban forest. There is no excuse to cram people into high-density shitholes devoid of any meaningful greenery.
This is a free country. You don't have to live in a "high-density shithole" if you don't want to. If you want and are able to live in a small town in Idaho, more power to you. But you see, 80% of the country's population live in cities, where the good jobs are. Millions of people need to move around in these cities, which have so much space available. How do you expect them to move around? You don't want density? With so many people, the city will be so spread out that everyone is far from everything, and need to drive to do anything outside the house. Millions of cars going to the same places clog any freeway, no matter how wide. Do you think it's a nice way to live?
@@pmlb7715 Traffic problems aren't a result of large cities, they're a result of needlessly centralized cores. Centralized downtown for a city of 50,000? Makes sense. 500,000? Sure. But why 5,000,000? The amount of times in which someone needs to go from one corner of a city to another is often less than 10 in their entire life time. Even in the average suburbs (not isolated housing development shitscapes) basic needs are within a 30 minute walk or a short drive with minimal traffic. You're right that there's an issue when thousands of cars need to get to the same place at the same time, but this shouldn't be the case. There is no excuse for cities to be built around a physical high-density work core, especially in the day of work-from-home office jobs. As a city grows it should essentially be a series of smaller cities with their own central cores. These cities, no matter how "sprawling" don't suffer traffic issues aside from the people who choose to get a job 20KM away instead of 5KM away.
The Netherlands and the USA (or Canada) are vastly different countries geographically and politically. Many of the conditions that led the Netherlands to be what it is today cannot be replicated in North America. Cities cannot be razed to the ground and rebuilt. If that's what it takes to improve, people will rather do nothing. I find often Not Just Bikes counterproductive, by being so idealistic and pessimistic about North American urbanism, it leads to apathy and inaction. Why care? It's too much work, and we know it won't happen. Also why focus on the Netherlands? There are so many other European countries to draw inspiration from, maybe with even better ideas, more suitable to North America. What we need is pragmatic hope, that we can make cities better, that any improvement is good, and focus on concrete solutions adapted to the peculiarities of North American cities.
The irony is that all NJB's videos can be seen as advocating changes in north American city planning.
how optimistic of you compared to Not Just Bikes and yet considerate to him at the same time, you're the best commentator for advocating public transit and decreasing car dependency on cities especially suburbs!
Thank you! Thanks for your support!
Thank you for making this video. While fixing a car dependent city isn't easy, making it better is better than doing nothing. I sure appreciate this video as well as the positivity from other urbanists throughout today. Keep it up!
There are hopes!
You don't get the point of NJB, in Europe making a bike friendly city is as simple as putting in cycle paths.
In the US this would work in city centres but nowhere else because everything is build so far apart, even with cycling paths you would have to cycle an hour to go to a shop. The US is broken by design.
@@buddy1155 I understand that things built after World war II or more spread out and more difficult to fix, but those large parking lots do serve a lot of potential for infill development, and those wide stroads do have a lot of room for BRT. In fact, there is a UA-camr who did a video on this.
@@buddy1155 It's from Eryngo Urbanism: ua-cam.com/video/akwXm9449Lk/v-deo.html.
@@reubendensmore4648 Those large parking lots are needed for people who live in suburbs far, far away. Those shops next to those parking lots can't survive on a few infill houses, those shops are huge. To fix it you need to break everything down and build it up again.
Also, like, there are quite a few cities in North America where car-free living is not just possible; it's better than owning a car in said city. When I first moved to Boston, I gave up my car because I knew that driving and storing a car in Boston is a massive headache. I lived car-free and primarily used bicycles not because I was an orangepilled urbanist, but because it was the fastest and most convenient way to get around. The urbanism came later.
I think that cities like Boston-Cambridge, NYC, Minneapolis-St Paul, San Francisco-Oakland, and Montréal are already capable of hosting car-free life, and they are only going to get better with time. While I would say that cities like Houston, Phoenix, and Las Vegas are all too far gone, that doesn't change the fact that English North America is full of fantastic healthy cities
Very true! One thing I'm constantly told is that "if you wanna be involved in planning, you have to be patient." This is indeed correct because changes take time and efforts!
@@morethantransitt Absolutely! Also, Boston today looks very close to how Amsterdam looked in the '70s. New England is definitely poised to be the Netherlands of the Americas because we have preserved much of the 19th century density, and even rural places have walkable areas in the town centers
Oregon was doing urbanism long before UA-cam even existed, not to mention NJB. We enacted urban growth boundaries and all-public beaches, as well as the bottle bill, in the 1970s. Today, Oregon has some of the most urbanist cities and rural areas in the nation.
I live car free in a suburban town outside of Pittsburgh. You just have to temper your expectations. Yes you will have access to less amenities than you would if you had a car. But I am fortunate enough to have a grocery store in walking distance but if more people would temper their demands, more people could live car free.
If you can afford them. I’m not rich enough to afford any of those places.
NJB need this drilled through his skull: PHYSICAL constraints (like PHYSICAL limits on how long we can maintain suburban infrastructure etc) are ABSOLUTE. Politics is not. ANYTHING is achievable politically. PHYSICAL CONSEQUENCES of politics are absolute. Politics itself is not.
I mostly agree with some of NJB's arguments, but I have to disagree with what he labels as 'North America.' I understand that 95% of the US and Canada is essentially a giant parking lot crisscrossed by 8-lane arterials and stroads, and these places might be impossible to save. However, what about the 5% of cities that are making efforts to reduce car dependency, create safer streets, and improve active and public mobility?
I will take Montréal as my example, a city that NJB hasn't really covered on his channel. For a North-American city, it's impressive how much progress has been made in the last decade. The cycling network spans over 901km, with a plan to add 200km of bike infrastructure before 2027. This week, the first phase of a 67km metro expansion was inaugurated, adding a fully automated and frequent service to the existing 69km of subways. Change can be seen every day. Roads are rebuilt according to modern standards by implementing curb extensions, paved and segregated bike lanes, wider sidewalks, and trees. Overall, this city feels very different from the rest of the continent. Biking and transit are normal modes of transportation as they're both quicker and cheaper than driving.
I can think of more cities like Montréal that have the potential to become livable and vibrant cities. Philadelphia and Chicago are examples that come to mind. Being told to 'give up' feels invalidating for those who have contributed to making their city a better place to live. It also fails to recognize that some places are well-designed and worthy of improvements. Of course, for most American cities, it will take many generations for there to be a significant shift in mentality and practices, but we shouldn't forget about the ones that are one decade away from being desirable places.
Absolutely! There are places with lots of potentials already that can easily be transformed within the next few years!
For the longest time I thought Montréal does not exist in NJB's version of Canada. I don't remember him covering or at least mention the city in any of his videos until I saw a screenshot of his tweet about Canada being "borderline" bc Montréal is salvageable or smth to that effect, idr the exact words.
Montréal, despite its efforts to become more liveable, is notoriously underestimated and under reported bc of the language barrier. Just take for example CityNerd's tier list for NA cities and urbanism. Going in I know he will rate Vancouver as the best in Canada for urbanism bc I have seen his past videos and he always had a massive hard on for Vancouver but I share the sentiments of a lot of commenters on his video that he did Montréal dirty.
@@morethantransittPotential. Seems to be the only word I can agree to. It could be infinitely better, there is just one tiny problem: North America doesn't care. Sure, there are pockets of hopeful projects, just the drive to change isn't there. North America is a lost cause because the loudest win, every effing time. There is no 'sense of place', don't like it, move away. That isn't the way society used to work. North Americans are the quintessential loners, out there to grift the fastest dollar and eff the rest.
As a tourist, Montreal was great even 20 years ago. But that's the thing: "North America" has most of it's problems with transit not in the larger cities ( transit works decently most places ) or small towns ( one main street, you walk) but the sprawling non-gridded suburbs that surround them, growing around rows and rows of single-family houses with lifestyle-centers attached to the interstate. The kinds of areas where a lot of people live very spread out, and planners never really cared. Where in some countries they'd plop down some rows of commie-blocks, which imho is not better, but for other reasons. Streetscape design is only one aspect. I do laud Not Just Bikes for observing what is different and better in his new country so that we can learn from it. And while some things are obvious - all roads should have sidewalks as standard feature - others are not. Allowing other uses in residential areas might require traffic planning for example, nobody likes to be the neighbor of that in-home-church...
"North America is a lost cause because the loudest win"
Nothing stopping us from being the loudest.@@Paul_C
Thanks, this an excellent take. I was disappointed to see NJB's shocking lack of awareness of how privilege plays into the ability to "flee" a place. The idea that those who are privileged should leverage that privilege to flee their home for a place with better mobility seems a bit too similar to billionaires building bunkers and buying up good farmland so they can persist while others suffer in the climate crisis. It is tremendously individualistic neoliberal approach with zero class consciousness and a lack of revolutionary courage.
"I was disappointed to see NJB's shocking lack of awareness of how privilege plays into the ability to "flee" a place."
SAME!😡😡 Above all, someone who claims to give a shit about global warming WOULD NOT BREED!
@@theultimatereductionist7592 anti-natalism is fucking stupid, borderline ecofascist. That's not it, fam.
@@theultimatereductionist7592 not sure if trolling
Okay you don’t need to go all tanky about it. I don’t know what NJB ever decided North America shouldn’t fix its problems, but fixing America will take a long long time. I would say longer than it took to do the damage. The Netherlands can’t be pointed to to say it doesn’t take long, they had to undo 25-30 years of damage. North America will have to do 50-60 years of damage, plus whatever time from this moment until the change starts. It’s within someone’s right to flee, that doesn’t mean it right and possible for everyone. But I don’t see anyone sooking about immigrants to the US leaving behind people in their own countries. Same should apply to anyone. You talk about the lack of privilege of people who can’t leave. Also consider the lack of privilege of people who don’t feel that they can make a meaningful difference at home. Not everyone can and still live the life they wanna live. And someone like NJB has done more for North American urbanism from abroad than most people can locally. So take a pinch of reality, realistically, you’re being the pessimistic one not him. I’ve made the decision to stay put where I am, and I know I’ll die decades before things are solved here.
It's the classic catch 22 of "we don't have enough people to support our cause, which causes less people to support our cause, and because less people support our cause, we don't have enough people to support our cause". The only way to break free from the paradox is to become the change you want to see.
I find Jason's statement that he "gave up on America" quite... ironic. He sure seems to talk a lot about America for someone that supposedly doesn't care anymore about what happens over here.
Anyways, I agree with your message. America isn't entirely hopeless like NJB thinks. We have a few good historic cities that already have a walkable urban core, and we have a few "semi-urban" cities that are rapidly becoming more walkable and transit-oriented (like Seattle). While I don't think ALL of America will become a pedestrian paradise, I do think we'll see certain cities improve for the better, and we might see a few high-speed rails that connect certain cities together. The other day I saw that brightline is planning on building a train that goes from LA to Las Vegas, that could potentially bring up the interest in high-speed rail in America, as Las Vegas is a popular "weekend destination" for a lot of LA residents.
Everyone's talking about the arguments, but no one talked about how he subtly rickrolled all of us
Can I say thank you for making this video. Honestly I’m 50/50 on this. On one hand I personally disagree that people should give up on North America and more specifically the USA. I get his point and I’m not going to invalidate how Jason feels because he lived the life of car dependency that millions upon millions of people in NA were forced upon and he’s experienced the alternative. And if his channel is for the people who look to move then that’s fine (I’m not one of those people but I still love his content) but I do wish he would have some level of faith.
Do I agree America as a whole will be fixed…god no! With the politics and culture and tons of wasted land I do not think America will ever get into a place where it’s like Europe or Asia. I mean for gods sake some stuff that makes other countries so much better urban planning wise is literally ILLEGAL in the US. But not ALL of America is bad. Alan Fisher made a video about this explaining how the Rust Belt of the USA has great stuff to work with and are home to the best states when it comes to urban design which comes with a full list of positives and we see some other major cities and even some small one trying to make changes.
I’ve been blessed to be born in the Rust Belt (NYC) and I plan to move to Providence after I graduate college. Is it a perfect city? No. But it has a good foundation to work with and I’m happy to go there. Even while my pessimistic attitude towards America as whole is there I still have faith in some areas that I know can and will improve in the future.
It’s like how Yet Another Urbanist did it. Lived in Reno, tried to advocate, city wouldn’t change and still car dependent, added all types of struggles to his life, realized that he would better advocate somewhere is in a city that better suited his needs and was focused on improving so he moved to Seattle. Same thing happened with Oh! The Urbanity. They wanted a better quality of life so they moved to a more progressive city that better suited their needs. Like NJB said in his tweet their advocacy would go much farther in a better city and that's the truth.
As for the privileged part I can see why it rubs some people off. I mainly just saw it as Jason cementing who in general who his content is for/catered too and that is people who have the ability to move after living a life in car dependency. He has always been about supporting other urban planning channels like the ones he mentioned in his tweet but I will admit his pessimism does kind of take away some of that support because again they are the ones based in NA. To sum it all up Jason does have valid points when it comes to NA and he is right to establish who his content is catered too. But his pessimism toward the USA does come across in a bit of a disappointing way because some places in America do have a chance. Sorry if this is too long!
Thank you for your inputs! Very insightful with a broad perspective from both sides of the problem!
“Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good”. I’m beyond disappointed with NJB. His language echoes the language of “white flight” and the resulting ghettoization and neglect of American cities. You know the whole thing I thought sustainable urbanism was supposed to address! My first reaction to that tweet was white hot rage but now I’m honestly just baffled. What does he think sustainable change looks like? A 100,000 white 30-something professionals with remote jobs moving to western europe?
i mean, there's a lotmore reasons to move out of north america than just cities. especially if you are transgender.
I agree with you here, pessimism isn't helpful. I noticed you included video from all over the US (including rural areas). The only hope is really for areas around major/notable cities, where people are already moving. A rural Arkansas town won't see these changes because there is no money or opportunity, and no one is moving there (without existing family ties).
I have footages from Canada too! And true, cities with an already strong infrastructure for transit, walkability and biking are inherently more hopeful than car-dependent cities. Changing these cities however, is still doable, just very difficult, but not impossible and for sure will take generations.
I do feel hopeful in the end, because I want my future generations don't have to go through all these same experiences that we have been going through!
PHYSICAL constraints (like PHYSICAL limits on how long we can maintain suburban infrastructure etc) are ABSOLUTE. Politics is not. ANYTHING is achievable politically. PHYSICAL CONSEQUENCES of politics are absolute. Politics itself is not.
@@morethantransitt I appreciate your optimism! Sorry, I didn't realize you're Canadian
To quote a song I like:
"I was born here, I'll probably die here".
I'm fortunate enough to be from somewhere that values transit and good urban design (MTL). It's not as good as the Netherlands. There's good metro access but big chunks of the city aren't accessible by transit, and the regional train network is seriously lacking (I should be able to take a commuter train to Sherbrooke). There's a million things that frustrate me about Montreal, and Quebec in general, but it's home. My family lives here, my friends live here, and this is where I can be in my culture. So I'm not gonna move to Amsterdam. I'm gonna stay here and fight for the city, and province, that I want.
I've got it better than some of my friends. I've got a friend in Lincoln, NE, and he's not gonna live car-free. He hates when people tell him he should move to Chicago. His family lives around him, he's from there, his career is there. He's gonna stay, and fight, and I respect him for it.
Some people do choose to move, and I respect that. Some NEED to move, and I definitely respect that too. But some of us have to stay and fight. I don't think we should be allowed to give up on North America. Our predecessors fucked this place up. It's up to us to fix it.
Absolutely! I believe we hold the power to change, especially being the young generation. There have been lots of pushes, and I'm so glad seeing young people are being involved in voicing their concerns.
Also, may I ask what song is that?
His point seems pretty valid. A huge number of areas in the US are simply not fixable, due to their physical reality and resistance from so many residents. There are plenty of actual cities in the US that can become very high quality places to live, but that itself will be extremely difficult and span over the course of generations, due to the physical reality of what we've done to our cities and the resistance to the changes from many of the residents. Cities certainly can be made back into livable cities with a LOT of concrete changes in legislation and a LOT of local advocacy, but both of these are missing throughout the US. However, it really seems the endless expansion of suburban sprawl across the US cannot be retrofitted into being nice, livable places
He is correct to some extent and I empathize with the desperation. It is hard to change but it's not impossible.
I reckon in the future these sprawling suburban hellscapes are not going to be retrofitted. Rather they are going to resemble inner city detroit and be left abandoned as younger generations lean toward the city. Ideally most North American downtowns are fairly walkable. It would essentially just be about creating more of downtown and slowly expanding outward demolishing the remnants of the sprawling hellscapes to create actual dense walkable mixed use places. People would essentially have to let go of the suburbs and vote with their dollars, at that point the real estate developers would have to respond. The quicker the culture changes the quicker we can build better cities. And I’m pretty optimistic because surprisingly a lot of people I know are also talking about this.
Car dependence means for poor people they will be locked out of the economy. Car dependence for financially healthy liberals means they will be annoyed. Let's stop advocating for low income people and run away because we're annoyed.
@@DivinesLegacy IIRC Chuck Marohn is also a strong critic of suburban retrofit. Strong Towns advocates focusing on downtowns first and foremost, because it's by far and large the only fiscally responsible option.
As Jason and other channels have shown time and time again, Netherlands looked like a hopeless lost cause of car centrism extremism in the 1970s, yet THEY TURNED THINGS AROUND! If Netherlands can do it, so can USA and Canada.
I think it's important to remember that change tends to be exponential. Car-oriented development started off slowly in the early days and then rapidly accelerated in the 1960s. In much the same way, human-oriented development is just taking a foothold in the US (again). It will start off slow, but as more and more people buy in to the movement the faster progress will be made.
Exactly
I love this and am in complete agreement. I have a small channel where I have created some short videos of walking in Eugene, Oregon, specifically in response to NJB's constant bashing of our country and Canada. Of course, his main thesis is correct, but he only mentions the US to single us out for consternation, and any data points or examples that contradict his narratives are dismissed outright. On his most recent video, I got in to comment early referring to some of my uploads from Eugene. I got a mix of reactions, from support to those saying, "This only represents 1% of the US. The rest of your country is trash", or words to that effect. Don't complain about the car-centric suburban areas of North America as if they are irredeemable, and then mock any progress that is made.
"Of course, his main thesis is correct, but he only mentions the US to single us out for consternation"
EXACTLY! He needs to broaden his criticism, like the way Adam Something does, who criticizes Arab oil states and their car centrism.
@@theultimatereductionist7592 I agree. Is he trying to fight urban sprawl, or just cancel North America? I imagine if North America were to address its urban sprawl problem in a meaningful way, NJB would no longer have a useful foil to rail against.
Don’t worry. People with half a brain side with you. It took me only a couple minutes to realize that NJB was a cherry picking, America-bashing progressive
Thanks for making this video man. The constant hate on North America from a lot of other channels is starting to get pretty old. I can barely afford next month's rent, the idea of moving to another continent is not even fathomable for me. Also I do enjoy where I live, and I would rather see my city improve than just completely abandon it.
I can never own a house in a nicer place, so why would I move? Just because my city sucks now doesn't mean I should write off my whole lifetime here.
Even the "bad" cities offer more than a suburb in terms of walkability and things to do.
I’m with the OP on that. Despite living in a pretty typical suburb in America i do enjoy some aspects and would love to see it get better. Not just completely leaving it behind.
I agree completely. While I am a strong proponent of walkability and whatnot, I find Not Just Bikes's stance of fleeing his own home, constantly belittling his own countrymen, and hawking doomerism about a whole continent spineless, insufferable, and deplorable. Places are made up of the people who love them and change them for the better. Not every place will ever be up to Not Just Bikes's standards, and yet there are so many places in America that are making continuous tangible improvements and are wonderful places to live! The Netherlands went through the same thing previously and now it's happening in America. Not to mention people live in and move to places for way more reasons than just urban fabric. There are very good reasons for why there is a massive brain drain from Europe and the rest of the world to America despite whatever lack of urbanism one may tout.
love this. have been dreaming of moving to the NL since before i even discovered NJB, but this is encouragement to stay and fight
Excellent video. You brought up a lot of good points in just five minutes. North American cities still have a long way to go, but there is lots of noticeable progress being made every single day, and we definitely shouldn't give up on that. I also made a video responding to NJB and one of his cult followers wants to take me to court over it (I wish I was kidding).
In2023, Montreal ranked #1 in the world for sustainability ... Always ranked in the top best Copenhagen index biking cities... Montreal closes 10 major streets in the summer for pedestrians only , largest urban parks in Canada and Quebec has the lowest emission of greenhouse gas in North america ... Montreal just inaugurated a next express metro ... Montreal i offers the best quality of life in Canada
Would love to visit one day!
It definitely offers the best urbanism in Canada (and the US) by a wide margin. But these "top x" lists are all bullshit. I love the "top biking cities" and it's like...if that isn't a list of 20 cites in the Netherlands, they're completely bullshit...and they are.
4:14 now that's a cool awesome map
I'm well aware of the journey Netherlands went through to have their infrastructure. Each place in different countries are at a different time to get to more travel options. I can take inspiration from hearing about Netherlands, some of Germany, Finland, Japan, a Columbian, city, parts of London Oxford, Cambridge and even Montreal how the future could be if we do what we can to push for better transport where we live. Yes, some people move to where they wish for better transport options but others campaign to make their places better even if it's one small step at a time. It's all good.
I'm also enjoying watching what parts of the USA is starting to do in their neighbourhoods and I'm not American nor have I ever visited there. I'd check it out wherever in the world they want good sustainable travel and robust communities.
You're right. This is why I bike in Winnipeg (which has seen lots of bike infrastructure go up in the last 10 years, not withstanding the brutality of our winters and inefficacy of city street cleaning).
Also, you deserve a tonne more subscribers. I was here before you blew up! :D
I don't think his tweet was helpful, but I also think it's wildly missrepresented.
First, on whether the US and Canada are fixable. Yes, we have made "progress"...but cities are dynamic places. Progress comes in the form of changing direction. And the "progress" that has been made is to slow...ONLY SLOW the tide of destruction. To this day, we are building unsustainable sprawling suburbs FASTER than we are repairing the damage. We haven't even stopped destroying our cities. That to me is why it is impossible to fix. We aren't even moving in the right direction yet, we've only ever so slightly started to turn. It will take a generation just to start seeing our cities improve on average.
I' glad you made this, I could not agree more. The entire Strong Towns concept seems similar, the goal of finding ways to move your own place forward incrementally, because it is yours. I saw this evolution happen in Charlotte, NC from about 10 years to five years ago when I used to travel there for work at six to 10 times per year. The Blue Line light rail was going in, and to Charlotte's credit, virtually the entire line is now adjacent to medium to fairly high density residential apartments and condominiums, plus all of the brewpubs, coffee cafes, and other sorts of amenities you would want to see in a transit oriented, walkable place. And this is in the heart of arguably the most sprawling city in the USA. Respect how others want to live, but demand the space and ability to create a place nearbye for how you want to live. I believe that is the way forward, and I see it in places all over North America.
NotJustBikes thinks that the entirety of North America is defined by the design of Southern Ontario, when that couldn't be farther from the truth. That discounts all of the amazing work that's been done in just a decade. Calgary, Vancouver, and Montreal have all made serious strides towards improving walking, cycling, transit, and land use, with BC offering the most extensive plan for the future that truly deals with the most fundamental challenges we face. That includes a 20 billion dollar transit and cycling expansion in Vancouver as well as new provincial legislation that will greatly increase density. However, he never wants to look at the work cities are making because it doesn't conform to his "NA Cities are doomed" narrative.
I think Jason is just realistic about how deep the "car only" thinking has burned into every single aspect of urban planning in the US and Canada. Even when changes are happening, it's usually just that one street. The fight to create guidelines for better streets has no even started - and after that the fight to implement those would begin. Also in one aspect Jason is even to optimistic: streets aren't due for redesign every few decades, they are only due for resurfacing.
Culture and bullshit like that is easy to change. THAT is NOT a PHYSICALLY DETERMINISTIC thing.
But, PHYSICALLY CHANGING what we have already built: the costs and hardship of doing that IS physically deterministic: independent of any psychology or stupid people's prejudices.
NJB can do whatever he wants. He doesn't owe anyone anything.
Amen. Agreed
Ok, I’ll be the contrarian. I’m sorry but NJB is not wrong. I’m an engineer. I’ve worked in public service for nearly 20 years. I’ve witnessed firsthand the contempt and sanctimonious attitude of the political class. Disparage me all you want. Call me negative, call me a pessimist. Go right ahead. But American “optimism” combined with limited binary thinking means that the realists and the pragmatists, like NJB, like me, are labeled as negative and pessimists.
He is not wrong when he says the US is NOT where the Netherlands was back in the 70s. It’s not just that the Dutch and the US went different ways, we went in completely opposite directions! Even if we stopped and turned around, it would take TWO GENERATIONS to come back (do not make the mistake of underestimating American exceptionalism and the power of “we’re a special snowflake and have nothing to learn from other countries!”). But the thing is, outside of a very few, notable cities, we’re not turning around. In fact, the nature of American politics is that a future city administration will come in and undo any gains and that’s assuming the state government or federal government won’t force cities to stop! We’re still building more and wider roads and freeways. We’re still building more sprawling car dependent suburbs. In fact, I’d wager that if you were to move past the rosy optimistic sounding headlines, for every city that is looking to “reverse course,” 10 more cities are building car dependent suburban developments (and some are doing both).
Americans are terrible at self assessment and self reflection. The more we realize that something is a bad idea, like killing trans and rail networks and destroying neighborhoods for freeways, the more we actually double down on it. The more the “old guard” circumvent new laws with gimmicks like hov lanes and auxiliary lanes as sneaky road widening, sticking buses onto road shoulders and calling it “high capacity” or BRT bus lanes, or claiming that widening roads will reduce VMTs and GHGs because it reduces traffic congestion. We’re objectively further away from change than we’ve ever been and firmly committed to not stopping or even turning around! And the only strategy advocates have is begging, carrying signs, holding hands and singing kumbaya. The Dutch, on the other hand, literally rioted to stop their cities and neighborhoods from being destroyed by car infrastructure.
I’m sorry, but it’ll be hundreds of years before we look anything remotely like the Dutch do today, if we ever get there at all. You can all beg really hard and hope it will make a difference if you want. Meanwhile, I’ll be planning my exodus out of this car infested hell hole and moving overseas before I’m too old to drive and have to rely on crappy transit and dangerous bike infrastructure.
I was thinking the same thing as you.
I like that he's optimistic, but it'll be way too long before we see any of this legitimately start to be developed. One point he brought up was how people don't have the luxury of just moving, and while I agree, NJB never brought up that point. NJB focuses on what American cities *can* and *should* be doing.
But as of right now, Americans at large couldn't care less sadly.
Physical consequences of politics are absolute. But politics is not. If rightwingers can move politicians in THEIR direction by being violent and aggressive then leftwingers can move politicians EVEN MORE in OUR direction because OUR causes are MUCH more important: like making the world a fairer place as opposed to a less fair place.
What is "the political class"? You mean those who choose to run for office?
If they can listen to shitheads who know nothing about virology spread antivaxx bullshit, which only hurts people more with no quantifiable benefit for anyone, then they CAN and WILL listen to JustStopOil activists. Climate activists and public transit activists and Green Party just need to do what stupid religiontards do when THEY protest against completely harmless things that don't affect anyone else (like trans people using a bathroom): ADVOCATE USING GUNS for our cause.
@@theultimatereductionist7592 I used to think that way also. But life has taught me it very rarely works out that way. Politics is like a sport, where the opposing team has bribed the refs to ignore their fouls so they can cheat you want. It would seem that the only solution would be to cheat also, but the refs will always call foul on you but not the opposing team. Rightwingers get away with being violent and aggressive because politics is rigged in their favor. If leftwingers tried to move the politicians in a similar manner, they would be accused of being violent extremists and subjected to police brutality without question, while, on the other hand, rightwingers almost never get subjected to any kind of police brutality.
Frankly, my expectations for the future of America are extremely low. Most of these optimistic adovcates are relatively new and have yet to experience any kind of real blowback from the owner, political, and NIMBY classes. When they do, they’ll be in for a very rude awakening and I suspect the movement will fall apart, just like every other movement in the last 20 years.
American cities are seriously sooooo bad though. If I was rich enough I would leave.
(1.01)^365 =37.7 Yes. I had to check.
I’m glad I am not alone in my feelings regarding the direction NjB has taken with his content and the way he interacts with his viewers… like cool you had the money and privilege to completely upend your life and move to an entirely different continent, guess that gives free reign to belittle those who can’t do that?
He didn't belittle anyone. What I'm tired of is people missrepresnting what was said. He simply said that we shouldn't have to live under car domination (true) and that the US cannot be fixed in our generation (true). The only choice to avoid that is to leave, and acknowledged not everyone not most people, can or will, and directed those people to creators who are specifically talking about how to fix the US and Canada.
Anti-car mentality has existed since cars were invented. Take any uni module on mobility and it's common academic knowledge that public transit creates more sustainable cities. Almost everyone working in American urbanism knows this, and wants to fix NA cities this way.
Giving up on the future of the entire continent has always struck me as kinda ignorant, and isn't exactly conducive to actually making progress
I’m a big believer in Neil Howe’s 4th Turning generational theory. He has recently stated that young people will get the community they desire.
In the context of transport I can see major changes as the younger generations take over n want the change this video speaks about. It will take a crisis, unfortunately. I have no idea the source of the crisis. But u younger advocates can really make the arguments needed during that time to change the transport infrastructure of North America.
As a 40 yo, I hope we do. I see my parents age poorly bc they don’t move enough. They r stuck in a car dependent lifestyle that is killing them. Eventually they will have to give up the house n all they have worked for for nothing (a deeper conversation on Medicare/Medicaid). I would like to eventually be somewhere I could age n not have to deal with driving. While still feeling safe n not being gouged from high cost.
I’m watching this video again after Calgary’s City Council passed the new housing strategy. There’s still a long road ahead, but it’s a big step in the right direction. I’m feeling optimistic!
100%. We gotta be patient. And I'm pretty sure the urbanism of our cities will be a unique urbanism that has its own human-centric components that is different from that of Europe!
I think it was a great statement by Jason because with this he started the discussion thats nessesary to get the changes that You desire. I live my entire live in the Netherlands in place near Amsterdam
I doubt Jason is saying that everyone should leave. I think he’s frustrated at how long it takes for things to change.
Indeed he is not...he even acknowledges that most people cannot or don't want too. He directs anyone who does to other UA-camrs who take the problem in the US.
All he really said was that we should not have to live under car domination, but the ONLY way to achieve that is to move...that the US and Canada cannot be fixed in our generation, which is undeniable...we're literally making negative progress--building more sprawling suburbs than urban developments even now.
Still don't understand why so many people are "fed up" by Jason´s tweet. What he wrote is true. If you want to live car-free now, moving elsewhere is the only possible way. I live in Czechia, quite a car-centric leaning country in recent years but definitely better than NA. But still I know that there is near to zero chance that something will change in the near future (people who advocate for better cities are commonly labelled by people and some media as terrorists and such). But I choose to stay in the Czech countryside because it is easier to stay than to move somewhere else. But I would never keep someone here against their will as my "selfish" "family" is passively doing.
Don't take me wrong I absolutely understand you as well. But this topic is entirely subjective and everyone should do what they see as the best for their well-being. Some may move some may stay.
You're welcome to move anywhere, but you have to acknowledge that is a privilege!
I will also say that it is entirely possible to live car-free in Boston, NYC, Minneapolis, San Francisco, and Montréal
@@morethantransitt And that's the point. For some it's a privilege to move for others it may be a privilege to stay.
So the fuck what? Many people label anti-abortionists and christians and Republicunts and conservatives in the USA terrorists, mainly because they are. That hasn't stopped all of them from getting into power. Some have gotten into power.
But the more we attack them, the fewer who do. EVERY event is a numbers game.
ANYBODY can be put into power. You just need to be as RELENTLESS and aggressive as your enemies/opponents.
When someone labels YOU a "terrorist" (and assuming they mean "terrorist" is a negative thing) then they CAN NO LONGER CLAIM YOU ARE A "government shill" (as a negative thing) because, BY DEFINITION, THEY saying terrorism is bad is THEM saying government is GOOD.
So, WE can call THEM government shills: WE can say government is bad and so being against government (criminal/vigilante) is GOOD.
NotJustBikes is a rude Canadian. He is also quite pretentious. He gets to live in top tier 1st world countries and has an extremely poor understanding of economics. When it comes to why most us towns and cities are not walkable today, it is for economic reasons, in that the big box stores killed off local retail, and that no amount of urban planning can fix that.
We can definitely improve our places, but it will require a shift in our values, and our economics. And I think the urbanism will have to have American characteristics.
I agree with the last part strongly. We aren't copying European or Asian urbanism, it will have North American's uniqueness and characteristics!
Funny...given that he explicitly called out big box stores as one of the problems...
Yep you're right dude
I admire the contrarian argument and I do hope that people help change their cities for the better. However it's often that you don't recognize how terrible your city is until you've seen one better so I overwhelmingly encourage people to travel and bring back the good things
Personally, I feel this is a too negative take on what Jason of NJB wants to bring across. I never took it as "everyone better moves out", although I get he is pushing limits. Bottomline, I still believe he wants to make people aware of viable alternatives to what the US and Canada have chosen as some kind of norm for urban planning and city design. He seems to do this in a way to shake things up and I believe he does create some kind of wave which actually triggers changes and make people think. I also get his frustration in all of this, as many cities in the US and Canada are still moving in the wrong direction, where stupid arguments remain to be used that should have been burried decades ago with the good examples that exist. However, I do understand it is not a nice feeling when being continuously bashed as a country, but if you consider it being an attempt to make people think differently, it is not all that bad.
Negative? Or realistic? Is it possible that NJBs take is the negative one, due to a complete lack of awareness of social equity and a blindness to his own privilege? Typically his content is excellent, but I feel like that particular comment really missed the mark on why a lot of people consume his content in the first place.
While I do agree that the "If yo don't like it here, flee" argument comes from a point of privilege and maybe even irresponsibility, NJB's opinion that North American cities are "unsalvagable" is unfortunately true in most cases. First there is suburbia, which was designed exclusively for cars. Public transport simply does not work in such a neighbourhood. Many bus lines in NA are "snaky" already because one line has to serve such a large area, thus increasing travel time substantially. Unless you demolish them all (and good luck with that) these areas will never be walkable, and they make up a big chunk of the residential areas found in US&Canada. Then there is the culture. American individualism is so strong that it doesn't look like the attitude will change anytime soon. I mean, the average car is getting bigger, not smaller. Finally, for intercity traffic there is genuinely very little progress in HSR. Given how long it's taking California to build theirs, I highly doubt any kind of "network" will materialise in the next generation or so. The Netherlands was able to transform because it still retained its urban fabric and density, while many downtown areas in the US were fully bulldozed. It's a destruction that is much harder to reverse. So yeah, sadly it is a lost cause for the vast majority of places (except maybe the biggest cities).
:"First there is suburbia, which was designed exclusively for cars. Public transport simply does not work in such a neighbourhood. Many bus lines in NA are "snaky" already because one line has to serve such a large area, thus increasing travel time substantially. Unless you demolish them all (and good luck with that) these areas will never be walkable, and they make up a big chunk of the residential areas found in US&Canada. "
THAT IS A PHYSICAL CONSTRAINTS, caused by past political choices. Those are absolute. Correct.
" Then there is the culture. "
Culture is NOT an absolute deterministic thing. Culture is a CHOICE.
EVERYTHING that humans do IS culture. A crime. A murder. War. Life-saving medical care.
Political activism. Antinatalists and Atheists and Green Party and urban planners against car centrism ARE PART OF CULTURE.
As Jason and other channels have shown time and time again, Netherlands looked like a hopeless lost cause of car centrism extremism in the 1970s, yet THEY TURNED THINGS AROUND! If Netherlands can do it, so can USA and Canada.
Why "unsalvageable"? With this "all or nothing" mentality nothing will get done. Every place is "improveable", with everyday work and continuous activism.
I do get a little bit disappointed in his pessimism sometimes. I understand that that's reflective of his personal life choices, and I can't blame him for wanting to be somewhere safer and more enjoyable. But isn't the whole point of his channel to show people something better that actually exists, and therefore encourage them to make the change? An urbanist channel that just results in people doing their best to move to better places will just leave people behind without creating any positive change beyond the few people who are able to help themselves.
Actually, no. It's not an advocacy channel.
@@therealdutchidiot most of his videos are pointing out differences between North American cities and Dutch cities, advocating for how things are done in Dutch cities. His videos don't specifically advocate for changes in North America, but I don't think you can really say that there isn't a general theme of 'look how much better things could be' - and I don't think its effect is only to make people jealous of Europe, there are a lot of people who look at that and realize problems and want to make their own cities better
I just think he doesn't lean into that enough sometimes, he's a little bit too doom and gloom
@@DevynCairnsHe's not advocating for shit. He's telling you how it is and nothng more. This has been stated many times.
It's good to have a balanced view like this. However, I think it's unique to the individual. If you're able/willing to move, why not? My issue is not that planning/change is slow itself, it's that it's slow because of the intensity and depth of our cultural attachment to the way things are; primarily a car dependent culture. To stay and work with it is an incredible and immense uphill struggle against the powerful force of culture. It may not be possible here. I imagine in the Netherlands it was possible because their culture is more open to logical arguments, from what I understand anyway. (I realize that's kinda broad statement, but I studied their educational system for a while and I and many others came to that general conclusion about their culture). Whereas our culture is so black and white, right and wrong, it's so difficult for change to happen. I constantly hear of things in NL like if there's a pot hole, you complain, and it gets fixed. That kinda general trust in things getting done is more open and flexible for change that has logical arguments. And though yes, it does definitely seem they met opposition, even in the form of violence, imagine how much opposition we'd meet here? While I appreciate the optimism, I don't think it's a realistic kind of optimism. North America just really does suck in a number of ways, and urbanism is one of them. We also have many strengths, that is for sure. But I don't hold out any hope on this particular topic for the near future. I think accepting and acknowledge that is a more kind thing to do than promote an optimism that doesn't take the whole of the power of culture into consideration. A lot of what Not Just Bikes talks about is that very power of the culture. His snarky, and sometimes judgmental, reaction is just a reaction to that power of the culture. It's not wrong to want to get away. To say we're privelaged for even wanting to do that is another form of judgement, IMO. It's possible. Our country is mostly founded on people crossing boats, broke AF, wanting to get away from things that didn't work where they lived. It's just that dream died here, and it died at the hands of oligarchy and financial and power distribution. It's ok to acknowledge a broken country, and it's ok to want to go somewhere better. We don't need the extra level of judgment for wanting that. It is though, as I say again, nice to hear the other views and possibilities you present. And I do genuinely wish and hope for this to happen. I think it'd be so beautiful if we could change. There are so many things lovely about North America. I hope it works out for us.
Eh, seems to me you didn't understand his first episode. But hey, you do you. He got tired fighting against windmills, and had the means to move for the sake of his family. What you do is your business.
No, the issue is Transit is not worth saving....
Outside New York and few big Cities, Public transit should stop being federaly funded, return federal taxes to states they came from and let states run the cost effective transportation rather than infrastructure empires like old 19th century tycoons. Let it modernize or let it die.
Can say the same thing about roads, buddy. Right back at you. Stop funding roads and bridges for roads.
Modernizing means taking Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW) and its massive devastating costs deadly seriously and more seriously than any current law or philosophy or economic ideology and choosing the fairest transportation systems to benefit EVERYONE that minimizes AGW. If that means outlawing the manufacture and sale of unnecessary oversized SUVs and trucks, then tough shit: good.
"Let it modernize or let it die." And the politicians will certainly let it die, even in New York State and California and the only solution in the United States will be more cars, more roads, wider roads, express lanes, HOV & HOT lanes, auxiliary lanes, allowing peak hours travel in breakdown lanes, etc, until the world runs out of oil or we wreck the planet from GHG emissions and have to flee to Canada. It's all because we're one exceptional nation under God, meaning we're really, really, really, really stupid (you know what "special" means) and we accept imaginary friends who watch our every move as our personal lord and saviour!
"Promo SM"
Great. NJB Jason acknowledges he is incredibly LUCKY to be able to move that 99.999% of everyone else on the planet cannot do. Now. Let's see NJB Jason acknowledge the harm he forced onto the world by having kids.
🙄 anti-natalism is so dumb.
Would you say the same about your parents?
The ultimate solution is to stop artificially increasing the cost of driving rather than trying to downgrade our quality of living to fit within high-density shitholes dependent on public transit that gives you less mobility than someone with a riding lawnmower.
you are the only person who thinks that walkable dense cities are a downgrade.
You seem to think that every walkable, reasonably dense neighborhood in North America is like Kensington, Pennsylvania; West Baltimore, Maryland; and The Tenderloin and Skid Row, California. A trip to and walking and taking the métro in Montreal will disabuse you of that notion.
@@64bitmodels66 You think I'm the only person who enjoys having trees in their neighborhood? And no, a few tiny trees surrounded by pavement don't count.
The densification experiment has been ongoing for over a decade in many North American cities, and the results are in:
Precisely 0 cases where densification has increased affordability or quality of life!
It's not complicated either, guess what happens when a neighborhood is deforested and paved over to build your mIxEd UsE zOnInG dream. A mix of giant 4-plexes, skinny homes and perhaps the odd corner store are built, none of which escape the threshold of architectural tumors. No body is paying an extra 50% on their grocery bill to shop at a smaller store, so instead of travelling to the nearest Walmart through low-density neighborhoods they get to fight their way to the nearest Walmart through a high-density shithole.
In countries as large as Canada and america it is a human rights violation to build a neighborhood where the dominant structure isn't trees. In fact, every neighborhood should be an urban forest. There is no excuse to cram people into high-density shitholes devoid of any meaningful greenery.
This is a free country. You don't have to live in a "high-density shithole" if you don't want to. If you want and are able to live in a small town in Idaho, more power to you.
But you see, 80% of the country's population live in cities, where the good jobs are. Millions of people need to move around in these cities, which have so much space available. How do you expect them to move around?
You don't want density? With so many people, the city will be so spread out that everyone is far from everything, and need to drive to do anything outside the house. Millions of cars going to the same places clog any freeway, no matter how wide. Do you think it's a nice way to live?
@@pmlb7715 Traffic problems aren't a result of large cities, they're a result of needlessly centralized cores. Centralized downtown for a city of 50,000? Makes sense. 500,000? Sure. But why 5,000,000?
The amount of times in which someone needs to go from one corner of a city to another is often less than 10 in their entire life time. Even in the average suburbs (not isolated housing development shitscapes) basic needs are within a 30 minute walk or a short drive with minimal traffic.
You're right that there's an issue when thousands of cars need to get to the same place at the same time, but this shouldn't be the case. There is no excuse for cities to be built around a physical high-density work core, especially in the day of work-from-home office jobs.
As a city grows it should essentially be a series of smaller cities with their own central cores. These cities, no matter how "sprawling" don't suffer traffic issues aside from the people who choose to get a job 20KM away instead of 5KM away.
This is a great and empowering video, exactly what I’ve been missing from Not Just Bikes lmaoooo
The Netherlands and the USA (or Canada) are vastly different countries geographically and politically. Many of the conditions that led the Netherlands to be what it is today cannot be replicated in North America. Cities cannot be razed to the ground and rebuilt. If that's what it takes to improve, people will rather do nothing.
I find often Not Just Bikes counterproductive, by being so idealistic and pessimistic about North American urbanism, it leads to apathy and inaction. Why care? It's too much work, and we know it won't happen.
Also why focus on the Netherlands? There are so many other European countries to draw inspiration from, maybe with even better ideas, more suitable to North America.
What we need is pragmatic hope, that we can make cities better, that any improvement is good, and focus on concrete solutions adapted to the peculiarities of North American cities.