The UA-cam algorithm is broken, your channel is seriously underrated. Your videos are incredibly well done and fun to listen to. I really hope this channel grows a lot in the future. Thank you for making these videos!
Probably due to the narrative, sorry, more the voice and how the cadence is off. You should involve a voice teacher. Yes, seriously... it is off putting.
Well done. I think this is the perfect video to introduce people to the issue at hand because you capture the problem in a concise way, but also offer solutions. - I used to live in the Netherlands for a few years, but now I'm back in my country of origin, and it kind of depresses me when I remember what I had in the Netherlands. But the upside is that in my new city we have a major who is willing to improve the design of the city. The progress they have made so far is slower than expected but at least we are moving towards a better future.
Something about your narration and video style is both calming and engaging at the same time. Glad to see more urbanist channels popping up! I dream of cities with as few cars as reasonably possible.
Benches are also good for elderly mobility and socializing. If everything is walkable (and scootable) and they can rest everywhere it increases their range and social visibility, and they can keep walking their dog.
I visited Riga during a road trip through the Baltics in May this year. While I loved the city, I was both shocked and saddened by certain aspects. The cityscape, especially when entering from the south, is beautiful with its old facades and historic charm. However, the poorly designed roads, particularly the motorways and arterials running through the city center, were ... appalling to say the least. Despite this, a few streets and squares near government buildings by the Dvina River were lovely, though there were surprisingly few pedestrians. As I headed north, the scenic forests and lakes were marred by people parking their cars and walking along what was essentially a motorway. Despite these issues, the presence of many pedestrians in built-up areas shows that Riga still feels inviting. With a proper ring road, more bicycle lanes, trees, sidewalks, and perhaps a metro system to complement the tram network, Riga could easily become one of Europe’s nicer cities.
Great overview and redesign suggestions. There are two factors you left out of the premise of the video though: 1) When you create residential areas and traffic areas, you don't really reduce the traffic, you just move it. So the traffic areas have the potential to be overwhelmed, and any residents or businesses there may protest, and residents in the residential areas will complain that they have to go the long way round to get to their house (although you can always sell them on the fact that this is what's needed in order to live on a quieter and safer street). What is required in addition to this is investment in infrastructure and public transport to make more efficient use of the traffic corridors. Just moving the cars onto different roads is not enough of a solution. 2) Your claim that people don't want to live in a place because the streets aren't nice to live in completely ignores wider economic issues. Riga is a former part of the USSR and does not have the strong economy that the Dutch have, so it's no surprise to me to see abandoned shops and empty lots. Improving the city will attract new people, but it is not a magic wand that will turn it into Amsterdam. Anyway, the video is still good and I still think cities should do what you propose no matter what.
Investments in public transport are absolutely essential, however, I would argue that the abundance of empty shops and vacant lots is largely a result of car-centric urban planning. Cities like Vilnius and Tallinn are experiencing population growth, have vibrant city centres and also happen to have way better-designed public spaces.
@streetscaping 0:55 This reminds me of an article I read about Tokyo urbanism describing the city blocks as like eggs with a "hard shell" and a "soft yolk" the shell being high rise buildings predominantly commercial framing the outside of neighborhoods and the yolk being predominantly low-rise residential which means that from major arterials just walking off into local streets and collectors get you away from the 'big city' and into an environment like a small town or rural village almost
No, ot is no magic wand. In the Netherlands it took us 30 years to get where we are now, and we are still working on it. So people have time to adjust and you don't have to spend a lot of money at once. 1. You are moving traffic but a road designated for traffic only is much more efficient at moving cars, because nobody is parking, priority at crossroads etc. You can eleminate almost everything that reduces traffic flowing. And besides that, we see that people start using other forms of transportation for short distances. Fot example, I can go to the nearest supermarket by foot, by bike or by car. The fastest way for me is by bike (5 minutes). So, if I don't want to buy much really big items, I take my bike to the supermarket. So, here, it did reduce traffic. 2. I would advice to make a plan for the city, but do not implement it all at once. Think about the order in what you want to change ( you cannot close a road if the traffic has no way to go). Start small.
Unfortunately, since pedestrian infrastructure is cheaper than that for cars, it's harder for construction contractors to steal money by redesigning streets like you showed at the end of the video. So, at least in my city, seas of asphalt are here to stay!🥲 But maybe one more lane will fix traffic🤷♂️
Don't know where you are from. though my guess would be the US, given you are talking about a "sea of asphalt". But I think the US is the prime example of how not the do anything for your pedestrians or any other form of transportation besides cars. Don't see that changing anytime soon either. Mostly it all boils down to the huge ass supermarkets that are central to certain locations. I don't believe ever hearing of small groceries stores being somewhere in the middle of living areas. That is by law , forbidden, as there is hardly any mixed zoning in the US, as far as I know
One issue I have with dutch cities, at least the ones I’ve walked around, is that I often notice pretty big roads, with 2+ lanes per direction, which I rarely see in switzerland. To be fair, my perception could be skewed, but I feel like maybe swiss cities tend to opt for more even street utilization, making most streets either 1 lane each way or 1 shared lane.
It's also the people, in the Netherlands the cars really pay attention that the cyclist feel safe on shared roads. But we also saw people who weren't dutch that were driving with 80 kph on road where the speed limit is 30 and it's getting more common with the influx of immigrants.
I live in The Netherlands in an apartment building with a shopping center at the opposite side of the 30 km/h street that has no speed bumps. There are people speeding in this street but I have to say that I do not have the impression that speeding is increasing with immigrants not being used to this traffic culture we have in The Netherlands. Also when driving my car on the highway it is mostly white people like me that are speeding, not holding enough distance etc. I don't think there has been any inquiry in The Netherlands that has proven your statement.
08:30 "residents do need places to park their cars" why onstreet, though? let the developers that choose to pay for it themselves build it offstreet instead, like in japan
I have been to japan and know what you mean. And though I agree that off-street parking would be better, we can't really wreck a few houses to build a parking space, just like I do in cities skylines XD In the Netherlands, the bigger cities often have lots of big parking garages. Those can be standalone buildings or underground parking lots in the middle of streets. I live more on the country-side in a small town and parking is usually dedicated spaces along the road, combined with off-street parking lots. The combination of the 2 makes for less traffic to 1 location and lets people park closer to their destination. Often those destinations are small stores where you go in and out. Though the Netherlands has dedicated zones for living and commercial, we do mix commercial with living, making it easier for people to get their goods closer to home. Some groceries stores are in the middle of a living area with, usually, 1 big road leading to it, mostly for trucks to bring the goods to the store. There is usually a somewhat larger parkinglot around the building aswel. So it is not that we don't have parking off-street but it is less than in japan. Though I don't know if and where you have been to Japan, but I drove into the middle of nowhere, to see the nature and mountains. When you get to smaller towns the parking doesn't look much different than just plopping your car down somewhere. Not much parking if not even any off-street parking nearby.
@@Controvi "we can't really wreck a few houses to build a parking space" that's really not what they did in JP, though - they just started requiring a parking permit to buy a car (="if you want a car, prove that you have somewhere to store it first") and banned overnight onstreet parking, in a nutshell ...in other words, they proved that there is no need to keep on indirectly subsidizing so-called 'parasitic parking' (off but especially on street, where deliveries to shops should be prioritized, mostly), breaking with what has become the norm in most other (especially rich) countries (...i know that there are places in the NL that at least have plans to progressively eliminate onstreet parking, but since the video claims to be about "good design", i just meant that i believe there is a better way than the one described in it)
The UA-cam algorithm is broken, your channel is seriously underrated. Your videos are incredibly well done and fun to listen to. I really hope this channel grows a lot in the future. Thank you for making these videos!
Is what i’m saying!! Looking forward to every upload!
Probably due to the narrative, sorry, more the voice and how the cadence is off. You should involve a voice teacher.
Yes, seriously... it is off putting.
Well done. I think this is the perfect video to introduce people to the issue at hand because you capture the problem in a concise way, but also offer solutions. - I used to live in the Netherlands for a few years, but now I'm back in my country of origin, and it kind of depresses me when I remember what I had in the Netherlands. But the upside is that in my new city we have a major who is willing to improve the design of the city. The progress they have made so far is slower than expected but at least we are moving towards a better future.
Something about your narration and video style is both calming and engaging at the same time. Glad to see more urbanist channels popping up!
I dream of cities with as few cars as reasonably possible.
Benches are also good for elderly mobility and socializing. If everything is walkable (and scootable) and they can rest everywhere it increases their range and social visibility, and they can keep walking their dog.
Love the videos! Thank you!
I visited Riga during a road trip through the Baltics in May this year.
While I loved the city, I was both shocked and saddened by certain aspects. The cityscape, especially when entering from the south, is beautiful with its old facades and historic charm. However, the poorly designed roads, particularly the motorways and arterials running through the city center, were ... appalling to say the least. Despite this, a few streets and squares near government buildings by the Dvina River were lovely, though there were surprisingly few pedestrians. As I headed north, the scenic forests and lakes were marred by people parking their cars and walking along what was essentially a motorway.
Despite these issues, the presence of many pedestrians in built-up areas shows that Riga still feels inviting. With a proper ring road, more bicycle lanes, trees, sidewalks, and perhaps a metro system to complement the tram network, Riga could easily become one of Europe’s nicer cities.
I think this is your best video yet!
another fantastic video--loved the graphics!
Great video 👍🏻🌆
Paldies! Komentārs kanāla atbalstam! Tā turpināt 💪
Good video, Riga needs its own public movement for anti-car city planning, when I come from Daugavpils it's like a downgrade in infrastructure.
Pilsēta cilvēkiem
Great overview and redesign suggestions. There are two factors you left out of the premise of the video though: 1) When you create residential areas and traffic areas, you don't really reduce the traffic, you just move it. So the traffic areas have the potential to be overwhelmed, and any residents or businesses there may protest, and residents in the residential areas will complain that they have to go the long way round to get to their house (although you can always sell them on the fact that this is what's needed in order to live on a quieter and safer street). What is required in addition to this is investment in infrastructure and public transport to make more efficient use of the traffic corridors. Just moving the cars onto different roads is not enough of a solution. 2) Your claim that people don't want to live in a place because the streets aren't nice to live in completely ignores wider economic issues. Riga is a former part of the USSR and does not have the strong economy that the Dutch have, so it's no surprise to me to see abandoned shops and empty lots. Improving the city will attract new people, but it is not a magic wand that will turn it into Amsterdam. Anyway, the video is still good and I still think cities should do what you propose no matter what.
Investments in public transport are absolutely essential, however, I would argue that the abundance of empty shops and vacant lots is largely a result of car-centric urban planning. Cities like Vilnius and Tallinn are experiencing population growth, have vibrant city centres and also happen to have way better-designed public spaces.
@streetscaping 0:55 This reminds me of an article I read about Tokyo urbanism describing the city blocks as like eggs with a "hard shell" and a "soft yolk" the shell being high rise buildings predominantly commercial framing the outside of neighborhoods and the yolk being predominantly low-rise residential which means that from major arterials just walking off into local streets and collectors get you away from the 'big city' and into an environment like a small town or rural village almost
It's sad that we know how to do things better but still repeat mistakes
Great video man! Was just wondering how you find the background footage of the streets and things you use?
Shared on Mastodon ClimateJustice by JdeB 🇳🇱
No, ot is no magic wand. In the Netherlands it took us 30 years to get where we are now, and we are still working on it. So people have time to adjust and you don't have to spend a lot of money at once. 1. You are moving traffic but a road designated for traffic only is much more efficient at moving cars, because nobody is parking, priority at crossroads etc. You can eleminate almost everything that reduces traffic flowing. And besides that, we see that people start using other forms of transportation for short distances. Fot example, I can go to the nearest supermarket by foot, by bike or by car. The fastest way for me is by bike (5 minutes). So, if I don't want to buy much really big items, I take my bike to the supermarket. So, here, it did reduce traffic. 2. I would advice to make a plan for the city, but do not implement it all at once. Think about the order in what you want to change ( you cannot close a road if the traffic has no way to go). Start small.
How to overcome the inertia or fear from the car brains in our worlds? How can we help them see the light?
By making videos like this I try to spread the word
Hi how do you make the animations? I am in a local advocacy group, and we want to do something like this for our proposal
Ye was wondering the same
I make the graphics in Illustrator and animate them in after effects
Unfortunately, since pedestrian infrastructure is cheaper than that for cars, it's harder for construction contractors to steal money by redesigning streets like you showed at the end of the video. So, at least in my city, seas of asphalt are here to stay!🥲 But maybe one more lane will fix traffic🤷♂️
Don't know where you are from. though my guess would be the US, given you are talking about a "sea of asphalt".
But I think the US is the prime example of how not the do anything for your pedestrians or any other form of transportation besides cars.
Don't see that changing anytime soon either.
Mostly it all boils down to the huge ass supermarkets that are central to certain locations.
I don't believe ever hearing of small groceries stores being somewhere in the middle of living areas. That is by law , forbidden, as there is hardly any mixed zoning in the US, as far as I know
so real😭(I'm from kyiv)
@@Controvithey don’t do car’s properly either
One issue I have with dutch cities, at least the ones I’ve walked around, is that I often notice pretty big roads, with 2+ lanes per direction, which I rarely see in switzerland. To be fair, my perception could be skewed, but I feel like maybe swiss cities tend to opt for more even street utilization, making most streets either 1 lane each way or 1 shared lane.
It's also the people, in the Netherlands the cars really pay attention that the cyclist feel safe on shared roads. But we also saw people who weren't dutch that were driving with 80 kph on road where the speed limit is 30 and it's getting more common with the influx of immigrants.
I live in The Netherlands in an apartment building with a shopping center at the opposite side of the 30 km/h street that has no speed bumps. There are people speeding in this street but I have to say that I do not have the impression that speeding is increasing with immigrants not being used to this traffic culture we have in The Netherlands. Also when driving my car on the highway it is mostly white people like me that are speeding, not holding enough distance etc. I don't think there has been any inquiry in The Netherlands that has proven your statement.
Very well said.
Part of the reason why Dutch drivers are so good is because of the infrastructure. Safer roads=safer drivers
08:30
"residents do need places to park their cars"
why onstreet, though?
let the developers that choose to pay for it themselves
build it offstreet instead, like in japan
I have been to japan and know what you mean.
And though I agree that off-street parking would be better, we can't really wreck a few houses to build a parking space, just like I do in cities skylines XD
In the Netherlands, the bigger cities often have lots of big parking garages. Those can be standalone buildings or underground parking lots in the middle of streets.
I live more on the country-side in a small town and parking is usually dedicated spaces along the road, combined with off-street parking lots.
The combination of the 2 makes for less traffic to 1 location and lets people park closer to their destination.
Often those destinations are small stores where you go in and out.
Though the Netherlands has dedicated zones for living and commercial, we do mix commercial with living, making it easier for people to get their goods closer to home.
Some groceries stores are in the middle of a living area with, usually, 1 big road leading to it, mostly for trucks to bring the goods to the store.
There is usually a somewhat larger parkinglot around the building aswel.
So it is not that we don't have parking off-street but it is less than in japan.
Though I don't know if and where you have been to Japan, but I drove into the middle of nowhere, to see the nature and mountains.
When you get to smaller towns the parking doesn't look much different than just plopping your car down somewhere. Not much parking if not even any off-street parking nearby.
@@Controvi
"we can't really wreck a few houses to build a parking space"
that's really not what they did in JP, though - they just started requiring a parking permit to buy a car (="if you want a car, prove that you have somewhere to store it first") and banned overnight onstreet parking, in a nutshell
...in other words, they proved that there is no need to keep on indirectly subsidizing so-called 'parasitic parking' (off but especially on street, where deliveries to shops should be prioritized, mostly), breaking with what has become the norm in most other (especially rich) countries
(...i know that there are places in the NL that at least have plans to progressively eliminate onstreet parking, but since the video claims to be about "good design", i just meant that i believe there is a better way than the one described in it)