US suburbs are unique and cannot been found anywhere in the rest of the world. Car centric living is a nightmare and I believe it is one of the main reason depression levels are soo high. People are disconnected and are isolated with no natural life occurring on the streets.
Rats given access to drugs who have community ignore the drugs. Rats in social isolation use drugs to cope. I agree with this take. There’s no “life” in US suburban areas. It’s just roads, parking lots, cars, etc
That's just not true. Suburbs are more common in American than elsewhere, but I doubt there is a single industrialized country that doesn't have suburbs. Canada, Australia, and the UK all come to mind as places I know suburbs aren't even particularly rare.
@@blainegabbertgabonemhofgoa6602 Simple comprehension. The environment a US suburb creates can exist elsewhere, the suburb itself cannot. It was a poke at OP’s verbiage.
Finally, after 70 years, people are talking about this critical topic. Suburbs, highways, car centric plans, and single use zoning have ruined cities across Canada and the United States
Finally after 70 years? Where have you been? Go into an Architectural library and look at books on Urban planning. This topic has been studied for some 100 years! . You know, intelligent life did exist long before you were born. . Read about Le Corbusier and how he design urban planning as a knee jerk response to his history. Europe has been choked by their historical legacy. New world cities were designed BEFORE THE CAR WAS INVENTED with large grid type road networks as a way to solve European issues. . Allowing for highways was an overlay that came much later. The cycle between city centric and suburb centric is an intellectual cycle that goes back and forth every couple of decades. If you have been around for a couple of decades you'd notice the pattern.
"Strong Towns" by Charles Marohn is a Must-Read, modern-enlightenment book that really highlights the dire financials of suburbia. Hopefully more and more people flock to his UA-cam channel, "Strong Towns".
@@michaeljfoley1 Except it has no basis in reality. It is all political. It is the cities that are facing dire financials. Urban areas are losing population and it is the suburbs and rural areas that are growing. This narrative is all part of the left's war on suburbs. The cities want the tax money.
@@brocklanders6969 Charles Marohn of Strong Towns is pretty open about being a conservative and/or libertarian. It was his libertarianism that made him concerned about the financial effects of urban planning and land use, and of overbuilt/gold-plated infrastructure for low return land use development, such as that found in modern US suburbs. Many of these outer areas should really have something closer to rural infrastructure, to keep the public/private investment in those places more in balance. If they were designed more like towns with a main street and walkable neighborhoods, they could probably expect a more urban-style level of infrastructure.
Cities are designed to be sardine cans. Tell me how happy city dwellers are? Cities are also vectors for pandemics. Why do u wanna live in a tiny apartment? Why live in a rat infested dump? Suburbia has a high quality of living.
My son became a remote worker. At first he loved it. But a 1.5 later, he said that the isolation was causing mental health issues. Believe me they were. He was becoming a completely different person. He quite his job and took up a trade although he also took a big pay cut. But he’s a lot happier now and a much better person.
That depends on the person. Me myself has been working remotely for about 10 years now. Though I needed to find another job but it's only because of financial shortage I'm currently experiencing right now after taking two pets with me. I always consider myself lucky that I get to work like this compared to other people who needs to drive or commute every day.
Yeah I strongly push back against the notion that remote work is isolating. I go to work to get a check, I ain't going there to make friends. I hardly ever fit in with the people at work anyways. I believe people should make friends with people in their communities, even if that is virtually, such as gamers or other online social groups that share interests. Not trying to invalidate your son's experiences, but maybe he's looking for meaningful connections in the wrong place and would benefit from rethinking where and who he wants to spend time with.
I am a remote worker. If they force me back to the office even in a hybrid schedule I'm leaving. I go to a coworking space about once a month and that's enough for me.
I lived in the Mosaic District in Fairfax County, VA from 2017-2020. It was neat to see it gain popularity so quickly and become a case study of urban development in a suburban area. The Mosaic District is this dense, walkable place with a nice plaza and all kinds of shops and restaurants. There is a large outdoor screen where they show movies and live sports events, there's a lively farmers market, and it tends to stay busy with families, even around 10 -12 at night! It is surrounded by perhaps the most car-centric suburban development I've ever seen! So it's kind of this oasis away from the traffic congestion. It eventually became so popular a spot to hang out that they had to replace all the grass with turf and close down one of the through streets permanently. The transformation of an old warehouse into Caboose, a cafe and brewery that seats about 200+ people, extended pedestrian traffic across a very busy street. Hopefully they will redesign some of the surrounding streets and add more workforce housing in the Mosaic District to keep it growing!
@@Aditya0227 Yes, it's expensive all over the DC Metro area! But I actually lived in a much more affordable townhome development right nearby, about a 15-20 minute walk away. I can tell you from experience though, that it can still be stressful crossing the street to get to the Mosaic District! Lots of traffic and even with giant crosswalks, some drivers still don't look out for pedestrians!
I lived near Fairlee for 2 years when Mosaic District was under construction. One of the biggest advantages of District is proximity to Dunn Loring station where you can take 35min train to DC
This is likely the biggest issue we as a society are facing. It affects everything: housing, crime, climate, healthcare, our social cohesion, mental health, everything. And it's not getting nearly enough coverage.
The biggest😂 cmon lol. It is not even clear it is a proble (apart from environmental reasons), people seem to like it. I hate high density places, people are loud.😀
Suburbs are awful, honestly. I lived in a walkable location in Europe for a year and it was life changing. I feel pretty depressed moving back to America. I can't bike anywhere here with the way my city is designed, yet it's not much different from the other cities I've lived in...god don't get me started about Houston.
I feel that exact same way, growing up in Japan. Their mass transit was amazing, and we always were walking .It was so safe everywhere but that’s a whole different story. My only solution for now is I moved to the beach. So you get a little bit of walk ability and I’m able to ride my bike to work. But not everybody can do that
I believe city beautiful covers this more succinctly. Low density suburbans have such a high infrastructure cost per square mile that it is untenable after the first generation of infrastructure has run its course. A more dense/diverse setup would allow that cost per area to decrease and allow better efficiency and the plus of social centers.
This makes no sense. If I build a high rise building the costs are actually exponentially higher as the height increases. Yes you can get more people on an acre of land, but they still need transportation, fire and police, hospitals and schools. It may sound good, and is certainly more efficient for those who commute, but who really wants to live in a 12 story building on the 12th floor. Try it during a blackout in the summer, after a 6.2 earthquake sometime. There are things worse than suburbs.
@@ds94703 you're wrong and small in view. Roads, sewers, waterz electricity are all infrastructure (the word I used, so keep up) that is less cost efficient for incredibly low density suburbs. I'm also not advocating for a world of 12 story buildings, you're trying your best to frame a weird stance. Medium density would be the best in the long run with ~4 stories per building with mixed use. This will also allow more efficient public transportation options because use of individual cars is the worst option and degrades our infrastructure quicker while also polluting more. In summary, it makes sense in the proper terms in the holistic view.
@@ds94703 those services are actually run better because the less populated the less people paying to maintain those services because it’s less people and there more spread out those services need to travel at a greater distance. costing more money to maintain.
I'm just happy that finally this issue is coming to light. As soon as you take a moment too look at sprawling suburb design, you soon see the harsh reality of how economically difficult it is to manage.
@@AllenGraetz and ur argument for that is? I personally know first hand of many town boards that use strong towns and i live in an area where town boards actually have a significant amount of power. Its a means of education for these boards its not habitats for humanity there not coming in and building stuff (at least to my knowledge). The education they provide to towns definitely has had a visibly positive impact in several towns in my area tho and that cant be denied. My town uses strong towns and has since seen better zoning, new parks and green spaces, better signage and lane markings, more efficient pedestrian crossings so on and so on. All these little things have added up to make a big difference in quality of life and at very low cost to the tax payer opposed to most projects which come with heavy price tags. These are all very small things you can do to make a big difference in your community none of this is costly or harmful to anybody its simply education towns can do with it what they will and if ppl disagree than they dont have to adopt strong towns. Idk what argument ur trying to make here
Suburbs are not the issue! Car dependency is the issue! Suburbs should be walkable and have public transit access. I currently live in an American suburban development and the only way for me to leave to get to the nearest city is by car. Driving should be optional. Unfortunately, driving is mandatory in America because public transportation is simply underdeveloped or nonexistent. So I think the question is not are cities better than the suburbs. The question is how do we make both of these places as livable and walkable as possible.
@@juandiegoceleminmojica8790 No. Suburbs before the advent of car culture and exclusionary zoning were walkable and transit oriented. Lakewood, Ohio is a perfect example. Though they surrendered to the car some time ago it was a suburb organically developed around transit and mixed use. Furthermore, even rural towns were once walkable.
It's now a privilege not to have to drive. I would say a car is as important as food, clothing, shelter at this point. I certainly couldn't survive without one.
Sure there are some pre-war examples of suburbs being transit oriented and productive places. The thing is, those places do not get built anymore and have not been built in 80 years, and many of them are now within the with the "city" proper, or are considered the city by many. The term "suburb" is now synonymous with car dependent single use development patterns that we see in literally every state and region. Bring any American to Berkley CA, or Evanston Il and ask them if they are in the "city" or the "suburb" - I can bet you they will say "city". The question is, is our modern idea of a suburb (not the streetcar suburbs from 100 years ago - where are the streetcars again?), financially, environmentally, or socially sustainable in even the short term? Signs point to no.
Absolutely is. A suburb would evolve into a city if those "free market" governments didn't prevent landowners from developing what they think will be economically advantageous.
Either way, we have nearly 8 billion humans on the planet. If we're going to irresponsibly increase our population, we need to be strategic about efficiently housing people. That means condos and townhouses in and close to cities.
There is a variety of wants and needs from rural living, suburban living to skyscrapers to everything else in between. The problem in the US is that 80% of the land is zoned for single family detached houses. Mix commercial and residential is limited which necessitates car travel to do most tasks. Minimum parking requirements make it prohibitively expensive to build densely.
It's zoned for SFH is because that's what 80% of the populations wants. Last time I checked, in a democratic country, the majority makes the decision. Sorry for those 20% but that's how it works, at least you still have the 20% of areas where other types of buildings are allowed. They are expensive, but deal with it.
@@aliciafaulkner416 more like it's the ONLY type of housing available. Better show some surveys or studies proving your claim before you go all out NIMBY.
@@aliciafaulkner416 What they want isn't what they can afford. Everyone wants a Rolls-Royce. But many would rather trade suburban living for city if it was cheap enough. But zoning laws means expensive cities in addition to naturally expensive suburbs.
I do service plumbing. It really is annoying driving these windy roads, wasting gas while being on a set hourly rate. Then needing a map to get out because its not a grid system.
yup, live in a place with lax zoning. 300 people live in this town and we have a country store, post office, place where we each sell things we make, a bank, a feed store, a church and a hot dog/pizza/steak sandwich shop. We're missing healthcare and education but we've got our other bases covered. I only need to take a 3 minute walk to get some penny candy and my groceries, maybe deposit a check, buy a bird house my neighbor built, pick up chicken scratch for the hens, light a candle at church for a loved one and bring home a pizza for dinner. It's fantastic! I wish everyone knew how comfy living like this is. The kids have a park they all hang out at with a little free library out front. (I've started filling it with manga and teen stuff since it was just mom novels til we moved in lol.) Gonna start projecting movies onto the side of our house this summer, it's so nice to have things to do that you don't need a car for. I grew up in suburb hell, walking to a grocery store was 30 minutes at least. My friend got heat stroke once trying to meet me at Subway. People out here still use horses to get around and haul stuff, so the area isn't very car dependent which means you occasionally get the odd flat from roads meant for horses not cars, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.
@@paxromana5834 only because US cities have been designed for them. Other cities proprieties walking, biking and transit making cars slower and less convenient
Denser walkable neighborhoods with a variety of uses are always better doesnt really matter whether it feels suburban or urban. Build areas incrementally giving urself time to self correct errors and focus on having living working and recreation all in one and people will general be happier with the area while also being more efficient in a fiscal sense as well. Whether u want to attain an urban, suburban or even a semi-rural character this can still be achieved with this style of development people just need to be less rigid in how they think about it.
Those people that scream for less government and more free markets are the first folks to complain about development, prevent zoning change, and force their neighbors to maintain a lawn to their HOA standard.
@@innocentnemesis3519 Of all the things they saddled us with, Euclidean zoning might be the worst. Incredibly ironic that America would be the developed country with the least freedom in what you can build, and where you can build it.
@@Cotswolds1913 the American people have too much freedom with what they can build and where they can build it. That's why they're in the mess they're in. So long as you have the money, you can do nearly anything you want.
Suburbs aren’t inherently bad. It’s when the costs of roads get heavily subsidized instead of bike lanes and public transport despite being far less efficient use of public funds, and the fact in many areas there is no mixed use ALLOWED (which should concern everyone on both sides since that’s very anti free market)
This is very true. People don't complain when roads and highways get subsidized it's okay, but when buses and trains get subsidies they always scream "no to unprofitable transit", like wtf.
I dont understand why bikes need to be on the street and cannot use sidewalks. Its not like anyone walks on side walks in kansas. People avoid buying houses with sidewalks because they are karen magnets. If you have a side walk you must make karens happy by shoveling snow, making sure the concrete remains level, and it screws up parking on your driveway since we need 3 to 4+ cars per family.
There is a lot wrong with suburbs. They're asocial, and these developments are created such that everyone living in them has approximately the same income. No one has to interact with anyone else that doesn't live life just like them
@@thedude5040 Because people also use those sidewalks; because, sometimes, The congestion created by pedestrians is not conducive to bicycle through traffic; because sometimes sidewalks themselves are not adequate for cycling through traffic; because sidewalks, inherently, are not designed to be traveled at speeds often experienced by bicycle commuters. Much like with bus lanes in larger urban centers, why can't we have dedicated bike lanes for cycling through traffic? Does the added cost of a concrete barrier compare significantly to the cost of constructing and maintaining a third car lane?
@@thedude5040 I think you contradicted yourself. Why can't bikes be on sidewalks, because people don't clear them and like to park on their driveway blocking them. You made the point that bike lanes should be right on the street with a sidewalk right next to it on the house side.
who would make their biggest purchase,asset and investment in something unsustainable? most people who bought homes made out like a bandit with appreciation, so what does this comment even mean?
Boo hoo. Don't want to live in the suburbs, then don't, but why bother people that don't want to live in a city? I want a yard, my own slice of heaven, my own house that doesn't have people living above or below me that aren't family. You prefer a city, great, stay there.
You seem to forget that a lot of homes, like vacation houses and rundown shacks are considered as empty homes in official statistics. Not all empty homes are in good shape.
That is the solution for the less urban areas in Germany. But I doubt it will work in US. The reason is people living in suburbs might not want others to come and go along the roads of their homes. Too dangerous as lots of people carry guns.
Cities where someone is in walking distance of all basic services and where transit connects the whole area with good frequency. A place with good land uses to minimize low productive spaces like surface parking lots and urban golf courses. Housing that provides homes for the lower, middle, and upper-class Alleyways to hide city services and some designed for quite or bustling liveable spaces
@@sounakchakraboty9700 Bigger does not mean better.. Flats and apartments CAN be designed where everything is multi-use and will feel less compact. Also, there are big apartments if that's what you want
@@sounakchakraboty9700 That is something which needs to be planned better. 2500 sq ft condos would still be a more efficient use of land than 2500 detached homes, but they don't exist in great numbers. I would love a condo that size with a common area that has high end grills, a gym, etc. That plus schools need to improve. But that is a chicken vs egg problem, since you need more upper middle class families in these areas for the schools to improve.
The Mosaic District is a perfect example of combining community, housing, and accessibility. If you live in Mosaic, you almost never have to leave: you have a super Target, movie theater, large public quad, plenty of restaurants and bars, stores, etc. More of these could make people more happy, but might also make people too comfortable from ever living their district. However, rent in the Mosaic is comparably higher than other places and most housing units are corporately owned.
The government would much prefer to have housing owned by big corporations rather than private owners. That gives the government more control, but limit’s private ownership.
@@rishabhanand4973 Rent is higher because there's demand not being supplied. Those districts are a small fraction of the overall housing market, but are very popular. If more could be built (they're often blocked by existing zoning laws and required tons of red tape to get off the ground), rents would likely even out.
@@marcopervo Having an apartment above a grocery store is the dream. Then I'd only need to go downstairs to get groceries. Also, more walkable cities are much better for small businesses since people are more willing to check out an unknown place when walking past it than by driving past it. So there would actually be fewer big box stores
Europe has suburbs too, but they don't sprawl as large as most american. if you cant walk or take a buss to a shopping area within 30 minutes, then you have problems.
Car companies runnied the urban planning. Laws were changed for them and trams were uprooted by oil and gas companies. Just imagine you should be able walk to school, grocery shops, even to your doctors office that’s how cities were built for all these years before the car came. Not to allow retail shop in single family home or even multi family home is atrocious. We should not allow polluting factories not what is essential.
Sounds to me like zoning laws are the linchpin to the problem...reducing zoning laws to 2 classes 1. Mixed use and 2. Home, will reduce the problem overtime due to the increased flexibility that mixed use offers.
Suburs are always more expensive. Thing is that suburbs aren't really sustainable. It requires huge amount of roads, pipes, cables etc. with continuous maintenance on larger scale when compared to more dense development. Many suburbs are just running on negative in US, being subsidized by profitable denser neighborhoods, especially mixed use land. Not to mention resources needed to use car for relatively long distance transport and shopping. Not to mention by having more dense housing, you can leave more space for nature and other things.
@@thanosianthemadtitanic there's a lot more space for you if all the people who cant drive and don't want to be driving don't own a car my fellow human. see the Netherlands or not just bikes or city beautiful.
Fairfax County hasn't been affordable since the early 2000's. Heck, my parents had to rent an income based apartment in the 90's just to get by as working class people. You could have used a better example.
You people always make 2 contradictoty arguments: 1. In car dependent suburbia people spend irrational amounts of money on cars and car manufacturing labor which is totally not ok. 2. In walkable cities people tend to spend money on shlt they don't need, typically associated with leisure and mindless consumerism, which is totally awesome!
@@ireminmon I don’t think it is that opposing a opinion. One expenditure gives them a better living standard while the other only gives them cars that then stress them while they are stuck in traffic.
@@Thebreakdownshow1 Now that's a rather hot take. I won't get into how 'urban service sector workers' are some of the poorest, most precarious and simultanously politicaly the most rabid sectors of the population with very little prospects for asset formation, but you might well think about this as well. If you want to argue being forced to live in a tiny apartment with no real ability for space management, car ownership, tractor ownership, gardening etc then you should say so transparently. Not many people would argue drinking coffee by the main street, eating mass produced food from wallmart (corn syrup) and depending on labor that is external to the household for pretty much any needs that are not related to your primary profession is superior lifestyle to semi-self sufficient single family households with access to liquid labor markets via private mobility vehicles (cars).
@@ireminmon I don't think I said the system we have is perfect. I agree with what you are saying that was never the debate. A walkable downtown centres are better than just a downtown is the point. On top of that what said is I rather see people pay money towards the city centre where the same people you said that suffer work, rather than paying FORD or GM who make the profit while their workers in Mexico don't benefit much.
The infrastructure maintenance isn't planned, saved for, or taxed for from the beginning which is where the biggest problem lies. Anytime there is "extra" money in a municipal budget they find some way to spend it, same thing that caused the big issue for social security when Washington kept borrowing its funds for other things
.......when it comes to city planning, US has alot to learn from East Asia countries, as a person who experience actual city life there, it wasn't until when I lived in US suburb for almost a decades, when I realized how this suburb enviroment has changed my way of thinking, I basically lived two verry different kind of lives, with very stark contrast, and I found myself asking is that good? which kind of livelihood do I like it more? And the answer is pretty obvious, everytime when I go back to the place where I first grew up, I feel I have more freedom to walk to anywhere, rather than always have to drive and plan your route, I feel sooooo much more convenient and wayyy less tiresome to have actual good public transport, high quality subway system, and high speed rail to get to anywhere in a country in a couple hours, rather than driving every time when you step out of your home, worse yet, risk doozing off driving on the freeway. I feel I eat significantly better when there's actual good local food and night market just around the corner or a few blocks away, not to mention numerous underground mall and food court connecting to a subway station, not chain store fast food drive through at every intersection. I feel like I want to go social with friends more, and I got to meet new people more often, I found that one of the main reason that always turns me off to go meet someone, is that I have to drive for 30 min plus dealing with traffic just to do that......might as well stay home and do my thing. I hope more government officials from both party would see just how harmful suburb has proved to be, they claim to "serve" us and "better" our lives......might wanna start here in city planning? It's pretty practical and it ACTUALLY can potentially improve us normal citizen lives. Ultimately, we as American need to stop having "suburb thinking", we need to BUILD UP our city not EXPANDING it, we need to stop seeing downtown and inner city as a cesspool of the poor and homeless, but as the main center for all the best that a city can offer, the cleanest street, the most beautiful parks and squares, the tallest skyscraper and office building, and instead of freeway all converging there, end the freeway before it comes in, instead make the underground subway station some of the cleanest, biggest, most efficient on time train u can have, attract people to go underground for train, shopping, meal, or just to chill, make the city run underground, on the subway. In my hometown the main city square is so huge that it has a green space, two beautiful concert hall, and a national monument. The main rail station has 4 underground floor that connects to two subway line, one local rail line, the high speed rail, and a airport subway system to take people to the international airport, along with a underground street that's 3 subway station long, consist of numerous restaurant, a food court, libraries, stores, and like two general social place. How's that for convenience! I know this may seems like a pipe dream in the US, but I'm hopeful....if my hometown, the capital of a small island can be like this, why can't we? But in the meantime, I'll be waiting for my next opportunity to go back, and I'm not letting my next generation live in a cold isolate enviroment.
Suburban America isolated and bored us to depression. We've now opened our eyes only to find ourselves trapped in a cage, looking outside of the window to sunnier lands. I'm right there with you, waiting for the next boat out.
@@badhombre4683 actually a lot of people get depressed when they live big cities so thats why my chinese friends became cowboys in texas because they like green land also usa isn't the only place that have suburbs but i dont mind the suburbs because the suburbs have more green land than apartments so yes i couldn't stand small spaces when i had an apartment
@@estelaangeles2346 I’m not denying your experience, but the fact that you have to compare the US to China speaks volumes. Chinese urban planning shouldn’t be a paradigm for the US. Compare how people feel living in the cities of Western Europe, notably the Netherlands and Scandinavia and you’ll see that on average they are a lot happier and wouldn’t substitute their urban living for the car-centric suburbs of the US. Of course, your level of happiness isn’t determined solely on where you live, but we are creatures of our environment, and as such, where you live does make a big difference.
I moved to Austin, TX few years ago, and have 3 options to buy: 1. Townhouse or condo in newly built duplex 5 miles from downtown on tiny lot costs between 750k to 1.2 million for 1500 sq ft. Its nice walkable neighborhood, feels fancy and modern but nothing luxury. Also, almost no trees. 2. House in nice established neighborhood in north Austin but not suburb yet would cost $400-450k with same sq footage. Much larger lot, older trees and very livable 3. House in suburb like Round Rock would cost $350k. Even larger lot and very spread out boring suburb. What should I choose? I'd love to go with option 1 and live more walkable urban life (again its not super expensive downtown yet), but why in the world they cost 2-3X more than same single family houses?! Change zoning and allow for more 2-4 unit houses. Living in duplex is great, when you can rent another unit. However, most duplexes in Austin are in so-so neighborhood and vast majority is under 1000 sq ft.
The reason why they cost more is because that's how much it cost to plan and build considering all the necessary infrastructures come with it. Same reason the video mentioned that suburbs is "one time" type of development.
Mueller is nice but is unaffordable because how rare it is if we build lot more Muellers around the metro that are TODs it would make it much more affordable lifestyle instead we are still building suburban sprawl with no transit connections
@@nishiljaiswal2216 Exactly, #1 in my comment was about Mueller. Its a great idea with medium density townhouses/duplexes and urban vibe. Location is nice but 2-3x overpriced, I heard that area was real dump 20 years ago, Austin can easily build and replicate that concept in South Austin, Pflugerville, Hutto and other new developments. Instead, all I see are cookie cutter houses, usually 2000+ sq ft on tiny lots or apartment complexes. Nothing in between, and many people don't even need large houses, they need 3 bed/2 bath modern homes on small lots. And then we complain about traffic and skyrocketing prices
My family was one of the first people to move into the mosaic when I was in 10th grade. I got my first job there. All my friends hung out there. I went on my first date and most of the following there. This is all while being within 1000 ft of my front door. It was great. I rule see nothing wrong with these developments.
Walkable cities are the real economy, suburbs are unviable for the future if the concept still car centric, human center design economy is the lead for a healthier and sostenible society
The entire premise of Cities vs Suburbs is build on a false dichtomy, because all places have the potential to be great or terrible depending on how they are managed, regulated and zoned. Whether you look at cities in the Netherlands, suburbs in Japan or small rural towns in Germany, we have many examples of how to build well and there is no reason the U.S. can't do so too.
Suburbanites very often have to work in cities, and spend tons of money in cities, theyre also not the ones committing crimes or needing govt handouts so no suburbs are not being subsidized. They contribute more to cities they just dont want to live in those dumps
Glad to see that this long and ever exacerbating issue has finally been brought up. Beside all those meaningful discussions, the fundamental question is how to re-establish affordability back into cities and into those newly developed neighbourhoods?? All those new neighbourhoods presented in this coverage are in reality rather an expansion of urban gentrification planned by developers. So it seems exemplifying a solution concerning the suburban problems, but it is not! cause the condos and units in those new areas are still too expensive. If we take a look on the very evolution of our labour/ job market and on the evolution of production system in near future, the affordability will be even more important to keep and preserve city’s creative dynamics. But no one seems to have an answer in this regard.
There is an answer. If condos are too "unaffordable" then prices will come down. Simple economics 101. The reality is that those condos are indeed affordable.... but just not to you. If an area has a lack of decent paying jobs and expensive housing you either have to upgrade your income capability or move out. Simple. . Yet we consistently want government to some how break the laws of economics. This has been going on for decades and decades. Absolutely nothing new here. Sooo may ideas have been explored and a little time researching our history on this topic may be educational. As an example, Boston had rent control zones for decades (I think they still do), seemed to give good results in the short run only to become a huge problem later and basic economics 101 would have predicted the outcome. . Know this - developers operate where they can make profit. Put up enough barriers and the developers will operate somewhere else and NOTHING is built. Research this topic in the context of Detroit.
Every American, if they have the means of doing so, should visit the Netherlands and/or Denmark, so they can see for themselves how much better non-car dependent cities feel to live in.
They should also visit Shanghai, where the government will shut trains off to people who try to protest but have no other means of getting to the location
When you look at the last old school suburb walkable areas left, it looks so wonderful. It’s a shame we can’t or aren’t allowed to build new suburbs like that. It’s ok to have a barbershop 2 blocks down the street, or a cafe up the road. A dance studio in the middle of the block? Ok maybe I’m pushing it, but the corner house may want to start a dance studio, why not let them? Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a “center of town” with small shops, and a park? Why do I have to drive just to go food shopping? The crazy thing is before the 1950’s, most suburbs were walkable. Even crazier? The very few walkable areas are the most wanted areas. It’s amazing how it’s not more of a thing.
The problem that is not mentioned is crime in cities. I live in Minneapolis and it used to be a wonderful place to work and play. Now Minnepolis is dangerous to go to alone even during the day without worrying about your safety. We have some pretty big issues coming up on how we are all going to afford to live and work together in a safe, encouraging, and vibrant place that makes quality of life better for all. Living in the suberbs is hard because it is more isolating, less walkable, and transporatation is an issue.
Big towns, small cities, you need small condos in walking distance of shops for the elderly too. There are too many old people in big houses and on the road, that can't even downsize because they can't afford retirement communities.
Remote work has long been a thing for development of digital products. However, the prospect of decision-makers in physical industries being even more out of touch with the work being done and the physical spaces that work is happening in or that it affects is a bit alarming.
The day I can afford one, I'm leaving the city life and going into a big house in the suburbs, simply because I don't like being around too many people.
yeah, i have my disagreements with CNBC. But if they keep up with the urbanist content, I'll probably go from detesting it to having a positive view of it.
Other major factors besides cost and congestion not mentioned in this video is crime and corruption. They are also keeping people from living in big cities
They can't mention them because it will single handedly defeat the goal of the this video. LOL. High density residential area almost always means higher crime rate. Also, racial reason is another one that no media will ever want to cover. The higher cost region will automatically filter out the lower incomers, aka, higher crime group. Yep, never listen to name media source for opinions like this because their first goal is to be politically correct before trying to deliver the truth.
@@aliciafaulkner416 wealth inequality. Low wealth = high crime pretty much anywhere you go. Every non 3% should be fighting to correct this. Middle America wouldn't need to "flee" to the burbs if we all had enough and felt safe in our cities.
@@seanharan9521 We both know that in terms of public housing, value and crime are the two most important part of it. So it makes no sense to talk about housing without talking about crime rate of any given housing. Moving from Hollywood to Compton can save you 80% if you try to buy a house, but would you?
@@aliciafaulkner416 Compton is built like a suburb, it just happens to be one with high crime. But regardless that’s not what this video is about though. It’s about economics and fiscal productivity which is different from solely rent/housing values (though of course those play a sizable role)
The biggest issue that this won't address in the near-term -> improving school districts. Everyone I know loves living in the city. But will move to start a family in the suburbs because the schools are so much better. Perhaps the trend of having fewer kids will help this housing issue but it takes a long time to recover a tax base to improve schools.
Which is why in some states like Illinois, the state government pools the real estate funds from all the counties and distribute the money evenly among all school districts.
Suburbs are so much better for kids. Our toddler's tantrums were causing us noise complaints in our apartment. I don't know how people have kids in the city.
@@zUJ7EjVD Yeah the problem is when people say things like that, but then complain when they have a neighbor with a toddler having a tantrum. Are we just going to pretend that toddlers don't exist or lock them away?
@@rockyshocks101 Most young women are choosing not to have children these days. Having children is an act of faith. Some cynical folks describe children as really expensive pets. Decent childcare is unaffordable for most people. Most women must focus on their careers, since there no guarantees that they'll have a set future. But it's a vicious cycle on a societal level. With fewer children, the tax base is getting erroded and future generations will be in trouble.
I'm glad I saw that! Don't sit around all day complaining about the economy or waiting for a miracle. Invest today in something productive that will not only help you save money but also make a profit. Today, I can boast a portfolio of almost a million dollars, which I have achieved through consistent investing and also through working with an investment advisor
well said; Investing is good and should be on everyone's lips now. I've heard a lot about investing with the help of a financial advisor and the role they play. I am looking for someone to help me manage my portfolio given my busy work schedule. How can I do that?
There are many RIAs out there, but finding a trustworthy person to help seems to be a big problem. That's why I'm working with Larry Kent Nick and so far it's been worth it. Larry Kent Nick doesn't go back on his words and unlike most financial advisors he isn't after your money but to make sure he serves you better.
suburbs are the best thing happened in US housing history. If they wanna build more affordable housing, build it in city. Take out highways from middle of the Downtown, get rid of rent control, loose house building regulations and shorten time to attain permit.
Cities are productive places that produce more tax revenue than they consume while subsidizing the suburbs, which need to constantly expand. I can attest to this. In the town I grew up in, the downtown areas and the older suburbs (built before the 1940s, with a mix of small-lot single-family homes and low-rise apartment buildings) were always more financially sustainable than the sprawling suburbs that needed to be served by freeways. Also, car infrastructure is a drain on cities, while well-run public transit can actually turn a profit (London's Tube, for instance, brings in more money than it spends every year). And of course there are the health and social costs associated with designing cities for cars instead of people.
Cities don't subsidize suburbs. Suburbanites work and spend $ in cities in massive amounts. you have entire office buildings in NY that have thousands of people coming in from LI or NJ ...these are middle to upper middle class to rich folks who sustain cities and chose to live outside of it. It's cities who are the ones with crime, drugs, filth, and countless burdens of the state mooching off the system
Why is it so difficult for americans to understand the concept of small town? A town, no more than 1 Mile in diameter to be walkable. With a main street and a town center with buildings of about 4 stories (shops in the ground floor), around the town center row houses of about 3 stories and at the outer rim single family houses of 2 stories. No surface parking lots or minimum parking requirements and only narrow, slow street or car free streets where possible. Even people living at the edge of town can within 10 minutes comfortably walk to the town center for a coffee, grocery shopping, going to the school, train station and so on. A normal small town that everybody loves and the people who don't like it move to a small farm village or the big city. Suburbs are just not needed.
Exactly this how we developed towns and cities since practically the start of human history, the core being the densest until eventually you get to farmland
I like apartments for the most part but the bottom line most buildings need sound proofing. Hearing neighbors is annoying. I moved to the suburbs because of this and having a backyard is nice
I think the problem with urban areas in the US is the fear of crime that makes it unappealing especially for families. I spent much time in urban places such as Paris, Milan, Tel Aviv, Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai and never really felt unsafe. Spending just a night in New York, Chicago or Los Angeles and I feel lucky to survive. I could never raise a family in these places hence the suburbs is so much more appealing.
Maybe something is wrong with law enforcement if that is the case. It's their job to make people safe in their areas. Media also tends to overblow things, especially in networks owned by Sinclair.
There have to be other options, we should not only allow single family housing because of couple people don’t want to live in the city. We should be also building other options such as townhomes, duplexes, apartment building etc.
@@tylere.8436 exactly. Both Republicans and Democrats are horrible in terms of housing and urban planning. And both have that "f*** you I got mine" mentality.
Fairfax county has been in the top 10 most expensive counties in America for about 2 decades… maybe not “typical” as hoped (that is top 99.8th percent)
It's also one of the most boring, lifeless, and cookie cutter burbs out there. I had to spend Thanksgiving there with my ex's family and couldn't wait to leave. She tried giving me a little tour of the area and I was like "you're proud of this?"
En el resto del mundo es asi, desde Europa hasta Argentina, se usan las cuadras o como le dicen en USA "grid". La gente del barrio se conoce y forman comunidades, van a una misma tienda del barrio y cada tienda se adapta al poder adquisitivo de la gente que vive alli
I think what we have to consider is that densely populated areas has a higher crime rate. Which means that there are less people willing to live in city and wanting to live suburbans. And the other issue is that once you start having public transit the tax revenue tends to go up. In comparison to rural areas. No let’s also consider two that the more homes are being billed equals GDP. For anybody interested, I would suggest you do a Google search of how revenue works in the city.
I been working for the same company for 15 years. I would love to move closer. But the cost of living is to high in that area. But one thing I would never do is to move closer to be in a small studio apartment. No Thanks. I want a big house with a big yard. I'll keep commuting if that's the case.
I personally think revisions are needed. But as someone who grew up in the city and currently live in the suburbs.... I genuinely love having a yard & fewer neighbors 😂
World's on Fire. WHAT CAN WE DO? Well, the End of UpisnotJumps Climate-Change-Video and Second-Thought's video "Why are People Losing Faith in Capitalism" literally having a "Heres what you can do"-Segment at the very End, but even ignoring that, i say: A LOT.
The question that Strong Towns presents is: If you had to bear the real cost, can you afford it? The reality is that the infrastructure for suburbs are massively subsidized.
As someone who grew up in a suburb and lives in a city now, I appreciate that there is actually a reason to go outside 😂. Different strokes for different folks, but we really shouldn't be forcing our personal preferences onto others (by default, this country does it though).
@@loturzelrestaurant Climate extremism is 100% based on logically fallacious unfalsifiable pseudo-science. There is no crisis. Climate science is a criminal fraud. It's literally just communists and human-haters trying to control and depopulate you. I live in Belgium and a "sustainable" future is simply an unlivable dictatorship where your "unsustainable" life is a crime and the regime's main priority is controlling every facet of your life until you finally roll over and die.
Another factor that plays a role in the lack of better communities are people's irrational fears of who would move into those communities. It could be for reasons of crime, classism, racism, or multiple factors. For example, talk to people from NJ and PA and you always hear how they blame the NYC transplants for bringing crime and traffic into their areas. Yet these are the same people who will vote down affordable housing and zoning laws to keep those people out and still complain about their taxes being so high.
@@FreemonSandlewould Depends on if it can be reliably proven that the problems were and are currently caused by the people of that race, which I highly doubt those people can prove outside of their own personal biases
@@pirtl_turtl Let me give you an example: The land lord, a Chinese national and an agent, who doesn't actually own any property but represents a group of 'investors' in China down pays for couple houses in a new community and immediately rents out to people who can't otherwise afford to live in this zip code without Section-8 subsidies. These people moves in next to you and then proceeds to sub-lease the house to God-knows-who. Weeks later, neighbors found suspicious packages laying around the block and questionable people doing 'business' next to the said house and on nearby street. This is accompanied with incessant loud noises at night coming from the said house. Then Police raided that house 2-3 times in one year for drugs and other illicit activities. Now you tell me, am I, as a house owner and a neighbor, a racist for wanting these people to GTFO and are the police in our town being 'excessive' for trying to protect the community and serve the law?
@@beatrixaulani7661 the same problem with Airbnb’s in nice, safe and quiet neighborhoods! And yes, it’s mostly a certain demographic bringing in the loudness and crime
I like how the automobile makes a silent, sinister appearance near the end as the culprit: enabler of all the sprawl driven slow economic meltdown. Bravo.
4:51 - "And so a complaint that's often made is, well, you know, it's typically higher end housing that tends to be built. Well, the challenge is it's impossible to build 20-year-old apartment buildings. The only way to get 20-year-old apartment buildings is to build t today." So sick of this mentality, literally just a continuation of trickle down economics. The needs of working class (not even talking about people in poverty) are becoming more and more of an afterthought. We are expected to catch the few crumbs that fall from the table of the upperclass and be content. F*** waiting 20+ years for affordable housing, we need a revival of direct government investment in the middle class! No more handouts to developers just for them to set aside 2% of their units as "affordable" and then only hold as affordable for the next 10-15 years B.S. The federal government needs to do what it did back in the 40s with the GI Bill, but for everybody! Also, what it did in the 50s with the Public Works Administration to build public housing developments. Alternatively, Housing Co-ops and Community Land Trusts are another way to free ourselves from these greddy landlords! #landlordsareparasites
"Not Just Bikes" address this issue on a weekly basis... great videos. Basically, our car dependency is killing us. Literally. Federal Gov build infrastructures... and incite people to move in the suburbs. Then the suburbs needs to grow for maintenance. Then the Fed Giv needs to jump in and build new infrastructures. Then people buy more cars... I could repeat that last line 20 times. Its a catch 22 of spending and car dependency non sense.
Fairfax county is an unfair example of a place people are moving to away from a big city because DC is, comparatively to actual big cities, a tiny city or big town - not many people really really live there.
Thank y'all for making this video, it's so thorough and eye opening for people who haven't thought about urban development beforehand. So many other issues connect to this!
Subsidies are usually one way to keep fares low, but when it is suggested, Republican always complain of "big government" even when they do the same for highways.
Most outer suburbs will simply disappear over time. They were a phenomenon of the 20th century economy. The future is about contraction and consolidation.
@@timburr4453 But people have to adapt to the economy and circumstances of the time, regardless of what they want. Ideally, as the suburbs contract, the towns and small cities with walkable streets and main street businesses will revive.
Cities flourished for thousands of years, suburbia was built for the car because of “freedom” and “privacy” which isn’t bad, but cannot be sustained without the necessary economic activity to pay for the cost, THUS a city.
it kind of is bad since A) sedentary lifestyle is horrible for cardiovascular health and B) being stuck in traffic is psychologically tormenting which also exacerbates heart disease and other health areas (immunity, etc..) and being more socially isolated is generally horrible for mental health (and physical by extension)
Most of my childhood and until I was 50 I lived in Fairfax County-rural and suburban-Mount Vernon area. Now I’m out West-hot and dry now! 🥵 The neighborhood I live in now used to be a strawberry farm.
I like the suburbs. I’m in Cleveland and as a black man born and raised in the ghettos of Cleveland, I thank God for giving me the strength to work hard, study hard, and grant me the opportunity to achieve a degree and land a nice paying job to get myself and family up out of the city. I live in a beautiful suburb, low taxes, low crime, excellent public school district, plentiful shopping and parks and recreation. Why that hell should anyone be subjected to inner city living, I’m sure those who could get out would. Doesn’t matter NYC, Chicago, St. Louis, or here in Cleveland…high crime, poor quality of schooling, how levels of pollution, and drama.
Yawn. I have always had a philosophy that suburban living is only good for retirees and families with younger children. Inner city living allows freedom, adventure, independence, and great socialization especially for people my age since I'm a gen Z. I'm glad that old outdated suburban life involving big houses 20-60 minutes away from amenities are dying out. Inner city living encourages much less use of cars which means there will be a decrease in CO2 and fossil fuels in our planet. Besides, it's no secret that wages aren't catching up to the increased costs of housing. Tiny houses, town houses, and condos can and will contribute to the solution for that problem, and I and my gen Z friends will gracefully embrace that version of the American dream. Oh and p.s. it's not the city's fault for the crime, it's the politicians. Have to simply choose carefully who you vote for.
@@last_womann8344 Families of Younger children is the KEY. One living in the suburb can do everything someone in the city can do without the drama. Owning a car is freedom. You're free from dependence. Personally, I like the fact that I can go wherever and when I want and not having to rely on public transportation or rideshare. I know I can SAVE massive amount of time driving. I also have the security that I do not have my life in the hands of someone else. Sure there's always a risk on the roads, but security starts with self. BTW, nobody gives a flying duck about CO emissions except those who profiting from its regulations. The rest of the spew is just whining about wages and cost of housing. Better yourself so someone can pay you well, and you wouldn't worry about the cost of houses. And I agree, politicians are responsible for many of the issues in the innercity, but who votes for those local politicians? Thats right, the residence of that city.
@@DoctorOreos Okay? Nobody said that inner city living CAN'T have cars. Parking lots won't go away so there must be cars. I agree with having a car is freedom. Our problem in the USA is that our public transportation is light years behind other countries so it makes sense that ours takes more time to use. Urban developments can and will solve that problem. The problem in the USA is our overreliance on cars. It encourages obesity (which is an ongoing epidemic that is slowly getting better thanks to traditional suburbs dying out) and the amount of crashes and mortality of pedestrians is pretty unnecessary and preventative as long as we have development getting away from that. Thank goodness! Watch Not Just Bikes. They have undeniable facts that goes well in depth with the problems of USA suburbs. Yes, I still stand by what I said with families with younger kids and old people are the only ones benefiting from suburbia living. Families with older kids and young professionals DO NOT need to be living in those isolated depressive situations. Parents mad they have to be driving their children everywhere but with the right amount of street smarts, common sense, and development, their children can be independent and go places themselves in cities. Lol at you saying that my generation is just whining at the current and future problems we got forced into thanks to your generation. Typical old timer you are. The problems you all set our nation with, you can't take accountability for, and just tell the younger generation to "just deal with it". Double LOL at you saying if I follow that, I can afford a house. Riiiight with all these foreign companies, AirBNB, and house flippers buying up properties and leaving a limited amount of supply for residents is something that can just disappear by working harder and pulling ourselves up by the bootstraps. Noted. Trust me, solutions to the problems you all caused are going to be fixed. Great that your generation is retiring and getting out the way of progress.
@@last_womann8344 You’re speaking on emotions, not rational. Do you understand that suburban living provides MORE for a nuclear family with access to inner city amenities? And here’s another thing, most of the money the city gets comes from people living in the suburbs. Also people who don’t live in the inner city are buying property dirt cheap to rebuild. I.e Gentrification. So how does that benefit you? You’re broken to begin with and yet the vision of inner city life is going to run you $3000 a month for rent or live in public housing in the slums of the city. Either way it sucks for you. Urban development does nothing for you other than having more Starbucks, Trader Joe’s, and Whole Foods in walking distance all you can’t afford to shop at. It’s ironic how someone who is concerned about wages and cost of living have the energy to speak about climate or any topic. Your priorities are screwed up. If you can afford a car, then so be it, it’s a choice. I choose to drive. I own a bicycle and there are access to public transportation, but I choose to drive. Obesity, it’s our culture. Giving up driving isn’t going to change it. Or culture is consumption. So it’s stupid to compare our country to others. I’m in my 40s so I’m not ancient, but just something about life I was taught that perhaps someone needs to teach you, “work smarter, not harder”. You think you’re the only generation struggling? How selfish of you. The biggest difference now and 30 yrs ago is technology. Try making rent in 1990. You needed a job, no smartphones, no computers, no apps, not even Google search. No stimulus checks, and fraction of Financial Assistance available then and almost nothing for a single man. You actually had to go to businesses and beg for a job that paid $4.75 an hr. But you wouldn’t know about that lifestyle. I’m sure my father as a black man would tell me life in the 60s was hard and my Grandfather can say the same thing in the 30s. Just now you have excuses. People literally can make money without trying and yet you’re so worried about other people. Perhaps when you hit 50 yrs old, you’ll look back on younger people and see how easy they have it.
Learn from singapore. We have one of the most successful city planning m social housing globally. Our social housing is profitable n built by good architects
More walkable places please and thank you. I lived in China for four months and it is faster and more desirable to get places by foot or metro than car. I spent only $80 on transportation within Shenzhen in those 4 months. Cars are seen as luxury in China not a necessity like the US. Metro planning in the US is just embarrassling bad.
Not good for business since concentrated population in city centers allows foot traffic which are opportunities for businesses. It’s more costly for businesses to operate in the suburbs since populations are less dense and will require more shops or branches to reach potential customers.
The US zoning areas purely residential is crazy. Requiring a car to get to anywhere, even in urban places, is bad enough but then you add in the social isolation that it so largely contributes and its really bad. AND THEN you add in the fact that between the lower tax density and the increased cost of providing services to these areas makes your town/city go broke and you gotta admit its just dumb. A bunch of technocrats guessed what the city of the future would be as cars proliferated in a post highway system country and made a bunch of planning decisions which are going to take decades to fix.
Also doesnt help that all the new home construction is all high end homes, and the only "Affordable" modest sized home, are simply income restricted "affordable" Homes. The new term for Section 8 homes. I deliver plumbing supplies to new construction for homes, I see and know what gets built. There is no homes for people who make 15-25 an hour anymore. You either cough up some insane quarter, half mill for a home(or more). Or you rent a place where you are always fighting to stay above water on rent or you have a rent you can easily pay, but are always afraid that suddenly your rent will increase far above what you can pay.
Europeans have figured this out many years ago. Just look at the EU cities, old or young, there are apartment complexes with retail ground floor. People are walking, shopping, eating on every corner while leaving on the upper floors. They figured it out, and we should look and learned more closely.
Don't impose your preferences on others. Not everyone like to live in a crowded sardine can on top of business you don't like. The reason suburbs are popular is because people like privacy and space. This way if your neighbor is an idiot, you are at least a bit more far away from him and can easily ignore him.
@@victordesouza5604 There are literally ZERO clean, walkable cities in the US. We are trying to create at least ONE. That is not "opposing preferences" on others.
As interest rates rise, housing will become more affordable. Low interest rates and development fees /red tape are the problem. Exclusive Zoning for single family homes is also a huge problem.
US suburbs are unique and cannot been found anywhere in the rest of the world. Car centric living is a nightmare and I believe it is one of the main reason depression levels are soo high. People are disconnected and are isolated with no natural life occurring on the streets.
US suburbs absolutely cannot be found anywhere else outside of the US. Correct! The other stuff you wrote, not so much.
Rats given access to drugs who have community ignore the drugs. Rats in social isolation use drugs to cope. I agree with this take. There’s no “life” in US suburban areas. It’s just roads, parking lots, cars, etc
@@BuddhaJunkee they can easily be found all over Canada
That's just not true. Suburbs are more common in American than elsewhere, but I doubt there is a single industrialized country that doesn't have suburbs. Canada, Australia, and the UK all come to mind as places I know suburbs aren't even particularly rare.
@@blainegabbertgabonemhofgoa6602
Simple comprehension. The environment a US suburb creates can exist elsewhere, the suburb itself cannot. It was a poke at OP’s verbiage.
Finally, after 70 years, people are talking about this critical topic.
Suburbs, highways, car centric plans, and single use zoning have ruined cities across Canada and the United States
Finally, but then they hint at redesigning or expanding the, burbs.
Not alot of solutions tossed around for cities
Finally after 70 years? Where have you been? Go into an Architectural library and look at books on Urban planning. This topic has been studied for some 100 years!
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You know, intelligent life did exist long before you were born.
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Read about Le Corbusier and how he design urban planning as a knee jerk response to his history. Europe has been choked by their historical legacy. New world cities were designed BEFORE THE CAR WAS INVENTED with large grid type road networks as a way to solve European issues.
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Allowing for highways was an overlay that came much later. The cycle between city centric and suburb centric is an intellectual cycle that goes back and forth every couple of decades. If you have been around for a couple of decades you'd notice the pattern.
@@markplain2555 Didn't read. Find someone else to screech and rave to, old geezer
Cities ruined cities. Who wants to live in a crime infested dump with a bunch of illegals? Not me.
@@krzzzy19 No human is illegal!
I'm so glad that strong towns are getting more eyes on this problem!
"Strong Towns" by Charles Marohn is a Must-Read, modern-enlightenment book that really highlights the dire financials of suburbia. Hopefully more and more people flock to his UA-cam channel, "Strong Towns".
@@michaeljfoley1 Except it has no basis in reality. It is all political. It is the cities that are facing dire financials. Urban areas are losing population and it is the suburbs and rural areas that are growing. This narrative is all part of the left's war on suburbs. The cities want the tax money.
@@brocklanders6969 Charles Marohn of Strong Towns is pretty open about being a conservative and/or libertarian. It was his libertarianism that made him concerned about the financial effects of urban planning and land use, and of overbuilt/gold-plated infrastructure for low return land use development, such as that found in modern US suburbs. Many of these outer areas should really have something closer to rural infrastructure, to keep the public/private investment in those places more in balance. If they were designed more like towns with a main street and walkable neighborhoods, they could probably expect a more urban-style level of infrastructure.
And at this point, America should just copy the Netherlands in how they handle communities.
What's the problem? That for every 100 shoppings centers and strip malls in America, 1 is empty?
That's nto a problem.
So happy this is being discussed! The issue with traditional urban design needs more awareness
But they missed one big reason behind this. NIMBYS
Cities are designed to be sardine cans. Tell me how happy city dwellers are? Cities are also vectors for pandemics. Why do u wanna live in a tiny apartment? Why live in a rat infested dump? Suburbia has a high quality of living.
@@thunderb00m I'd be interested to see how people would vote if they knew changing zoning codes could improve issues with housing costs.
Did you not watch the video? This is more a problem in suburbs.
@@gibsonflyingv2820 people don't vote in the suburbs?
My son became a remote worker. At first he loved it. But a 1.5 later, he said that the isolation was causing mental health issues. Believe me they were. He was becoming a completely different person. He quite his job and took up a trade although he also took a big pay cut. But he’s a lot happier now and a much better person.
That depends on the person. Me myself has been working remotely for about 10 years now. Though I needed to find another job but it's only because of financial shortage I'm currently experiencing right now after taking two pets with me. I always consider myself lucky that I get to work like this compared to other people who needs to drive or commute every day.
Yeah I strongly push back against the notion that remote work is isolating. I go to work to get a check, I ain't going there to make friends. I hardly ever fit in with the people at work anyways. I believe people should make friends with people in their communities, even if that is virtually, such as gamers or other online social groups that share interests.
Not trying to invalidate your son's experiences, but maybe he's looking for meaningful connections in the wrong place and would benefit from rethinking where and who he wants to spend time with.
I am a remote worker. If they force me back to the office even in a hybrid schedule I'm leaving. I go to a coworking space about once a month and that's enough for me.
not everyone has mental issues
I lived in the Mosaic District in Fairfax County, VA from 2017-2020. It was neat to see it gain popularity so quickly and become a case study of urban development in a suburban area. The Mosaic District is this dense, walkable place with a nice plaza and all kinds of shops and restaurants. There is a large outdoor screen where they show movies and live sports events, there's a lively farmers market, and it tends to stay busy with families, even around 10 -12 at night!
It is surrounded by perhaps the most car-centric suburban development I've ever seen! So it's kind of this oasis away from the traffic congestion. It eventually became so popular a spot to hang out that they had to replace all the grass with turf and close down one of the through streets permanently. The transformation of an old warehouse into Caboose, a cafe and brewery that seats about 200+ people, extended pedestrian traffic across a very busy street. Hopefully they will redesign some of the surrounding streets and add more workforce housing in the Mosaic District to keep it growing!
And expensive
@@Aditya0227 Yes, it's expensive all over the DC Metro area! But I actually lived in a much more affordable townhome development right nearby, about a 15-20 minute walk away. I can tell you from experience though, that it can still be stressful crossing the street to get to the Mosaic District! Lots of traffic and even with giant crosswalks, some drivers still don't look out for pedestrians!
I lived near Fairlee for 2 years when Mosaic District was under construction. One of the biggest advantages of District is proximity to Dunn Loring station where you can take 35min train to DC
This is likely the biggest issue we as a society are facing. It affects everything: housing, crime, climate, healthcare, our social cohesion, mental health, everything. And it's not getting nearly enough coverage.
You can thank the automotive industry for car dependency
The biggest😂 cmon lol. It is not even clear it is a proble (apart from environmental reasons), people seem to like it. I hate high density places, people are loud.😀
@@lukazupie7220 you are wrong
@@anticarnistvegan about what?
@@lukazupie7220 everything
Glad to see CNBC discussing this issue that has long been ignored.
Definitely was not ignored
@@bobhabib750 1000% this is propaganda
Suburbs are awful, honestly. I lived in a walkable location in Europe for a year and it was life changing. I feel pretty depressed moving back to America. I can't bike anywhere here with the way my city is designed, yet it's not much different from the other cities I've lived in...god don't get me started about Houston.
Imagine living in houston
I feel that exact same way, growing up in Japan. Their mass transit was amazing, and we always were walking .It was so safe everywhere but that’s a whole different story. My only solution for now is I moved to the beach. So you get a little bit of walk ability and I’m able to ride my bike to work. But not everybody can do that
Houston seems like a zoo. I’m actually visiting in the fall.
@@thanosianthemadtitanic it was only a year luckily...ugh
No wonder why NJB dedicated an entire video against zoning regulations in Houston.
I believe city beautiful covers this more succinctly. Low density suburbans have such a high infrastructure cost per square mile that it is untenable after the first generation of infrastructure has run its course. A more dense/diverse setup would allow that cost per area to decrease and allow better efficiency and the plus of social centers.
This makes no sense. If I build a high rise building the costs are actually exponentially higher as the height increases. Yes you can get more people on an acre of land, but they still need transportation, fire and police, hospitals and schools. It may sound good, and is certainly more efficient for those who commute, but who really wants to live in a 12 story building on the 12th floor. Try it during a blackout in the summer, after a 6.2 earthquake sometime. There are things worse than suburbs.
@@ds94703 you're wrong and small in view. Roads, sewers, waterz electricity are all infrastructure (the word I used, so keep up) that is less cost efficient for incredibly low density suburbs.
I'm also not advocating for a world of 12 story buildings, you're trying your best to frame a weird stance. Medium density would be the best in the long run with ~4 stories per building with mixed use. This will also allow more efficient public transportation options because use of individual cars is the worst option and degrades our infrastructure quicker while also polluting more.
In summary, it makes sense in the proper terms in the holistic view.
@@ds94703 those services are actually run better because the less populated the less people paying to maintain those services because it’s less people and there more spread out those services need to travel at a greater distance. costing more money to maintain.
@@ds94703 Those costs are on the landlord. The infrastructure cost of suburbs is on the town. more road = more cost.
You also get more diseases, waste, and poverty. Mammals let alone human beings aren't meant to live that close together. Stop breeding.
I'm just happy that finally this issue is coming to light. As soon as you take a moment too look at sprawling suburb design, you soon see the harsh reality of how economically difficult it is to manage.
Glad to see Chuck on this. Strong towns needs to go mainstream.
Strong towns is a great resource for any town interested in improving the types of developments coming into their town
@@notmyname9625 In it's decades of existance, nothing strong towns does has actually improved a single development..
@@AllenGraetz and ur argument for that is? I personally know first hand of many town boards that use strong towns and i live in an area where town boards actually have a significant amount of power. Its a means of education for these boards its not habitats for humanity there not coming in and building stuff (at least to my knowledge). The education they provide to towns definitely has had a visibly positive impact in several towns in my area tho and that cant be denied. My town uses strong towns and has since seen better zoning, new parks and green spaces, better signage and lane markings, more efficient pedestrian crossings so on and so on. All these little things have added up to make a big difference in quality of life and at very low cost to the tax payer opposed to most projects which come with heavy price tags. These are all very small things you can do to make a big difference in your community none of this is costly or harmful to anybody its simply education towns can do with it what they will and if ppl disagree than they dont have to adopt strong towns. Idk what argument ur trying to make here
Suburbs are not the issue! Car dependency is the issue! Suburbs should be walkable and have public transit access. I currently live in an American suburban development and the only way for me to leave to get to the nearest city is by car. Driving should be optional. Unfortunately, driving is mandatory in America because public transportation is simply underdeveloped or nonexistent. So I think the question is not are cities better than the suburbs. The question is how do we make both of these places as livable and walkable as possible.
Aren't suburbs car-dependent by nature, as their low densities make commerce and transit unfeasible?
@@juandiegoceleminmojica8790 suburbs have existed before cars were invented/common and can exist without car dependency
@@juandiegoceleminmojica8790 No. Suburbs before the advent of car culture and exclusionary zoning were walkable and transit oriented.
Lakewood, Ohio is a perfect example. Though they surrendered to the car some time ago it was a suburb organically developed around transit and mixed use.
Furthermore, even rural towns were once walkable.
It's now a privilege not to have to drive.
I would say a car is as important as food, clothing, shelter at this point. I certainly couldn't survive without one.
Sure there are some pre-war examples of suburbs being transit oriented and productive places. The thing is, those places do not get built anymore and have not been built in 80 years, and many of them are now within the with the "city" proper, or are considered the city by many. The term "suburb" is now synonymous with car dependent single use development patterns that we see in literally every state and region. Bring any American to Berkley CA, or Evanston Il and ask them if they are in the "city" or the "suburb" - I can bet you they will say "city". The question is, is our modern idea of a suburb (not the streetcar suburbs from 100 years ago - where are the streetcars again?), financially, environmentally, or socially sustainable in even the short term? Signs point to no.
It's not the suburbs vs the city. It's sprawl vs organic development.
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It's the people.
Exactly
Absolutely is. A suburb would evolve into a city if those "free market" governments didn't prevent landowners from developing what they think will be economically advantageous.
Either way, we have nearly 8 billion humans on the planet. If we're going to irresponsibly increase our population, we need to be strategic about efficiently housing people. That means condos and townhouses in and close to cities.
The automotive industry really did us a number.
The auto industry also destroyed public transport since everybody needed a car to get to and from that distant suburb.
There is a variety of wants and needs from rural living, suburban living to skyscrapers to everything else in between.
The problem in the US is that 80% of the land is zoned for single family detached houses. Mix commercial and residential is limited which necessitates car travel to do most tasks.
Minimum parking requirements make it prohibitively expensive to build densely.
It's worse in some cities.
In San Jose, CA, 94% of the land is zoned for single family homes only.
It's zoned for SFH is because that's what 80% of the populations wants. Last time I checked, in a democratic country, the majority makes the decision. Sorry for those 20% but that's how it works, at least you still have the 20% of areas where other types of buildings are allowed. They are expensive, but deal with it.
@@ianhomerpura8937 yes, does it ring a bell that it's because that's how people want it?
@@aliciafaulkner416 more like it's the ONLY type of housing available.
Better show some surveys or studies proving your claim before you go all out NIMBY.
@@aliciafaulkner416 What they want isn't what they can afford.
Everyone wants a Rolls-Royce. But many would rather trade suburban living for city if it was cheap enough. But zoning laws means expensive cities in addition to naturally expensive suburbs.
So happy this is being discussed! The issues with traditional urban design needs more awareness.
I do service plumbing. It really is annoying driving these windy roads, wasting gas while being on a set hourly rate. Then needing a map to get out because its not a grid system.
yup, live in a place with lax zoning. 300 people live in this town and we have a country store, post office, place where we each sell things we make, a bank, a feed store, a church and a hot dog/pizza/steak sandwich shop. We're missing healthcare and education but we've got our other bases covered. I only need to take a 3 minute walk to get some penny candy and my groceries, maybe deposit a check, buy a bird house my neighbor built, pick up chicken scratch for the hens, light a candle at church for a loved one and bring home a pizza for dinner. It's fantastic! I wish everyone knew how comfy living like this is. The kids have a park they all hang out at with a little free library out front. (I've started filling it with manga and teen stuff since it was just mom novels til we moved in lol.) Gonna start projecting movies onto the side of our house this summer, it's so nice to have things to do that you don't need a car for. I grew up in suburb hell, walking to a grocery store was 30 minutes at least. My friend got heat stroke once trying to meet me at Subway. People out here still use horses to get around and haul stuff, so the area isn't very car dependent which means you occasionally get the odd flat from roads meant for horses not cars, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.
Cities that are built for people and not car infrastructure..
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Yess!
I like cars, though. They are faster and more convenient.
@@paxromana5834 yep, public transport is fopr broke boys... real men have a V8 SUV or Pick-up Truck !
@@paxromana5834 only because US cities have been designed for them. Other cities proprieties walking, biking and transit making cars slower and less convenient
Denser walkable neighborhoods with a variety of uses are always better doesnt really matter whether it feels suburban or urban. Build areas incrementally giving urself time to self correct errors and focus on having living working and recreation all in one and people will general be happier with the area while also being more efficient in a fiscal sense as well. Whether u want to attain an urban, suburban or even a semi-rural character this can still be achieved with this style of development people just need to be less rigid in how they think about it.
Those people that scream for less government and more free markets are the first folks to complain about development, prevent zoning change, and force their neighbors to maintain a lawn to their HOA standard.
@@kurtniemeyer6314 In particular, boomers.
@@Cotswolds1913 it always comes back to the boomers 🥲
@@innocentnemesis3519 Of all the things they saddled us with, Euclidean zoning might be the worst. Incredibly ironic that America would be the developed country with the least freedom in what you can build, and where you can build it.
@@Cotswolds1913 the American people have too much freedom with what they can build and where they can build it. That's why they're in the mess they're in. So long as you have the money, you can do nearly anything you want.
Suburbs aren’t inherently bad. It’s when the costs of roads get heavily subsidized instead of bike lanes and public transport despite being far less efficient use of public funds, and the fact in many areas there is no mixed use ALLOWED (which should concern everyone on both sides since that’s very anti free market)
This is very true. People don't complain when roads and highways get subsidized it's okay, but when buses and trains get subsidies they always scream "no to unprofitable transit", like wtf.
I dont understand why bikes need to be on the street and cannot use sidewalks. Its not like anyone walks on side walks in kansas. People avoid buying houses with sidewalks because they are karen magnets. If you have a side walk you must make karens happy by shoveling snow, making sure the concrete remains level, and it screws up parking on your driveway since we need 3 to 4+ cars per family.
There is a lot wrong with suburbs. They're asocial, and these developments are created such that everyone living in them has approximately the same income. No one has to interact with anyone else that doesn't live life just like them
@@thedude5040 Because people also use those sidewalks; because, sometimes, The congestion created by pedestrians is not conducive to bicycle through traffic; because sometimes sidewalks themselves are not adequate for cycling through traffic; because sidewalks, inherently, are not designed to be traveled at speeds often experienced by bicycle commuters. Much like with bus lanes in larger urban centers, why can't we have dedicated bike lanes for cycling through traffic? Does the added cost of a concrete barrier compare significantly to the cost of constructing and maintaining a third car lane?
@@thedude5040 I think you contradicted yourself. Why can't bikes be on sidewalks, because people don't clear them and like to park on their driveway blocking them. You made the point that bike lanes should be right on the street with a sidewalk right next to it on the house side.
Bro, i litterally been saying to myself that they should turn rundown malls into bars and restaurants and this video literally calls it out. NICE
partly... but there should be something more with those
The sad fact is, we knew this 70 years ago. We knew that the suburbs weren't financially viable, but we kept building anyway.
Well, your politicians took the auto industry money and gave them what they wanted. Everyone would need a car.
@@genrabbit9995 We did more than take their money, we put them in charge. "Whatever is good for GM is good for America and visa versa."
That good ol' "American Dream."
who would make their biggest purchase,asset and investment in something unsustainable? most people who bought homes made out like a bandit with appreciation, so what does this comment even mean?
Boo hoo. Don't want to live in the suburbs, then don't, but why bother people that don't want to live in a city? I want a yard, my own slice of heaven, my own house that doesn't have people living above or below me that aren't family. You prefer a city, great, stay there.
7 empty homes for every 1 homeless person is not a supply and demand problem. It’s a leadership problem.
You seem to forget that a lot of homes, like vacation houses and rundown shacks are considered as empty homes in official statistics.
Not all empty homes are in good shape.
Is the street better.
There is not enough housing where people want to live. An empty shack in Kansas doesn't affect housing in New york.
U clearly dont understand the issue very well
@@robertagren9360 moving a homeless person to an imply house far from the city will is not a good solution,, he will starve to death.
The best solution: mixed zoning. Lots of mom and pop shops with apartments on top and quiet side streets for homes.
That is the solution for the less urban areas in Germany. But I doubt it will work in US. The reason is people living in suburbs might not want others to come and go along the roads of their homes. Too dangerous as lots of people carry guns.
@@zyankon8318 Switzerland has dense areas as well but allows guns...
Mixed zoning would require the bar's music not be too loud because the upstairs apartment dwellers are sleeping.
Cities where someone is in walking distance of all basic services and where transit connects the whole area with good frequency.
A place with good land uses to minimize low productive spaces like surface parking lots and urban golf courses.
Housing that provides homes for the lower, middle, and upper-class
Alleyways to hide city services and some designed for quite or bustling liveable spaces
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Suburban homes are bigger while flats in apartment are too compact
@@sounakchakraboty9700 Bigger does not mean better..
Flats and apartments CAN be designed where everything is multi-use and will feel less compact. Also, there are big apartments if that's what you want
@@NobilityProduced i get your point but i always like the suburbs
@@sounakchakraboty9700 That is something which needs to be planned better. 2500 sq ft condos would still be a more efficient use of land than 2500 detached homes, but they don't exist in great numbers. I would love a condo that size with a common area that has high end grills, a gym, etc.
That plus schools need to improve. But that is a chicken vs egg problem, since you need more upper middle class families in these areas for the schools to improve.
The Mosaic District is a perfect example of combining community, housing, and accessibility. If you live in Mosaic, you almost never have to leave: you have a super Target, movie theater, large public quad, plenty of restaurants and bars, stores, etc. More of these could make people more happy, but might also make people too comfortable from ever living their district. However, rent in the Mosaic is comparably higher than other places and most housing units are corporately owned.
that's one of the great ironies. Rent in places like these are higher despite suburbs being so much more expensive to build and maintain
The government would much prefer to have housing owned by big corporations rather than private owners. That gives the government more control, but limit’s private ownership.
@@rishabhanand4973 Rent is higher because there's demand not being supplied. Those districts are a small fraction of the overall housing market, but are very popular. If more could be built (they're often blocked by existing zoning laws and required tons of red tape to get off the ground), rents would likely even out.
It’s hilarious to see leftists arguing in favor of living above a Big Box store.
@@marcopervo Having an apartment above a grocery store is the dream. Then I'd only need to go downstairs to get groceries. Also, more walkable cities are much better for small businesses since people are more willing to check out an unknown place when walking past it than by driving past it. So there would actually be fewer big box stores
Europe has suburbs too, but they don't sprawl as large as most american.
if you cant walk or take a buss to a shopping area within 30 minutes, then you have problems.
As how @NotJustBikes described it, "village sprawl".
Car companies runnied the urban planning. Laws were changed for them and trams were uprooted by oil and gas companies. Just imagine you should be able walk to school, grocery shops, even to your doctors office that’s how cities were built for all these years before the car came. Not to allow retail shop in single family home or even multi family home is atrocious. We should not allow polluting factories not what is essential.
Sounds to me like zoning laws are the linchpin to the problem...reducing zoning laws to 2 classes 1. Mixed use and 2. Home, will reduce the problem overtime due to the increased flexibility that mixed use offers.
Suburs are always more expensive. Thing is that suburbs aren't really sustainable. It requires huge amount of roads, pipes, cables etc. with continuous maintenance on larger scale when compared to more dense development. Many suburbs are just running on negative in US, being subsidized by profitable denser neighborhoods, especially mixed use land. Not to mention resources needed to use car for relatively long distance transport and shopping. Not to mention by having more dense housing, you can leave more space for nature and other things.
It's meant to be the opposite. Are you using the uno reverse card over there.
But I need my space....
@@thanosianthemadtitanic there's a lot more space for you if all the people who cant drive and don't want to be driving don't own a car my fellow human. see the Netherlands or not just bikes or city beautiful.
@@cec4 I meant land space then tiny apartment boxes are just not it
Fairfax County hasn't been affordable since the early 2000's. Heck, my parents had to rent an income based apartment in the 90's just to get by as working class people. You could have used a better example.
yeah Fairfax is for Rich people only, its not a representation of average America.
@@Zerosen89 Not everyone in Fairfac County is rich. Hardly.
Bottom line: greediness is causing all these housing issues. Simple! And the people in power (it doesn't matter the party) are not doing enough.
Walkable cities tend to be even better. Walking people spend more money into local businesses and economy
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You people always make 2 contradictoty arguments:
1. In car dependent suburbia people spend irrational amounts of money on cars and car manufacturing labor which is totally not ok.
2. In walkable cities people tend to spend money on shlt they don't need, typically associated with leisure and mindless consumerism, which is totally awesome!
@@ireminmon I don’t think it is that opposing a opinion. One expenditure gives them a better living standard while the other only gives them cars that then stress them while they are stuck in traffic.
@@Thebreakdownshow1 Now that's a rather hot take.
I won't get into how 'urban service sector workers' are some of the poorest, most precarious and simultanously politicaly the most rabid sectors of the population with very little prospects for asset formation, but you might well think about this as well.
If you want to argue being forced to live in a tiny apartment with no real ability for space management, car ownership, tractor ownership, gardening etc then you should say so transparently.
Not many people would argue drinking coffee by the main street, eating mass produced food from wallmart (corn syrup) and depending on labor that is external to the household for pretty much any needs that are not related to your primary profession is superior lifestyle to semi-self sufficient single family households with access to liquid labor markets via private mobility vehicles (cars).
@@ireminmon I don't think I said the system we have is perfect. I agree with what you are saying that was never the debate. A walkable downtown centres are better than just a downtown is the point. On top of that what said is I rather see people pay money towards the city centre where the same people you said that suffer work, rather than paying FORD or GM who make the profit while their workers in Mexico don't benefit much.
The infrastructure maintenance isn't planned, saved for, or taxed for from the beginning which is where the biggest problem lies. Anytime there is "extra" money in a municipal budget they find some way to spend it, same thing that caused the big issue for social security when Washington kept borrowing its funds for other things
The question should be what's better for people, not the economy.
Suburbs are terrible on people, likely more so than the even the economy
Yay Strong Towns! I’m so glad the good word is getting out.
.......when it comes to city planning, US has alot to learn from East Asia countries, as a person who experience actual city life there, it wasn't until when I lived in US suburb for almost a decades, when I realized how this suburb enviroment has changed my way of thinking, I basically lived two verry different kind of lives, with very stark contrast, and I found myself asking is that good? which kind of livelihood do I like it more?
And the answer is pretty obvious, everytime when I go back to the place where I first grew up, I feel I have more freedom to walk to anywhere, rather than always have to drive and plan your route, I feel sooooo much more convenient and wayyy less tiresome to have actual good public transport, high quality subway system, and high speed rail to get to anywhere in a country in a couple hours, rather than driving every time when you step out of your home, worse yet, risk doozing off driving on the freeway. I feel I eat significantly better when there's actual good local food and night market just around the corner or a few blocks away, not to mention numerous underground mall and food court connecting to a subway station, not chain store fast food drive through at every intersection. I feel like I want to go social with friends more, and I got to meet new people more often, I found that one of the main reason that always turns me off to go meet someone, is that I have to drive for 30 min plus dealing with traffic just to do that......might as well stay home and do my thing.
I hope more government officials from both party would see just how harmful suburb has proved to be, they claim to "serve" us and "better" our lives......might wanna start here in city planning? It's pretty practical and it ACTUALLY can potentially improve us normal citizen lives. Ultimately, we as American need to stop having "suburb thinking", we need to BUILD UP our city not EXPANDING it, we need to stop seeing downtown and inner city as a cesspool of the poor and homeless, but as the main center for all the best that a city can offer, the cleanest street, the most beautiful parks and squares, the tallest skyscraper and office building, and instead of freeway all converging there, end the freeway before it comes in, instead make the underground subway station some of the cleanest, biggest, most efficient on time train u can have, attract people to go underground for train, shopping, meal, or just to chill, make the city run underground, on the subway. In my hometown the main city square is so huge that it has a green space, two beautiful concert hall, and a national monument. The main rail station has 4 underground floor that connects to two subway line, one local rail line, the high speed rail, and a airport subway system to take people to the international airport, along with a underground street that's 3 subway station long, consist of numerous restaurant, a food court, libraries, stores, and like two general social place. How's that for convenience!
I know this may seems like a pipe dream in the US, but I'm hopeful....if my hometown, the capital of a small island can be like this, why can't we? But in the meantime, I'll be waiting for my next opportunity to go back, and I'm not letting my next generation live in a cold isolate enviroment.
Suburban America isolated and bored us to depression. We've now opened our eyes only to find ourselves trapped in a cage, looking outside of the window to sunnier lands. I'm right there with you, waiting for the next boat out.
@@badhombre4683 actually a lot of people get depressed when they live big cities so thats why my chinese friends became cowboys in texas because they like green land also usa isn't the only place that have suburbs but i dont mind the suburbs because the suburbs have more green land than apartments so yes i couldn't stand small spaces when i had an apartment
@@estelaangeles2346 I’m not denying your experience, but the fact that you have to compare the US to China speaks volumes. Chinese urban planning shouldn’t be a paradigm for the US. Compare how people feel living in the cities of Western Europe, notably the Netherlands and Scandinavia and you’ll see that on average they are a lot happier and wouldn’t substitute their urban living for the car-centric suburbs of the US. Of course, your level of happiness isn’t determined solely on where you live, but we are creatures of our environment, and as such, where you live does make a big difference.
I moved to Austin, TX few years ago, and have 3 options to buy:
1. Townhouse or condo in newly built duplex 5 miles from downtown on tiny lot costs between 750k to 1.2 million for 1500 sq ft. Its nice walkable neighborhood, feels fancy and modern but nothing luxury. Also, almost no trees.
2. House in nice established neighborhood in north Austin but not suburb yet would cost $400-450k with same sq footage. Much larger lot, older trees and very livable
3. House in suburb like Round Rock would cost $350k. Even larger lot and very spread out boring suburb.
What should I choose? I'd love to go with option 1 and live more walkable urban life (again its not super expensive downtown yet), but why in the world they cost 2-3X more than same single family houses?! Change zoning and allow for more 2-4 unit houses.
Living in duplex is great, when you can rent another unit. However, most duplexes in Austin are in so-so neighborhood and vast majority is under 1000 sq ft.
The reason why they cost more is because that's how much it cost to plan and build considering all the necessary infrastructures come with it. Same reason the video mentioned that suburbs is "one time" type of development.
Mueller is nice but is unaffordable because how rare it is if we build lot more Muellers around the metro that are TODs it would make it much more affordable lifestyle instead we are still building suburban sprawl with no transit connections
@@nishiljaiswal2216 Exactly, #1 in my comment was about Mueller. Its a great idea with medium density townhouses/duplexes and urban vibe. Location is nice but 2-3x overpriced, I heard that area was real dump 20 years ago, Austin can easily build and replicate that concept in South Austin, Pflugerville, Hutto and other new developments. Instead, all I see are cookie cutter houses, usually 2000+ sq ft on tiny lots or apartment complexes. Nothing in between, and many people don't even need large houses, they need 3 bed/2 bath modern homes on small lots. And then we complain about traffic and skyrocketing prices
My family was one of the first people to move into the mosaic when I was in 10th grade. I got my first job there. All my friends hung out there. I went on my first date and most of the following there. This is all while being within 1000 ft of my front door. It was great. I rule see nothing wrong with these developments.
Walkable cities are the real economy, suburbs are unviable for the future if the concept still car centric, human center design economy is the lead for a healthier and sostenible society
The entire premise of Cities vs Suburbs is build on a false dichtomy, because all places have the potential to be great or terrible depending on how they are managed, regulated and zoned. Whether you look at cities in the Netherlands, suburbs in Japan or small rural towns in Germany, we have many examples of how to build well and there is no reason the U.S. can't do so too.
Pretty clear-cut, looking at the productivity per area and population. Density wins. Suburbs are isolated money sinks.
Suburbanites very often have to work in cities, and spend tons of money in cities, theyre also not the ones committing crimes or needing govt handouts
so no suburbs are not being subsidized. They contribute more to cities they just dont want to live in those dumps
Glad to see that this long and ever exacerbating issue has finally been brought up. Beside all those meaningful discussions, the fundamental question is how to re-establish affordability back into cities and into those newly developed neighbourhoods?? All those new neighbourhoods presented in this coverage are in reality rather an expansion of urban gentrification planned by developers. So it seems exemplifying a solution concerning the suburban problems, but it is not! cause the condos and units in those new areas are still too expensive. If we take a look on the very evolution of our labour/ job market and on the evolution of production system in near future, the affordability will be even more important to keep and preserve city’s creative dynamics. But no one seems to have an answer in this regard.
There is an answer. If condos are too "unaffordable" then prices will come down. Simple economics 101. The reality is that those condos are indeed affordable.... but just not to you. If an area has a lack of decent paying jobs and expensive housing you either have to upgrade your income capability or move out. Simple.
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Yet we consistently want government to some how break the laws of economics. This has been going on for decades and decades. Absolutely nothing new here. Sooo may ideas have been explored and a little time researching our history on this topic may be educational. As an example, Boston had rent control zones for decades (I think they still do), seemed to give good results in the short run only to become a huge problem later and basic economics 101 would have predicted the outcome.
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Know this - developers operate where they can make profit. Put up enough barriers and the developers will operate somewhere else and NOTHING is built. Research this topic in the context of Detroit.
Every American, if they have the means of doing so, should visit the Netherlands and/or Denmark, so they can see for themselves how much better non-car dependent cities feel to live in.
Nope we like our country and space freeeeedooommm
@@boricuaracing11 it's hard to tell if this is sarcasm or not 💩
They should also visit Shanghai, where the government will shut trains off to people who try to protest but have no other means of getting to the location
@@Onlythesequence good thing I didn't say they should visit Shanghai then 💩
@@Onlythesequence Unlike China, we have the second amendment. It would be easy to get the trains running again.
When you look at the last old school suburb walkable areas left, it looks so wonderful. It’s a shame we can’t or aren’t allowed to build new suburbs like that. It’s ok to have a barbershop 2 blocks down the street, or a cafe up the road. A dance studio in the middle of the block? Ok maybe I’m pushing it, but the corner house may want to start a dance studio, why not let them?
Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a “center of town” with small shops, and a park? Why do I have to drive just to go food shopping?
The crazy thing is before the 1950’s, most suburbs were walkable. Even crazier? The very few walkable areas are the most wanted areas. It’s amazing how it’s not more of a thing.
The problem that is not mentioned is crime in cities. I live in Minneapolis and it used to be a wonderful place to work and play. Now Minnepolis is dangerous to go to alone even during the day without worrying about your safety. We have some pretty big issues coming up on how we are all going to afford to live and work together in a safe, encouraging, and vibrant place that makes quality of life better for all. Living in the suberbs is hard because it is more isolating, less walkable, and transporatation is an issue.
They should update these. In the last 2yrs a lot of things have happened economically.
Local governments need to allow condos to be built that are studios or 1-2 bedroom 500 square foot units
Yep, it is always 2k sqft houses!! not for us low wage earners. I have yet to find a 2 bedrooms apartment or condo for less than 200k...wtf is this!
I see your point, but 500 sqft isn't even up to fire code.
Big towns, small cities, you need small condos in walking distance of shops for the elderly too. There are too many old people in big houses and on the road, that can't even downsize because they can't afford retirement communities.
Or, cities need to repurpose derelict structures that are abandoned instead of expecting other areas to change.
@@sh1pme2themune9: that space is too small even for one person. Studios exist so that developers can cram more units in a building.
Remote work has long been a thing for development of digital products. However, the prospect of decision-makers in physical industries being even more out of touch with the work being done and the physical spaces that work is happening in or that it affects is a bit alarming.
I'm so glad, that I live in Europe. Especially the Netherlands. We are way ahead of North American cities and suburbs,
Enjoy living like a sardine and sitting on public transportation 4 hours a day Mr. Europoor haha
I hope to move to Europe one day. I can’t stand it here in the US anymore
@@westside213 tell me youre an ignorant american without telling me youre an ignorant american
@@westside213mutt moment
@@afriendlymedic1927 is this that famous European racism I've heard about? Enjoy being taken over by Muslims :)
The day I can afford one, I'm leaving the city life and going into a big house in the suburbs, simply because I don't like being around too many people.
same here. People have preference, and I am tired of those criticizing suburb people.
CNBC is becoming an urbanism channel and i love it. keep up the good content!!!
yeah, i have my disagreements with CNBC. But if they keep up with the urbanist content, I'll probably go from detesting it to having a positive view of it.
I've always detested them and the urbanist only makes it worse.
Nothing screams freedom like being forced to drive everywhere!
Other major factors besides cost and congestion not mentioned in this video is crime and corruption. They are also keeping people from living in big cities
They can't mention them because it will single handedly defeat the goal of the this video. LOL. High density residential area almost always means higher crime rate. Also, racial reason is another one that no media will ever want to cover. The higher cost region will automatically filter out the lower incomers, aka, higher crime group.
Yep, never listen to name media source for opinions like this because their first goal is to be politically correct before trying to deliver the truth.
@@aliciafaulkner416 this video is about economics, not crime
@@aliciafaulkner416 wealth inequality. Low wealth = high crime pretty much anywhere you go. Every non 3% should be fighting to correct this. Middle America wouldn't need to "flee" to the burbs if we all had enough and felt safe in our cities.
@@seanharan9521 We both know that in terms of public housing, value and crime are the two most important part of it. So it makes no sense to talk about housing without talking about crime rate of any given housing. Moving from Hollywood to Compton can save you 80% if you try to buy a house, but would you?
@@aliciafaulkner416 Compton is built like a suburb, it just happens to be one with high crime. But regardless that’s not what this video is about though. It’s about economics and fiscal productivity which is different from solely rent/housing values (though of course those play a sizable role)
The biggest issue that this won't address in the near-term -> improving school districts. Everyone I know loves living in the city. But will move to start a family in the suburbs because the schools are so much better. Perhaps the trend of having fewer kids will help this housing issue but it takes a long time to recover a tax base to improve schools.
Which is why in some states like Illinois, the state government pools the real estate funds from all the counties and distribute the money evenly among all school districts.
Crime and school are literately the 2 most important factors for most people buying their home.
Suburbs are so much better for kids. Our toddler's tantrums were causing us noise complaints in our apartment. I don't know how people have kids in the city.
@@zUJ7EjVD Yeah the problem is when people say things like that, but then complain when they have a neighbor with a toddler having a tantrum. Are we just going to pretend that toddlers don't exist or lock them away?
@@rockyshocks101
Most young women are choosing not to have children these days. Having children is an act of faith. Some cynical folks describe children as really expensive pets.
Decent childcare is unaffordable for most people. Most women must focus on their careers, since there no guarantees that they'll have a set future.
But it's a vicious cycle on a societal level. With fewer children, the tax base is getting erroded and future generations will be in trouble.
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suburbs are the best thing happened in US housing history. If they wanna build more affordable housing, build it in city. Take out highways from middle of the Downtown, get rid of rent control, loose house building regulations and shorten time to attain permit.
I have a question; why don't they raise property taxes for these suburban communities ?
Very good question! 👍🤔
Ridership on the New York city subway peaked in 1946 and went downhill from there.
Cities are productive places that produce more tax revenue than they consume while subsidizing the suburbs, which need to constantly expand. I can attest to this. In the town I grew up in, the downtown areas and the older suburbs (built before the 1940s, with a mix of small-lot single-family homes and low-rise apartment buildings) were always more financially sustainable than the sprawling suburbs that needed to be served by freeways. Also, car infrastructure is a drain on cities, while well-run public transit can actually turn a profit (London's Tube, for instance, brings in more money than it spends every year). And of course there are the health and social costs associated with designing cities for cars instead of people.
Cities don't subsidize suburbs. Suburbanites work and spend $ in cities in massive amounts. you have entire office buildings in NY that have thousands of people coming in from LI or NJ ...these are middle to upper middle class to rich folks who sustain cities and chose to live outside of it. It's cities who are the ones with crime, drugs, filth, and countless burdens of the state mooching off the system
@@timburr4453 so you’re saying that the city provides the jobs for the suburbanites.
@@empirestate8791 Cities dont provide jobs, people do.
The problem that I have experienced with urban areas is that the monthly rent costs as much as my annual income.
Why is it so difficult for americans to understand the concept of small town? A town, no more than 1 Mile in diameter to be walkable. With a main street and a town center with buildings of about 4 stories (shops in the ground floor), around the town center row houses of about 3 stories and at the outer rim single family houses of 2 stories. No surface parking lots or minimum parking requirements and only narrow, slow street or car free streets where possible.
Even people living at the edge of town can within 10 minutes comfortably walk to the town center for a coffee, grocery shopping, going to the school, train station and so on. A normal small town that everybody loves and the people who don't like it move to a small farm village or the big city.
Suburbs are just not needed.
Exactly this how we developed towns and cities since practically the start of human history, the core being the densest until eventually you get to farmland
Glad Strong Towns founder is part of this video!!!! Amazing
I like apartments for the most part but the bottom line most buildings need sound proofing. Hearing neighbors is annoying. I moved to the suburbs because of this and having a backyard is nice
I think the problem with urban areas in the US is the fear of crime that makes it unappealing especially for families. I spent much time in urban places such as Paris, Milan, Tel Aviv, Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai and never really felt unsafe. Spending just a night in New York, Chicago or Los Angeles and I feel lucky to survive. I could never raise a family in these places hence the suburbs is so much more appealing.
Maybe something is wrong with law enforcement if that is the case. It's their job to make people safe in their areas.
Media also tends to overblow things, especially in networks owned by Sinclair.
There have to be other options, we should not only allow single family housing because of couple people don’t want to live in the city. We should be also building other options such as townhomes, duplexes, apartment building etc.
Cities are vastly Democrat run.
@@tylere.8436 exactly. Both Republicans and Democrats are horrible in terms of housing and urban planning. And both have that "f*** you I got mine" mentality.
Fairfax county has been in the top 10 most expensive counties in America for about 2 decades… maybe not “typical” as hoped (that is top 99.8th percent)
It's also one of the most boring, lifeless, and cookie cutter burbs out there. I had to spend Thanksgiving there with my ex's family and couldn't wait to leave. She tried giving me a little tour of the area and I was like "you're proud of this?"
@@pkal244 woah buddy.
@@pkal244 depends on what she showed you....I would say alot of people are snobbish there but it just depends....Tyson Mall would of been a good start
Cars are getting so expensive. We need to build neighborhoods where people don't need a car to get around
That doesn't matter to me. I pay cash for my cars and I will stay my rural home. And I am retired and only drive 3000 miles a year.
@@andredaedone7732only problem with rural area. Service is bad
how much is insurance@@andredaedone7732
@@edgarJM903 No worries. People who live there are fully aware of that but that's their preference
En el resto del mundo es asi, desde Europa hasta Argentina, se usan las cuadras o como le dicen en USA "grid".
La gente del barrio se conoce y forman comunidades, van a una misma tienda del barrio y cada tienda se adapta al poder adquisitivo de la gente que vive alli
so, why isn't America drastically improving Public Transportation Infrastructure? Ever been to Europe or Asia?
I think a Hybrid work approach with healthy work relationships is the best.
So you are starting to build cities like every city in Europe :) WoW mindblown design
Because like they layout are better
Like how USA and Western tanks adopt new shell type developed by Soviet Union
Your presentation is very professional. Thanks for the good explanations!
I think what we have to consider is that densely populated areas has a higher crime rate. Which means that there are less people willing to live in city and wanting to live suburbans. And the other issue is that once you start having public transit the tax revenue tends to go up. In comparison to rural areas. No let’s also consider two that the more homes are being billed equals GDP. For anybody interested, I would suggest you do a Google search of how revenue works in the city.
Idk why people keep thinking middle housing and mixed housing with moderate density is the same exact thing as an urban area.
@@Blaze6432 To be fair, it is almost the same as urban, but with less density. A happy medium, so to speak.
From this news, what tense is used?
I been working for the same company for 15 years. I would love to move closer. But the cost of living is to high in that area. But one thing I would never do is to move closer to be in a small studio apartment. No Thanks. I want a big house with a big yard. I'll keep commuting if that's the case.
I personally think revisions are needed. But as someone who grew up in the city and currently live in the suburbs.... I genuinely love having a yard & fewer neighbors 😂
World's on Fire.
WHAT CAN WE DO? Well, the End of UpisnotJumps Climate-Change-Video and Second-Thought's video "Why are People Losing Faith in Capitalism" literally having a "Heres what you can do"-Segment at the very End, but even ignoring that, i say: A LOT.
There’s no revisions needed. These people in the video are all Agenda 2030 propagandists trying to brainwash you.
The question that Strong Towns presents is: If you had to bear the real cost, can you afford it?
The reality is that the infrastructure for suburbs are massively subsidized.
As someone who grew up in a suburb and lives in a city now, I appreciate that there is actually a reason to go outside 😂. Different strokes for different folks, but we really shouldn't be forcing our personal preferences onto others (by default, this country does it though).
@@loturzelrestaurant Climate extremism is 100% based on logically fallacious unfalsifiable pseudo-science. There is no crisis. Climate science is a criminal fraud. It's literally just communists and human-haters trying to control and depopulate you. I live in Belgium and a "sustainable" future is simply an unlivable dictatorship where your "unsustainable" life is a crime and the regime's main priority is controlling every facet of your life until you finally roll over and die.
Another factor that plays a role in the lack of better communities are people's irrational fears of who would move into those communities. It could be for reasons of crime, classism, racism, or multiple factors. For example, talk to people from NJ and PA and you always hear how they blame the NYC transplants for bringing crime and traffic into their areas. Yet these are the same people who will vote down affordable housing and zoning laws to keep those people out and still complain about their taxes being so high.
Is it racism if what they think is true?
@@FreemonSandlewould Depends on if it can be reliably proven that the problems were and are currently caused by the people of that race, which I highly doubt those people can prove outside of their own personal biases
Yes
@@pirtl_turtl Let me give you an example: The land lord, a Chinese national and an agent, who doesn't actually own any property but represents a group of 'investors' in China down pays for couple houses in a new community and immediately rents out to people who can't otherwise afford to live in this zip code without Section-8 subsidies. These people moves in next to you and then proceeds to sub-lease the house to God-knows-who. Weeks later, neighbors found suspicious packages laying around the block and questionable people doing 'business' next to the said house and on nearby street. This is accompanied with incessant loud noises at night coming from the said house. Then Police raided that house 2-3 times in one year for drugs and other illicit activities. Now you tell me, am I, as a house owner and a neighbor, a racist for wanting these people to GTFO and are the police in our town being 'excessive' for trying to protect the community and serve the law?
@@beatrixaulani7661 the same problem with Airbnb’s in nice, safe and quiet neighborhoods! And yes, it’s mostly a certain demographic bringing in the loudness and crime
I like how the automobile makes a silent, sinister appearance near the end as the culprit: enabler of all the sprawl driven slow economic meltdown. Bravo.
4:51 - "And so a complaint that's often made is, well, you know, it's typically higher end housing that tends to be built. Well, the challenge is it's impossible to build 20-year-old apartment buildings. The only way to get 20-year-old apartment buildings is to build t today."
So sick of this mentality, literally just a continuation of trickle down economics. The needs of working class (not even talking about people in poverty) are becoming more and more of an afterthought. We are expected to catch the few crumbs that fall from the table of the upperclass and be content. F*** waiting 20+ years for affordable housing, we need a revival of direct government investment in the middle class! No more handouts to developers just for them to set aside 2% of their units as "affordable" and then only hold as affordable for the next 10-15 years B.S.
The federal government needs to do what it did back in the 40s with the GI Bill, but for everybody! Also, what it did in the 50s with the Public Works Administration to build public housing developments.
Alternatively, Housing Co-ops and Community Land Trusts are another way to free ourselves from these greddy landlords!
#landlordsareparasites
Wow, The US finally figured out what Europe known for centuries.
Am so glad I am in house with 3 acres just 15 minutes away from a major city and in the state of california
"Not Just Bikes" address this issue on a weekly basis... great videos.
Basically, our car dependency is killing us. Literally.
Federal Gov build infrastructures... and incite people to move in the suburbs. Then the suburbs needs to grow for maintenance. Then the Fed Giv needs to jump in and build new infrastructures. Then people buy more cars... I could repeat that last line 20 times. Its a catch 22 of spending and car dependency non sense.
Fairfax county is an unfair example of a place people are moving to away from a big city because DC is, comparatively to actual big cities, a tiny city or big town - not many people really really live there.
I think Cnbc just watched “Not Just Bikes” channel.
hahahha i love this channel
America is for the strong.😎
Thank y'all for making this video, it's so thorough and eye opening for people who haven't thought about urban development beforehand. So many other issues connect to this!
Pollution segregation and social degradation. Ecological degradation. Financial bankruptcy
What’s the future of low income and low educated worker?
Good that You included Charles Marohn in the video, his 2 books should be read by anyone interested in this topic! :)
i like how they added the long island railroad. people avoid it because its $22 each way
Subsidies are usually one way to keep fares low, but when it is suggested, Republican always complain of "big government" even when they do the same for highways.
Most outer suburbs will simply disappear over time. They were a phenomenon of the 20th century economy. The future is about contraction and consolidation.
That's not true at all. People dont want to live in ghetto pods They want their own home and yard
@@timburr4453 But people have to adapt to the economy and circumstances of the time, regardless of what they want. Ideally, as the suburbs contract, the towns and small cities with walkable streets and main street businesses will revive.
@@michaeljfoley1 Suburbs aren't contracting
Maybe it's the cities that need to have the plug pulled on them
Cities flourished for thousands of years, suburbia was built for the car because of “freedom” and “privacy” which isn’t bad, but cannot be sustained without the necessary economic activity to pay for the cost, THUS a city.
it kind of is bad since A) sedentary lifestyle is horrible for cardiovascular health and B) being stuck in traffic is psychologically tormenting which also exacerbates heart disease and other health areas (immunity, etc..)
and being more socially isolated is generally horrible for mental health (and physical by extension)
but cities also come with their stressors and pollution, especially the chaotic ones
#EndStroads2023
Most of my childhood and until I was 50 I lived in Fairfax County-rural and suburban-Mount Vernon area. Now I’m out West-hot and dry now! 🥵 The neighborhood I live in now used to be a strawberry farm.
I like the suburbs. I’m in Cleveland and as a black man born and raised in the ghettos of Cleveland, I thank God for giving me the strength to work hard, study hard, and grant me the opportunity to achieve a degree and land a nice paying job to get myself and family up out of the city. I live in a beautiful suburb, low taxes, low crime, excellent public school district, plentiful shopping and parks and recreation.
Why that hell should anyone be subjected to inner city living, I’m sure those who could get out would. Doesn’t matter NYC, Chicago, St. Louis, or here in Cleveland…high crime, poor quality of schooling, how levels of pollution, and drama.
Yawn. I have always had a philosophy that suburban living is only good for retirees and families with younger children. Inner city living allows freedom, adventure, independence, and great socialization especially for people my age since I'm a gen Z. I'm glad that old outdated suburban life involving big houses 20-60 minutes away from amenities are dying out. Inner city living encourages much less use of cars which means there will be a decrease in CO2 and fossil fuels in our planet. Besides, it's no secret that wages aren't catching up to the increased costs of housing. Tiny houses, town houses, and condos can and will contribute to the solution for that problem, and I and my gen Z friends will gracefully embrace that version of the American dream.
Oh and p.s. it's not the city's fault for the crime, it's the politicians. Have to simply choose carefully who you vote for.
@@last_womann8344 Families of Younger children is the KEY. One living in the suburb can do everything someone in the city can do without the drama.
Owning a car is freedom. You're free from dependence. Personally, I like the fact that I can go wherever and when I want and not having to rely on public transportation or rideshare. I know I can SAVE massive amount of time driving. I also have the security that I do not have my life in the hands of someone else. Sure there's always a risk on the roads, but security starts with self. BTW, nobody gives a flying duck about CO emissions except those who profiting from its regulations.
The rest of the spew is just whining about wages and cost of housing. Better yourself so someone can pay you well, and you wouldn't worry about the cost of houses.
And I agree, politicians are responsible for many of the issues in the innercity, but who votes for those local politicians? Thats right, the residence of that city.
@@DoctorOreos Okay? Nobody said that inner city living CAN'T have cars. Parking lots won't go away so there must be cars. I agree with having a car is freedom. Our problem in the USA is that our public transportation is light years behind other countries so it makes sense that ours takes more time to use. Urban developments can and will solve that problem. The problem in the USA is our overreliance on cars. It encourages obesity (which is an ongoing epidemic that is slowly getting better thanks to traditional suburbs dying out) and the amount of crashes and mortality of pedestrians is pretty unnecessary and preventative as long as we have development getting away from that. Thank goodness! Watch Not Just Bikes. They have undeniable facts that goes well in depth with the problems of USA suburbs.
Yes, I still stand by what I said with families with younger kids and old people are the only ones benefiting from suburbia living. Families with older kids and young professionals DO NOT need to be living in those isolated depressive situations. Parents mad they have to be driving their children everywhere but with the right amount of street smarts, common sense, and development, their children can be independent and go places themselves in cities.
Lol at you saying that my generation is just whining at the current and future problems we got forced into thanks to your generation. Typical old timer you are. The problems you all set our nation with, you can't take accountability for, and just tell the younger generation to "just deal with it". Double LOL at you saying if I follow that, I can afford a house. Riiiight with all these foreign companies, AirBNB, and house flippers buying up properties and leaving a limited amount of supply for residents is something that can just disappear by working harder and pulling ourselves up by the bootstraps. Noted.
Trust me, solutions to the problems you all caused are going to be fixed. Great that your generation is retiring and getting out the way of progress.
@@last_womann8344 You’re speaking on emotions, not rational. Do you understand that suburban living provides MORE for a nuclear family with access to inner city amenities? And here’s another thing, most of the money the city gets comes from people living in the suburbs. Also people who don’t live in the inner city are buying property dirt cheap to rebuild. I.e Gentrification.
So how does that benefit you? You’re broken to begin with and yet the vision of inner city life is going to run you $3000 a month for rent or live in public housing in the slums of the city. Either way it sucks for you. Urban development does nothing for you other than having more Starbucks, Trader Joe’s, and Whole Foods in walking distance all you can’t afford to shop at.
It’s ironic how someone who is concerned about wages and cost of living have the energy to speak about climate or any topic. Your priorities are screwed up. If you can afford a car, then so be it, it’s a choice. I choose to drive. I own a bicycle and there are access to public transportation, but I choose to drive.
Obesity, it’s our culture. Giving up driving isn’t going to change it. Or culture is consumption. So it’s stupid to compare our country to others.
I’m in my 40s so I’m not ancient, but just something about life I was taught that perhaps someone needs to teach you, “work smarter, not harder”. You think you’re the only generation struggling? How selfish of you. The biggest difference now and 30 yrs ago is technology. Try making rent in 1990. You needed a job, no smartphones, no computers, no apps, not even Google search. No stimulus checks, and fraction of Financial Assistance available then and almost nothing for a single man. You actually had to go to businesses and beg for a job that paid $4.75 an hr. But you wouldn’t know about that lifestyle. I’m sure my father as a black man would tell me life in the 60s was hard and my Grandfather can say the same thing in the 30s. Just now you have excuses.
People literally can make money without trying and yet you’re so worried about other people. Perhaps when you hit 50 yrs old, you’ll look back on younger people and see how easy they have it.
@@last_womann8344. Living in a city must be a nightmare. Constantly surrounded by subhumans.
Learn from singapore. We have one of the most successful city planning m social housing globally. Our social housing is profitable n built by good architects
More walkable places please and thank you.
I lived in China for four months and it is faster and more desirable to get places by foot or metro than car. I spent only $80 on transportation within Shenzhen in those 4 months. Cars are seen as luxury in China not a necessity like the US. Metro planning in the US is just embarrassling bad.
Not good for business since concentrated population in city centers allows foot traffic which are opportunities for businesses. It’s more costly for businesses to operate in the suburbs since populations are less dense and will require more shops or branches to reach potential customers.
The US zoning areas purely residential is crazy. Requiring a car to get to anywhere, even in urban places, is bad enough but then you add in the social isolation that it so largely contributes and its really bad. AND THEN you add in the fact that between the lower tax density and the increased cost of providing services to these areas makes your town/city go broke and you gotta admit its just dumb. A bunch of technocrats guessed what the city of the future would be as cars proliferated in a post highway system country and made a bunch of planning decisions which are going to take decades to fix.
Young Americans arent moving to small walkable towns in usa
@@estelaangeles2346: no, they are choosing city living. Young people don't want to be buried in the suburbs like their parents.
Also doesnt help that all the new home construction is all high end homes, and the only "Affordable" modest sized home, are simply income restricted "affordable" Homes. The new term for Section 8 homes.
I deliver plumbing supplies to new construction for homes, I see and know what gets built. There is no homes for people who make 15-25 an hour anymore. You either cough up some insane quarter, half mill for a home(or more). Or you rent a place where you are always fighting to stay above water on rent or you have a rent you can easily pay, but are always afraid that suddenly your rent will increase far above what you can pay.
Europeans have figured this out many years ago. Just look at the EU cities, old or young, there are apartment complexes with retail ground floor. People are walking, shopping, eating on every corner while leaving on the upper floors. They figured it out, and we should look and learned more closely.
Don't impose your preferences on others. Not everyone like to live in a crowded sardine can on top of business you don't like. The reason suburbs are popular is because people like privacy and space. This way if your neighbor is an idiot, you are at least a bit more far away from him and can easily ignore him.
@@victordesouza5604 There are literally ZERO clean, walkable cities in the US. We are trying to create at least ONE. That is not "opposing preferences" on others.
@@victordesouza5604 You impose your preferences on others by not being able to choose. Even an idiot can see this is the problem.
@@alexismiller288Exactly, some don’t want to admit it but it’s simply the truth
As interest rates rise, housing will become more affordable. Low interest rates and development fees /red tape are the problem. Exclusive Zoning for single family homes is also a huge problem.