3 Urbanist Lessons from the Netherlands

This summer, I received the incredible opportunity to visit the Netherlands. This urbanist pilgrimage taught me so much about urban planning, and how wrongly my country is doing it. Here are three counterintuitive things I learned about how to take back a country from the cars.

[bintisf]

3:00 not a terrier but a wirehaired dachshund 😃

[NotJustBikes]

Wow the weather was a lot nicer when you were there. That business park looks really great when it's sunny!

[ConsciousAtoms]

As a Dutchman I never cease to be amazed by how enthusiastic US and Canadian youtubers are about our infrastructure. For me it's everyday life, and I hope it can be for you as well, some day.

[dutchman]

Strangely enough 90% of the Dutch population lives within a distance of less than two miles away from a highway.
Highways do not have traffic lights, nor level crossings, and are ONLY for high speed travel of above at least 70 km/h.
So all speed reduced travel concerns only the first or last maximum distance of two miles.
Most factories, big box trade, offices, and other places where people work are next to an exit of the highway, so a commute consists of house - max two miles reduced speed - highway - short road - work.
The Netherlands have one of the best highway systems in the world. And the safest, because of extremely well route indication which makes last second decisions almost not existing.
Even the trade park shown in this video has a highway immediately next to it, and good public transit, plus a separated bicycle infra.
But those three systems do not cross each other at the same level, so there are no conflict areas.
Even the landing strips of the airport are, of course, crossing highways, railroads, public transit and bicycle infra. But all split leveled.
Good infra for one mode never blocks good infra for the other, and that's the big difference.
And I didn't even mention the dense waterway network.

[peterkeijsers]

There's at least 1 major problem, when implementing Dutch road culture into the USA. The Dutch infrastructure is connected to (urban) neighbourhood planning, meaning that there are shops just around the corner where you can buy your daily groceries just around the corner. In the USA, one has to travel several miles to the nearest supermarket in order to buy your daily groceries. That has to change as well, in order to have functioning different types of modal transportation functioning in the USA.

[knutz]

I moved to the Netherlands 4 months ago and I agree 100%. I have no need for a car anymore and I live in a suburb not even a major city. I'm very interested to see what your generation does with the US in upcoming decades. Best of luck, I'm cheering you on from the sidelines.

[marcelmoulin]

Well done, Alex. Albeit a Dutchman, I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area in the '60s and '70s. I left the US in 1986 for the UK. I retired in 2018, and I then realised my dream of 50 years to return to the fatherland. I now live in paradise... Middelburg, Zeeland. I no longer have a car. I walk, cycle or take the train/tram/bus everywhere. I feel liberated after living in car-centric places. In fact, I feel euphoric!

[blackman]

6:20

One of the differences between Canadian and American transit culture is that in a lot of suburbs in Canada, kids do take transit to go to school. Translink gets kids to school in all of Metro Vancouver, and that's also the case in some suburbs around Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and a couple other cities. Canadian transit ridership in suburbs is also generally a lot higher than it is in the US. Like, there are several busses in the Vancouver suburbs that move more people than the busiest urban SEPTA routes. The bus service is more well frequent and better funded, so there's kind of a chicken or the egg scenario going on.

Pretty much every suburb in the US would need to greatly improve their bus service if they wanted to do this. It's something that could easily be done, but it would require political will.

[cheddaz]

Warms my heart to hear a younger voice in the urban infrastructure field - us 30 pluses have good ideas but need to connect with the next generations enthusiasm! Keep up the good work :)

[Zoza]

In the summers when the grass is overgrown, we use cows and sheeps to let them graze on the grass to reduce cost or eliminate costs altogether.
So we don't need to use grass mower machines.
You can see groups of sheeps in huge parks or places where there's a lot grass in neighborhoods.

As they do the job of eating the grass and fertilize the soil to support the eco system, hence why its better for us and the environment.

[imrebarten]

I think one of the things that ads to our 'respecting bike infrastructure' culture is that a lot of us grew up on bikes. I feel like USians have this hard line between 'driver' and 'cyclist', whereas here your mode of transportation does not define you that much. We all ride bikes, take public transit or grab the car, so most people driving a car recognize the disadvantaged position you can be in while riding a bike, so are more likely to be mindfull of their driving while around others sharing the road.

[cooldudemcgeexl]

Dude I just got back from Chicago (Cincinnatian here) and I totally agree with the cultural portion. Obviously it’s not the Netherlands, but seeing more than just the absolutely desperate use transit was an eye opener not only for me but for the rest of my friends that aren’t as urbanism obsessed. Sick vid

[forsyth]

Great analysis on the cultural aspect of transit usage here in North America, it’s a hurdle not talked about enough.

[jonahwillis]

Dang. I'm 17 and I've been deciding between jumping ship and moving from California to the Netherlands, or sticking it out here to become some type of urban planner/humanitarian. Your line about not losing hope and choosing to come back to the States in order to continue your education as well as to educate others with videos like these is honestly really inspiring. P.S. your script was perfectly paced and concise! Even bringing up how some companies are moving in the right direction with travel pass and bike delivery incentives was a really great way to show how there is SOME improvement occurring around the world(as slow as it is).

[_DeathDreams_]

About your last point: I find myself pretty fond of public transport and willing to go when it's an option, and that definitely isn't a coincidence, because back in elementary school, my teachers would often have us do field trips on public buses and trains (there was a bus stop next to the elementary school), and at a pretty good cost too. I definitely remember the back of the bus being pretty packed with us schoolchildren (lol), but they did try to teach us proper transit etiquette. I have the feeling that, because of those experiences, I'm more willing to consider public transit because of my initial exposure showing me that it's actually pretty cool and not a weird, foreign concept. Even in junior high, I saw plenty of people taking public buses to go to school, which definitely helped normalize it.

Though, that being said, cycling where I live could use some work, because even though our urban bones are pretty good and most people are cycling distance from school, the roads are still very car-oriented, and there's always a traffic jam of stressed and aggravated parents dropping off their kids before school.

[andybaker]

Wow! I moved here 18 years ago, and this helped me realize how great it is here. Just feels normal now.

[vipersuit]

ive also been in the Netherlands last week, stayed in Zaandam and we did some nice extensive bike tours. loved it so much

[Doodloper]

Excellent vid by the already legendary Alex "Snacks" Davis

[DenUitvreter]

Good video, but there's a deeper cultural layer too it. Relatively small houses that keep distances short, small fridges and frequent 10 minute grocery shopping, lively inner cities and big box stores only at city's edges, general safety not just traffic safety, not being comfort craving whimps, egalitarianism and not giving a **** about not showing off wealth, even drinking culture.

[HowtoBuildtheWorld]

I am so happy for you to go see top-tier world class urbanism :D and I also see some strong parallels to notjustbikes :) but you are coming in very well on your own style and show ;) I cant wait to see what you do next :3