We Might Be Able to Fix the Suburbs

The suburbs don't have to be bad. We can improve them by looking at what makes them problematic in the first place and what we can change to create the suburbs of the future.

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Chapters:
Intro 0:00
Road Design 1:36
Lack of Convenience 4:05
Sense of Community 6:27
Making Suburbs Better 8:00
Real Examples of Improvement 11:34

[JesusChrist-qssx]

The thing I hate the most about suburbs is the commercial centers. Instead of thriving Main Streets with mixed housing neighborhoods on their edges...we have massive parking lots, drive thru restaurants, and chain and big box stores.

[thesandboxbandit]

Did I just stumble upon a top tier urbanist channel in its infancy? This is a great video.

[zachydrogeo]

I’m a civil engineer working on a design for a strip mall in northern New Jersey. The parking requirement from the town necessitates we have over 500 spaces available for this one shopping center (there’s no way they will ever be filled considering what’s going there). There’s already an empty parking lot with a couple hundred spaces behind the site that seemingly belongs to nobody but we can’t just use that. And of course you can’t walk to this shopping center unless you want to walk along the shoulder of a highway. What’s even funnier is that people always say “land is so valuable in this town because it is right outside of NYC” but It’s like this town literally wants to be a parking lot. The whole thing makes me regret going into this field lol.

So unfortunately it’s not as easy as just saying that engineers need to do a better job. We are mostly beholden to the wants of the client, I.e. real estate development companies, and municipal code. If anything is going to change it would have to be political, not just ‘hiring better engineers’. Trust me, I’d like nothing more than to work on a project tearing down a Walmart Super Center and replacing it with a charming, walkable downtown district, but that’s not the direction a lot of places are going.

[thomashendricks]

When I was a kid, growing up in New Jersey. In the town I lived in, there was 3 'convenient' stores within a five minute walk of my house. They were inside the first floor of regular houses. Over time, they were all force to close and converted back to living spaces. I remember going to each of them for penny candy or sometime a gallon of milk. It was the best, should bring them back.

[ktmriki]

As someone from Europe, seeing a five-five lane intersection with only stop signs controlling traffic is absolutely insane. I'd be afraid for my life driving there.

[ignasanchezl]

This is so cool, I love the way you present the possibilities and how they are literally illegal to build.

[timwalks]

I'm really glad you went into the legality of this idea. The whole time I was watching your proposal I kept thinking "that just breaks so many building/zoning codes". This is the fundamental problem I think. We've made it way too hard to build anything convenient.

[vista]

I love how this channel is advocating to fix the suburbs instead of just leaving them to the city or moving to another country

[mikedamat]

The fact that people are opposed to this blows my mind. This makes so much sense.

[Kringlord]

"I have all of these places within a 30 minute drive" mentality astonishes me when it could be "I have all of these places within a 5 minute bike ride".

[afe_u]

I went to middle school with Chase Coyner, one of the students who died in that crash. He was a pure soul, always very friendly. I remember hearing the news, and it was hard to believe. Great video.

[PauxloE]

10: 22 "Due to the fact that all these neighborhoods are gated, this wouldn't be possible due to the physical barrier" – Even for gated/fenced communities, you could just add pedestrian/bike access doors into the fences. Nowadays this can be automated (residents get some entry card), so you don't need additional guards.

[abexuro]

This is probably the best way I've seen this problem explained. You also don't blame anyone for the car-centric design and don't try to evangelize people to cycling. Good approach and very refreshing. I loved the example of how it could be built instead in particular. It makes it very clear that things are the way they are because we choose them to be so, and change can be very real and practical.

Also, that fake main street is both extremely hilarious and depressing at the same time.

[semaj]

As someone who lives in Europe, The Netherlands to be precise. I'm so glad there's so many round about, it slows down the traffic but saves so many lives. Also, there's so many pathways for pedestrians, cyclist/bike and there's supermarket close by except at more rural/farm area tho.
US really need to learn from East European countries, The Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Scandinavia etc.

[swennykins]

What I love most about this video is that you provide a balanced, factual discussion that acknowledges problems while also looking at solutions. I’m so tired of the channels that just point fingers and laugh at suburbs and car dependency without actually trying to solve the problem. Keep up the great work!

[kailahmann]

What really frustrates me is the American habit of building double-lane roads as soon, as there is even a little bit of traffic. Here in Germany, more than one lane per direction triggers so many automatic (!) safety regulations, that even relatively large cities try to avoid building any of them and sometimes even remove them.

[Amir-jnmo]

Welcome to the ever expanding urbanism channels. You got yourself a new sub. The inefficient, isolating, land destroying and tax negative suburban experiment must end. We need European and Japanese style zoning and suburbs that actually have inclusive zoning for residents, shops and offices. Also that walkway path connecting the divisions to the main road is so underrated. I lived in a suburb in Toronto that had this exact walkway that let me walk from my house to the intersection where there was a major grocery store chain in order to shop. Legit took me less time than driving out of the subdivision thanks to how efficient the walkway was. The kentucky subdivision example is also huge. I recently moved to Vancouver and one of the major things i appreciate about the old suburbs is that majority of apartments and houses don't have a driveway leading on to the street. They are usually hidden in a back alleyway or just dont exist. It makes the main street of the suburb so much more quiet, low traffic and friendly.

[jakobs-gxvv]

Just watched both of your videos and I love your channel already. Your videos have such a high quality, and I couldn't agree more with everything you're saying

[b_uppy]

The best way to "build a suburb" is to remove most zoning laws. Let them grow organically instead of by nimby rules.

[jellechristiaans]

In the Netherlands we've had so-called "Vinex" suburbs since 1995, which are suburbs designed with the express purpose of building car-less convenience in mind. Every suburb area is to have a school, some grocery stores, a movie theater, etc. all of which should be accessible by bike/foot or public transport.