American vs. European Suburbs (and why US suburbs suck)

In this unexpected video I explain why European suburbs are objectively better in any way imaginable.

[andi_]

I was recently told by a member of a local city council that there are usually not many people showing up to the meetings or even speaking there. Therefore, if one person talks about a specific topic, there's usually not much attention. As soon as a second person advocates for the same idea, they start to listen. But if a third person brings up the same issue, council members get seriously anxious and afraid to loose votes and therefore will start to act.
My point is, go to town hall meetings, you could be this second or third person! Or even better, bring a friend and be two persons :D

[anondescriptbullet]

As someone who has lived in Europe my whole life, that drive around the suburbs was genuinely shocking: It felt more like a G-mod map than a place where people live

[philipkoene]

I was in the US a year ago and wanted to get a COVID test in the nearest Walgreens to be allowed on my flight back home. It was about half a mile from my hotel so I just walked there (not that there was a public transit option). The lady on the Walgreens counter pointed to a drive-thru window that was one meter behind her and said that she is only allowed to administer COVID tests in the drive-thru. I was irritated but went round the building to the drive-thru on foot. She said I am not allowed to be in the drive-thru, if I am not in a car. She told me I should get an Uber to drive through the drive-thru. I didn´t have local internet service on my phone, so I spent two hours on a busy road trying to get a cab to drive me through a drive-thru 10 meters behind me. In the end I got a bike-rikshaw that had a street permit. It took 10 minutes and a call to the regional Walgreens manager to confirm if I am allowed to use the drive-thru in a bike-rikshaw with a street permit. In the end she handed me a cotton swab that I had to self-administer - something we could have done very easily in 10 seconds, just insided the Walgreens at the counter. Every bit of this story is true and it has been the very low point of my personal experience with the US.

[NotJustBikes]

I grew up in suburbia and I _hated_ the suburbs. For me, the suburbs meant cookie cutter houses, car dependency, and crappy big-box stores.

Imagine my surprise the first time I went to an European suburb and ... it was really nice! Nice houses, big sidewalks, town centres with lots of cool shops within walking distance, and a tram line with frequent service into the city.

It turns out there's nothing fundamentally wrong with "suburbs", the US and Canada just build them wrong.

[Fantasia-fwxt]

This is the reason why in the US when teenagers get their first car or their driver’s license they get extremely hyped and excited.

[ivobrabec]

I was a exchange student in the US and lived with my family in a small village in rural area. The school was 3 miles away in the middle of nowhere in fields. The school bus was leaving too early leaving me with no choice if I wanted to spend time in the library. Walking 3 miles home was not a big issue. Much bigger issue was to explain to all cars passing by that they don’t have to help me and that I am not a stranger if I simply walk home from the school myself. I was the only one :-(

[jonass.]

My sister visited a friend in Houston last spring, he was living in the suburbs with his parents while earning 80k.
While he was working at home she wanted to visit the city center.
She was advices to take an Uber but she didn’t like the idea and the cost, so she chose the bus.
Her friends parents were shocked, because the bus was only used by homeless, jobless or very poor people.
She did it anyway and had great time as the busdriver was super nice and happy to have an out of the order customer. He told her where to exit and where to go from there.
Public transport partially even exist at those spaces but nobody uses is for obvious reasons.
After that experience my sister was super confident to not take the Joboffers she had in the US and decided to move back to Europe 😂😂

[somedudeok]

As a kid I never realized how much the planning and arrangement of Vienna benefitted my childhood development, in contrast to other cities. My childhood would've been much worse in quality, if I didn't have the ability to visit friends, go exploring or go play sports on my own. Had I grown up in America, anytime my mom wouldn't be free to drive me somewhere, I'd have missed out on a learning experience. Thx Vienna. :)

[Me-tdrg]

The idea that even as a 15 year old in America you’d have to get your parents to drive you everywhere if you wanna do anything because you can’t yet would suck so much-

[Sara-sngd]

As something from Europe I never fully understood the whole thing in American movies of ' there's nothing to do around here'. The way suburbs are portrayed in movies is different after all and I thought my suburb and theirs were comparable. In my suburb, there is an ancient roman burial mound 20 minutes away from me, fields, animals, little pounds, forest, a soccer field, river, old church and cemetary, horses

[HomestarCrawler]

I'm from Canada and in my mid 20s I was studying in Europe (Czech Republic). I then decided if I want to go back or stay. One of the deciding factors was the amount of time I spend driving places. In Canada, I'd spend an hour going anywhere (another hour going back), and always had to drive. In Europe, I could walk most places and be there in 10-15 minutes. Plus I could always have a beer with friends anywhere, since I was walking, and also not get fat. Just by doing the math, I realized that by staying in Europe I'd spend a lot more time living and a lot less time driving. And I'm still here 🙂

[caslikes]

it's incredibly uncanny valley to see the american suburb with no pavements. walking is such an integral part of living in europe, that i can't even imagine not walking to school or the bus stop or wherever.

[OneOnOne]

As a European who doesn't have a driver's licence and has relied almost exclusively on public transport or biking throughout most of my adult life, it's pretty crazy learning about how things work in America.

[lolsos-qxzp]

My family recently moved from Australia to California and my dad was very shocked when his car broke down and told his friend he was going to take the trains. He replied with only poor people take the train and that he's going to get stabbed or something. Its not only the zoning laws and building layout that needs to be changed but also people's mindset.

[deadboy]

Living a year in Europe (Budapest to be specific) has made me appreciate how important a well developed infrastructure that gives you quick, accessible and comfortable public transit is.

[lokedt]

I was an exchange student in a smaller town in Missouri back in 2010, and one of the dumbest things I experienced was trying to get to my school. I lived about a 4 minute walk away from my school, but I had to get a ride every day to and from school because walking would mean suicide. I had to cross a six-lane road with no way of crossing as a pedestrian, so after trying a few times I would give up. It´s absolutely insane to me that Americans are so car dependent that they can´t even make a single pedestrian crossing anywhere on the six-lane road that literally carved the city in half.

[northeasturbanist]

The U.S. has a lot of older neighborhoods that look like European suburbs, but they are rare and extremely expensive

[herrroin]

As an exchange student from Switzerland, it’s crazy to see how my dependence on my US-parents has increased. I can‘t go anywhere without asking them. The infrastructure here is so depressing…

[midnightflare]

"It's almost faster to walk now than to drive."
If I were a mayor, I would take that as a compliment.

[micha]

Many European suburbs are basically smalltowns with an own town center and the usual smalltown public services, plus a train station of the suburban transit network (S-Bahn, RER, etc) which takes people to the neighboring big city.