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For anyone interested in this topic, I highly recommend this channel's series. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJp5q-R0lZ0_FCUbeVWK6OGLN69ehUTVa https://yout

by gibolt 5y ago

For anyone interested in this topic, I highly recommend this channel's series. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJp5q-R0lZ0_FCUbeVWK6OGLN69ehUTVa https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJp5q-R0lZ0_FCUbeVWK6OGLN... 'Not Just Bikes' has a ton of other great videos on the channel about what infrastructure makes a good city and what makes one hostile to residents.

throwaway894345 5y ago
Are there any rankings of US cities (not just the major ones) based on some quantitative analysis of these kinds of design principles?
- crispyambulance 5y ago
  Yes! The "walkability index/score" summarizes a bunch of criteria like density of groceries, retail, public transit, schools and entertainment. It's easily accessible on real estate websites (like Redfin, https://www.redfin.com/how-walk-score-works https://www.redfin.com/how-walk-score-works), and now I see there's a publicly available dataset as well: https://catalog.data.gov/dataset/walkability-index https://catalog.data.gov/dataset/walkability-index. Walkability that is commonplace in many towns in Europe, roughly match up with very high 90's (98+) walkability scores in the US. IMHO, anything below mid-90's is somewhere I would never live. The score is necessarily skewed towards US style living where walkability is relatively rare. So the difference between, say 70 and 40 is almost meaningless from the point of view of a walker. As far as street design and urban planning goes, the key word is "complete streets" which is an umbrella term that covers rationale, design principles and practical guidance for how to implement a street layout (https://www.transportation.gov/mission/health/complete-streets https://www.transportation.gov/mission/health/complete-stree...). This work is based on studies and data, but I've not looked into it.
shusaku 5y ago
I find that channel so relaxing. Even the busy intersections sound like pleasant background noise.
- DeWilde 5y ago
  I love the lack of background music that is common on channels like that.
kblev 5y ago
Great channel, have been following it for some time, a few takeaways from there: - It's the cars that make the cities undesirable - I was shocked how the historical center of London, ON was demolished to the ground and replaced with shacks - Kids should be able to walk to school alone in safety - I live in Europe and I was baffled to learn that multi-purpose developments are disallowed in most of North America. This alone makes me reconsider my plans to move to the States. I love how I can just jump on a bike here and be at a large supermarket in 5 minutes
- throwaway894345 5y ago
  > I love how I can just jump on a bike here and be at a large supermarket in 5 minutes If you live in a large US city, this can still be very manageable. There are two large grocery stores and a small one as well as a Target and a metro line within a 5 minute walk of my house. Apart from the metro line, we didn't really prioritize the grocery stores, etc when looking for a house. That said, there are many downsides to living in big US cities as well.
  - x3iv130f 5y ago
    Those places tend to be unafordable longterm for anyone making even twice the median salary.
    - rubidium 5y ago
      Not in the Midwest.
      - dagw 5y ago
        What are some nice, livable and affordable cities you can recommend in the Midwest where you don't need a car?
        keawade 5y ago
        As someone who has lived in the Midwest for the past ten years I think you’ll be hard pressed to find this. In Lincoln NE, for example, all new housing for at least the past 30 years has been in car-dependent suburban developments which has resulted in all but the Haymarket district of downtown being car dependent. That district has been mostly livable without a car for the past couple years after a grocery store was built there. I say “mostly” because as soon as you want to do anything outside of The dozen or so blocks of the Haymarket a car quickly becomes required again. This is a common theme of walkable areas in the US and Canada. They do still exist but because of the development patterns of the past 30+ years they are small islands in an ocean of cars. Their scarcity also drives up prices and makes them less affordable than surrounding areas.
pensatoio 5y ago
Not Just Bikes is one of my favorite channels. So happy to see recognition on HN.
knorker 5y ago
It's a great channel that puts words to just why American cities are so dystopic. It really helps understand exactly what "induced demand" means. If you add another lane, some of the people on the bus will take the car, and thus the new lane is almost immediately full again. If you remove the bus lane, bike lane, sidewalk, same thing. Adding capacity for cars actually makes travelling by car worse. It also gives hope. Like just because a city was destroyed to make it more car centric doesn't mean it can't be fixed to be livable again. There's more to strongtowns than this, but it's all interesting.
- bluGill 5y ago
  Induced demand is nonsense. If people leave the bus to drive it indicates your bus system is providing bad service. If more people drive it indicates that your city isn't filling its purpose as being a place where there are a lot of things to do. Cities need to figure out how to get ahead of induced demand not how use it as an excuse to be a worse city.. sure, this is a hard problem, with many options that make something else work, but induced demand is still a terrible excuse to be a bad city.
  - knorker 5y ago
    Induced demand is not nonsense at all. I don't have a car. If there were capacity to drive, I would. If a bunch of capacity to drive was added, I'd buy a car. So that's one data point. > If more people drive it indicates that your city isn't filling its purpose as being a place where there are a lot of things to do. This sounds like an argument from someone who's never heard any alternative to American status quo. > Cities need to figure out how to get ahead of induced demand Wait, you said it's nonsense? I'm starting to think you're misunderstanding me. Induced demand is not an excuse, it's an antipattern no be avoided, and it's not irreversible. It's about how adding lanes to a road doesn't help traffic (see Katy, Texas). Or the I101. Adding a lane, or improving the Caltrain? Clearly the latter will improve 101 traffic more.
    - bluGill 5y ago
      At no point did I say what the solution was. You incorrectly assumed I'm advocating more lanes of traffic, that is one possible solution - if you do it be prepared to go up (or down), as you will need many layers of layers over layers (bridges) that way. There are many other possible solutions though. It didn't work in Katy Texas because they didn't build enough. Improving transit would be my preferred option. The point is if adding a lane of anything doesn't solve your traffic problem (or makes it worse) then you are not thinking big enough.
Vinnl 5y ago
Similar video (but then an hour long) that I always post together with that channel: What can Seattle learn from Dutch street design? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0GA901oGe4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0GA901oGe4
timwaagh 5y ago
Better promotion for nl doesn't exist

by gibolt 5y ago

throwaway894345 5y ago

Are there any rankings of US cities (not just the major ones) based on some quantitative analysis of these kinds of design principles?

crispyambulance 5y ago
Yes! The "walkability index/score" summarizes a bunch of criteria like density of groceries, retail, public transit, schools and entertainment. It's easily accessible on real estate websites (like Redfin, https://www.redfin.com/how-walk-score-works https://www.redfin.com/how-walk-score-works), and now I see there's a publicly available dataset as well: https://catalog.data.gov/dataset/walkability-index https://catalog.data.gov/dataset/walkability-index. Walkability that is commonplace in many towns in Europe, roughly match up with very high 90's (98+) walkability scores in the US. IMHO, anything below mid-90's is somewhere I would never live. The score is necessarily skewed towards US style living where walkability is relatively rare. So the difference between, say 70 and 40 is almost meaningless from the point of view of a walker. As far as street design and urban planning goes, the key word is "complete streets" which is an umbrella term that covers rationale, design principles and practical guidance for how to implement a street layout (https://www.transportation.gov/mission/health/complete-streets https://www.transportation.gov/mission/health/complete-stree...). This work is based on studies and data, but I've not looked into it.

shusaku 5y ago

I find that channel so relaxing. Even the busy intersections sound like pleasant background noise.

DeWilde 5y ago
I love the lack of background music that is common on channels like that.

kblev 5y ago

Great channel, have been following it for some time, a few takeaways from there: - It's the cars that make the cities undesirable - I was shocked how the historical center of London, ON was demolished to the ground and replaced with shacks - Kids should be able to walk to school alone in safety - I live in Europe and I was baffled to learn that multi-purpose developments are disallowed in most of North America. This alone makes me reconsider my plans to move to the States. I love how I can just jump on a bike here and be at a large supermarket in 5 minutes

throwaway894345 5y ago
> I love how I can just jump on a bike here and be at a large supermarket in 5 minutes If you live in a large US city, this can still be very manageable. There are two large grocery stores and a small one as well as a Target and a metro line within a 5 minute walk of my house. Apart from the metro line, we didn't really prioritize the grocery stores, etc when looking for a house. That said, there are many downsides to living in big US cities as well.
- x3iv130f 5y ago
  Those places tend to be unafordable longterm for anyone making even twice the median salary.
  - rubidium 5y ago
    Not in the Midwest.
    - dagw 5y ago
      What are some nice, livable and affordable cities you can recommend in the Midwest where you don't need a car?
      - keawade 5y ago
        As someone who has lived in the Midwest for the past ten years I think you’ll be hard pressed to find this. In Lincoln NE, for example, all new housing for at least the past 30 years has been in car-dependent suburban developments which has resulted in all but the Haymarket district of downtown being car dependent. That district has been mostly livable without a car for the past couple years after a grocery store was built there. I say “mostly” because as soon as you want to do anything outside of The dozen or so blocks of the Haymarket a car quickly becomes required again. This is a common theme of walkable areas in the US and Canada. They do still exist but because of the development patterns of the past 30+ years they are small islands in an ocean of cars. Their scarcity also drives up prices and makes them less affordable than surrounding areas.

pensatoio 5y ago

Not Just Bikes is one of my favorite channels. So happy to see recognition on HN.

knorker 5y ago

It's a great channel that puts words to just why American cities are so dystopic. It really helps understand exactly what "induced demand" means. If you add another lane, some of the people on the bus will take the car, and thus the new lane is almost immediately full again. If you remove the bus lane, bike lane, sidewalk, same thing. Adding capacity for cars actually makes travelling by car worse. It also gives hope. Like just because a city was destroyed to make it more car centric doesn't mean it can't be fixed to be livable again. There's more to strongtowns than this, but it's all interesting.

bluGill 5y ago
Induced demand is nonsense. If people leave the bus to drive it indicates your bus system is providing bad service. If more people drive it indicates that your city isn't filling its purpose as being a place where there are a lot of things to do. Cities need to figure out how to get ahead of induced demand not how use it as an excuse to be a worse city.. sure, this is a hard problem, with many options that make something else work, but induced demand is still a terrible excuse to be a bad city.
- knorker 5y ago
  Induced demand is not nonsense at all. I don't have a car. If there were capacity to drive, I would. If a bunch of capacity to drive was added, I'd buy a car. So that's one data point. > If more people drive it indicates that your city isn't filling its purpose as being a place where there are a lot of things to do. This sounds like an argument from someone who's never heard any alternative to American status quo. > Cities need to figure out how to get ahead of induced demand Wait, you said it's nonsense? I'm starting to think you're misunderstanding me. Induced demand is not an excuse, it's an antipattern no be avoided, and it's not irreversible. It's about how adding lanes to a road doesn't help traffic (see Katy, Texas). Or the I101. Adding a lane, or improving the Caltrain? Clearly the latter will improve 101 traffic more.
  - bluGill 5y ago
    At no point did I say what the solution was. You incorrectly assumed I'm advocating more lanes of traffic, that is one possible solution - if you do it be prepared to go up (or down), as you will need many layers of layers over layers (bridges) that way. There are many other possible solutions though. It didn't work in Katy Texas because they didn't build enough. Improving transit would be my preferred option. The point is if adding a lane of anything doesn't solve your traffic problem (or makes it worse) then you are not thinking big enough.

Vinnl 5y ago

Similar video (but then an hour long) that I always post together with that channel: What can Seattle learn from Dutch street design? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0GA901oGe4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0GA901oGe4

timwaagh 5y ago

Better promotion for nl doesn't exist