@@BooBooBlueBerry I was really confused though because the Montana one had a flat background with no mountains and I thought that that state was really mountainous.
When we emigrated to the states back in 1998, I remember my parents driving to the store and sayin”where are the people”? And that stuck with me and I constantly remember the surprise they had. Coming from Europe it was a shock to rely on cars for everything and I always said how bad the lifestyle here is glad more people are realizing it.
Thirty years ago I read a book, “The Geography of Nowhere” which changed my life. It got me thinking about what those in charge did to the U.S. in the 20th century. It is a crime, and now we are living with traffic noise, pollution, overwhelming architecture that is not welcoming to people, and the ugliness of the landscapes shown here.
AS a former OTR truck driver, I can vouch for this video because I have driven it. It is the exact same shit everywhere. I admit you can't take a Class A truck anywhere you want, but I got a really good glimpse from my drivers seat of how "Copy/paste" Every neighborhood is no matter what State you are in. Some of the Country is beautiful; like heading west on I 40 in New Mexico as the sun is rising and you can see the painted desert in the low day break sun. However, when you get to a town, it's back to "rinse and repeat" on the same shopping centers with the same eateries and the same "anchor stores". I have seen MILES of the exact same style of homes in PHX, Los Angles, Chicago, Dallas/Ft.Worth, Houston, Atlanta.... Each city had it's own flavor of how the houses looked, but each of those cities had rubberstamp style for MILES. When I first started, driving I was so excited seeing all the different places, but after about a year, I realized that no matter if I went to somewhere I hadn't been, it turned out to be the same thing as I'd already seen. I literally told people when they asked me if I saw anything exciting, my reply was : "nyaa, it's all the same". George Carlin even had a bit in his show, about how the USA is just one big shopping mall, and he's totally correct. "Only a bunch of arrogant assholes would take a beautiful Country and turn it into a coast to coast strip mall" ( paraphrased). Everyone in the audience laughed, because the truth is , it's a joke, and everyone knows it.
I live in New Brusnwick Canada, and while the suburbs are much like everywhere and now Canadian cities TRY to look as american as possible and yet wonder why more american tourists don't come here to see the exact same thing they can see at home, but one thing I've always loved is that when you travel around this province, NO two houses ever look quite the same. I remember saying that to somebody and they thought I was being sarcastic. Meanwhile, peopel freak about the 'control' of a government that makes every city look identical and controls how you get to work, where you get to work, how long you work for, what you see and hear all day, and yet THAT isn't considered 'control'.
It's the corporate monoculture. I'm sorry but it's garbage. It's against the human spirit. There's a lot of depressing things in America that few will actually admit or talk about.
I'm really curious how the I-40 is through New Mexico, because every time I take the 10 through AZ and NM I legitimately want to end my life. It's just mile after mile of flat, boring ass sand, with nothing to look at. It's like Tattooine, or Sand-Kansas.
America is one big “coast to coast strip mall” Man, I think George Carlin said it best. Well one way we can begin to make America beautiful again is by OBLITERATING R1 zoning. It has classist and racist origins, and is the main reason why about 90% of the U.S. looks so ugly.
I moved from Sweden and lived in the US (suburbia) ages 10-15. While I liked the US - my friends, school and society - the inability to get around and visit friends on my own was increasingly irritating. Always dependent on having parents drive me. Moving back to Sweden meant FREEDOM. Even though we lived in suburban Stockholm I was able to bike everywhere to visit friends, stay out late (without my parents being afraid), bike to school and take the subway into downtown Stockholm.
that's not the whole USA, just small towns and suburbs. If you live in a major city like Los Angeles or New York you can get around just fine without a car.
Funny, as an American born and raised I always biked everywhere until I could drive. I had friends that lived 15 miles away, I used my bike. I wanted to stay out late, I asked my parents and they trusted me. No subways where I grew up and it was perfectly safe and I never missed seeing friends or playing sports. I've never known anything but freedom, but I guess that's just me.
@@facetiouslyinsolent8313 that's why people move to the suburbs to raise kids. :) And of course their kids go back to the big city to earn a living, and then move back to the suburbs to raise THEIR kids. :)
Born, raised, and still live in NYC. Yes, it's pretty expensive here but I count my lucky stars I live here every day. I couldn't imagine growing up or living in these depressing suburban hellholes.
Someone commented that Italy has a lot more problems than the US. We have a lot of problems, but very different from the equally huge US problems. I consider my self very lucky to live in Rome, otherwise my life in the last 15 years would have been a hell, or would have been simply finished. First I had to take care of my mother who has Alzheimer and going out walking, speaking and seeing people helped her to have a decent life until the end. The same year she died, I discovered I had a cancer and for these last 5 years I cared for myself mostly alone ( but I have great friends that help me!). I was forced to quit my job and I can't drive anymore but live in the middle of the city so I have my doctor, several pharmacies, 2 supermarkets and plenty of shops, all at a walking distance (even when I feel really unwell). I can go the hospital where I have my therapy with a metro line or by a 10 minutes taxi drive. I can see people and ear voices through my window, and there's an elementary school on one side of my apartments building and I can see children playing outside during break time. I would have been not only desperately lonely but already dead in a US suburb. So thanks for the "thoughts and prayers" but I take Italians problems over US ones every day.
@@ead630 their government is absolutely terrible (one of the worst in western europe) - fighting on live tv, cussing each other out in parliament, literally zero class and no sense. the mafia pretty much runs the country on the low and people go missing every year, without fail, for trying to fight back against them. and whenever family members do find their loved ones, there is very little to no justice because the mafia has either paid off all the officials OR people are understandably too scared to say anything. there are NO opportunities for anyone under 30 unless you're a nepo baby, so there's a serious brain drain issue going on in the country as anyone with a degree takes off for the uk, canada, australia, and if they can afford it, the states, to find work. the average wage is painfully, criminally low for a supposedly "developed country", so most people cannot afford even the basics and it's only been getting worse with inflation and the fallout from the ukraine war since no one cares about the poor. italy also has one of if not *the* highest poverty rates in western europe, most of them being elderly and students, and again it's only been getting worse as the years go by because again, no one cares about the poor. there is no real social safety net as the government is constantly in debt or defaulting on loans, so many people are stuck with skimpy pensions (like 300-500 euros a month, barely enough to pay rent). rome has turned into a festering trash can cause the mayor would rather do pap walks and buy designer clothes than spend money to clean things up. and every couple of years, the underground nazi/fascist element crawls out from the depths and tries to kick out anyone who isn't italian from the country (you can watch videos of them demonstrating in the middle of the night in rome and smaller cities across the country). i could go on, but italy has a ton of problems. people are delulu and just hate on americans out of envy. we have options - THEY DON'T!
You guys are spoiled - you guys don't know how spoiled you are to have normal, real cities. Take care of what my ancestors built, while I work on escaping this wreckage.... and enjoy computers, cell phones, light bulbs, and all the inventions, but still..... you guys are right, those don't make up for the ugliness and horribleness.... only thing to do is escape and reclaim my homeland :)) I've met enough of you to know without a shadow of a doubt, that you don't deserve to be the sole inheritors of it lol Not necessarily you per se, but as a generality, beyond a shadow of a doubt (never visit the flaming wreck that is 9gag) :P
Every country has suburbs. The difference is how they are built. I just got back from a trip to France. There were suburban areas lined with McDs, gas stations, garden warehouses, and mini golf parks. The difference lies in the experience. The roads are half as wide. Numerous textures and colors are used on the street and sidewalk. Traffic signals are firmly attached to poles, not swinging wildly in the wind. Roundabouts are numerous. There is an egalitarian spirit that does not prioritize cars over pedestrians. More people walk. Bus stops are prevalent. Overall, it's a more desirable environment.
The problem is that the US has a strict zoning law that leaves little flexibility in what can be developed. To contrast, Dutch 'suburbs' are still highly compact, often high-end housing (called 'Vinex' if you want to google examples of it), often several homes within a single building.
Yes, but most people in France do not have to resort to these 'light industrial / commercial' zones as their town or suburb has grown organically out of a centuries' old village and has a village centre with shops and services. Most inhabitants of mid-sized towns and cities in France have the choice of both, with public transport coverage. I live in central Paris: my public transport is walking, my baker, grocer, bistro, pharmacy, theatre, cafes and metro to the office are all with a 200 metre radius.
Just saw an hour-long movie _Taken for a Ride_ saying Congress voted time and again against letting states use their gas tax money on public transport. Roads or nothing.
@@abimaellopezmaylord27lopez7 Nah. Just made up and wrong, and bs from car and oil companies that stigmatised ghettos. Americans are being forced to live in expensive real estate that can't afford itself. There are no living options whatsoever. Many people will be perfectly happy in a well - situated, well - equiped appartment. No to mention they can have various sizes - but that's illegal in car dependant US and Canada. As shown by the pandemic, amercians want more various housing options that can fit their taste, mood, familly and wallet. Remove those bs zoning laws and build all kinds of middle housing, and see people floding into them, as current pre - 1950 suburbs are unfordable due to enourmous demand. 4 - 6 floor buildings, with different sizes, shapes, colors will make thing feel much better, with appartments ranging from 30 to 150 m^2, you get everybody covered. Also, the fun of balconnies.
The public went along with arrangement because they have never been to Europe. This arrangement treats the human being as consumer first...resident and citizen last.
My daughter was born in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. When she was nine, we decided to move to the US. On the first day, she looked out my brother's front door, and puzzled, asked, "Where are the people?" We lasted only a year and a half in America. We now live in Istanbul, Turkey.
That's wonderful. Do you like Istanbul? I'm a half Greek Turkish man from Istanbul and have been living in Belgium for 4 months. I feel like I've missed my hometown ahhaha.
I’ve travelled to Istanbul many times for business and, trust me, it is NOT utopia. You’re constantly being watched by the police, military, etc. it was the first time I e er experienced having my taxi searched (including the undercarriage) by security at my hotel. No thanks, I’ll gladly stay right here in the USA.
@@jamesmarsh9888 I was greeted by two FBI agents by airplane door once I landed in Salt Lake City coming from Paris. After two hours of interrogation come to find out it was about a Facebook post I made. Actually it was a trending post I reposted. You might think you’re not being watched but there are eyes everywhere out there if you step out of the norm.
@@nar2cc I live in America and well, our public infrastructure, from housing to transportation is asinine. We built ourselves around vehicles, plus we glorify cars like no tomorrow. I prefer to bike and walk as much as I can (biking is a bit of an issue as I now live 10 miles out of town itself if I need groceries or to go to work) but even when I lived in a suburb, people would judge me for biking as if I didn't have a vehicle. Mind you I lived a mile, (1.5-7 KMs) from a grocery store and twice that from work. It was about a ten minute bike ride and that was going at a leisurely pace. But it was like a game of cat and mouse, cars everywhere, whatever sidewalks we do have aren't enough for a bike and a person to fit on. Plus the 'bike lane' is just an extra lane for idiotic drivers. Don't get me started on our healthcare or basic education systems
@@nar2cc good for you, many people in the Americas immigrate to the United States for Hope and last opportunity. I understand if you don’t like America but just remember it’s there anti-nuclear defense systems that is defending your country in Europe (if you’re a NATO ally) it seems the European people are good at taking advantage of the United States and their wealth. Europeans are arrogant without realizing it. I guess it’s your culture 🤷🏾
I'm a European, and some of the pictures you showed remind of that empty, soulless feeling of an early AI generator dreamed picture. It's so depressing it looks unreal.
The time I went to the US, felt like I was on never-ending loop because everything looked the same!! Same typography, architecture, colors. Something that surprised me and cause me to feel like trapped was that the fast food restaurants and walmart /target/ ross etc, they "repeated" themselves like every 100 m. It was insane.
Yea my US roadtrip was intesting in a similar way. We don't eat fast food. Finding anything edible was a challenge. Best fish I ever had was this small ran down dinery outside off Chattanooga -Tennessee. I don't think that lady had ever met a non-racist white person before, they where very nice and surprised that we would eat there, I hope they are doing well.
I remember landing for the first time in America at 17 years old in 1990 all excited wanting to see the high rise buildings that we keep seeing on TV. my uncle picked me up and drove me to the town he lives in, I was literally shocked, I kept asking myself, this can’t be America, this can’t be the same places I watched on TV growing up, where is everybody, this can’t be the city I am gonna live in for the rest of my life..my village back home is more lively than this American suburb. Finally, after I visited downtown and saw the high rise building, I got even more depressed and more disappointed.
I literally thought I typed this whole paragraph lol. EVERY SINGLE WORD of yours is true to my situation when I first landed at age 17...except that I came in late 2000s. My uncle lived in the outskirt of a major dense city. I thought it was a small town at that time, but now I realize this area is probably more dense than 95% of the U.S.
@@hanialturk5981 Well... Yes I have got used to living here. It's been nearly 15 years after all. It was very difficult at first and I wanted to go back to my home country, but all my family is in the U.S., what could I do? It took me more than 10 years to stop hating my life here. But of course, I know not everyone has the same experience. It's great to know that you love America. What makes you want to move to another country?
I lived in Florida for a few years coming from Spain and i absolutly loved the great job oportunities you can have even with no degrees. I loved how the labor and economic system works that seems there is no end. I learnd a sentence there that said “sky is the limit” and that is the US, but after 5 years i just could resist any year more living there because of the american way of life that is simply not for me and end it moving back to Spain after making some good money savings. Sorry for my English 🥴.
I think theres a lot of people who dont know what theyre doing here in the US. not so much that its "not for you" you just didnt know how to live it properly. Glad you left though. The less immigrants here taking up space, the better haha
As a European, one of the parts that surprised me the most was what you said at 1:30 about how the only restaurants are part of massive franchises. Where I'm from, pretty much all restaurants are small privately owned businesses and they're spread out throughout the city which makes them easily accessible by walking. You're never more than 50 meters from a restaurant and there are so many options available if you want to try something new. Even in small cities you can find plenty of small, locally owned restaurants. Sure, you're likely to also be within walking distance to a Subway or a McDonalds, but you only pick those if there are no other options available to you. I suppose this is a consequence of America's zoning laws; when you only have a limited central place for restaurants, the only ones who are able to get a spot are the large players who can muscle out everyone else.
I live in a very overpopulated state (relative to its size), and I often marvel at how mediocre SO MUCH of the food/restaurants are here.........corporate chains (which are the overwhelming majority) and mom & pop/independents. Whenever I ask aquaintances or co-workers to recommend a place that they consider "amazing".........or even "above average", overwhelmingly, I either get nothing or a place that is highly disappointing.
The only ones that are within a reasonable distance to most people, at any rate, and probably the most affordable. There are indeed many privately owned restaurants, but they often tend to be clustered in or near city centers, making them a pain to get to, and/or are more expensive. It can be very regional, though: if you know where to look, you can still find some non-chain restaurants hidden out in the small towns. It may take a bit more effort to find them than the nearest McDonald's, but anyone would be sorely mistaken to not seek them out while travelling. I think it's selling America short to act as though the whole country looks like this, and anyone who says so probably hasn't traveled very much. On the other hand, I do agree that waaaay too much of it *does* look like this and you shouldn't *have* to play I-Spy for the good places or rely on the luck of happening to live near them. It does remind me of George Carlin's bit about how huge swathes of this country have basically been turned into one long strip mall, in a sense.
The thing I hate about cars is that people act like they’re in a hurry to go somewhere, when they’re just going to go home and plop on the sofa to watch tv. I live in a small town and, despite that, I’m the only one that walks. It’s nearly impossible to walk across the damn street because, traffic goes a whole mile. Nobody in their cars will let you walk across so, you just end up standing there on the corner even after two cycles of the stop lights changing.
@@stupidnotallowed2992 yes. I've been trucking for 2 decades and I've noticed people driving into and out of McDonalds (Mcdonald customers) act like they have the right of way.... Doesn't matter what McDonalds, I call it the Mc right of way.
Yeah. They're all in a hurry to go nowhere and do nothing. It's just the adrenaline rush that driving creates. When you put up pedestrian walk signals and crosswalks, it really does force people to slow down. Even better would be to ban right on red, u turns, and add rotaries.
As a fat 17 year old, this is so true. Btw I’m not super fat but I am unhealthy. I live in a small town in Northern California but I do not live in the town but I live on the outside. I live in the forest and mountains and is not surrounded by houses. I’m pretty lucky I guess. But my town takes 10 minutes to go there and those pictures you showed looks the exact same as my town. We have 5 or 6 fast food restaurants everywhere spread out across in my town. It’s so tempting to just buy some food even though it’s not that good. The food is alright. I’m planning on loosing weight and I’m pretty good already at resisting fast food. I’ve been going on like walks every other day out in nature with my dog and it’s peaceful. Also I do live in a peaceful area. I’m glad I don’t live in the suburbs. My dad did when he was a kid and hated it. When we drive past suburbs he complains that the houses are too close and how it’s horrible to live there. Also I do not have a license or drivers permit and I’m working on that right now.
Fast food is literally the only jobs in my area that are hiring, and retail. The city I live near and work in is extremely impoverished, and literally everywhere looks like the thumbnail in the video
This video makes me glad that I grew up and live in rural America. We have a variety of mom and pop businesses, a locally owned grocery store, lots of local farms so our food doesn’t come from halfway across the country. We even have a local restaurant that serves straight from farm to table meals. The best cultures are found in the smallest towns in America.
@@professional.commentatorI was just gonna say. This is actually a similarity between cities and rural America. I grew up in Flint, MI with many family owned businesses. Restaurants, barber shops, corner stores, a little bit of everything.
As a mexican, when i travelled to the USA I felt the same awkward feeling about their streets. In México it's easy to travel across a city without having a car, because we have many options of public transport.
This is the whole purpose of people like you bashing these American suburbs is you don't want people driving and you don't like the automobile I don't want your stinky virus spreading public transportation lifestyle and keep it in Mexico
Mexico is a very large country, the vast majority of it does not consist of urban cores with public transport. The same is true for the US. the difference is that massive amounts of people live spread out in the expanses between cities in the US.
This country has some of the most beautiful places on earth, but also some of the most boring and ugly places on earth. As someone who travels around the country a lot I have to say I'm tired of the US looking like this, it's depressing.
@@MACROPARTICLE none taken! You're not wrong..Because Whenever I go anywhere,I see more large people and it's sad.. I feel like most of this is caused by our governments and the stuff they put in food now
Ironically, while car dependence produces miserable suburbia like these, it also increases access to national parks and large areas of nature, which is one of the country's best traits.
As someone who grew up in a city of 5 to 10million (depending on the time of day) people, I would love to live in your suburbs where I could actually feel some privacy. Don't take your suburbs for granted, support small businesses instead of corporations.
You can have suburbs with this amount of privacy,in terms of your own backyard and access to a car, even while the city is comfortable for walkers, bikers and transit takers. So I will actually take these suburbs for granted (and support small businesses).
Small businesses don't survive in the suburbs. they take up residence in the bombed out carcass of a multi million dollar businesses that has gone belly up or that just abandoned that location for greener pastures. the small business only lasts for a year or so at most before it dies due to lack of cash needed to sustain remaining in the location.
There's no privacy. Privacy is an illusion. Your neighbors are ALWAYS watching you and observing what you're doing. How you maintain your lawn, what your kids are doing in their own backyard. Someone called the police on a woman because her children were playing in the back yard while she watched from the kitchen window. Can you even imagine that?? Also, the HOA owns your ass. There's no way to decline this either. You're just forcibly "grandfathered in." If the HOA doesn't like what you're doing to your property, they can literally kick you out of your own neighborhood. Finally, unless you pay cash for your house you don't technically own it. The bank does. Even if you did pay cash you can still lose your house if you can't afford the property taxes.
Also small businesses are becoming rare in these places. The big box chain stores and restaurants own every single space in these strip malls. They will buy properties in those malls with the intent and purpose of keeping other businesses out of the plaza. They're actually destroying small businesses because small business owners can't keep up with fast food costs.
I visited my daughter in CA one time and stayed in a Marriott 2 miles away. I walked to her place by fairly circuitous routes and navigating under freeways. On arrival I was asked why I took a taxi instead of calling them. They were all astonished that I WALKED.
Back in 2014, my family and I were on a US roadtrip. While in Colorado, my family decided they wanted to go 100 miles north to some special shopping place. I decided to stay at the hotel, didn't wanna shop my money away. When I had to get lunch, I had to walk on barren land and cross 3 roads to get to the nearest gas station for some easy, simple food - took 20 minutes in a relatively medium sized city... I suddenly realized why Americans always drove anywhere. Greetings from Denmark! I love my bike and our biking lanes, lol.
@Rockemsockem ohhhh Yeah. It sucks. I thought you meant that it's unethical for people to do that. Not that it's unethical that they didn't make proper pedestrian walkways.
I moved from Europe to America when I was quite young, and ever since I lived there I had this bad feeling about the way streets and roads were laid out like it made you feel like an NPC. This city design literally kills hundreds of millions of Americans mentally and no one even talks about it.
@@jmtrad1906 yea it’s so sad that they live in their cars for their whole lives. No wonder 40% of Americans are overweight or obese, they never fucking walk because they have no choice! They are not gonna walk or bike 2 hours to everyplace they have to on a road that isn’t meant for them
It 'killed you mentally' because you were a fish out of water, most likely. It doesn't 'kill hundreds of Americans mentally', though. Source? Yeah... I'm right... Hyperbole.
The other side of the story is that Americans mostly live in big houses with their own yards and gardens, while Europeans live in tiny apartments, surrounded with neighbours from all sides. In fact, Europe is really overcrowded and the lack of privacy can be exhausting sometimes.
@@scottwatson4584 actually, I live in Europe and I have been in most of the countries. I really feel safe wherever I go in Europe but you can find countless of neighbourhoods that are too densely populated, built up with too many poorly maintained residential buildings, with narrow streets, problematic infrastructure etc.
@@ivaylovasilev4578 Please give a few examples of places. Name one in Germany, Austria, Netherlands, Luxemburg, Belgium, etc. Yes, not every single neighbourhood is going to be perfect. But for the most part the infrastructure and housing is pretty good. Now if the east of Europe is a mixed bag.
American suburbs will give you the space you want, but you will have to drive to do anything. You might technically be able to walk to another store, like a gas station, if you're lucky and brave. But in most European villages of a decent size, you can have the space you want and there's usually at least one easily accessible grocery store, pharmacy, bar, school, etc.
Aaaaand depressingly, you get the same old crazy lunatics in the comments saying “If you don’t like it, leave” I don’t understand this mentality. Can anybody with that argument explain to me why you like living in a place where it’s dangerous for children to play outside?
If you like the suburbs than that’s ok. I have no problem with people who like the suburbs and like living in them. My problem is that these baby boomers made it illegal to not live in a suburb. It’s called *single family zoning* and if you don’t have a car, well it’s game over. Now housing is unaffordable and everything is car dependent. The problem is that most of the country makes it illegal to build affordable non-detached homes thus making the whole country one massive copy and pasted suburb.
To a European it is pretty ironic how the 'land of the free' effectively locks the vast majority of its citizens into a single mode of transport that damages both people and environment, and that turns a potentially beautiful country into sprawling parking lots, bankrupting cities in the process. Single family zoning definitely has to be stamped out, for many reasons including its racist origins and effects.
Yes! More people should be taking about those stupid laws.. it's not that americans don't want or are incapable of building a better suburb structure, it's literally those stupid laws that make it impossible!!
I was in Europe all of last summer. I was deeply depressed as well when I returned. I'm 46 and retirement is still a few decades off but I decided when I retire it'll probably be in Southern Europe somewhere.
@@rexx9496 Thats the problem. You as rich american tourists dont experience the average european experience whch is living in tiny small apartment complexes.
@@ceooflonelinessinc.267 Not all American tourists are rich. I stayed in some of these small apartments. It did not bother me. Keep in mind that along with these bigger houses in America is having to drive everywhere to do anything. You need to pick up some milk? Then you have to drive 15 minutes to the grocery store. Want to go to a bar? Drive 30 minutes into town. Unless you live in NYC, this is how most of the US is.
And this issue was highlighted IN THE 60s! Wayback when the idea of a suburban was still pretty good, because there's lots of space to fill in, and it's an effective(at the time) use of residential space, planners were already warning local governments of how unsustainable this is. The urban sprawl on paper sounds like it will free up it's citizens, out of the tight and constricting spaces of urban housing, but in reality, the suburbs end up isolating the people living in it.
I lived in university areas when I lived in USA and had international roommates. We were an exception and walked everywhere and enjoyed life. But thinking that I would have had to end up living in a soulless suburb, I would get depressed. That's why I left and live happily in Spain
the hispanic/latinamerican way of life it's far superior and many gringos are admitting it. look up for "Ajijic Mexico", a town that's already claimed by US citizens. xD same with Pesquería, Nuevo León but it's full of South Koreans, now we call it Pescorea.
On top of all this, for people who don't have a car, walking places always makes people look at you suspiciously. I've had the cops called on ne simply for walking or riding my bike through an area. There are people *in cars* who see you as a pedestrian and automatically think "they're up to no good". They scout for you, mostly intent on ruining lives. I was riding my bike through a neighborhood to meet up with some friends, on the way I was stopped and arrested because some dude in a black escalade felt threatened by me. They gave the excuse that I was loitering or prowling, slammed my head into the top of the cop car, and booked me for a night. The case was thrown out but it was traumatic. I'll see these systems fall if it's the last thing I do. Down with this dystopic hellscape.
woah what the fuck?? for riding a bike you got ARRESTED?? thats... what? I'm from the Australian suburbs, and while i dont really ride my bike anywhere i can easily walk to meet up with friends at a park or a local grocery shop and catch the bus into town, or maybe a train to get to the city or a further shopping centre... thats so horrible that you guys cant even do that. i would die if my parents had to drive me everywhere bc they just wouldnt, and i would have zero social life do you have buses or trains at least? or trams? i have a bus stop literally down the street from me, which i can take to the train station and go anywhere i want
@@thatsmyeviltwin8704 we've got bus stops for the most part, they just don't take the routes I need. Trains are rare, but they exist in some places. It's hard to fathom but sometimes situations just escalate too quickly.
Yes, I've had the cops called on me for just walking around too. I was in the town where I grew up visiting family, but I live in NYC now and hate to drive. Just walking in the suburbs is cause for the freaking cops to be called.
What a horrible experience, I'm so sorry. This sounds sadly accurate though. Everyone is paranoid because they don't interact with people in anyway. They sit in their houses all day long. They sit in their cars all day long. They go into these giant big box stores and don't speak to anyone. So everyone is "up to no good." People are absolutely losing their minds in suburbia. It's what isolation does to people. I also think it's responsible for the "loneliness epidemic." People are just so lonely in these places. They know that something is missing, but can't quite put their finger on it. There's zero sense of community. What's sad is that we're raising our children in these places and telling them that it's good for them. It would be one thing to say "hey we're too broke to afford a condo in the city." At least kids would know that you're not intentionally punishing them by forcing them into an asphalt wasteland. We have the audacity to tell children that this is better, healthier, and (in fact) the American Dream! How sad is it that people call this the "American Dream." Who thinks this is ideal? This lifestyle is a horrifying nightmare hellscape.
I was just having a conversation about this with a friend yesterday. We were walking around a lively neighbourhood in town, the restaurants/ patios were full and it was totally lively. And we are SO grateful that we don't live in car strapped suburbia. You're right, it's UGLY, void of life, joy or anything interesting.
i moved from Germany to New Zealand, and i am shocked how american it is here. The Suburbs seem like the same as in in U.S withouth a car youre screwed basically the whole city is designed for cars, there are no pedesterans on the sidewalks. The food is terrible and everywhere these big fast food chains.
@A Shot of Hennessy right half the influencers who make videos on capitalism and American culture participate in i even if they disagree with it. Really hard to opt out unless you’re rich lol
I always wanted to move to the US, until I visited the place. Besides the fact you can't walk anywhere, the way people infantilize their children is just literal insanity (yes, in the literal sense). Here in Japan, kids usually walk around the city alone even at eve. Same scenario at my birthplace in Germany, yet in the US some parents think a 15 year old is too stupid to be left alone. It's really weird and (Well.. insane). I'm feel sad for all of you having to endure this, especially for those who believe that those conditions are suppose to be normal and those who lived long enough in them they can't understand the consequences of such conditions. Hope the US gets to fix this, though who knows how many generations it might take.
To be fair, in most areas of the United States, it can be dangerous to allow children to walk around without an adult. I know Japan and Germany are known for low crime and safety, I hope America can reach that someday
The more I learn about the US, the less desire I have to visit it.. let alone, I won't live there ever. As a kid I was fascinated about the US, and I actually dreamed about to live there one day. Not anymore.
I get what you mean. As a child, I remember seeing quirky documentaries about the US and how everything was "bigger and better" in America. I thought it was the coolest place on earth. However, the more I learned about the US as I got older, the less interest I had. I've been to NYC before and it was okay, but there's nothing special about the city that I want to experience again. Time Square was just a crazy busy area with millions of advertisements and the subways and streets were absolute filth. Other locations in America don't interest me much either. It all seems so boring outside of a few odd places of interest.
A sea of houses, no public transportation, no small businesses down your residential street you can easily walk or bike to, and that big long wide street that cuts right in a town that I call the "heart of the suburb" or "stroad" as it's named that literally has everything a town needs, stores, restaurants, hospitals, banks etc. Yet everyone lives so far from it, and the only quickest and sad to say, "safest" way to get to it is by car, in which thousands in a whole community drives on it everyday. I don't know why people think they're doing good by moving to the suburbs. Sure, it's nice and quiet and seen as a status symbol, but there's literally nothing there for people half the time. Most common thing you can find in an average American suburban residential neighbourhood is schools and churches and a few parks. That's it. Nothing else. No movie theaters, no restaurants. Nothing for miles.
I think Japan did this so much better, for example if you look at how Tokyo is laid out most people have everything they would need within a 10-20 minute walk from where they live, weather it’s healthcare, food, shopping, entertainment, and education. They also have access to a public transport system that is very reliable and is most commonly used to get to work or meet up with friends that don’t live in your area
you cant cite tokyo as reference for comparison to normal american towns, tokyo is the biggest or most populous city in japan, so itd only be comparable to like new york really or la maybe. youd have to cite the rest of japan, and the vast majority of what their towns and cities are like. though when you do that, japan is way better still.
The other day I decided to walk around a neighborhood I was visiting just for exercise and someone called police for "suspicious activity". Or the fact that HOA's complain that kids run a lot in the area and that too many bikes are outside. I'm sorry but America is one giant prison and I have been saying this since the first day I stepped foot in DC. I saw so many parked cars but no people and I kept asking my brother where are all the people?
I've noticed this every time I come back from my trips to central america. The moment I land in the US and go thru customs I can already feel the strict police state. I was born here but never fully experienced it until I came back from abroad
The same happened to me, I use to walk along a road next to a nice neighborhood until I was stop by the police on the ‘suspicion’ of me being an armed individual reported by neighbors
@@99cooking. I grew up in Europe and lived there up to 23, at 24 I relocated to the US and I can tell that the US feels more relaxed and overall less judgmental. At least from my experience.
@@paulpavlinskyi4793 I'll give you the non-judgemental part, as I think Europeans and Americans are both judgemental and set in their ways so it depends on what they are judgemental on. But relaxed? The US? I'm curious what you understand by relaxed because I've never seen a society so stressed, so afraid of anything and everything, so lacking in basic social support and community spirit, so individualistic and corporatist as the US.
I can relate to this topic so much. I came to America 12 years ago as an international student from China. I first went to high school in a little town called Plattsburgh in New York State that looks just like every photo in this video lol. I was a little surprised of how there was so little to do. Later I had visited a few different states across the country and realized that is just what real average American life is. I grew up in a relatively small town in China as well. We don’t have much but people live a lively life.
Must of visited some shifty places trust I have only seen those types of places three or four times I lived in America for 8 years before mov8 g to Canada its worse here then when I lived in the suburbs of Boston
Well as a traveling student aren't you supposed to PHUCK OFF again once you studied. Was it a real college or a college just set up to look up on visa cards? Do you actually benefit USA more than kitchen staff like Gordon Ramsey showed us USA is full of boarder hoppers working in kitchens. Lots of them can't even speak English so you are winning that race atleast.
@@nopefranks1154 I think you meant border not “boarder”. I thought you’re supposed to be the more American one.😂😂 To kindly answer your questions. I graduated from Auburn University with an architecture degree and currently operating my own architecture design office on the east coast. So yea, I went to a “real college”and I’m still here. And no one can change that. As far as do I benefit US more than a kitchen staff? I’ll let you decide. Glad you asked.😂 But let me tell you this, every one contributes to this country the way they can. I’m sure that you and I don’t contribute to this country the way Elon Musk does, right? Does that make you a less of a person than he is? Probably not, and I don’t like to judge people that way. I was gonna educate you on why you’re wrong and how fucked up for you to say stuff like that, but honestly you don’t strike me as someone who will come to senses,😂 so I’m not even gonna waste my time on that. I don’t know what you’ve been through, but I still hope you’ll find your peace with this world, and focus on improving yourself rather than worrying and hating on immigrants, or the term that you used, “border hoppers”? You will be much more happier if you just do that. Now let’s go champ.😂
I’ll be blunt, upstate New York is one of the most depressing regions in the country. I’m sorry you went to shit parts of the country lol, but I assure you life here for the average person is a hell of a lot better than China.
I recently moved from South America to U.S and I never thought the infrastructure was so car-centric. It was a huge shock for me coming from a place where I could walk or take a bus anywhere I wanted to. It’s crazy how everything is the same throughout the whole country. Don't get me wrong I love this country but It’s really unique.
As a mexican who has never visited the us before, i´ve only seen this kind of places in Us pictures and probably similar (but not quitr the same) on small towns in the north of México like ciudad cuathemoc chihuhua, cananea sonora, Nuevo casas grandes and nuevo laredo Tamaulipas. Always felt so curious about how the life could be in this kind of suburbs, i did not had idea that it was depressing overwhelming to live in suburbs like this, besides most of the cities that i´ve lived on here in Mx have at least 2 or 3 pedestrian promenades like the ones you described and a way different distribution with comercial areas and middle range residences all mixed up.
As a kid I used to idealize American suburbia. Having grown up with 80's American movies I liked the aesthetics, warmth, protectiveness and coziness of those houses. Surrounded by lots of trees and green. Even in the Freddy Krueger universe there always was something comforting, I could go there, be happy and easily take a villain with knives for fingers in my nightmares for granted. But it was always from the narrow, seclusive perspective of a child or a teenager, you never got to see those depressing highways and intersections just outside the living area in the suburbs those parents had to travel for work. I think I would be completely miserable living in the suburbs in the US.
Yea but the city is far worse. Maybe more to do if u like being around people but if u like a more laid back life style or not being on guard 24/7 then the suburbs are way better
Even the suburbs themselves can be miserable. You often don't have anything but endless rows of houses within walking or even biking distance, and so you depend on your parents to drive you whenever you have to do *anything*. It takes away so much of children's and teens' independence and growth.
I'm often told to "go outside", or do something besides reading books or playing games. But there's nothing motivating me to do that. I know there's nothing out there to see, besides cookie cutter suburbs, highways and boring supermarkets. Everything is consumerist by design. I know I'm not a lazy person, growing up as a teenager I went through rigorous training as an athlete so I know hard work. When I go out I get a sense of voidness that immediately reminds me why I prefer to stay home. Since I moved to America my life got static and boring. I can't judge the entire nation but my city is the worst place I've ever lived.
@@sweetcheeks5775 I’ve traveled the world and people very fat and stupid compared to the places I’ve visited. Also the U.S. lifespan is shortening yearly.
Grass is always greener. Pretentious people from the EU have convinced you that the US is always in some kind of state of crises, even getting down to extraordinarily niche differences like this to find ways in which they’re superior to cope with the fact that the US basically saved the continent and rebuilt it after WW2, and have been running things since then. They have more cities, it’s more densely populated. We do too. You can choose to live there or not. Simple.
For personal reasons I cannot drive cars, it has never really been a problem in Mexico, except when I have to visit the United States, being there I am infinitely grateful for the few times I can safely walk on a sidewalk, this should NOT be normal in a developed country.
@@neckenwiler the whole "anti-car"-movement or whatever you wanna call it doesn't want to outright ban cars. but it wants us to recognise that it's inefficient and wasteful if millions of people have no choice but to commute in a car, mostly with just one person onboard. we don't want to restrict people with a car hobby. we don't want to restrict freight, disabled, or craftsmen from using cars. all we want is choice. for most people, driving is just a chore that is part of everyday life. and if our society is designed around cars, then people have no choice but to drive, clogging up highways and making life miserable for themselves and for the people that actually have to drive. the Netherlands has been awarded the best country to drive in multiple times. why? because all the people that choose to bike and use public transport free up space on the roads for people that have to drive.
@@vemundkremund3221 There are still lots of cars and traffic jams in the netherlands. You think it's all sunshine and rainbows over there and everyone is biking. That may be true in the cities but not everywhere else. It's also the most expensive place to get gas in europe around 12-13 dollars a gallon. I live 10min from the dutch border and go there quite often. And yes the anti car crowd wants to completely ban all cars by making them unaffordable so only the rich people can use them. The plebs can take the bus.
I am American but have lived abroad for over 15 years (Europe & East Asia), and every time I go back to the states I always experience reverse culture shock. It always stuns me having to spend so much time simply traveling from one place to another in a car to do the most basic things in life, and no one ever seems to notice how odd the built environment is, how "normal" it is to have a world built exclusively for the automobile, not the person. A Danish couple once told me, "Yeah, we went to visit our son who was an exchange student in Arkansas for a year, and we really wanted to visit the town he lived in, but no matter where we drove we never got to any place. We didn't understand it."
As somebody who's never been to America, the cities remind me of dreams where I'm in the these large subliminal places whihh infrastructure and carpark and commercial buildings that are dotted among a vast, open, but otherwise dead and empty landscape.
Do you know why? Because America is much larger than most countries. It’s a simple reason, yet everyone wants to act like the suburbs are a problem. As someone who lives in the suburbs, I can assure you that we’re perfectly content with them.
Hi, Pete. I do like your content very much. I see myself learning here - about what people feel & think. Such a great thing of what you do. Warm regards. ✨💫
As an Asian guy it is kinda scary walking down the sidewalk in the US sometimes. Most of the time you are they only person walking in a mile radius and I lost count how many times people would honk, and yell racial profanities at me for no reason. It’s nuts.
As an American living in a suburb of London, I will admit it's nice to be able to pop down to the local store at the end of my street for a pint of milk. There's are 3 parks within a 10 min walk from my front door including a nature reserve. The schools and doctors are within walking distance and I'm close to the underground network which gets me into central London withing 30 mins. I wish suburbs in America were like this.
I live in a small big city in Michigan, and it’s such a refreshing change from the suburbs I used to live in. I’ve lived here for almost four years and don’t ever plan on going back. The ability to walk/bike/take public transportation anywhere I need to go, parks every few blocks, and lack of chain restaurants is such an improvement.
Same here in South Korea. Where I live now, there are 5 convenience stores within a couple a minute walking distance, a large mart, smaller markets, restaurants, bars, etc and I can get to them all on foot! It's great! The one negative is not bike lanes but that's slowly starting to gain traction among people's wants here. I never want to live in an American suburb ever again.
I lived in Europe Portugal to be precise, and you walk everywhere if you live in a city, and it looks just like that. When I came back to the states, I immediately realized how shitty it really is almost depressing.
I've lived outside of America since 2004, my friends and family don't understand me. They ask me when I'm going to move back. "To what?" I say "the suburbs full of isolated housing, I have to drive everywhere and eat fatty carbs 24/7 ? No thank you. There is a different kind of "difficult" living overseas, but adventure always awaits.
Are you from a place where suburbs don't have grocery stores that sell fresh produce? You know you don't have to eat McDonalds just because it's there, right? The us has the highest variety and availability of fresh food in the world, suburbs included.
@@nonic4vic600 And when I lived in Germany I needed to ride a bus or a train to get to the grocery store which also costs money, and the store had less variety and was open less days and for less hours and I could only carry a small amount of items, so I had to go basically every day. There are always compromises everywhere. Nowhere is a perfect fairytale land that does everything objectively better than somewhere else. And when you actually live somewhere else, the excitement and shine of things being different wears off eventually and you can see the convenience or lack thereof for what it really is.
I moved from Germany to the US many years ago and when I got here, I slowly over time started to realize that something was somehow off in America. I could never exactly pinpoint exactly what it was. When I went back to Germany for about a year I felt I could go places without a car but still could not exactly pinpoint on why that was actually. Everything seemed bigger in the US but that's about all I knew. So I just thought it had to be that way. Because of size differences, or culture or distances. I never understood that it's actually the way things are built here and that it is possible to change. One day when I stayed at a hotel, I tried walking somewhere because it was late and there was still a lot of traffic on the road at night and I just didn't feel comfortable driving for some reason that evening and I had never been there before. I looked on google maps and wanted to walk to the store because google told me it wasn't that far and it would only take me like 10-15 minutes to get there on foot. So I started walking because I needed a few things. I went down the road in the direction google told me on the sidewalk just to end up underneath a bridge with no street lights and the sidewalk just ending. With the store being somewhere on the other side. So I stood there and could not walk to the store because it was just to dangerous. It was dark, there was traffic and no sidewalks. And I was supposed to walk through there somewhere according to google. I had to turn around walk all the way back sit in my car and actually drive there so I could get my stuff. I was totally baffled by that experience and that's where I really noticed something is really wrong in this country when I couldn't even safely walk to the store that wasn't even that far away and I had to give up and turn around & drive. That really made me sad because I just wanted to walk that evening and I just couldn't get where I wanted to go. Very frustrating experience that I will never forget.
That's the thing that gets everyone who comes here - no one is ready for just how big America is. How much space there is. You probably would have been fine if you'd kept walking. But it's why we're a vehiclular culture. A ten minute walk for you is a twenty minute drive for us. It probably does feel disconcerting when you're used to everything being right around you. When my German pen pal visited us, he wanted to walk from our place into town. He was really surprised just how far it was.
A car in a situation like this is kind of like a thing rebirthed from. A protective, coddling, cooing lovely bit of safe surround. We sit in it much like a baby does in a car seat, not quite so strapped in. The landscape requires this resource, to easily and gently remove the terror of navigation through just such inhumane nightmares as described. We spend decades of our lives in pure denial of the contrast between automotive and pedestrian reality. Our daily walks often happen while traversing that part of a parking lot between our car door and the entrance to (pick your poison). "Window shopping" is now as rare as a bunch of kids affording bleacher seats at a major league baseball stadium, all on their own.
I m from Europe but lived in many many places. Western Europe, some Eastern Europe, USA and Latin America. Lived in Texas (DFW) 4 about 9 years. I had a GREAT time. Lot of barbequing, friends, lakes, motoboting, bar jumping. I also had some great experience in Albuquerque NM. Is it me or is Texas different from the rest of states or it is just about being positive. I really enjoyed different places. Texas is one I enjoyed the most.
Living in the city is so much better, but I wish suburbs and towns in American weren't spacious and filled with parking lots. I remember visiting south Georgia and seeing this old lady walking home in the most skinniest roads. I just felt bad.
I remember being an European tourist in Miami Beach about 30 years ago. When we were arriving at the hotel at the fancy Collins Avenue during the evening I just wanted to have a walk to get some fresh air, some first impressions of the famous neighborhood and a package of cigarettes. After a couple of minutes I realized that I was the only pedestrian even there was a sidewalk (at least at most parts of the street) but else cars only. The only humans I met after about 30 minutes were some black folks who were sitting on the ground and who were questioned by fully armed and white cops. After that I had enough and took a taxi which got me a lift for 5 bucks back to my hotel. The very friendly cab driver wasn't annoyed at all that I needed a ride for just a fews miles. He also got me some cigarettes because I had not find any store or kiosk during my walk. So at the end it was a very disturbing first impression of Florida and we found out that we had to use the car for really everything we wanted to do. At a motel down in Florida we had to drive to a restaurant which we could see from our entrance door. The reason why we didn't walk was an Interstate between the motel and the restaurant plus a huge parking area and there was no possibility to make the way by foot safely. One year later we had a nice appartment in a suburb of St. Petersburg but without breakfast. However there was a nice bakery pretty near by - but no sidewalk at all which made me using my car every morning for a ride less than 3 minutes. I felt very ashamed about it but there was no other safe way to get some fresh food. I could tell lots of more stories like this during my time in the US but finally I just want to remark that I usually love driving a car and I do it a lot. However everybody knows meanwhile how bad this is for the environment especially when you do just short distances. It costs fresh air and lots of space. So I am glad that my place of living (a village near by a big city) looks different and I can use my bicycle (which I also love to ride) or my own feet to make it safely to a shop or my kids to school. And believe it or not: very often we cycle or walk just for pleasure :-)
@@makesnodifference No, in Miami Beach we stayed at a hotel, more precisely at Eden Rock. It was pretty nice but long time ago. However due to Google Maps it still exists.
Having visited Miami Beach myself recently, I think either you were on the outskirts or the town was completely overhauled, because area I visited was completely different. Pedestrian-only areas, relatively high density development and incredible walkability, without sacrificing outside access (which is something a tourism city without a direct connection to a long-distance transit hub needs to be able to maintain). Side note, don't go to Miami if you want to drink, unless you like sake. Because sake is the only thing they don't upcharge over 100% for.
Great video. I went to Florida once and I thought much the same as you. Although I did see a few nice places. However, what struck me most, was the first example you gave as being an improvement. To me, it looks like it might be somewhere in either Germany or Sweden. Both of which, to my British eye, have a tendency to dreariness. Of the countries I know reasonably well, I have found that only Britain, France and Italy provide a feast for the eyes almost everywhere one goes.
then you have never been in Germany or at least not in the right parts. Berlin is an ugly city. Dirty and a lot of post DDR buildings. But for example Citys like Munich, Regensburg, Nürnberg, Cologne, lübeck and Hamburg to name a few have a lot of fest for the eyes.
I'm an American and I don't have a car, nor do I want one. I'm an outlier. I ride a bicycle and use the bus. Having a car is expected, if you don't have a car you're virtually a non- person. The whole country has been ravaged and fragmented for roads, parking lots and urban sprawl. It's a weird culture and folks don't even realize it.
Same. I get made fun of for not driving. When I was in High School and walking home, kids would follow me and honk at me or roll down their windows and start barking for some reason. I don’t get why they felt the need to tease someone for choosing to walk lmao
l get what you're saying, but I really don't understand why people WALK when they can get around so much easier and faster on a bicycle. They also don't consume fuel , are fun and don't cost a lot. Bicycles are one of the greatest inventions of all times for transportation. Walking?? Sheesh.
The only places that have any character and uniqueness in the USA are touristy spots, beautiful wilderness areas, unique skylines in big cities, etc. I mean, there are places with “personality”, but you have to look for them. Where I live, it’s… 1.) Downtown Seattle 2.) International District-Seattle 3.) Laurelhurst-Seattle 4.) South Lake Union-Seattle 5.) South of UW-the Botanical Gardens, etc.-Seattle 6.) Magnolia-Seattle 7.) Certain neighborhoods in East Seattle 8.) Belltown (kind of) 9.) Green Lake area/Phinney Ridge-Seattle 10.) Lake Forest Park 11.) Brier 12.) Kenmore 13.) Downtown Bothell 14.) Kirkland-Waterfront 15.) Juanita 16.) Downtown Bellevue 17.) Downtown Redmond 18.) Snohomish (Downtown) 19.) Mukilteo Waterfront 20.) Downtown Duvall 21.) Downtown Woodinville (kind of) 22.) Downtown Tacoma 23.) Ruston/Point Defiance 24.) Steilacoom 25.) Downtown Puyallup 26.) Shelton 27.) Port Townsend 28.) Whidbey Island 29.) Camano Island 30.) Mercer Island 31.) Monroe 32.) Stanwood 33.) Gig Harbor (downtown) 34.) Fircrest 35.) Leavenworth I mean, it’s “something” unique at least, something notably different about each place. But yeah, much of the Puget Sound area looks very much the same. South Tacoma looks kinda ghetto just like some of Renton, Everett and Tukwila, Auburn, Sumner, Kent, etc. have a lot of warehouses, etc., Bothell has a lot of cookie cutter or “packed in” residential areas, etc., but at least we have forests…. 😬😬😬😬😬😬😬
Have lived in Europe for the past fifteen years. Grew up on the east coast of the US. So happy I don’t have to spend my entire life in a car anymore or seeing nothing but strip malls and parking lots. It’s soul destroying.
large cities aren't like that. If you don't like it, move out of the suburbs. The suburbs are for people who want to raise a family with a big yard in a place that's safe for kids.
@@neutrino78x Europeans just made the whole cities save for everyone older than a toddler. I mean public playgrounds where other children are without anyone having to drive.
@@Alias_Anybody yeah, we have that too. Those are usually found in suburban areas like where I live. I don't think anyone would say "london is a safe place for kids to grow up", they would normally buy a house or condo outside of london and commute in for work.
@@neutrino78x Most people actually do live IN European cities in apartments (when wealthy usually owned, otherwise rented), not around them. For example, Vienna has 1.9 million inhabitants with "only" 0.9 million additional people around it, and that's pretty generous, half of those most likely don't commute into the city. I do not know how you define "playground" or "close" with the extremely low density of US suburbs, but what I'm talking about is usually pretty extensive, only a 1-5 minute stroll for a 5yo away.
@@Alias_Anybody "Most people actually do live IN European cities in apartments " Yup, same here. But we're not talking about the cities, we're talking about the surrounding suburbs.
As an asian american who immigrated to New York City when i was young and have been living here for 30yrs+, i always thought America was just NYC. MY parents were poor and never had a car, so i always used the subway and just went everywhere within the city confines.Then it wasn't until i got a car ride out to NEw jersey that i was in shock. Everything was so boring, plain, spaced apart and soulless. But i had no idea what most of america was like that. Then my lil brother who got a job in Jersey began travelling for work and he told me that most of America was the same and boring. I myself never had the privelege of traveling outside of New York City until my late 20s. So it wasn't until recently when i got older and started traveling to other states and cities like Dallas, hoston, upstate new york, carolina, atlanta, that i realized that most of America was just a completely boring and soul sucking suburban experience. it's just terrible. I love living here in Queens, NYC, but rent is very expensive. However, living in a cheaper place like Dallas, i'm not sure if i could survive that kind of lifelessness. I think i might just save money and move back to my Country of Vietnam and live there when i am older, if i am forced to live in surburb due to lower cost, i'd rather live in Vietnam than Dallas
Sounds like a good plan I’d retire in another country too. USA is only a place you move to study and work. If you saved any money at all and you’re at your retiring age it’s best to move to another country where the standard of living is not only cheaper but better aswell.
Speaking as somebody who has only lived in the suburbs my entire life, I wonder what you imagine to be so "soulful" about NYC that the suburbs don't have. Are you just judging the appearance of the place, when viewed from an urban bias? Do you have a pathological hatred of trees? I'm genuinely curious, lol. I've never lived in NYC, only been to visit a couple of times in the life, but I think we all have a stereotypical image of it that I suspect, like most stereotypes, is heavily informed by a kernel of truth: nobody talks to each other, if you're walking in the street, it's not like you're going to strike up a random conversation with a stranger, like, ever. In this way, I suppose NYC is analogous to a man adrift on the ocean: surrounded by water, but none of it is drinkable, none of it is available to actually meet your human needs and nourish you. Cities have always struck me as being that way. You're surrounded by people, but you don't make human connections with any of them, essentially ever. Suburbs seem better for that, to me. Random people will smile and say hello as you go past them. Sometimes you wind up actually talking to them and sharing an unexpected dose of humanity. Does this happen in NYC? I...can't imagine that it does, at least not on any kind of regular basis. I dunno, man. It feels incredibly strange to me for a New Yorker to call any other place "soulless". I always thought New York was one of the most soulless places on Earth. But, as with most things, I suspect it depends on what your definition of "soul" is.
@@StochasticUniverse Never in my 18 years of living in a suburb have I had the "random people smiling and saying hello", if they were to, they'd be doing so out of awkwardness. Living in a suburb was always and still is, so lonely. Your argument sounds a bit biased, as logically being by more people would increase your chances of interaction. If I ever had an instance where I talked to someone in my suburb, 9 times out of 10, it was done so from my car.
@@StochasticUniverse Bru I’ve lived in suburbs all my life shits so fucking ass no neighbors ever go outside or talk to each other most people don’t talk to each other boring environment,, I went to NYC for like a month wit friends who lived there and had the best time of my life I met tons more people walking around and out and about going to places than I’ve ever met at my suburban shithole, NYC has more to do than any majority of places in the US
Yes buddy that is why the second I accidentally landed in nyc as a travelling cell tower worker, I never turned back to these places. They are THE WORST !!!
Lol at #8. I saw the pic and was like “Michigan no doubt.” Then I looked at the mini map and it’s literally on the same road I live on. The “yeah, no comment” remark killed me 😂
I was in Gambia in Africa this summer and we were staying in a suburb neighborhood. It’s nothing like my childhood suburb in America. People actually go outside and there are like corner stores and a small market right outside the gates which are very walkable. Even tho most people can afford a car, they all still walk and talk with their neighbors casually. I wish this is how America is, it’s literally so depressing coming back home.
The last time I visited the U.S, 2 years ago, the police stopped me while walking. They wanted to know what I was doing walking around. 😂 The nearest shop was a short 4km journey so I walked it. The police just couldn't understand why I was choosing to walk 😂 Where I live in Spain, every single shop you can think of - all small family owned local shops - is about 5 mins walk, including the Mediterranean. Here, it's very common to see elderly people in their 80s walking to and from everywhere, even though many old towns in Spain are built on hills with many steps. If you want to see youthful 80 year olds full of life, come to the Mediterranean.
I think a large part of the ugliness in North American suburbs is the unsightly grid of high voltage knitting strung up above the sidewalks and roads. In most of Europe, electricity and phone cables are routed in underground conduits inside urban areas. The only time you see cables is where trams run.
Europe is WAY bigger than the few over rated cherry picked places in Western Europe. Most of the continent looks like a war zone, things are depressing for real, with the constant lack of infrastructure and undeveloped places, and yeah, high voltage cables are there as well just fine; where I work, they're right at the back yard. Furthermore, it takes half an hour for a few of kms because, as opposed to the previous point in common, here we do not have a fraction of the infrastructure America has. So yeah, Western Europe =/= Europe.
@axoqwerty Yeah, but that’s the thing, that ‘Europe’ is basically a fake Europe considering how much more ‘Europe’ there is outside of that. I value freedom more than an apparent sense of modernity. Modern means giving up your best industries to China in the name of questionable political goals?
@axoqwerty Western Europe is not representative for Europe as a whole or as an idea. It’s not a “half”. There’s the UK, the Russia Federation, ex-Soviet states, ex-Soviet satellites, former unaligned countries, Greece, Turkey, the Baltic countries etc. Western Europe is just a group out of all those, not representative for how actual life is throughout the majority of the continent.
My girlfriend and I have been traveling the US in our van, and have come to call these suburban areas as 'everytown USA'..... The depressing copy/pasted towns are so apparent when you are driving through them, but I wonder if people think their town is 'special'. Its really cool to see someone talking about this. It needs to change.
Actually there have been changes in the last 10 years. New areas have been built in "town center" style where residential and businesses are in the same area, with a public square in the middle, usually with fountains and podiums for local shows. But instead of a church as a focal point like in Europe, we have a library or art center. A lot of big indoor malls have also been demolished and rebuilt as such.
This is the suburb where I live. It used to be a soul crushing "everytown USA". Not anymore and more suburbans are building the same town center ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-k6QxlQADN-A.html
It can be like that in the UK as well with the same styles of architecture all over the country depending on when they were built but at least the city centres look different except those bombed out in the Second World War such as Coventry and Plymouth.
There's a reason why Springfield is so generic and they never state its exact location - it's supposed to be Anytown USA and living up to a stereotype. And in my opinion and experience, it definitely does.
@@lemsip207 The UK is getting like that with these "garden cities" and newbuild estates where you can't manage without a car, yet there's nowhere to park the damn car in the first place and the access roads are so narrow that you can barely cycle on them. "Affordable" homes, yours for £500k despite being barely habitable due to snagging flaws.
I still remember how my friend got into an accident on an e-bike. He was hit by a van turning into a side street off a stroad. Even tho I live across the ocean from him, my heart still goes out to him. Im glad he got out of it. He was in the hospital for a while.
I must admit when I first got to the US staying with an american family in a San Carlos,CA, suburb i really enjoyed it, coming from an eurpean city. Living what i constantly was exposed to on the movies as a teenager was a fantastic experience, i also happened to hit a great family. but at rhe same time I was ignorant as hell of the many and negatives implications of this urbanization style. What i later came to realize besides all that you mention in the video is how expensive it's this urbanization model in terms of materials and energy. This was posible in a ever expanding economy for a country rich in all sorts of natural resources but nowadays when there's not that abundance and the prices are no longer cheap this urbanization model is turned into a leverage for the families and the country. And I don't see an easy way of turning the tables.
I’ve been to 45 countries with an American passport and have never been asked about criminal records with the exception of Canada, which tends to reciprocate some of our practices. In fact, the border experience overseas is painless. If you’re a tourist, they only ask about the length of your stay. In Poland and Sweden, they swiped my passport and passed me on without ever asking me a single question. It’s coming back home where I’m interrogated like I’m a widely known convicted felon.
@@restlessactivity8696 well if you are in america 🇺🇸 then be on your best behavior. Canada for example doesn’t let anyone in if you have a drinking and driving conviction.
This is a very important issue that I believe our generation will be tasked with addressing. So much of what went into the creation of these areas stems on our addiction to consuming and materialism, as well as our laziness.
I live in the city of Chicago. I love it. It is a perfect grid, the streets are walkable, I don't have a car because the transit is amazing, and the culture and diversity is welcoming. I work in the suburbs, however (I do the reverse commute) and get homesick at the start of the shift. The cookie cutter houses, the windy streets that make no sense, the massive boulevards that are far from walkable, and the dominance of big box retail makes me wonder why everyone wants to live in the suburbs rather than the city. It is super depressing.
I went insane in just a few weeks, when I visited my brother to help take care of newly born child. The pinnacle of development, the cream dream, yet it felt post-apocalyptic...
I feel like other countries are becoming this too. In the UK town I live in, the town center is dominated by massive brands and corporations. Tescos, Primark, even massive American brands like Mcdonalds and Burger King. Despite us wanting more to do, they've literally just built a new Popeyes restaurant not even 20 yards away from Mcdonalds. And this is saying something, because McDonald's and Burger King are right next to each other. Want a bus? A ticket to go ONE WAY costs as much as £6 alone. Want fuel to drive your car? Hand over a tenner. Want stable roads to drive on? Tough luck, we're gonna close this road and work on it for three weeks, only for it to have more potholes and be more shitty than it was before, and then work on the road adjacent to that so the process starts all over again. There used to be culture, but the council tore this culture down in order to build more houses. The only reason my town exists is for its residents to give their money. All you can do is shop. We are degenerating into pathetic corpulence and laziness. Britain is becoming Americanised.
Yeah but these businesses wouldn't exist without clientele. So of course they exist because people use them. We're just the fringe minority who aren't down with it
You are absolutely right, it is scary how this is happening all over the world, even in Europe, where many cities have traditionally been built up as walkable. But the corporate capitalist drive to monopolize the world is relentless. The beast of a anti-economical system needs to be slayed. Fight back, and demand better. We are in this together.
A good chunk of it is the stupid zoning and parking minimum that makes it deceptively expensive for its worth for most but the biggest corporate trashes out there. These places are built knowing that people won't look, and "looking" is one of the key factors that bring people into a shop in the first place, people who are willing to try. Stroads like these don,t allow that, they are so poorly designed and look so depressing that you want to get away as soon as possible, and get frustrated when they can't because the red light lasts a little too long for their liking. So only the most established of corps can ever find any minimum of success in these places, and even then they have to treat workers like peasants to ensure that. The zoning needs to be changed, so that there's a better mix, which will lead to the better shopping areas around the world.
Also, live where you work/work where you live. I can't believe people that live tens of miles from work, unless their work is super lucrative, in which case you still shouldn't live like that, but not because of money.
"... which will lead to the better shopping areas around the world." This is the USA and maybe Canada. The rest of the world is smarter, in both meanings.
They never updated US' quality of life. If you visit asian countries, its clearly a huge difference. You can visit your friends through walking, walk together to buy street foods and go back to your friends house, streets are lively.
Man I've lived most of my life in London and came to Philadelphia just last year. To say America is lifeless is an understatement. The streets are dreadful and I can't go anywhere without a car or uber. In such a city, I would have assumed the public transport would be top-notch, but no. It's absolutely shit. I mean, how can this be in the wealthiest country in the world? Literally everything other than the economy is a downgrade from places like London where you can walk everywhere and can use the public transport with ease. I used to hate the London undergrounds and the dirty pavements, but after coming here, I realised it was pretty good place to live in. 😂😂
Why don`t the US use its money spent on war to maintain and upgrade its infrastruture? I mean new buildings new design and some other basic kinda of infrastructure like high speed trains. As a 40+ yo Chinese we got used to believe that the US are good and powerful in all ways it shock me few years ago that I know the US don`t have hyper sonic missiles, 5G and high speed trans like we have at the moment, a massive HSR network is a common thing in China nowadays.
I left years ago. What most Americans would consider "poor" and "underdeveloped" has way more culture, environmental variance and higher quality of life than anything the suburbs could offer. I haven't been in a car in months. Everyone here can walk easily. There are countless parks, cafes, bakeries, restaurants, little mom and pop stores...there are so many mobile and active elderly here. In the richer European countries? You wouldn't believe what architecture could be like. Never living in the US again unless I have a plot of land to be completely offgrid. Greed, laziness, complacency... the American dream still fits because most would rather sleep through their existence.
I traveled to Thailand for a month back in 2019, and it was like opening a locked part of my brain. All it takes is one day in city like Bangkok or Chiang Mai to realize "third world" countries are far superior in quality of life. Some of the shirts I bought in my first week said 2XL on them, and that's what my chubby American ass wears here. A 2XL shirt over there is a XL here. There are no fat locals, yet they love their food over there, and especially fried foods and deserts. When I came home those same shirts were baggy on me, because I walked over 100 miles in a month, and the temperatures were around 90 and above the entire trip. I also ate food mostly from local markets and street vendors. If you are eating fish, chicken, pork, or beef, it was never frozen, and no preservatives were added. It was living literally the day before and just kept cool on ice. The traffic is insane, and there are no sidewalks wider than 2 foot wide in most of the cities, but walking is the best form of transportation there. I'm trying to retire before I'm too old to enjoy life. The easiest way, is to leave this overpriced country and move somewhere like Thailand, Malaysia, Panama, Vietnam, or Costa Rica. I already know I'd shed all excess weight quickly, and add years to my life.
Can totally relate after having visited Vietnam and Laos. The way we live in the so called Modern World is a dead end street. In my country, the Netherlands, even in the 50's, most people didn't own a car. They either walked or rode a bicycle to work, together with colleagues. Now, people drive over 30 minutes to get to work, and in the West, Amsterdam and Rotterdam, traffic jams are a given. Every single day, even the weekends. Back then, people didn't own much, had to work really hard, but their lives seemed more meaningful somehow. Spare time was quality time by default. As for continents, Asians and Africans live happier lives i think, and they know how to live in harmony with nature. I wish we could de-industrialize to a large extent. Like go back to the 18th or 19th century. But it's just a dream. Most kids would rather die then abandon their smartphone. And Western countries would never give up their superior position in military tech. Besides, back then there were 1 billion people. You could grow crops naturally, using manure, not fertilizer and genetically modified plants, and hunting was done to actually provide food, not games. Even going back to the 1990's, the last great decade of our times imho, seems so far fetched nowadays.
Not only is Thailand an amazing country to live in, but Bangkok ironically makes any US city look like a third world country. The skyscrapers, the malls, the BTS and MRT, night markets, and all the awesome things you see on the street. It feels futuristic in comparison to a place like New York or Los Angeles. And also has insane amounts of character, with the amount of interesting little places lining the streets.
