Discussing Amsterdam's Evolving Streets (w/ Dr. Billy Fields, PhD )

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The City of Amsterdam has committed to continuously improving the sustainability and safety of its streets, and Dr. Billy Fields, Ph.D. of Texas State University, has been leading a group of students each summer to learn from these experiences for nearly a decade now.
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Helpful Links (note that some may include affiliate links to help me support the channel):
- ISTEP Program: bit.ly/3NQuLWK
- Sustainable Amsterdam: sustainableamsterdam.com/
- Episode w/ Steffen Berr: • A look inside Dutch st...
- Sustainable Spain discussion with Billy and Manu: • Everyday Trips: How to...
- Ep. 149 Dutch Summer School with Billy: • Studying the resilient...
- NJB video exploring the AMS pilot project: • Amsterdam Just Closed ...
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Background:
Hi Everyone! My name is John Simmerman, and I’m a health promotion and public health professional with over 30 years of experience. Over the years, my area of concentration has evolved into a specialization in how the built environment influences human behavior related to active living and especially active mobility.
Since 2010, I've been exploring, documenting, and profiling established, emerging, and aspiring Active Towns wherever they might be while striving to produce high-quality multimedia content to help inspire the creation of more safe and inviting, environments that promote a "Culture of Activity" for "All Ages & Abilities."
The Active Towns Channel features my original video content and reflections, including a selection of podcast episodes and short films profiling the positive and inspiring efforts happening around the world as I am able to experience and document them.
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Creative Commons License: Attributions, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives, 2024

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4 янв 2024

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Комментарии : 69

@shadeblackwolf1508 Месяц назад

Fun thing in the US, most of the swirly culdesac suburbs would be perfect for biking and walking if you connect places that are physically near eachother with walk and bike only paths

@ActiveTowns Месяц назад

Yes, precisely. There are a few places (I've lived in a couple of them) that do this well... if North America had done more of these, it could have prevented so many unnecessary car trips. Thanks so much for watching and for commenting. I really appreciate it. Cheers! John

@ryn2844 5 месяцев назад

Billy really misunderstood the whole point of 'de Knip' at Weesperstraat there. It wasn't about making the individual street nicer. It was about cutting down on the number of cars entering Amsterdam by making it more cumbersome and slower to do so, nudging people towards bicycles and public transport instead. Weesperstraat is one of the (if not THE) main arteries through which cars flow into Amsterdam. The project was meant to traffic calm the *entire city center* . That's why the project was so big and widely discussed. Like, this was at the top of national news. Maybe to get the point across better, you guys should call it 'The Mother of all Knips'. Knips are common, but not ones with this level of ambition. It's not 'de Knip'. It's 'THE knip.' The little temporary park was just a cherry on top, absolutely insignificant, just a bit of PR, made zero actual difference to the outcome of the project. Dutch traffic planners think on system level, not on street level. The message was: unless you really have to use your car to get to where you need to go, don't bring it into Amsterdam. Drastically reducing the number of cars in Amsterdam would then help the few who do really need to use a car not get stuck in traffic (including emergency vehicles). Reporters went to interview the drivers stuck in traffic because they couldn't get through weesperstraat at the start of the project, to see why they were using their cars and if they could've used public transport instead, and in almost all cases, they could've easily used public transport. It was called a 'knip' because it cut off a through-traffic point. That's what that word means. It has nothing to do with the nice-ness of a street. For example, on the Sloterweg and the neighborhood Nieuw Sloten (about 6 knips in total) they cut off through-traffic with only cameras, signs and policy, changing absolutely nothing about the infrastructure itself. There was simply information given out that from then on if you used the neighborhood as through-traffic, instead of to get to your destination within the neighborhood itself, you would get fined 110 euros, which is a lot (first 2 months only warnings). Residents are supposed to be exempt. Decades ago Groningen was the first city to work with the concept of a 'knip' in order to disincentivize car usage and encourage cycling and public transport. It works. The question is whether it's politically feasible. A ton of data collection was done all over the city during the weesperstraat knip pilot project, but the report isn't out yet, so we don't yet know if it was a success. Obviously it was chaos at the beginning, that was expected, but we don't yet know if traffic evaporation happened at the end of those six weeks. "Let's instead only allow 30km/h through-traffic on Weesperstraat" isn't a compromise. It's completely giving up on the project before the data is even in. How would that have any effect on the number of cars entering Amsterdam?

@ActiveTowns 5 месяцев назад

Thanks for sharing your perspective. Much appreciated. Cheers! John

@hanneken4026 5 месяцев назад

NotJustBikes made a video about the effect of the Weesperstraat knip on traffic in surrounding streets, because of all the complaining about it. After the queues on the first days people adjusted and the effect, though present during peak times, was not so bad; a small queue at the lights and maybe two minutes delay for private traffic on that other road during rush hour and none during the rest of the day. He also showed how emergency vehicles got through the knip easily and quickly, no problem. We'll have to wait for the report with the complete data, but it looks as if the outcry in the media at the start was rather overblown. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ymcBC7MFRIk.htmlfeature=shared

@ActiveTowns 5 месяцев назад

@@hanneken4026 Oh yeah, that's right. Thanks for the reminder about the @NotJustBikes video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ymcBC7MFRIk.html yeah, negative reactions to change is pretty much always overblown.

@billyfields1351 5 месяцев назад

Thanks for the deeper insights. I am not opposed to the larger aims of the project. I am really interested in the political viability of implementing that larger vision. My point was that it’s complicated and difficult to navigate. The ambition is beyond just about any other project I’m familiar with. I’m looking forward to the deeper research on this.

@ChristiaanHW 5 месяцев назад

i would like to explain why something like the "knip" is done in several cities in The Netherlands. with measures like a 'knip" municipalities try to reduce traffic going from one side of the city through several neighbourhoods to end up at their destination on the other side of the city so if you have a city with several districts/neighbourhoods measures like the "knip" try to make it so normal cars (emergency services and maintenance vehicles will still be able to use shortcuts) can't get from one neighbourhood to another but have to go to a "ring road" (a road going around the city or inner core of the city). those ring roads are designed to handle a lot of traffic and at higher speeds. and use the ring road to get to the other neighbourhood you want to go to. but active transport (like bicycles) and public transport can still easily go between neighbourhoods. this system makes it easier and more convenient to use other modes of transport than a car, so more people will use those modes of transport instead of using their car for a 5 minute drive to friends in the next door neighbourhood. by (re)designing a city in this way you cut done on unnecessary car trips, improve livability in the city, make neighbourhoods safer (less drivers, and especially less drivers who don't know the neighbourhood), more active transport which in turn makes for healthier citizens and several more benefits. the only people worse of are the people that use the car for everything they have to do outside, but they can still get to their destinations it only takes them a couple of minutes longer.

@ryn2844 5 месяцев назад

I just found and binged the YT channel 'Het Verkeer' which is a public broadcast channel (part of AT5) dedicated entirely to all the construction works going on in Amsterdam's streets. It's in Dutch but there's an auto-translate CC button. So if you want detailed explanations, images, reactions of the Dutch public, those videos are excellent imo.

@ActiveTowns 5 месяцев назад

Oh, cool! Thanks for the suggestion. Much appreciated. Cheers! John

@garyharty1902 5 месяцев назад

I love this concept of CBI (constant basic improvement). The flip side of the coin is if it is not broken, don't fix it. The problem in North America as I see it is that North American Traffic Engineers can't see that our transportation system is broken. They don't want to stray from the standards even when evidence exists that the standards are proving to be deadly.

@ActiveTowns 5 месяцев назад

Yep! Although it is getting better as we the people in our communities push our elected officials to instruct senior management to adjust the plan.

@gijspoel 5 месяцев назад

great video! I truly love these little comparisons of different examples and situations in other cities where they also try to improve but where you can clearly see that it is still a great challenge and discussion to get it right and liked by the people.

@ActiveTowns 5 месяцев назад

Thanks so much for watching. Glad you found it helpful. Cheers! John

@antoinewesthoff4417 5 месяцев назад

A great episode again. Thank you @ John. My only complaint could be that i lasted only 45 minutes. I would have loved to learn more of Dr. Fields.

@ActiveTowns 5 месяцев назад

Ah, funny you mention this... there is an extended version of this episode, which includes 10+ minutes of bonus content available for my Patrons... www.patreon.com/activetowns Also, be sure to check out the video description below, as I have the links to more content from Billy. Thanks for tuning in, and Happy New Year! 😀

@shadeblackwolf1508 Месяц назад

The experiment's name, i think is best translated as 'the cut', as it cut the big throughlane for cars... Imagine taking your local main stroad and declaring it no longer for through traffic, blocking it off in the middle.

@ActiveTowns Месяц назад

Cool! Thanks 🙏

@shadeblackwolf1508 Месяц назад

@@ActiveTowns the goal of the experiment was twofold, to measure the effect on he wider traffic grid, and to measure the political feasability with the local residents and shop owners.

@shadeblackwolf1508 Месяц назад

"cities aren't loud. Cars are loud" -NJB

@ActiveTowns Месяц назад

Yep!

@reneolthof6811 5 месяцев назад

I fully agree with Roel in the previous comment. The best element of the Dutch bike infrastructure policy is the incessant search for improvement. Specific views or standpoints may change over the years, but this is a constant! Pointing out the bricks as allowing small or even bigger infrastructure adaptations is an intersting part of this overall strategy.

@ActiveTowns 5 месяцев назад

Yeah, this commitment to continuous improvement really sets the Dutch apart. Too many places built it and walk away... maybe it will get an update in a generation or two if there are enough complaints.

@omervandenbelt 5 месяцев назад

Here in my hometown in the far East of The Netherlands we also have those wadi's (wadees). The word 'wadi' is an Arabic/Turkish word that means: valley. Like a valley between mountains.

@ActiveTowns 5 месяцев назад

Ah, cool! Thanks so much. Cheers! John

@HetEendje 5 месяцев назад

I really enjoyed watching your explanations and views on our street design. It seems all so normal for us, but indeed it's quite special, and one of the reasons I wouldn't be able to live longterm outside this country. It's interesting hearing you talking about the speed limits and the, in your point of view, big gap between 30 and 50km/h (and all sorts of formal small differences in the US). As I see it, it's more a way of justifying implementing a different layout in the future. In the Netherlands speed limits are not enforced by signs (well, formally they are, but it's not implemented that way), but by street design. By bringing back the formal speed limit, the municipality can justify to narrow those streets at the next maintenance cycle. I see this more as a long term investment. I don't think anyone expects huge differences now, but it's more a practical solution to implement a narrow street road design in the future without too much hassle. As an example of the practical view of the municipality, a few years ago, scooters / mopeds were banned from the cycle paths and were forced onto the streets. People riding on these things didn't like it, and said "well, we are just too slow, we are not allowed to go 50, so it's dangerous". The municipality replied: well, we did some research, and actually you're driving already 40km/h on the cycle paths, where you were only allowed to go 30km/h. Given that the majority of you already drove too fast on cycle paths, the gap between cars and mopeds isn't that big. On that note, I would think the same of the new speed limits in Amsterdam. When we were allowed to drive 50km/h, most people would go 60 to 70km/h on the clock. Now, when it's 30km/h, most people will drive 40 tot 50km/h, until the street design has changed. By the way, "binnenring" is not really a formal street, but it's just called the "inner circle" as opposed to the "outer circle". The inner circle is set of streets following the tramway Sarphatistraat - Weteringschans - Marnixstraat, were the outer circle is the parallel tramway Ceintuurbaan - Van Baerlestraat - 1e Constantijn Huygensstraat - Bilderdijkstraat. If I'm correct, there were plans to implement the fietsstraat concept also to the outer circle in the future.

@ActiveTowns 5 месяцев назад

Yes! Excellent points. Ultimately it’s all about getting the street design right for the context. Thanks so much for watching. Cheers! John

@wimschiphorst8541 5 месяцев назад

In the past, laying asphalt was popular. The children could also roller skate. One of the reasons why the municipality switched to stone is drainage. When it rains, and in my country it sometimes rains, the water slowly runs into the ground. Prevents a mass of water on the streets. And that was foresight. Now when I see the news broadcasts from Europe with many flooded streets.

@ActiveTowns 5 месяцев назад

Yeah, it is super important to balance and consider the permeability of the surface as well as the smoothness. Thanks so much for watching. I really appreciate it. Cheers! John

@scb2scb2 5 месяцев назад

@@ActiveTowns Still prefer the asphalt when possible was riding for 2 hours today and it almost rides better when wet than dry :) ... But drainage is a issue in some areas i guess if they can't control the flow.

@ActiveTowns 5 месяцев назад

@@scb2scb2 Either way, drainage has got to be addressed properly. In my Santa Barbara episode coming out on Sunday (available now on my Patreon) we even discuss permeable asphalt

@garyharty1902 5 месяцев назад

If I was 50 years younger I think I would be enrolling in the Texas State University's Sustainabie Transportation Program and lining up for Dr. billy Fields' classes.

@ActiveTowns 5 месяцев назад

You are not alone 😅

@Urglab 5 месяцев назад

I don't think the massive traffic on the fietsstraat you mention was because of 'de knip'. I bike that way to work and the normal road the cars use there was closed for a renovation at the same time as de knip.

@ActiveTowns 5 месяцев назад

Interesting... if that's the case, I'm sure the city will account for that in the analysis. Thanks for watching and for contributing to the conversation. Cheers! John

@roelkomduur8073 5 месяцев назад

The real strength of the Netherlands lays in the fact that government on all levels is willing the change and even to experiment. That is of course partly because it's a small country, ( Belgium is even smaller and they invented the bicycle just 5 years ago..) but also not excepting that things are "done". Anticipating on future ( demographic, environmental ect. ) changes , like the "Ruimte voor de rivier"( lit. trans. Room for the river ) program is a good example for this. I would like to invite the professor to step out of the Amsterdam buble this summer and see this dynamic in the rest of the Netherlands! ( that wouldn't make him popular under his students, i know..).

@ActiveTowns 5 месяцев назад

Yes, it is truly a strength when it comes to continuous improvement and innovation. Thanks for watching.

@billyfields1351 5 месяцев назад

Good points. I’ve written a bit about the Room for the River and broader Living with Water concept. It was a real inspiration for changing views on water in my hometown of New Orleans

@bmw803 5 месяцев назад

Also, they don't spend their money on wars, bailing out wall st. Casinos and outdated corporate vultures.

@rmyikzelf5604 5 месяцев назад

It's because "we" need to work together on so many different issues in this country to make it work. No one lobby group is dominant, and no majority of any kind ignores the needs of minorities (in general terms). If we hadn't had the need to cooperate and to take into account other interests than our immediate own interests ingrained into our national identity, we would all be drowned, Spanish skeletons burried under layers of river sediment at the bottom of the North Sea!

@JelmerStienstra 4 месяца назад

Although I get the change to make the streets in Amsterdam ‘blue’ overnight with the use of signs. I really think it’s not that effective and in the long-term it simply doesn’t work at all. You still need to implement traffic calming and maybe also block through traffic with one way streets like Groningen did and Amsterdam tried with the knip pilot project. In essence only lowering the speeds of cars with roaddesign will work. It doesn’t work if you do it overnight with some signs like Amsterdam did last December.

@ActiveTowns 4 месяца назад

Agreed. Need to get the design right. Thanks for watching. Cheers! John

@scb2scb2 5 месяцев назад

Sorry i missed it, good watch

@ActiveTowns 5 месяцев назад

Was wondering where you were... Happy New Year!

@scb2scb2 5 месяцев назад

@@ActiveTowns same to you kind of forgot still was trying to get warm was riding for 2 hours in the rain today :(

@ActiveTowns 5 месяцев назад

@@scb2scb2 Ah, that happens.

@patp8526 5 месяцев назад

Intresting talk.😊

@ActiveTowns 5 месяцев назад

Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks so much for tuning in. Cheers! John

@jillvandenlinden6946 5 месяцев назад

I have the feeling in the big dutch city where i live, they only make these changes, like carfree, greenery instead of parking because they want the city to grow. And its impossible to do that if more people get cars. Imo this city where i live has become overcrowded yet they still continue to grow. Also with the amount of bikes in the center is outrageous in the workinghours. So yeah, its kinda a double feeling. Its nice but its not at the same time

@ActiveTowns 5 месяцев назад

Thanks for sharing your experience. Yeah, you bring up a good point in that cities need to take steps manage for the negative externalities of storing private property (cars or bikes) in the public realm. Thank you so much for watching and for contributing to the conversation. Cheers! John

@lexburen5932 4 месяца назад

verwar je gevoelens niet met de realiteit. het alternatief is allemaal ronkende motoren door de stad en de geur die jij opsnuift. Groen voor het weg laten lopen van regenwater is wat steeds meer steden doen wereldwijd. En de stad heeft geen over drukte, er van uit gaande dat je van amsterdam komt. De stad is alleen veelste vol gevuld met toeristen, en dat is wat jij waarschijnlijk ervaart. Ja amsterdam moet wat doen aan het toeristen problem want er zijn er veel te veel. De reden waarom ik niet naar amsterdam ga, het is te druk met TOERISTEN. de fietsen heb ik lliever dan al die lawaaierige luidruchtige autos.

@brian5154 5 месяцев назад

You make great and instructive videos. One point though, Europeans don't use the term "block". They don't exist in European infrastructuren. The towns and cities were not designed in blocks......

@ActiveTowns 5 месяцев назад

Thanks so much for watching and for the information... that's interesting. Any examples of what they call "blocks" from various places in Europe that you can share? Cheers! John

@jayandreas1131 5 месяцев назад

Leuk

@ActiveTowns 5 месяцев назад

Thanks! 😀

@marcovaneersel4532 5 месяцев назад

t is better for Americans to look at Rotterdam. This city resembles cities in the US, but with cycling infrastructure in addition to a car-friendly one.

@ActiveTowns 5 месяцев назад

Yes! I actually say this exact thing frequently on the Channel, which reminds me I need to pull together a Rotterdam playlist. Thanks so much for watching and for this helpful contribution to the conversation. Cheers! John

@wimschoenmakers5463 5 месяцев назад

Will not happen in the USA. Tax payers money there go's to multinationals and the army. Here in the Netherlands it go's to public transportation, healthcare, pensions, and the well being of the citizens.

@ActiveTowns 5 месяцев назад

Excellent points. As you'll learn from my profiles of the emerging Dutch-inspired cycle network in Austin, TX, it can improve because the citizens have voted to raise the necessary tax $ to build out the network... but it is a slow process, and the drive everywhere, for everything community members fight every change. Thanks so much for watching. Cheers! John

@the_real_Wieniet 5 месяцев назад

What clearly must be done is the states are shops in naber hoods. So that no long car trips have to be made. Then the usa can make their version of Dutch streets If there is political cooperation.

@ActiveTowns 5 месяцев назад

Absolutely! And appreciating that as it is 40-50% of all trips are already inherently easy cycling distances, but we lack consistent, comprehensive, and comfortable cycle networks.

@omervandenbelt 5 месяцев назад

@@ActiveTowns In one neighborhood in my city there are 4 grocery stores in that neighborhood. The furthest distance between two them is 550 meter, 0.34 miles, and it takes two minutes by bike to get from the one to the other. Three of these four are in the same street.

@afcansf5996 5 месяцев назад

There also actually is a lot of protest in the Netherlands from car owners, sadly the city councils and so called independent road institutions have been dominated by green Europhiles. And owners have been treated as second class citizens. And it wouldnt suprise me that in the near future we are going to see clashes between car enthusiast & cyclist due to the gross inequality in how car. Finally for the first time in decades we' re getting a new government that doesnt holds a green party; who want reallocate a lot green/climate funds for things we actually need more of. The Pijp in Amsterdam at the moment is a mess, it isnt all sunshine and rainbows, but then again Amsterdam is hardly Amsterdam anymore thanks to the hipster green parties.

@ActiveTowns 5 месяцев назад

Congratulations, this is the most confusing take I have ever seen: Which "but then again Amsterdam is hardly Amsterdam anymore" are you referring to? The city in gridlock with cars and killing children by the dozens in the 1960s and 1970s?

@bluband2 5 месяцев назад

I read 1 sentence of your post and i knew: Wilders voter: car lover, arrogant, shouter, anti environment, always playing the fear card, others are afraid of this and that blabla blabla. Comparable to the Trump voters in the US. The ugly truth is that the dutch are so desperate by the failing criminal and cultural policies of the dutch governments of the last decades that they see no other option then voting Wilders. Even me, being very left, feel like i should maybe vote Wilders after seeing the Mulsims claiming the streets of Arnhem, but so far i have resisted it. Unfortunately politics is more then environment, little use in a nice bike infrastructure when this country ignores muslim agression, asylum seeker crime and disturbance, and criminal agression like the bombings in the south of the country. But i don't blame even the muslims for the fact that their religion is creating havoc here, it's 100 percent the failure of the dutch to fail to understand certain things about fundament and cultural cohesion. This cultural cohesion should however not be the sociopath liberal capitalst doctrine which is why i never voted yet, there simply is no moral, sane, left, political choice available. The dutch made a good choice creating the now world famous bike infrastructure, and of course who else then a Wilders and car lover to claim he knows better. Personally i think the dutch had the luck politics went this way with the tranport infrastructure , a bit of a coincidence, but always nice to see as an achievement. The real achievement would be a democratic left society capable of defending it's claimed fundaments the non hypocritical way, but that's a few wars and some constitutions away still i guess, and that would be the positive outcome. Shared guilt is easy guilt. Ignorance is bliss, always has been, but one should remain positive, maybe mankind wil someday fight of this evolutionary ballast.

@truckerfromreno 5 месяцев назад

Great - granny can cycle in the rain and the snow.

@ActiveTowns 5 месяцев назад

And everyone else too... Thanks for watching!

@rmyikzelf5604 5 месяцев назад

Did you feel smug after posting this? 😅 My 82 year old mother does indeed still independently rides her bike (although not through snow). She never had a driver's license. She lives alone. Image how small her world would be in car-centric North America 😮 You really didn't think it through, did you?