German Neighborhoods are ILLEGAL IN AMERICA | Zoning & NIMBY-ism 

Tbh the American (and Canadian?) Zoning feels like something a 5 year old came up with in a city simulation game.

There's a war on suburbia? Oh. Sorry about that. My bad. This was a _great_ video and I really like how you went into more detail than the average "zoning" video with specific examples and what's allowed "by right". In particular, the section at 9:45 sums it up nicely that in the US, a retail store doesn't fit among houses unless you can prove otherwise, while in Germany, a retail store fits among houses unless you can prove otherwise. The segment about classification by income is an important one. Many zoning ordinances were blatantly racist laws that became illegal in the 1960s, but those laws didn't go away, instead they were law-for-law converted from laws that exclude certain races, to laws that exclude certain incomes. Climate Town touched on this in his video about suburbia.

I live in Japan which, like Germany, allows for a wide diversity of businesses and other types of buildings in residential areas so I appreciated learning what you presented here. Most Japanese towns and cities have an area called the “shoten-gai” which translates into something like the shopping district or the shop street but almost all of the shops that line the street or lie in the district double as residential homes for the shop keepers. These types of homes are typically called “naga-ie” which literally means “ long house” as these buildings are exceptionally long compared to their width, which in many cases are five or six times as long as they are wide. The point is that shops that provide the town with the essentials for everyday life for the surrounding townsfolk also create a community within themselves as they are usually occupied by three generations of shopkeepers and their families. This gives the shopping areas in most small to midsize towns a very nice atmosphere and a lot of liveliness and diversity as well as a feeling of tradition and history. Unfortunately, nowadays a lot of these shoten-gai areas of many towns in Japan are loosing their business to modern American style shopping malls, which may be profitable for big developers and convenient for people with cars and/or folks who desire to appear more “sophisticated” and “modern” but are not easy for many older people to visit or shop at if they don’t drive or have someone to take them shopping. Anyway, I definitely see the advantages of allowing family homes to also serve as small family-run businesses and also the desirability of allowing small businesses to co-exist with residential homes in towns and cities. Yes, the way that you think about what living means really does have a big impact on how you ultimately design your towns and cities. Excellent video!

Suburbia with its R-1 single-family units looks like a wasteland to me, neat, pretty, little boxes with lifeless lawns, keeping people in rabbit cages - in their houses and their cars. It's suffocating. Not being able to just walk five minutes to grab a loaf of bread in the local bakery and cold cut in the local butchery seems so outlandish to me. Riding a bike on American stroads looks equally suicidal to me. "Not just bikes"'s videos of North America are more horrifying than any horror movie could be.

I grew up here in Germany on a mountain in a village with 13 houses and 10 sheds. I had to beg my parents for every little thing, or walk more than two kilometers through the forest to the nearest shop myself. The footage of "Suburbia" reminded me of that time. - Argh! Here in Bonn I have a supermarket nearby, but I prefer to walk even further. - I can use public transport for a flat rate and go to the Rhine, to the forest or to all kinds of sports. For me, that's the German way of life.

In a few moments, I will step out of my flat to enjoy breakfast in the cafe-bakery 100 yards from my home in the Black Forest. As a UK citizen living in Germany, thanks to this video, I now see what a treasure the mixed use planning principle is, and what a millstone round the neck of American society the zonal system is. It's no surprise that Trump appropriated the planning system ('our beautiful suburbs') for political purposes. In truth, the US would do well to take a leaf out of Germany (and the UK's) book and edge towards mixed use planning. This was an exceptional video . . .

In Czechia, city plannin uses the term “občanská vybavenost” (public equipment), which refers to services and public infrastructure that must be available to residential zones. In some cases, local governments may even require that a developer includes space for small shops, services, kindergardens, tram stop etc. in order to approve a huge real-estate project.

Two of my favorite channels (in addition to yours, of course): Not Just Bikes, and Strong Towns. Highly recommended.

In Germany there once also was the idea of a "Stadtteil-Zentrum" which means, sort of an "inner city" inmidst every quarter (neighbourhood), which means a small center with some shops، maybe a supermarket, a school, a pharmacy, maybe one or two restaurants, maybe a library, one or two doctors. A kindergarden and a playground were standard, too. That was really great, especially in newly built neighbourhoods. I experienced this concept in Munich. You could get everywhere by feet. Maybe then between two neighbourhoods some (clean) industry (clean, i.e. no smoke, no smell, no noise). Or a Park. Or both. When you look at a map of Munich, you can still identify these Stadtteilzentren. At least by the local density of shops.

I am absolutely taken in by your enthusiasm, level headedness and intelligence. I agree totally. Just think, if you have a village square surrounded by the village hall, school, library, baker, pub/kneipe/bar/restaurant, grocery store, doctor's surgery and bus stop and surrounding this is the housing (in all their different forms) for the people. That means that when you want to eat out (or just go out for a pint), you don't have to drive, because it's within walking distance and thereby reducing drink and drive. Road fatalities will be illeminated. You hit the nail on its head. Thank you for your thoughts/videos. Greetings from Sweden 🇸🇪.

As always so informative Dr. Ashton😍. What really surprises me is that the quick and easy accessibility (on foot) of supermarkets, bakers, restaurants, butchers but also doctors plays no role at all among the residents of the suburbs. In German there is the saying "time is money" and I would think that especially in busy America this would play a role not to spend so much time on the street. Personally, I prefer the saying "time saved is Freizeit"😛. As always, a great video.

I lived in Stockholm (Sweden) for all my Life (almost 60 yrs) both in city and the in the "suburbs" within the city limits. It is quite shocking to realize how poor the zoning is made in US. I never owned a car and actually only used public transportation and walk long distances. In essence it is so far away from the US style and model it seems. For those who like cycling there are also expanded facilities made to use them in latest decades. Am happy to see you thrive in Germany and appreciate the way of living in it's true meaning and not in an empty "lifeless" sterile community.

It is very instructive to have the German regulations explained from the perspective of a foreign person. Before I just thought "the American settlements look boring" - now I realize that one (a) is stuck without a car and that (b) there are no shops for daily needs. But you need them to live. I also really like your self-critical episode at about 5:40 - your pronunciation is supposed to be *Messe* and IKEA - well, "I" like "ee" and "kea" like "ka-ar". (But... I can't pronounce Massachusetts, Lake Chaubunagungamaug, or Albuquerque either)

An excellent explanation of German town planning. I'm from the UK and have lived in Germany for around half my life now, but I've never come across such a lucid explanation of why towns are the way they are before. Well done!! I've just subscribed to your channel and hope to learn more.

In San Diego, my old neighborhood quite accidentally achieved income variety. I grew up in a working-class neighborhood with little crackerbox bungalows. Then word got out that San Diego had the best climate in the continental USA, and suddenly rich people flooded in and made housing prices shoot through the roof. So those little bungalows now sell for half a million at least. But old working-class families still lived in many of the homes, holding onto home ownership, often with 3 generations now under one roof, since rentals were no longer accessible for their kids and grandkids. I knew of one family with 4 generations under one roof. Many of them had long since converted their garages into extra rooms, so it was doable. Other families moved out, leaving their homes to be bought up by rich people. People literally had servants living a few doors down from them in practically identical houses. My grandmother's next-door neighbor collected antique cars for a hobby, he had so much money. Everyone got along surprisingly well, once they got used to the idea that some neighbors were going to hold onto the right to repair their own cars in their front yards and hang laundry in the back, just as they've always done.

So it took me this video to finally understand why I always get so confused in many major US cities and need an Uber to get anywhere. I realise it is not just the scale of the cities but the zoning that contributes to this. It is way easier though to find this diversity in walkable distances in smaller cities like Charleston or Savannah though.

Basically having all those servives living closely together makes cities more energy efficient. Energy is always costly. The US just did not realize how costly it could become one day.

I've said this in many similar videos on youtube bashing Nimby-ism. I live in a neighborhood that, for the USA, is very odd since there are townhouses, condos, duplexes, triplexes, and a full scale apartment complex. The catch is that the nearest grocery store/strip mall is far away from the apartment complex. It's also nestled next to a protected forest area and river overlooking very expensive SFHs. The set-up is fantastic for many reasons. The part that most would expect is that the roads are in disrepair and we are known as the "poor" part of the greater metro area. One thing a business owner and church mate tried to do is open a general goods store close to the 500+ apartment complex but was denied due to the strict zoning. The arguments were valid from both sides and there was not an adequate way he could provide an answer for some of their complaints. Since then my friend has worked with professionals to correct it and are in the process of turning a large trect of land (10 acres with a 150 year old house less than 800 sq ft) into two lots, with the store having minimum parking spots but a lot of walking access. The moral is that sometimes the people in the neighborhood can be worked with if you answer enough of their complaints or explain to them directly.

You missed the fact that a significant part of zoning in the US was intentionally designed to separate different ethnic groups (or, perhaps more accurately, separate various ethnic groups from whites)

Gerrymandering to keep your kid’s school separated from the poor kids is an American thing, too, worth mentioning.

Omg I'm German living in Japan. For some reason this video has been recommended to me, so I clicked. When I saw my Hometown of Templin at 4:44, this was everything. Thank you so much!!! ❤

One thing I've heard and noticed about German villages and suburban areas is they all have more walking areas, unique features, and a real culture about them. Here in America, pretty much every suburban development looks the same and is largely designed for cars. Miles and miles of concrete, fewer beautification areas, more shopping centers going up. Family-owned shops and stores in my area are quickly getting replaced by chain stores, fast-food restaurants on every corner, and gentrification has been wreaking havoc downtown. You don't find much culture, aside from maybe the occasional festival once a year, and certainly less unique features and innovative planning. Makes me sad.

In most European cities, most apartment buildings were built at a time where the ground floor was many times used for convenience stores, bakers, butchers etc. This was done because very few European cities relied on automobiles back then. The moving out of commercial shops and the building of shopping malls etc. first really started seriously in Europe from the 1960s onward. Actually, most Europeans like to have small stores close by and this principle is still used extensively simply because may European city centers was laid out at a time where USA did not even exist. People in Europe actually started to move to the suburbs because the prices of apartments in city centers increased. In most European countries, people many times look to moving further away from large cities than just the suburbs, again due to cost and because of the public transportation network in most European countries, this is not a huge problem.

Something to consider as well is the sheer SIZE of the US. There is so much land here that it contributes to a "sprawl" mindset. Whereas Germany, not quite the size of Texas, needs to make "smarter" use of its buildable area. Not to mention the historical difference in urbanization as developed cities were present in Germany a thousand years before in the US.

Since the middle ages the tradespeople had their shops in their living homes. The baker lived above his bakery, for example...

Another important difference. In Germany you have the Einwohnermeldeamt where you have to register and then the council gets a fairly large lump sum so that it is profitable to attract more people. So the only two income sources for councils are people and business. Therefore, urban sprawl and suburbia is unprofitable because roads and parking lots take up space without bringing in any money. This also makes it profitable to invest in public transportation and turn parking lots into apartment buildings.

I feel like allowing small shops, bakeries, cafes, and pubs into R1 zoning wouldn't be a burden on local infrastructure, but would instead decrease traffic because people could walk to those resources instead of needing to drive.

It is interesting that you mention Detroit. This city is a great example to show how the push for cars against public transportation was a commercial decision And now As a german in Europe I feel I am in a cultural vacuum You have boring strip malls and sleeping districts and what is missing is the city or village centers where you meat and hang out It is truly boring True I grew up in Herten and I wanted to leave it but now looking back I start to realize how much more diverse life there is compared to Americanized idea of life …

Your defense of Euclidean zoning (traffic planning) is caused BY Euclidean zoning.. having smaller shops nearby, work, etc reduces overall traffic - while as you mentioned earlier in the video, the zoning causes more traffic.

Thank you so much for making this video! I learned alot from watching this and will definitely use some of this information in the future. I recently moved to Germany and am making videos about small towns and villages here for people in the US to have positive examples in planning their own small towns. Great to see someone else following a similar track!

Something to concider here, the USA is enormous. The population density is not great enough to support "small shops I can walk to". And so we gain an economic advantage in that our shops can buy in bulk.

A big obstacle in the US is parking requirement regulations in place that force new housing, apartments, and shops to have sufficient parking spaces for their users. This leads to shops and apartments taking up huge tracts of land with their parking lots, and that is what people don't want to live next to. Because it's not very walkable or attractive to live amongst either! So I think the parking lot regulation needs to be limited for places where this mixed zoning is introduced. Or allow for some separation between the parking lot and the businesses, like a 3 min walk.

I think there is also a heavy commercial incentive for Euclidean zoning. After all if you have to drive somewhere you will usually want to buy a car. If you buy a car, you now need to be insured, taxed, inspected and licensed to use it and you have to buy gas to run it. If people just walked everywhere less money would go into those pockets. Lots of today's practices are a spin on the feudal fee-farm concepts shaped by commercial and gov't changes over time.

Part of why the Former Guy used 'suburbia' as a rallying point is because the "Suburbs" is a way to say "White America" and to make his followers afraid that "ethnic people" are going to be moving in. It's similar to the Redlining done in the 1960's and 1970's.

ONE THING I MUST SAY IS THE KEY TO SUCCESS WITH RU-vid IS KEEP IT SHORT . 15 TO 20 MINUTES 21 OR 22 MINUTES MAXIMUM BETTER TO POST MANY SHORT RU-vid POSTINGS THEN ONE LONG ONE

Very interesting, als always. Perhaps you can look into the way Berlin has built the Mietskasernen. Those had a front to the street and a carriageway that gave access to two or three "Hinterhöfe". Those served for small businesses as well as light sources for the houses there. This way streets were not needed to acess a lot of appartments. The prices got lower the farther from the street. So the poor backyard dwellers were a common tier of people. The famous German poet Zille had his impressions from those quarters.

I don't know much about housing, but this was a very interesting video. Thank you for taking the time to make it. One thing I wonder about is that I have a couple real estate friends that have been reporting that corporations have been on a high trend of buying residential homes and turning them into rentals, and then started hearing that these types of purchases are happening more frequently in Texas, Nevada and California. Housing seems to be vastly out of reach for single families as it is, and I cant imagine that this trend is a good thing for the possibility of social class movement upwards.

In Germany there is something like a "Bebauungsplan" - rules you have to follow if you want to build a house or the way you want to use it. If you live in an area where business use of a house is not allowed, you better do not start a business there. Sometimes rules look very restrictive regarding the way you can build your house.

In my country, the standard is that most residential zones allow for certain small commercial uses specifically in corners. So almost every block of houses/apartments has a corner (usually family owned) grocery store or a drugstore of some kind, sometimes a barbershop, etc. Almost every person that lives in that area will shop in those blocks if necessary, avoiding using their car.

I lived in the US for three months in Kansas City and now I realize I was kind of lucky because I had a supermarket and a laundromat at walking distance. In my country I don't even own a car, I don't need it.. it would be a drain on my budget and the advantages of having one aren't really enough for me to change my mind. Of course I'm talking from my particular point of view and it doesn't apply for everyone. I have a grocery store next door from the place I live, I know the owners and honestly it's very convenient for me to have it so close. It also becomes a place were neighbors can have casual conversations and at least recognize each other. Same for hardware stores, butcher shops, etc. It is still a peaceful neighborhood

No offence but American suburbia is boring i would never want to live in such a place there is literaly nothing to do in those places once again no offence. Here in the Netherlands where i live there are plenty of shops and also a couple of grocery stores in walking/cycling distance wich is awesome and so much better for the environment as well America can learn a thing or two from us Europeans. Other than that a great video keep it up👍 And greetings from the Netherlands🇳🇱

Sunday 9 a.m., walk 200, maybe 500 meters to get freshly "Brötchen" for the family breakfast from the nearest baker. Stand in line with a few neighbors. No fashion show, most wear sweatpants and sandals (in summer). Personal income doesn't matter, the topics of conversation in this line are the last soccer game or maybe how the kids are doing. No one is jealous of the other because they know each other, because everyone belongs to the same community, to the same city. Nobody is better than the other and just as valuable as every other human being. This is my experience from Germany. This suburban life, isolated from low-income families like you mentioned in the US, is a kind of life in a bubble that shuts out the reality of millions of people's lives just so they don't have to see the misery that's a consequence of your own Prosperity. For every rich person it takes 100 poor people to make a living.

I'm going to say this as a hot take let alone nuclear: Car centric or Central planning in general has been a disaster for cities, towns, communites etc. Because of gov't policy and legislation.

I was waiting the whole video for your point about not needing a car at the end and was really hoping you would include it. That is one of the most crucial points in this video imo. Imagine you are not forced to use a car to go grocery shopping in your community of let´s say 1000 people. That means maybe 700-900 less uses of the car per week. Your carbon footprint will thank you for leaving your car at home. I know, I´m biased, considering i grew up in germany, but imagine how many tons of co2 can be saved on a daily basis just by putting a grocery store in residential areas is astonishing.

the "Livable/walkable" matches almost everywhere I've ever lived, entirely in the NE US. The only exception was rural (as in more cows than people). I walked to school until I was 14, passing stores and restaurants. The drugstore (owned by the parents on one of my schoolmates) we used was across the street from my middle school. Sure, I drive to work, but only 10-15 minutes. There's only 2 buses in the morning and evening I could take to work (and in fact used them a few years ago while my car was in the shop.) Even there, though a bit rural (I pass farms on the way) there's a corner store, a pizza/subs place, and a Chinese takeout.

To be frank, there is nothing beautiful in an Americanized suburbia. I once walked into a neighborhood in Chicago, IL and was greeted with a zirping noise that I avoided the pavement, it was so unwelcome and uncanny to walk. The hostility continued when I wandered down the Mannheim to get something to eat and there were cars passing by, which honked at me. I did the same in San Francisco, there were at least people outside, and they were very friendly. I once lived in the worst borough of whole Montreal, Canada and it was better than that kind of suburbia in Toronto. I always feel that in Germany.

Wonderful video. I do miss village life during my time stationed in Germany, more than 25 years ago.

I live in the rural Southeast US. No real zoning laws in most rural areas. What's to zone? A store/gas station/beer joint/pizza place can all be in the same building but not a bunch of separate buildings because it is rural. Houses/farms can be miles apart.

For those who want to dive deeper into this subject, I point to the RU-vid channel "Not Just Bikes". Here you will find some videos about the origin of zoning and its consequences and the comparison with (suburban) Europe.

Brooklyn, NY is mixed use. I live in a small apartment building, around the corner are single family homes and other small apartments. Around the other corner is a street with shops, above the shops are apartments. I can see why, if you bought into a suburban development, you might not want low income housing built next door, and adding commercial spaces would require increased traffic to make the businesses profitable, which might disturb the residents. But I see no reason not to build new developments as mixed use.

There is another perspective at play in the US. I grew up in the city and sure you can walk everywhere and stuff. But that nostalgic life vanished as the culture of the city changed. Traffic, parents not letting there kids go out, business coming and going. Oh those theaters closing down and bigger ones farther away opened up. This and that. Slowly that great place that you can walk around was not there and it was not do to zoning. A change in economy, lifestyle, and more. Also my mother and even I wanted to move out to someplace more quiet. She found herself a great home on the edge of the suburbs. She loves it. Nice an peaceful. Me I bought a place up in a mountain town. No way can you walk to any place. Small Town feel but you have to drive. May not be full fledge rows of houses but houses are in one area and business zoned for another. I like it that way. If I want to walk I drive into main town and walk around the shops there. Same with my mother she drives into the business area and walks around there.

I think there should be 2 zone types. Industrial - factories, warehouses, skyscrapers, and large retail (high traffic, big impact places). And Mixed Use - everything else - homes, apartments, small retail, offices, etc. In the end, it's a much more "American" way than what we have now. You know, "It's your land, as long as you don't hurt others, do what you want." The US is also extremely diverse when it comes to cities. Lots of neighborhoods in Orlando, FL are within walking distance to a grocery store. Not that you'd want to given the heat. But some are just acres and acres of houses where you have to drive 3 or 4 miles just to get to the front entrance. Some of them don't even have playgrounds for kids.

Certain parts of my home area is a mix of upscale apartments in upscale neighborhoods. Those same in city “suburbs” gives Memphis a cosmopolitan feel. There are also remains of those neighborhood mixed used area. Old store fronts are still there.

There is no zoning in Ontario right now. Unbelievable mansions going up in prime farmland, rows of new housing on farmland and literally on the edge of harbors. Again, massive shopping centers to support these new developments. But there is no small town feeling being built into these developments. None have a downtown area for example. Everything within 150 miles of Toronto is just being destroyed at an amazing pace with very, very little public transportation. That was a place that I had planned on moving to, but not now.

There are places like that in the U.S. but they tend to be smaller towns not major cities. I live in a small town myself where I can easily walk to a bunch of small shops from my house. And there's actually a auto mechanic shop at the end of my road which even before I knew about zoning laws I always thought seemed weird and out of place that that was there among a residential area. Right across the street from that is a cemetery. Both the cemetery and the mechanic shop are visible from the highway but most people aren't even aware there's a residential zone directly behind it on the same road except for the people who actually live on this road. I once spent the night at a friend's house who lives right next to a train yard which is actually where the train seen in Back to the Future 3 came from. Yeah there's a tourist destination right in the middle of a residential area. They kind of covered up with some clever camera angles when they were filming there but year there are houses all around there. I had an uncle who use to live right next door to a junk yard with my aunt and cousin when I was younger. That house is still there though they had long sense moved to a different house which my aunt had to move out of after my uncle passed away. (She's really only my aunt by marriage, but I'm so use to calling her that at this point that I'm just doing it out of habit now. We're not actually related.) Anyway I've noticed that there is much more separation of residential and industry once you get into actual cities but small towns just kind of do whatever. There's actually a really small town which consists of a bar, a residence directly behind the bar and across the street from the bar and that's the entire town. You can literally drive past it and not even realize you were ever there.

Just a reminder, despite all the real benefits of integrated zoning listed as if they were clearly superior to the benefits of American suburbs, the latter also has benefits that millions of people think are superior. So, right to choose is key here. Great video!

Oh wow! I never knew about how American zoning worked! No wonder there are so few walkable neighborhoods, if they're defined by excluding anything you'd want to walk to! 🤯

Our family was originally from "Bad-Kreuznach" Germany, "bad", meaning bathe, a health town area). Bad-Kreuznach = Home of the original. Anhauser Busch (BUDWIESER, BEER) and is also known earlier for best Wines awards before the Anhauser Busch "Bier". Our town is all nicely organized with homes and many areas have a well known soda and bier houses amongst neighborhoods, as a regular house. Usually we just see a few cases of beverages in front of the door to signal people the stop in visit is welcome 🙏 and maybe a "imbiss" meaning a homemade bread or meal. 'Shnizel (calf, chicken, or pork filay), with "Pomfret" (fries) usually deliciously made recipes for a low cost bargain as tourists brag about such things 😄. But this video reminds us of orderly and respect for traditions and virtues welcoming visitors and sharing worldly experience know how to help more people as is more common there. 😀 Hopefully Germanys Tesla gigafactory can ramp up process meets the level of hard working dedicated people in Shanghai Tesla gigafactory. Even though I'm mostly German I realize the "foods" mostly not being real, fast foods, all are to blame, & TV anti-family agendas distractions every day lowering our ethics and quality. Traditions and virtues are never out of style and our future generations are counting on us to set better quality examples than today's average. 😀 "Herzlich wlkommen" (hardly welcome).

unfortunately, the division between rich and poor is also growing in Germany, also as far as living in districts is concerned. so hardly any of the normal earners can afford an apartment in the inner cities of large cities and have to move to suburbs. socially disadvantaged even more so. I also think it is absolutely important that everyone across the social classes lives with each other. this only increases the sensitivity to each other. especially children should grow up with other children from all social classes and go to school, etc. I grew up that way. I played with children from the working class, with children from academic families and with children from owners of companies or factories.This was also the case in the school classes. this leads to the fact that of course the parents also came together. (joined forces to better control and enslave and torment us poor children 😁) for example, my parents had known the head of the mechanical engineering company since they had built a house together in the same neighborhood in the same year at the end of the 60s, in which I later did my mechanical engineering apprenticeship and my technician training. their children were my playmates and later classmates. I come from a working-class family and my girlfriend who has been with me since high school with a 1-2 year break, (but for completely incomprehensible reasons does not want to marry me, that would make it harder for her to leave me quickly, should she accidentally meet johnny depp .tzzzz johnny depp 😒 ) is daughter of an entrepreneur .

In our village (about 10K in size), there once were a lot of small shops on the basement floor (every 2nd house originally had such a commercial space). They nearly all closed and were repurposed as normal apartments in recent years (it started in the early 90s). The problem is that once a commercial space has become residential space, it is extremely hard to change it back. Some people call it "dying city centers".There were originally 4 pubs in our village but now there is none left. The internet, local supermarkets and having to travel to work in the next big city make it nearly impossible for small storefronts to survive. Homeoffice has revived local life a bit but i fear that there is not much to change in the coming years.

Well , here in Germany we have about a 1/4 of the population that the US has, in aproximately 35 times less space (or even less) . Point being is that we simply do not have the acreage for houses like the US does. Unless we flaten our precious forrests and woods. It is pretty awesome that Germany has about 30% of its land covered by forrests and woods. The US should actually make dimwits illegal, that in a fanatic religious idiocy, tell woman what they can do or not do ( Back in the dark ages USA ) with their body. Sorry for getting a bit political.

I guess I'll chime in. I never lived in suburban houses with the big lawns before that relies on cars, probably because my family is lower income. At least I always had access to public transportation in the city so I'm not very reliant on cars, I take public buses and trains to go places, or once in a while Ubers for laundry and groceries. I am grateful to live with my family while I work at home and look for jobs within my career after college graduation. I realized I can't really live independently due to high rent prices after college graduation, so I'm stuck living with my family until I saved enough money. I'd like to own a used car one day because I understand in a way having a car allows me to travel farther distances and can potentially open up more access to jobs/opportunities in the future. But for now, while it seems to be post pandemic in 2022, hopefully remote work will become more common and normalized, so I can save up to get a car and one day I can move out and live independently. Speaking of, I do notice something about suburbia. Suburbia is obviously to me very segregated in terms of income, it seems like it's accessible only for wealthy families with higher income. Lower income families are stuck with crappy renting apartments. I've been to so many apartments that has black molds, leaking ceiling, cannot decorate the rooms (like painting walls or hanging that can damage walls). I dreamed of owning a home so I can decorate the rooms, care for the lawn, make it my personal studio, etc. Hopefully in 10 years when I saved up enough from working, I can finally own a home... But if things get worse in USA I may consider traveling outside the USA for better living.

Many thanks from germany for this specific comparison and insight on similarities we share! You've earned yourself another Subscriber, Thumbs up on all those tiny little details we share despite living on two different continents! Greetings from Augsburg, Swabia (Schwaben, District in bavaria) to our American friends! 😉

I can definitely say I do not want German style neighborhoods being applied to suburbs here in the US. In the town I live in there is two main roads that sort of connect at a near right angle. The main part of the residential area is inside this angle, the commercial side is on the other side of those two streets. This puts everything into walking distance and allows a neat and tidy separation between homes and businesses. You simply walk to one of the two main streets and use the sidewalk. These businesses are all of your little services and small shops. Nothing large like big chain retail or grocery. These two streets also connect to the main highway that connects our town to others and gives us a direct access to an interstate highway. On this highway we have our larger stores like the local large grocery chain and a Walmart. There's also a bank, pharmacy, and other businesses that would take far too much land to be in the town itself. So we do have all of our necessities in walking distance. Case in point, my newest car, bought at the end of 2018 has less than 10,000 miles on it. The system we use for building neighborhoods is vastly superior, if some thought is put into the actual planning. Ironically the video touches on this, and goes into how the US is broken up by legislation from federal, to state, to municipality. But then go on to explain as if the miszoning in some areas is a nation wide, federal issue. The 'federal issue' is one I'm well aware of. The real issue is the federal government through HUD, interfering with municipalities and their zoning regulations. And when I say this, I mean from personal experience close to home. When I say close to home, I'm talking about a property across the street that went up for sale. I tried to purchase this property. I was unable to, because my personal income was too high. Anyone reading this should read that sentence again out loud. Now someone explain how this makes sense? I live in a neighborhood. I want to purchase a home in the neighborhood. But I cannot, simply because I have too much money? My income is slightly below the average in the town as well. Not poor or anything, but definitely not rich, its comfortable. Enough to shore up a savings to make a down payment on a second home if I wanted to. But due to HUD regulations, the property was slated to go to someone who... 'needed' it more than I. Someone who is now barely affording the taxes on it. And wouldn't be able to if they didn't work for the state. Did it affect housing values? Oh yes. My primary property lost about $50,000 in value. Which isn't a terrible concern for me. I don't intend on selling it any time soon if ever. But the other ramifications of falling property values is what concerns me. I've seen what the lower areas of the county looks like and I'd prefer to avoid that. As for some of the other issues addressed by the video creator. I can say this. The amount of trash I contribute on a weekly basis is less than 10lbs on average. The amount of carbon emissions that I contribute is probably negligible (as said before, I'm under 3k miles a year). My electric usage can be a tad higher in the summer months (its hot and humid) but definitely lower than those who live in more urban areas. And last I checked, my town is not in debt, it has a budget that is lower than its revenue. Our council and mayor just took a paycut to their stipends in order to higher another few full time workers for permits and inspections. The best bet for small towns and even larger cities is to not be regulated at all by federal officials. Let the people who live in the communities have self governance through their city councils and county commissioners. If you wish to have things in walking distance, you can do so. If you wish to lower carbon footprints, then you can make that happen as well. If you want to avoid your city going into debt, then electing officials who will not continually borrow money to pay for expenses is another option. And this is all up to you, the individual to make this happen. Know who your mayor is. Know who your council is. Know their policies. Then vote. That means voting in years that are odd numbers. You vote every year, not simply every 2 or 4 years. Notice so far that I have not said at any point in time that you should be any political ideology. Nor have I even mentioned one party or another. The reason for this is the issue is NOT a political one. Politicians like to make it one. But it is not. This is literally an issue of civil education, and I mean basic education that simply involves a bit of research and asking questions on a local level, nothing that requires any bit of college or higher learning. And a little bit of personal responsibility by being engaged in the election process. For me personally, this means I am literally on a first name basis with my mayor and my councilmen. We send emails back and forth. We know where each other served in the military (for the one's who are veterans). As well as all kinds of small talk about kids and relatives and all that. This is how towns and cities should be, communities. Not housing blocks where no one knows or cares for one another.

This comparison applies only to 20th century and later neighborhoods. I have lived in many neighborhoods where lots of businesses were nearby. I lived once in a home for a couple of years where the house was about 150 years old. Two apartments on the first floor and I had the upstairs apartment which covered the entire 2nd floor. We were completely surrounded by singe family and multi family homes and apartments. But, across the street was a laundromat. Within a one block radius there was a video store, a post office, a public library a pizza parlor that also made pasta and subs, a convenience store. Within two blocks where was also a pharmacy, a Wendy's, a full grocery store, and a hardware store. Within that two block radius there were roughly 300 housing units. Within a four block radius there were bus stops, fire station, police station, a museum, farmer's market, book store, bakery, two public parks including a playground, a barber shop, beauty salon, news stand and liquor store. Besides my commute to and from work, I could find almost anything I needed without ever having to walk more than four blocks. I loved the place.

Interesting. The odd part of this, for me was where I grew up in Buffalo, NY. All within a couple of blocks were a small family owned Greek restaurant, a smaller supermarket, an upper class high school, a large park, zoo, and a public four year college. This community was build right after the World’s Fair of 1901 was over. I’ve heard claim that people occasionally still find artifact trash left over from the Fair.

I know a lot of the cause of NIMBY-ism is exactly what you said cities are not planned around infill. Example when I first moved to my current city traffic was fine and rarely did you get stuck in traffic. Then they started building 5 different housing developments that have since filled in. Net result traffic is a nightmare now as none of the roads were upgraded for the increase, and sadly I like many others that live here are just not accepting to more housing developments now. Now if they would actually upgrade the roads to deal with the increased traffic I'd be fine with even more people living here but as it stands now what use to be a quick 10minute drive is now a 30min drive due to traffic.

Love your videos! Every country would be better off if its citizens would leave to live abroad as immigrants for a couple of years, open minded and embracing the difference as you do.

Exclusively residential areas are great, and we have it in Europe too. I think the point here is to allow some diversity that, within a walking distance, you would have a nice "soft" services available, like restaurants/bars/groceries/local shops that would allow suburbs to be more independent zones.

There was a kind of meme on Facebook that I shared, where it's said "I don't want a future of self-driving cars. I want dependable rail, and communities that are not built around car-as-default." Some of the comments there....many of them said that transit oriented communities have more crime. And there were complaints about values going down. And the natural idea that wanting to live in anything other than a mcMansion in a cul-de-sac in suburbia was "socialist." Never mind how many of these developments have rather draconian rules about how your house can look, required setback, driveway length, garage size, what is and isn't allowed in your yards....and then you have HOAs on top, who theoretically are supposed to benefit the neighborhood, but then end up being used as a tool to enforce conformity, often lorded over either by a de facto king or queen, or by a small mafia. What happened to Land of the Free?

The great exodus from the large cities into suburbia after WWII contributes greatly to this (though it started earlier). Inexpensive gas, better roads, inexpensive cars all contribute to both the demise of public trans (which oddly used to be much more widespread), and much of the more concentrated living arrangements. And, importantly, the US has a lot more land than Germany to spread out in. Small towns were almost always single family homes in the US, with apartments being far more common in the cities. It's also true of small farming towns in Germany btw. I loved my years in Deutschland, and appreciate the differences here. I especially appreciate the number of small stores all over the cities - this is something that is impossible to find outside our major cities. The Walmarts and such moved in and destroyed the small guys. We're getting better at a lot of things (adding greenways for instance), but changing the American mentality of having a single family home with a white picket fence is going to take decades. Germans have been living in more condensed environments for a long time. Zoning is a touchy issue here, and like with most things in the US, money talks.

First time ever seeing your channel, and I'm really glad there's a "Don't recommend channel" option because god I fucking hate click bait titles.

Spent some time as a kid not far from you in Lahr when the Canadian Forces still had bases in Germany. It's always baffled me how in Canada (which often models itself after the US, land use not being an exception) that our cities have so much sprawl to them when the European systems allow for the same population size in a much smaller, and much more liveable, space.

+BlackForestFamily *As an example from East Contra Costa, CA, USA: July through September 2022 has a widening project scheduled north of Byron proper.* Byron Highway (Contra Costa County Route J4) between Hoffman Lane and Holway Drive, specifically, to provide for left-turn lanes at Byer Road and Hannum Drive. As an agricultural zone, Byron pre-existed the concept of suburbs; the first structure of suburbia is in fact the Camino Mobile Home Park (Office: 14530 Byron Highway, Byron, CA 94514-1508 USA, with private boxes spanning ZIPs 94514-1510 throught 94514-1518, and single- and doublewides lining Wilson, James, Nyla, Hazel, Wilson, and Janeth Streets).

Wow so as a German I only now realized that there are no foot walkable bakeries, grocery stores, doctors offices and such within your residential areas :o

Regarding the public housing I like the system in Vienna, where the city owns lots of housing blocks and they aren't only reserved to low-income tennants. There are all kinds of people living in there, from a sales assistant to a professor of a university. The Houses are owned by the city of Vienna and the proceeds from the affordable rents have to be invested in creating yet more living space. This is the complete opposite of here in Ireland or the big cities in Germany where land is being sold to developers that build some ultra modern high-end luxury places that noone can afford, while others are struggling to find living space or even being under threat of loosing their homes. Something is goin wrong! But I guess money makes the world go round and the politicians also draw some personal use from big business with developers. Sad!

WOW I love your explanation, after living in Germany for 7 years I preferer there system there is nothing like walking not more than a block to get to the Bäckerei or Metzgerin

While I agree with you, a German small town is a pleasant mix of uses, it does exist in Canadian-US towns too, if you like that environment more. (this page does not permit pictures, but you can find them all over..). I also agree that the US/CND zoning created sterility for protecting the living space from industrial pollution, however they can be now reintegrated if they do not pollute, such as small services etc. It is happening anyhow, since more people are working off home to avoid commuting, and home business is popular. Mac has also started from a "garage-business".. However, Europe is using noncombustible construction for homes too, the US/CND are still using a lot of wood for construction, which makes it more difficult to combine mix use, business and residential in the same building, not only for fire hazard, but also for sound control, parking, hygiene etc.

You earned a new subscriber! First time on your channel, and I very much appreciate your honest yet empathetic and pro-diversity perspective. Thanks from an American, stuck in America.... For now, while actively bettering my own life/well-being and advocating for the drastic climate, social, equality, education etc action that is so desperately needed here. Thank you for using your platform to bring more awareness to these issues, and differences.

As a resident of a large golf course home I appreciate zoning laws which prevent apartments or low-income housing being built in our immediate neighborhood. The people that live here have worked very hard to afford this area and why should our property values be negatively impacted in the name of so called "equity." We have diversity of race, religion, and ethnicity here, but not a great diversity in income. If you can buy a home in this suburb, nobody frets about the color of your skin or the country of your origin.

I live in the Netherlands and the great benefit of living in a mixed environment is that when you get older and can't drive a car anymore you still can be fully independent. The shops are so close by that you can get there with your walker. You also don't have to plain everything. When someone says let's go to lunch or for a drink it is within walk or bike distance. In the US you have to live near the center in a big city. I have friends living in a suburb and beyond the suburb there is a little mall for the last 15 years or so but before that there was nothing I would feel very lonely living there The supermarket is still to far to walk and when your disabled or really old the mall as well. You hardly see people outside during the day. There are people who like it but I'm not one of them I also don't like it that people with a certain income and social level all live in the same neighborhood. It is hard to meet different kind of people. In the Netherlands the rich, poor and everything in between are living together No gated communities or income separated housing.

Wow, that was a very complex, insightful and impressive episode - thank you very much, Ashton!

I grew up in Heidelberg (Germany) and lived 8 years in Freiburg. I always went grocery shopping by bike or just walked there. I can't imagine to live in a neighbourhood where it's all houses from other people, no small shop, no bakery. I love that about my home(s) :) Also many people in germany lived and worked in their house. Ground level was the small shop or workplace and 1st and 2nd level where ment for living. Even my family still does that. You are less dependent on cars in germany.

I would like to point out that this is not limited to the US. Its actually a North American problem as Canada suffers from many of the same zoning issues as the US of A, with the exception of Quebec, to the surprise of no Canadian.

The sheer difference in population size makes planning cities and residential areas like in Germany impossible in the United States.

American Zoning, was intended to be Racist in Nature. I remember housing within 10 minutes walk from factories that employed these people. I remember housing above the commercial buildings. Owners lived over their stores.

Here in Springfield Missouri and other places in America while it was growing rapidly a person could have a commercial location attached to or right near their home inside town. And here in Springfield you can see a lot of the old buildings. Unfortunately some people took this Advantage too far and a good deal of small industrial accidents happened as a result and ruined entire neighborhoods. For example some people could sell propane gas in their front yard before we knew a great deal more about the safety of such things and those places exploded. Unfortunately I think the rezoning here in town has maybe gone too far because I am all for someone having a store downstairs or a dentist office downstairs where they live upstairs Etc. I'd like to see more of a blend of things now that we are more informed about the hazards and setting things up properly

I have a piece of paper, and I can do what I want with that piece of paper. I can write on it, I can fold it, I can fly it, I can tear it, I can burn it, I can wipe my butt with it. If I buy land I can't do what I want with it because of some other people's self righteous do rights of self imposed etiquette that dictate policy of that land. Obliviously the land that I bought did not belong to me at all. That is WRONG!

No buildings that take up the whole block with the center courtyard either can't have a wall around your home or what they used to call mission style or the building was massive and had a summer courtyard living quarters around the perimeter wall,

I would venture to argue, that here in Germany it depends a bit on area/city and the age of the development. It is much more probable to find mixed use in organically grown or older developments than in newer. The houses on your thumbnail are from an old town area. And well, there is indeed more mixed use. Current regulations in new development are often more restrictive. After all, Europe too has adhered to the Athens Charta after WWII leading to stricter seperation of shopping, industry and living. That is one reason why some city centers have become very desolate, e.g. in Hamburg. It might differ a bit in smaller towns like Freiburg. Only now there is a trend to mix more again, as a part of politics and society becomes more critical about car usage.

I was stationed at Spangdahlem AB in Germany for two years, lived in Fliessem. Easily the most peaceful and friendly neighborhood/environment I've ever lived in.

The difference is that Europe has sensible beauty laws, and even though mixed zoning is allowed, it is regulated what things can and cannot look like. Additionally lots of these neighborhoods were built a long time ago by professionals. when people actually cared about longevity, proportions and esthetics. If de-zoning would happen in USA today, the land would be quickly bought out by developers and built to the max, without the regard for anything around it - I've seen too many examples of this (one of the latest is the neighboring 200 year old town with beautiful victorian house, and vibrant downtown approved the building of a multi stories car garage - an monstrosity which is now looms over entire town.) So its not just zoning, its the mentality... greed and lack of oversight is a disaster.

The IKEA-Issue 😄 Immer wieder lustig 😀Aber auch ein interessanter Vergleich. Was gelernt. But I think there is one important aspect to keep in mind: Almost every German (European) city has its roots in the medieval town. A community surrounded by city walls, which presupposes close coexistence. And even the villages fall back on traditional layouts, which vary depending on the part of the country. These structures can still be found today in older, mature cities. They have often been dissolved in new housing developments, but recently they are frequently cited again.

Do what you want with the urban centers. The small businesses are dying because no one really wants to live there. Most of the small privately owned restaurants in downtown LA relied on the lunch business from people working in the area. They're going under now that many aren't going into work any longer. A lot of buildings have and are converting to apartments but once people move in and experience the crime and filth in the downtown areas they leave and look for safer, cleaner areas and deal with the commute. It's like that in every coastal California urban area. Destroying suburbia because you have some ideological aversion to it SHOULD be met with fury.

germany is designed to fit more people per square mile but the states are designed to feet more square miles per person - the states are designed to avoid gathering too many people in one place which helps preserving the calm and peace in general -

Where I live in Canada, there is a new development on the edge of town that includes single family, townhomes, apartments and shops. I'd consider buying there except for the harsh covenants they have on the property.

We need comprehensive road-maps for redevelopment of urban and suburban spaces in North America. Wee can not address issues like transit, car dependency, mobility both for young and elderly people if the very structure of our towns and cities doesn't change!

👍🏼ein sehr interessantes Thema. Ich wusste nicht dass die „Zonentrennung“ in de USA so extrem ist. Es ist so komfortabel Orte des täglichen Bedarfs in der Nähe zu haben 😊 wenn ich z.B. zu Ikea möchte muss ich mit dem Auto gute 30 Minuten fahren. Dafür verabrede ich mich mit Freundinnen und wir machen ein Event daraus.

a lot of this comes down to personal preference. some people like jam packed city neighborhoods with houses wall to wall and dont want the extra room. Others go crazy in the tight jumble of a city setting and need more space. They want a yard and room to do things in your own back yard with friends and family and not have another house jammed right up next to yours. In the city there are plenty of mix areas like you talk about. You just arent familiar with it. Im in Los Angeles and see lots of areas like this and as far as cities go LA is more spread out than most.

I prefer the current American zoning attitude. You’ll find remnants of older mixed use zones in cities like Cleveland…along with the ugly, decaying commercial buildings enclosing equally miserable residences. You said it yourself…income disparity is greater in urban settings.