Urban Geography: Why We Live Where We Do 

Public transport in Los Angeles: get in your car and drive

Important factor for European cities is that many of them were built before XIV century, when fortifications and city walls defined where people could live safely. Larger cities had several circles of walls and a citadel in the middle, but even smaller villages usually had a fortified church that acted as a storage for provisions and became a shelter in case of an attack, so the closed to the center = the safer.

It'd be interesting to have the same comparison with Tokyo.

>an astronomical 2245 murders... [Laughs in Brazilian]

US cities tend to have worse public transport than European cities too.

This was amazing with this good videos you should have way more subscribers

Fun fact: Berlin is one of the few major European cities where rich people tend to live in the suburbs. However, this trend is now reversing just like in the US.

"Americans spent an average of 4.25h per week for commuting." Me: Laughs as she spends 12.5 h per week to commute in Germany

"Rich Americans are therefore are beginning to return to the city." *cuts to picture of Vancouver, Canada*

Fascinating. I wish you covered the super dense Asian cities and why they followed the European model on steroids.

Damn gas is cheap in the us

A pretty good video and fairly accurate from my knowledge of the issues I'd say, but you seem to omit the role that zoning has played in many American cities, creating massive areas with singular land use (e.g. business district) vs multiuse.

Wtf this channel became a million times professional when it already was...

Makes sense, it always confused me when Americans used the words "inner city" to describe poor people when where I live you have to be rich if you want to live in the middle of a city.

7:29 The best part of this video was hearing my roommate yell "bullshit" at the average price of a gallon in the US.

"A gallon of gas costs as much as $7" LOL Try $10/gallon. at least for Denmark

I don't remember subscribing to this dude, but glad I did. Fascinating shit.

2.20 USD per gallon = 0.53 Euro per litre 7 USD per gallon = 1.70 Euro per litre

I live in a very small, compact, and relatively deprived city in the northwest of England, and I am always amazed by the size and wealth of the suburbs in Canadian and American cities.

You have an interesting claim at the start of the video, where you claim that Paris packs almost its entire population inside the city. Maybe we should find a common definition of the term city, because while Paris itself is rather small and very densely populated (with 2m inhabitants), it is the center of a very large urban area, with kilometers of suburbs.. And 12m inhabitants. This takes the population density of the entire Paris urban area to about 4.500 inhabitants per square kilometre according to the Wikipedia page "unité urbaine de Paris" (I don't have the figure in square miles, sorry). And these suburbs are very essential to the life of the city, they're not just there by happenstance.

I love how you take an interesting subject and then make it super interesting and explain it so well. Keep up the great work 👍🏼👍🏼

4.25 hours in minutes is 255, ÷ 5 days a week is 51 minutes per day which is only 25.5 minutes to work and the same amount back. Not exactly what I'd call a bad commute.

"Americans spent an average of 4.25h per week for commuting." Try living in Manila. I spend 19 hours a week in traffic. And I'm already driving a car. People who commute spend probably 28 hours travelling.

Don't forget, European cities were not made for cars (remembers London...…..)

Does anyone get tripped out seeing super old footage of people? I always think to myself, all of those people are dead now

I live in Denmark, Copenhagen and went to Calgary on exchange. I was so suprised to discover the concept of "urban sprawl" which in my opinion ruins the city completely. The two cities have comparable populations, however, Calgary does not seem to have as a rich a cultural life due to everything being so far apart.

I always come back to this video for studying

So that's why Europe city more walking friendly

it's really a matter of taste. I loved living in the european downtown cities they have. you can walk literally anywhere, from the downtown core to the central park to a cafe, anywhere. it is also nicer as you see people around you and it is much more social. where i live now, in canada, i need to drive to get to anything i need, and i rarely leave my house in the suburban area. it really is stressful and unnatural :(

I live in a US desert city, and you have the urban sprawl. Then... Nothing.

I recommend the video "How Zoning Laws Are Holding Back America's Cities" by "Institute for Humane Studies". The video shows that a big part of suburbanization in America was due to government officials imposing their view on how houses should be.

Every video I feel like I’ve learned so much more than just what the title suggested, thank you for making these they are so good ❤️

I never understood why people drive their own cars in the city. You'd think with all the traffic and frustration you'd rather walk.

Interesting. I never realized that they built it in Europe because of walking distance. Interesting to see how technology evolves the way of life.

I like that this is like the 5th time I've been reccomended this video since it was released. I still enjoy the amount of work and editing put into it!

I study Architecture and Urbanism and I find that amount of information about cities really amazing! Thanks for sharing ;)

you should make a collaboration with Real Engineering you Fucking should

A great example of this effect is in Australia where cities only grew large in the 20th century after the Automobile. Perth Metro area, for example, spreads 100km x 30km along the coast with only 2 million population. Australians tend to hav elarge blocks of land that spread over large distances Despite this, with the rising cost of fuel and a changing culture city centres are being more popular to save costs.

I loved the information in this video, please continue the good work!

Awesome video! Really get you thinking...

+ European cities have nicer downtowns. its Just true, No negative comments please.

Public transport here in France is so good it's honestly insane, literally every bit of my city is covered either by tramway or bus, and even the nearby communities have bus routes that regularly go back and forth to those places... I also saw great public transport when I was in England and in Spain, but I guess all of western Europe has excelent public transport

Hong Kong: Am I a Joke to You?

Hello from 2020. Great video! I'm glad you kept up the hard work.

I love how you gloss over the disgusting gentrification of US cities in saying people are returning to urban centers.

Great video. Subscribed. We're screwed when we run out of oil due to poor planning. I chose to spend more buying a smaller house that is in the center of a sleepy New England town close to work. I can bike now :)

Well done. I have been working as an urban economist for 50 years and find you analysis spot on.

4.2hrs per week in travel time? Come to London. I used to travel 3hrs per day to work somewhere 8 miles from me.

Great video. However I find it too economic and hardly cultural. As an European, I feel that there is also an emotional link that we have with our cities that does not seem to be as present in Americans. Europeans like to walk the streets and bask in the glow of our monuments and old buildings with which we identify ourselves culturally. Add to that the fact that European cities are built on the scale of the Human and the Horse; American cities are built on the scale of the Car and the Elevator. Maybe as American cities are not as old as European ones this emotional link between the people and the buildings is not as present?

this channel has grown so quickly! much deserved. amazing educational content.

Thank you very much for a concise and comprehensive video

i live in a little medival city in Poland(Darłowo 16thousands citizen), i have plenty od friend in US and Canada. Except that we earn much less than in America, from that what my friends say i live in PARADISE, the standard of living is high, crime almost does not exist. I wanted to emigrate becouse of my earnings but i will never do it becouse my friends made me realize that if i will move to America i will lost a lot! and this is this moment when i am so proud of my country p.s sorry for my english

I grew up in Washington DC and I always found something wrong with it....as if is not like any other REAL cities, is like fake.....this video explains alot

I have a feeling that you live in Philly area.

I came here because this is my part of the midterm exam at the University of Alberta but got hooked. Really explained well.

Awesome assessment!

i spent well over 10% of my time awake commuting while in the US. sometimes, literally 1/4th of my day was gone due to commute alone.

Its important to talk about redlining in the cities during the 50s and 60s, and how the modern American ghettoes were formed. I feel like that and the rapid population growth would be more relevant to the topic of increase in crime rates in the 70s to 90s.

Thank you, very interesting topic and presentation

Wow! Outstanding quality! Keep it! up!!!!

in EU even if we wanted skyscrapers downtown we can't build them on the same scale as NY or many other US cities because the soil is too soft, you can have skyscrapers in Manhattan because NY sits on solid rock, most big EU cities sit on clay or loose gravel.

this is one of a couple of channels that i never regret having in my subbox...

This is crazy interesting thank you so much!!!!

Man you've come a long way with your new videos. Great job.

European dense populated cities offer another benefit: you don't need a car. People walk, cycle or take the public transport. 70 % of the people in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, do not own a car. If they drive a car twice a month, they rent a car. Amsterdam is so dense that everything you need is within 5 km/ 3 mile distance, so people take the bike or walk.

In Australia, we have a mixture of both; We have suburbs that expand out, like the US cities, but richer people live closer to the inner parts of the city, like the European cities.

Thanks! Very interesting!

I'm a few years late to watch this one, but the content is as insightful as ever. Absolutely love this channel, keep up the good work.

This is the first time I suscribe to a channel after seeing only one video. You deserve it.

Would love to see a similar analysis on countries other than Europe/USA. Very cool video though. Hell, I live in Chicago and I thought THAT was dense 😳

so well done

Very interesting and informative.

Great Courses Plus is just everywhere. i also see them on nearly all history-channels ^^

0:11 "It probably seems obvious..." Me: Yeah, obviously Paris. 0:13 "New York." Me: No.

The beginning of the video was interesting. Thanks for that.

Great video!

Interesting video, don't forget that most european countries have a much higher density as a whole, compared to the US. Germany for example has a Density of 227 People per km² while the US only has 35 people per km², thats around 6.5 times higher. There is just not enough space in Europe for large, suburbans with single-family homes like in the US. And to be honest, I am ok with that as from my european perspective, the disadvantages outweight the advantages. The wide-ranging suburbs consume so much space and they make the distances much higher than they need to be. It's more difficult to set up a working public transport system and you basically are bound to your car wherever you go.

Yes!!! As a Swede I become so happy when a video like this has Stockholm on like a couple of pictures

I love finding a RU-vid video explaining something I would’ve never thought to ask

Ive lived in the suburbs my whole life and i like it, its quite, private, plenty of space, and its beautiful. Ive been to the city many times in my life and its a loud chaotic mess.

Love this video, pity everyone who has to commute hours by car to their job. I live in a midsized Central European city and I can literally walk to my office in 10 minutes. It's amazing.

Just subbed. High quality, thought provoking video. Lived for five years in Europe, native American. Different strokes for different folks, but for me...I love where and how I live in America. Giant trees you can't wrap your arms around are all around me. Forest creatures dance in the yard. The horses and cows...I love it. And I'm fifteen minutes from everything, and thirty from a major city. Don't get me wrong. I could wax on and on about the beauty of Europe, but yes, too many people cluttered together. Although I really really miss the neighborhood bakeries. Peace.

This video was a lot more interesting, than I expected.

Fox Hall is DC had massive mansions but it is only 3 miles from the center.

London expanded because of the train, there's a place in West London called Surbiton which literally means "Suburban Town" same with Sutton meaning South Town.

I enjoyed the insights very much. I would add a line to the narrative regarding the narrow streets and lack of parking (old buildings lack garages, narrow streets limit parking on-street) in old cities.

VERY WELL DONE!!!

4.25 hr per week.... That is heavenly... Serious! I drive to and from work for 3-4 hrs everyDAY.

Do you have a source for the Philly and Paris income maps at 1:09?

As a Dutchie I love my 10 min cycling commute in a compact city. Half of it is on cycle tracks, the other half in residential 30km/h zones in which cycle tracks aren't required. The parking area has about 50 cars on a weekday versus at least 100 bikes packed tightly in a bikeshed, the parking area for cars takes up at least 10 times more space than the one for bicycles, you do the math. This is for two relatively small (for american standards) office buildings. Focusing on cycling can aid the compactness of a city as they require much less space, they're healthier and more environment friendly as a bonus.

great video!

5:11 bro this is were I live

6:10 "astronomical 2245 murders in 1990", my city has beaten that number in 5 months in 2018... and 2018 was a good year

3:52 my town is on that map!!!! yay we’re almost never recognized lol. but my grandma lives in mclean and my dad grew up there!

Terrific content

The Philly income map is fairly wrong though. Much of Greater Center City is very wealthy(like European cities) which you marked as red(which I assume means poor.) Also you marked University City(where Drexel and UPenn are) and other gentrifying neighborhoods like Fishtown as deep red, which is very untrue. Mt Airy and Chestnut Hill are also placed as middle class, when they are some of the most desirable neighborhoods in the city. South Philly is also mostly middle class, with the northern side getting wealthier and some parts of the western being fairly ghetto. On the other hand, you marked much of West Philly and it's immediate suburbs(Upper Darby, etc) as middle class when they're some of the worst neighborhoods in the city. Same goes for SW Philly. I know I sound like I'm nitpicking, and you did put a disclaimer on the map, but it just looks very sloppily done. It's also probably a very Philly thing to get touchy about their city, especially when it's put down all the time. Interesting video regardless!

huh. as a dual American and French citizen, this is interesting. actually it's why I live in France right now because I couldn't afford a car in the USA, and everyone keeps living out too damn far from the city center. here in France, I'm able to go to literally anywhere i want to without having to rely on a car like in the USA. in the USA, if you want to go shopping, to work, to school, to the post office, it's always get in the car. every time. here i've been able to travel to other cities, neighboring countries, and overseas without a car. getting to the train station or airport does not require a car. it's great here

This was SO interesting omg

...awesome....THANK YOU !!

Why, in a question of population density, would anyone be "dense" enough to pick the American city rather than a European capital? Is anyone surprised that Paris is far more densely populated than New York?