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    Why Many Cities Suck (but Dutch Cities Don’t)



    Watch this video ad-free on Nebula: https://nebula.tv/videos/not-just-bikes-why-many-cities-suck-but-dutch-cities-don-t

    The first video in a new series for Not Just Bikes – what makes a city great? An exploration of cities, density, walkability, and what Dutch cities do right.

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    View 49 Comments

    49 Comments

    1. E-ManAnimates on

      The one thing that bugs me about European towns and cities (particularly in west and central Europe) are the abundance of stickers and graffiti. Also, I find the occasional bit of trash and cigarette box lying around. What are your thoughts on that?

    3. maya on

      This is why I always liked villages more than cities and the ancient part of my city more than the newer part

    7. Todor Stoynov on

      I've been intrigued by your stuff lately, but there is one big thing that always worried me when thinking of moving to the Netherlands (or any other place that doesn't speak either of the languages I know.) How do you learn a language so fast that you were able to live in so many different countries in such a short time? I don't think I would be able to.

    10. Kevin Roman on

      I wish you would start comparing different “urbanism” like between Hong Kong and Amsterdam or between Tokyo and Amsterdam by teaming up with an Urbanist there to see what different models and styles they do… or expand on this study by cities typed low rise low dense, high rise low dense and low rise high dense, and the varieties within them…

    16. iLikeTigerz101 on

      Do you realize that in Denmark farmers are told not work due to the phony belief that climate change is melting the planet? Globalist communism taking over the food supply and are at risk of a famine 💀

    17. Ide Dudink on

      I've been watching this channel a lot, i think i watched every video by now, maybe twice. Although I'm from the Netherlands and i know all this, it does give me the vocabulary to talk to other people about this. So thank you Jason.

    19. D V on

      There's a lot that comes with living in a non-car centric society that adds value to life. There's a book called 'The Happiest Kids in the World' co-written by American and English writers who both have Dutch husbands and raise their children in The Netherlands. Their book is about why Unicef has deemed Dutch children the happiest in the world. They talk about cultural differences. Many of those have to do with the area of mobility of children in The Nerherlands. Our kids easily bike 20 minutes to soccer practise on their own or with friends when they're 8. Or walk to the shop when they need or want something when they're 10. This feeling of freedom, autonomy and trust is very important for a child's self worth. Actually, in the last few decades this 'area of mobility' for kids has been shrinking. If you read the Dutch staple of children books 'Jip & Janneke' you'll see that in the fifties kids were send to pick up a loaf of bread from the bakery at the age of 5. And the baker would know their names. The difference between then and now mainly comes from the dangers of car traffic. My hope for the future is that in all urban areas ('binnen de bebouwde kom') cars won't be allowed to drive faster than 20km/h (12.5m/h). My hope is that car ownership will be considered a thing from the past and that we only use cars for longer distances or to get to hard to reach places. In the meantime we store them in hubs at the edge of the city. A big garage where you can easily rent a vehicle, rent a parking place if you want to own a car, or hop on public transport for inner or outer city travel. We can have a freely available taxi service with electric self-driving cars that you can summon with an app on your phone, run and maintained by the municipality. Imagine that. Our beautiful cities without any parked cars! So much more space, green lanes and parks. Our children free to go anywhere. And everything within reach without any hassle.

    22. David Vandenbroeck on

      Great video and it illustrates one of the big reasons I am going to retire in the Netherlands or at least am seriously planning to. I love to be able to walk around cities like Amsterdam though I have only been there once. And I hate driving. I hate traffic. I hate other drivers. etc. A walkable and bike friendly life is the life for me. Not to mention all of the other great reasons.

    23. flyingpenguini on

      Just looked up where i live's walkability and apparently it's the most walkable city in my state….despite several major roads with no pedestrian crossings for multiple miles and no sidewalks at all in tons of areas and the areas that do have them have no shade and tons of overgrowth. there's a couple good walkable areas that are now only accessible by driving and parking in a parking garage to then walk. i love all these videos of ways things can be better, i just wish there was more actionable information on how to even begin to propose things in cities outside the netherlands

    24. *Abushams* on

      Actually , there are several Dutch towns that do suck .. Most often those are the wealthy conservative voting towns around the big cities , Travel anywhere from The Hague to another one of the big cities and you will end up in a town with badly maintained bike paths , as The Hague as put a lot of effort into its infrastructure it often is very visible .. Traveling into Rijswijk for example you will change from a smooth surface to square concrete tiles pushed up by tree-roots exactly at the towns border . 'Strange' enough those same towns love to piggyback on The Hague's public transport system , but are pissing and moaning if a new line needs to cross through their town .

    26. Legio Rapax on

      I love the way the Dutch build their (modern) cities. Its just sad that they are such an outlier, especially since 100 years ago, all cities were designed that way.

      But personally i will still prefer rural areas, thats just my personal preference. That is the only thing that this channel lacks imho: The perspective of countryside folk. Maybe you could invite some guests where you can exchange new perspectives?

    30. Cherkish Delight on

      For the past two years, I've been trying to put my finger on why I dislike North Burnaby after moving from South Burnaby, why I never want to move back to the Suburbs, and why I hated living in Ontario. Walkability is the common thread. Even though I have a car, I hate that I have to use it.

    32. MrShroud on

      I've watched pretty much every video on this channel about dutch cities, and I now have the strong desire to move to the netherlands, Because while the UK is nice and all, it's nothing compared to the netherlands, and even before watching this channel, I've always liked the idea of using a bicycle as transport, but never got one because there's never really a good place to ride them here.

    34. fletchoid on

      There is a neighborhood in "Fake London" with some of the oldest, and most expensive homes in the city. Most are relatively small homes by suburban standards, and yet people are willing to mortgage themselves for life to live there. These videos have allowed me to understand why people are so nuts about Wortley village. It is a mixed-use, very walkable neighborhood where the car is not king. And yet, developers are still hooked on building monster homes out in the boondocks where every store, service, restaurant, coffee shop etc requires a long car ride through heavy traffic to get to. I wish I spoke Dutch….. sigh….

    36. Andrew Johnson on

      You grew up in London? I spent much of my youth living there (we moved around a lot, London was our longest residence, most of my family still lives there). London also filled me with the idea that most cities suck and that I had to get out as soon as I could. 😉 I found Brussels to be to me what Amsterdam is to you.

    37. RCM RCM on

      Then you have downtown Vancouver where if you go walking you probably going to wind up being mugged, or you might get hepatitis from stepping on a needle. I think there's a certain mindset that goes not just beyond planning how the city is laid out but how we go about building Society.

    39. Cole on

      It’s kinda strange to hear how unpolished the voice over is. Not in a negative way, it’s just a bit more conversational I suppose.

    40. Steve Muvjele on

      Such an amazing channel, you kind of change my life, or at least you gave me a new prospective to understand my life… And now here I am in Utrecht living the dream!

    42. Nic Fripp on

      Let me be the first to wish you a very happy third birthday for your channel – keep up the good work promoting the liveable city! I've been involved in the "mini-Holland" program in the borough of Waltham Forest in London since it was first conceived, and would love to give you a tour of some stunning infrastructure, some of which is more than TWENTY years older than that! Thanks for some great videos too

    45. Aaron Rochard on

      Totally hear you. I also grew up in terrible North American suburbs and have made my way to Toronto. Although I enjoy it here, I really wish we had smaller cities here just like in NL that weren't just bedroom communities. SO far my favourite cities to visit have been Ghent, Regensburg, Rennes and Utrecht as well.

    46. S R on

      I grew up in suburbs and knew some things were very wrong from an early age. I'm in my early forties now and have been living in Montreal without a car for 23 years, I bike to work all year round, I hate car traffic and love what you do.

    48. Daniel Finch on

      Who's here from 2022?! It's amazing to see how impactful your videos were back when you started, but also just how far you've come since. Thanks for helping make the world more liveable

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