Amsteroidam: Amsterdam on Steroids

[Propfam 2,315]

Hello,

Amsterdam is the world's best walkable city out there. It's so good that an emerging urban YouTuber, Not Just Bikes, praises the city so hard. But why don't we make auto-oriented cities instead?

1. They're inefficient & unsafe. The culprit is the stroads. Strong Towns has made a video about it. Stroads are just like Windows 2-in-1s. They can't cater to pedestrian traffic safely and surprisingly not too accommodating cars since the speed limit isn't that high (only 50-60 km/h). They tried to have unlimited access and they did, except with much higher crash rate due to lots of conflict points. Adding insult to injury, cars need parking lots that steal the valuable space out from the city. Another concern is you'll hit a point that there are more cars than you predict when you need to expand the lane aka induced demand problem. While other transit do have the problem, the limit is way higher than cars.
2. They're not great in terms of wealth generation. Due to that inefficiency, dense development is a bit difficult and the city only gets smaller taxes than traditional development counterparts. Not accommodating pedestrian is also worsen the situation.
3. They're causing environmental destruction. It's obvious that ICE produces CO₂ which isn't great in the age of ever increasing urban heat and worse, climate change. Even if you have electric cars, you still produce noise. Not Just Bikes (again) made a video about it:
    

 

That's why I made Amsteroidam, Amsterdam on steroids. It features hi-rise buildings instead. It was going to be slated in a YouTube video. But I was unprepared in terms of YouTube so I cancel the plan.

We start at the road structure. First, we have a freeway goes into an industrial city. Unfortunately, we can't transition to a street, so I made a stroad.

We have a 2x3 commercial row and 3x2 and 4x2 residential row in the front. In the middle, we have a residential block with 3x2 and 4x2 lots. In the back, we repeat what we have in the front. What makes it a feat of urban planning is there are tram stations in every single horizontal street. So, you don't have to worry about public transit. Why we choose trams? Because it's like bus but it doesn't need a charge.

What about the congestion? Well, there are some but mostly caused by cars. We have streets with 10K+ tram traffic and those streets aren't clogged up.

We have 500K pedestrian & tram traffic and 150K car traffic. To be simple, we made a formula that pedestrian traffic = tram traffic. With the formula in mind, the total of traffic is 650K. If my math is right, cars contribute 20% to the city traffic.

Who said public transit isn't profitable? We have made 13K in revenue and with 2K of building maintenance, so 11K in profit. I have some transport related ordinances so my city is bleeding 2K every month. But I don't care as long as my citizens use trams.

In conclusion, you may not follow my city grid, but please make pedestrian focused cities. They're safer, quieter, healthier, etc. This is just a proof of concept. I hope this is useful. Let me know your opinion down below. Thanks.

[City_Slider 2,716]

Did you ever made a Trip to Amsterdam? Thats a Faild City. Trust me... im there 2-3 Times a Year. Drugs and Partys, thats all what you find there. And a lot of People, that are looking for this.

Better have a look to Enschede or Den Haag.

[Propfam 2,315]

1 hour ago, City_Slider said:

Did you ever made a Trip to Amsterdam? Thats a Faild City. Trust me... im there 2-3 Times a Year. Drugs and Partys, thats all what you find there. And a lot of People, that are looking for this.

Better have a look to Enschede or Den Haag.

Yeah, I never go to it. I'm broke. Yes, it's not the perfect city even in urban planning standpoint and there are other Dutch cities that as great as Amsterdam.

[TheMurderousCricket 5,154]

On 19.07.2021 at 12:42 PM, City_Slider said:

Did you ever made a Trip to Amsterdam? Thats a Faild City.

The only thing I really remember about Amsterdam are piles of trash scattered all across every possible street. It was crazy to see something like that, I still don't understand it. Sorry to say this, but I felt more like on a landfill rather than in a renowned European capital.

And the fumes coming out of coffee shops every intersection, damn... They should have built these junkie-holes underwater or something.

[Spaceblaze 194]

On 19-7-2021 at 12:42 PM, City_Slider said:

Did you ever made a Trip to Amsterdam? Thats a Faild City. Trust me... im there 2-3 Times a Year. Drugs and Partys, thats all what you find there.

I live in the town of Zaandam and that's some 10 kilometers from the city center of Amsterdam(on a bycicle) and it's funny to see this city journal start with a video from a youtube channel called "not just bikes" and then reading your comment and the comment of @TheMurderousCricket

I think when you see more videos of the "not just bikes" bike channel it will show that Amsterdam is far from a failed city. I am sure Amsterdam has it's problems and maybe they can be compaired to cities like Venice and Barcelona, i.e. too many tourist crowding the city center and thus spoiling the city(my opinion)

Sure, the Netherlands has a very liberal policy on drugs use, but isn't alcohol also a drug? I think that the Dutch having a liberal stand on any kind of drugs is not the problem of the Dutch when tourist seeking this liberal approach, it is the problem of the origin country of the tourist visiting this liberal approach, these countries should do something about their restrictive legistation.

Another thing I would like to mention is that Amsterdam is bigger then just the city center and more specific, just a small portion of the center. Amsterdam has much more to offer as you can see in the videos of not just bikes and it has to do with beeing friendly to families with children, biking, tolerance, etc.

I am sorry the both of you only see some negative views, which in my opinion is the way you want to see the city. Every city has it's downsides and now you make it look like a failed city that is only the view you have on the city. I can guarentee you, Amsterdam is much more when you look outside of your (dis)comfort zone

 

Edit, about every other city like Enschede or Den Haag, they also have coffeeshops and parties just like every other city in the Netherlands. Funny thing is that problems in the province of Limburg start when people from Belgium or Germany visit because the laws on drugs are much more restrictive there..

[TheMurderousCricket 5,154]

First of all, I never said that it actually was a FAILED city. Only that I didn't like what I saw.

Second, the piles of garbage that I saw were nowhere near the city center. I don't think junkies would travel so kilometers just to dispose of their garbage.

7 hours ago, Spaceblaze said:

Sure, the Netherlands has a very liberal policy on drugs use, but isn't alcohol also a drug? I think that the Dutch having a liberal stand on any kind of drugs is not the problem of the Dutch when tourist seeking this liberal approach, it is the problem of the origin country of the tourist visiting

Yes, you are right. But this is precisely why I will never visit Amsterdam again other than for business. I am not the target group this city tries to address.

[BartonThinks 3,418]

On 7/19/2021 at 6:42 AM, City_Slider said:

Did you ever made a Trip to Amsterdam? Thats a Faild City. Trust me... im there 2-3 Times a Year. Drugs and Partys, thats all what you find there. And a lot of People, that are looking for this.

Better have a look to Enschede or Den Haag.

I am so sorry, Oliver. I'm allergic to many types of pollen, myself, so I'm unable to live in the countryside. I can only imagine how difficult life in Amsterdam would be for someone allergic to fun.

 

 

[City_Slider 2,716]

i dont stay there for Fun. I´m there for my Job.