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According to the World Health Organization, the environment where we live determines almost 24% of our health status. No wonder adults living in and children growing up in urban settings are increasingly exposed to high levels of air and noise pollution, tend to have less contact with nature, have poorer nutrition and even lack physical activity.

Luckily, good urban planning can not only prevent these risks caused by urbanization but even improve our quality of life. Smart urban planning can make busy public areas natural and peaceful spaces capable of reducing stress, promoting sustainability and a sense of well-being.

There’s this corner of Reddit known as Urban Planning that is dedicated to collecting and sharing the best and worst examples of urban planning. From entire city infrastructures to small details like stands for bikers to grab onto while waiting for the light, there are many things that influence how we move around and feel in cities that you probably haven’t noticed before.

Below, we wrapped up some of the most interesting examples.

#1

The Dutch Prime Minister On His Way Home After A Day Of Work - Front Page, 50k Upvotes

The Dutch Prime Minister On His Way Home After A Day Of Work - Front Page, 50k Upvotes

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Caro Caro
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There are many photos and film where you seen him on his bike on the way to a meeting, wearing jeans, sneakers, on his bike and munching an apple. Great !

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#2

Interesting Concept

Interesting Concept

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Two_rolling_black_eyes
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I went to college in a place that was primarily a mining town. The stuff aimed at the college kids (Taco Bell) closed down when the bars did. The stores and public services aimed at the miners and their families (grocery store, public library, etc) were open 24 hours a day because so were the mines. There were 16 year old kids working on their GEDs at 2am after getting off work and mom's picking up a replacement pair of steel toed boots in the middle of the night to get back to work after the old pair saved her toes . When I graduated and moved to the big city, I was genuinely surprised to discover Famous Footwear and the local library would close at 8pm. A larger percent of people worked weird shifts in my small college town but volume wise there are a lot more people in a city of 1 million who don't work 9-5. 24 hour Walmarts made many of those businessed moot but I still wonder why you can only improve yourself at a library when the sun is up.

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#3

Hr Does Have Some Good Wants

Hr Does Have Some Good Wants

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Rissie
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

These two absolutely don't exclude one another, the need each other. Self driving cars can couple where possible and be not just used by one person for "the last few miles" into sleeper towns for inatance or when privacy is preferable. While larger public transport vehicles are there for the high volume routes (routes between sleeper town and cities and cities and cities) and low capacity routes (inner city)

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In a previous in-depth interview, we spoke with Lisa Yaszek about urbanization and the challenges it poses to our lives. Yaszek is a Regents Professor of Science Fiction Studies at Georgia Tech, where she researches and teaches science fiction as a global language crossing centuries, continents, and cultures.

The professor explained that the traditional advantage of urban life is that cities are engines of technoscientific development and cultural exchange. “That is true now more than ever, as we see new megacities of 10 million or more people springing up around the world,” she added.

#5

It Really Be Like That

It Really Be Like That

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Mark Berry
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Arlington Texas has the Dallas Cowboys Stadium which cost 1.15 Billion USD. 325 Million came from the taxpayers. Yet we're the largest city in the US without public transit.

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#6

Berlin Is Planning A Car-Free Area Larger Than Manhattan

Berlin Is Planning A Car-Free Area Larger Than Manhattan

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In fact, a whopping 4.2 billion inhabitants which make up 55% of the world's population today live in cities. Experts are convinced that this trend will continue.

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But since the development of large industrial cities in the 1800s, the downsides of urban living have become increasingly evident. “Cities organized around factories and power plants tend to be environmental disasters, with clouds of pollution sometimes literally blotting out the sun and preventing the growth of anything green on the ground,” Yaszek told us.

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#9

The Elevated Freeway Got Torn Down. Seoul

The Elevated Freeway Got Torn Down. Seoul

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There are more downsides to urban living. It turns out that industrial and post-industrial cities tend to attract disproportionate numbers of both highly skilled workers (often in finance or business) and unskilled laborers (often in factories or domestic work). “As such, they make evident the very real and increasing gap between the rich and the poor,” the professor noted.

#10

A Stand For Bikers To Hold On To While Waiting For The Traffic Lights In Sweden.

A Stand For Bikers To Hold On To While Waiting For The Traffic Lights In Sweden.

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#11

Street In Utrecht, The Netherlands: 1969 - 2017

Street In Utrecht, The Netherlands: 1969 - 2017

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Laura Ketteridge
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Less noise pollution, less air pollution, better air quality, lower temperatures due to tree shade, and just a much nicer place to live in.

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#12

Tweet About The Lack Of On-Street Parking In Japan

Tweet About The Lack Of On-Street Parking In Japan

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The IRS
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yes it does. This is someone who has never been there. I lived in Tokyo for two years. It 100% happens.

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Moreover, cities are often surrounded by suburbs with single-family homes. In theory, they offer a better balance between nature and technology. But in practice, the situation is very different. Yaszek explained that suburbs have their own problems: “Their emphasis on visual uniformity is often part of a larger tendency toward cultural segregation, and the need to drive everywhere—including in and out of the city—only adds to our current environmental problems.”

#13

Me Irl

Me Irl

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Robert T
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm not keen on pedestrian crossing on the entries/exits to the roundabout. On a busy roundabout you are watching several other cars and then out of the corner of your eye you spot a pedestrian wanting to cross the road. At least this one has good visibility, but locally we have one that doesn't and it would be better with the crossings further away from the roundabout.

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#14

Trinity College Dublin Replaces Manicured Lawn With Wildflower Meadow To Increase Biodiversity

Trinity College Dublin Replaces Manicured Lawn With Wildflower Meadow To Increase Biodiversity

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Marion Connolly
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

After: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/science/trinity-college-s-wildflower-meadow-what-it-was-trying-to-achieve-1.4675965

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#15

Holiday Gridlock...

Holiday Gridlock...

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Winter Eleven
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

As soon as you build sidewalks! And bike lanes! With a fence or something so we don't get hit by cars

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Nizumi
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And reliable affordable public transit! Holy c**p - what don't governments understand about making it easier for people to get around without having to pay out the nose for cars/maintenance/gas/parking/insurance, etc. and how this is a benefit to the economy in the long run?

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James Heartney
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Most American cites are not designed to be conveniently traversed in anything other than motor vehicles. "Get rid of your car" is useless advice.

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Jay Son
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It used to be like that in the Netherlands, too. It needs to stop and change sometime.

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VerticallyChallenged
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Okay whoever came up with this didn't account for people who can't go places without a car. What if you're physically disable, what are you supposed to do, ride a scooter? And if it snows?

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Phil Vaive
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

1. Nobody is pointing a gun at anybody's head, calm down. 2. Nobody who is for people centric planning is ignoring disabled people. They are part of the conversation. Go check out the youtube channel Not Just Bikes, he points out repeatedly how current city planning in North America is an absolute atrocity against the disabled. People centric planning will help everyone, including those with mobility issues.

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Laura Gillette
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Give us reliable, easily accessible, free or cheap public transportation, then. And bike lanes. This is not a problem that can be solved by individuals getting rid of their cars if there are not viable alternatives to transportation.

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James Heartney
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Public transport is a chicken/egg problem. American cities, with vast areas zoned for single family homes, aren't dense enough to support decent public transport. We need to rethink the way we build housing. https://www.strongtowns.org/

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Phil Vaive
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This sign is incredibly ironic, especially placed in such a pedestrian unfriendly area. Cities that are designed and built for cars first, pedestrians last, have a lot of work to do before demanding that people get rid of their cars. Make the alternatives more desirable and people will drop their cars without being nagged to do so.

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Amy Moore
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I live in the suburbs. Every year there's a "walk/bike to school"drive. No sidewalks, few bike lanes and lots of creeps and they want us to let the kids walk to school?!?

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Jenny Barnes
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yeah, I used to public transit to work. Then I was walking the last 5 blocks and had to cross a street and was hit by a car. I don’t bus to work anymore,

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Nikki Sevven
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm disabled and live on a rural road with no sidewalks, no public transportation, and nothing within 2.5 km except for other houses and farms, so...

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Today, the harm that historic urban development practices have caused to the physical world around us is more evident than ever. However, the professor believes that we can’t simply undo it. Yet, she remains positive: “I do believe we can go forward in new ways,” Yaszek added. According to her, we can always learn from our mistakes and rehabilitate the spaces we’ve already created, rather than simply abandoning or bulldozing them.

#16

Pedestrianizing Broadway

Pedestrianizing Broadway

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Ton Kroon
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It wasn't the global start. It was already happening in other parts of the world.

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#17

My City Has Been Removing Some Street Parking And Making These "Parklets". It's A Much Better Use Of Space.

My City Has Been Removing Some Street Parking And Making These "Parklets". It's A Much Better Use Of Space.

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Flying Panda
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Before making this transformation, you have to build a good public transportation system. You are making the public walk miles from their parking lot to these areas. These little parklets are cute and everything but build a solid public transportation system first.

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Yaszek argues that we can do this “by either inventing new or recovering old technoscientific practices that better respect the coincidence between nature and culture, and by practicing a different kind of urban design that springs from the lived reality of city-dwellers, rather than the abstract theorizing of planners and developers who often live in spaces far removed from the cities they design."

#19

1 Car Parking Space = 10 Bike Spaces, Spotted In Stuttgart, Home Of The Car

1 Car Parking Space = 10 Bike Spaces, Spotted In Stuttgart, Home Of The Car

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#20

Closing Central Madrid To Cars Resulted In 9.5% Boost To Retail Spending, Finds Bank Analysis | Forbes

Closing Central Madrid To Cars Resulted In 9.5% Boost To Retail Spending, Finds Bank Analysis | Forbes

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Gwyn
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1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That kind of makes sense? You want to enjoy your shopping trip and if the environment is nice to be in you will walk around and you'll browse longer and maybe even buy more stuff! Otherwise you get what you need and get out.

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#21

What Would Happen If Americans Were In Charge Of Rebuilding Notre Dame

What Would Happen If Americans Were In Charge Of Rebuilding Notre Dame

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#22

Nobody: Southwest Us Developers:

Nobody: Southwest Us Developers:

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Two_rolling_black_eyes
Community Member
1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is common everywhere and its called coving. The modern version was pioneered in Minneapolis, MN, USA and spread. The original idea was to decrease the cost of building roads and utilities (1st generation saved ~20% in costs). Its evolved to cram the maximum number of homes into the smallest amount of space and make homeowner feel like they both have more land than the actually have and feel more secure (no one can see in your windows from another house). 4/5th generation models save close to 60% of construction costs. There is an entire branch of data science and specialized software designed to make these new neighborhoods. Badly made ones are obvious before you hit the first intersection. When buying a new home, use that street crossing as an indicator. If it feels wonky, there's a good chance the developer cut other corners so your basement will leak in a couple years and you'll hear the neighbors having sex.

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#23

In Paris, The Financial District Is Isolated From The Old City Center, Allowing It To Keep Its Appearance

In Paris, The Financial District Is Isolated From The Old City Center, Allowing It To Keep Its Appearance

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Nicole Weymann
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

After millennia of people using underground Paris as quarries vast parts of the city would make a new skyscraper collapse into a sinkhole before the tenth story was finished. Not that I mind Paris keeping its charming face, but "allowed" is far too generous a term. (one example: https://parisianfields.com/2015/09/13/a-city-built-on-air/). i believe Rome, for one, has a similar problem.

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#24

Space Required To Transport 48 People (A Car Is A Car Is A Car)

Space Required To Transport 48 People (A Car Is A Car Is A Car)

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Alexandru Bucur
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1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ugh, I hate this false equivalence. It's not a question of one or the other, since we absolutely need BOTH mass transit AND electric, autonomous cars, because there is no way you can build mass transit to absolutely everywhere, but an autonomous car can serve multiple people - instead of sitting idle in the garage, it can work as an autonomous taxi - this way it brings in money for the owner and more importantly it means some people might choose to be car-less if they can just call one through an app and not have to worry about driving, parking or maintaining it...

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#25

Toronto Wants To Kill The "Smart City" Forever: After The Failure Of Google's Techno-Utopian Sidewalk Labs Project, Urban Planners Are Focusing On Green Space, Livability And Affordable Housing

Toronto Wants To Kill The "Smart City" Forever: After The Failure Of Google's Techno-Utopian Sidewalk Labs Project, Urban Planners Are Focusing On Green Space, Livability And Affordable Housing

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#26

Move People Not Cars!

Move People Not Cars!

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ThisIsNotTheOneYou'reLookinFor
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I guess cars in 1950 and on can only go in straight lines but in 1920 they could go curvy. Current bicycles are ridden by drunks apparently.

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#27

Sad.

Sad.

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Clément D.
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

What are these parking spots for? You park, and you go... where? Genuine question

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#28

This United Airlines Tourism Pitch For America Is Horrifically Unappealing. (In Sydney, Australia)

This United Airlines Tourism Pitch For America Is Horrifically Unappealing. (In Sydney, Australia)

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#30

I Don't Know How That Feels To Live In Downtown Cleveland, But It Definitely Looks Like A Giant Parking Lot.

I Don't Know How That Feels To Live In Downtown Cleveland, But It Definitely Looks Like A Giant Parking Lot.

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Corey Smith
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Downtown Cleveland is now a vibrant residential area and many of the parking lots in this old picture are now gone. There is now significant greenspace and many new hotels and apartments. There are several high capacity (and some free) public transit lines, both light rail and green-fuel buses that serve the area. But you do you BP.

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Note: this post originally had 59 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.