Absolutely love this video! Thanks so much for collaborating with us. We really learned a lot from your expertise! 🚲🚶🚦

"Raised crosswalks take crosswalks to the next level." Yes we could all hear the smirk and the wink when you said that.

I see you strollin'.

Funny that you mention how helpful seating is, when it seems like so many cities are making seating worse in order to inconvenience homeless people. Maybe you should do a video on “evil design.”

Accessibility really benefits to society as a whole. Curb-ramps help people with suitcase and large deliveries on dolly too. Not just people with disabilities or strollers. Crosswalk audible walk indicator helps us smartphone addicts. On web designs, ARIA-labeling for screen reader works as search engine optimization.

The bench at 3:15 with the man with the phone is actually an example of hostile architecture. Those middle arm rests are there so homeless people can't sleep on that bench.

Here's the main problem I see with this, in order for you to be "worthy" of infrastructure in the United States, you have to be seen as human. To many, this excludes disabled and elderly people, which is absolutely awful, but it's just the reality of trying to do infrastructure projects in many neighborhoods, especially local ones. We spend a lot of money creating infrastructure that lets us ignore problems, rather than face them.

Seattle has been experimenting with pedestrian-centric streets lately, and I'm appreciating it. It was originally a response to the pandemic where they designated certain streets as "Stay Healthy Streets," closing the street to through traffic, so you could only drive there if you were going somewhere on that specific street. The intention was that you could walk through the city without getting too close to other people. However, people liked the concept, and the streets remain closed to through traffic even as Seattle opens back up.

Thank you so much for mentioning autistic & ND people. Often we get left out of disability discussions because our disability is literally invisible. Loved the video keep it up!

Speaking of strollers and the like . . . Years ago (in the 1970s), I used a dolly to carry some heavy books from my office in the US Courthouse in downtown Sacramento to a State consumer agency. I got to the building after a difficult walk with no curb cuts and faced stairs that I could not climb with the dolly. I found that the entrance I had to use was the loading dock at the rear of the building. I was a bit upset (read: furious) because I realized that persons in wheelchairs would be treated like cargo instead of people. I'm glad that we're finally making some progress. Thanks for the discussion.

We actually had someone on our Nextdoor who is blind-deaf asking homeowners to trim their plants growing over a sidewalk.

Here in Australia, curb ramps are at practically every street with a side walk - including neighborhoods. They are super useful for everyone - dragging a suitcase, riding a bike, etc.

Here in Brazil it's so hard to convince people how important and how good these little things are, we almost have no exemples to show and when we tell them about other countries (Europe, North America and Asia) the same excuses shows up, "This things doesn't work here" and stuff like that. I love this topic and im trying to create content about mobility and urban planning but here we have a long way up.

The obvious solution is stop guaranteeing car access on every single road. Everybody can be a pedestrian but not everybody drives a car...

The main thing about these shared streets we got in Europe is that they're not car centric, they're tight and may not have sidewalks or raised sidewalks with a small gutter and maybe pillards separating it from the street

This! Even as someone with usually "invisible" disabilities this all make the difference. Universal design makes me feel like the cities are for us aswell as people without disabilities, it makes people more independent and less dependent on constant help from others.

When you mentioned the extreme amount of stimulus we face in cities, boy did I feel that. I'm not neurodivergent, but I am hypersensitive, or a highly sensitive person, whichever is the more accurate term. I get extremely stressed out by really busy streets, as I literally cannot help taking in a ton of information, even emotional information sometimes. I'm lucky that in my city a lot of the paths I take are quiet and surrounded by trees, but if I didn't have those my cycle to work would be waaaay more stressful than it already is. And I don't get that luxury everywhere, it's taking some time for my city to become more pedestrian focused.

I hate my local intersection. Cars honk even when they have a red and I have priority. It's honestly annoying because 1. I refuse to run across a street, especially in Iowa where they have potholes, gaps, and cracks and 2. I have the right of way. :/ I get VERY overwhelmed sometimes walking, as I live near an airport and highway, so sometimes the sounds make it hard to see if that makes sense. So I normally wear headphones. I HATE having people honk because I stop and look around first, then they honk more. I personally think everyone should have to take pedestrian and bike safety classes as drivers, because THEY'RE the ones that can hurt us...

i always advocated for reclaiming urban spaces in our city. I really hope the Philippines will give more importance to pedestrians and mass public transportation rather than bridge expressways.

As someone who is blind I'm glad you did this topic. People don't always think about us blind people when designing most cities.

The perfect street should also have designated spaces for cyclists unless cars are traveling at really slow speeds. In stead of having the curb come out into the intersection you van also opt for making a centre island so cyclists and people walking only have to cross and deal with traffic one way at a time and giving them a breather in the middle of the street. Last roundabouts are a great way to increase throughput while also slowing down traffic making it safer for pedestrians cyclists and motorists.

In the UK, at pedestrian crossing underneath the wait button is a little nub, that turns when the pedestrians can walk, so people who are deaf and blind can navigate safely, it's also used as redundancy incase the beeping sound is working (edit : so it still has sound this is just as a backup). Also there is almost a whole language on the pavement (sidewalk) for blind people, Tom Scott made a video on them.

Good lighting is also important to help women feel more safe walking after dark

How? Make cars feel like they’re in the people hood, not the car hood.

I would just be happy if suburban side streets had sidewalks on both sides. Far too many codes just have them on one side and not both.

The same goes with NYC subway and London underground systems. As both were constructed at least 100 years ago, they didn't consider disability access at the time. Now, they are both trying to make some of the stations accessible to all on existing stations by adding lifts and all new stations have to have disability access

Thank you for mentioning those of us on the autism spectrum! Even for us who are supposedly "high-functioning", using city streets is quite difficult. The downtown streets not too far from where I live I the bane of my existence.

Glad to see a video on this topic! My big gripe with universal design is that still too much discourse is around "this is a good thing to do" rather than "this is MANDATORY". Especially the bare minimum ADA standard stuff, which even existing infrastructure should be forced to comply with. I live in Melbourne Australia (a city that likes to think of itself as progressive) and a good chunk of our trams and city buildings aren't accessible and have no date they plan to be, but born and bred Melburnians think it's the most normal thing in the world. Baffling!

This channel was recommended to me by Not Just Bikes, but your reality is so far removed from mine (I live in The Netherlands). Side note: your neighbourhoods look practically abandoned.

In Japan, the sidewalks slope down slightly to road level as you get nearer to the crossing. This means there is no need for curb ramps. There are also tactile pathways on them.

In Irvine(CA), crosswalks are voiced for ADA. It’s kinda fun seeing outsiders get surprised by spoken warnings

From 3:42 to 3:51, you show Valencia (Spain). I live 70 kms away, been there multiple times as I studied there and I can tell you that there are way more street lights than necessary in many areas. It is one of the most light-polluted areas in Europe. On the footage you can see those beautiful street lights being lit at "half capacity" (as in recent years the city's government seems to want to reduce light pollution) and it is still pretty bright...

I had to use a wheelchair for several months before I got my hip replaced. Boy howdy, did that suck. I gained a new respect for people who have to use them on a permanent basis.

If I ever were the dictator of a country, sidestepping all red tape, I'd know how to do city planning. Thanks.

I cross the street from the parking garage to my job’s building in downtown, and one of the nicest things they added was adding audible cues and signaling when it’s time to walk. It felt like such a small change but it made a big difference.

Thank you so much for mentioning neurodivergent people, and specifically autistic people, in this video. A lot of discussion of universal design focuses on physical disability, and while that's *so* important to address, people tend to forget that neurodivergences provide design challenges, too!

For the past 2 weeks after finding your channel I've spiraled down an infrastructure, zoning, and transportation binge on youtube and I've been loving it! Thanks so much!

When you said you worked on this with PBS terra, I got a bit worried about whether this video was actually going to be good because there were no disabled people on boaed, but I think this was pretty well-done. I like how you emphasized the lesser known ways of making spaces accessible as opposed to just covering wheelchair accessibility.

I worked at a middle school a month ago, while sitting close the office there was this kid who went to talk to the principal. I had noticed that the child about 12 years old had prosthetics from the knees down. He started by saying that he would like to have a chair by the classroom door during recess. From one thing to the other the kid started crying saying “this school is not nice, there is no benches anywhere”. He stated that he gets tired very often from walking. From his emotions and his words you could tell that this specific incident was not really about the chair by the door but a frustration of the planning that happens around us. The benches around our cities are purposely against people sitting down, anti homeless elements obstruct a bench. The worst thing about the whole situation is that the principal really judged wanted the kid to just stop crying. I know the principal I know that she would not take the necessary steps to bring this real concern to the underfunded public school administration.

Thank you for making all your videos so inclusive!

My Grandpa actually tripped on a curb in Australia, I never connected it with the street design

Im an engineer (Structural & Mechanical) in Texas and a disabled wheelchair user and I'm so glad to see you make a video about this subject. I've actually thought about messaging you about this subject for a year but haven't lol.

Thank you for these incredible videos. I’m just starting my Urban Planning career and these videos are not only informative but motivational as well. Thank you!

I really love the way of designing streets for everyone and not only for cars. There are even more ways to increase the safety for pedastrians. In the Netherlands, for instance, there are extra spaces for turning cars to see pedastrians and cyclists. Dutch cities are even retrofitted with different grids and street designes, depending on who the street should be using: There are different grids for cyclists, pedestrians, public transit and motor vehicle traffic. The concept there is not "car free", but "car light". Fortunately, they take these concepts at heart at my city one day.

Very important topic! Thanks for opening up the discussion!

I had a wheelchair bound friend and it was eye opening to me. Now I always see the crosswalks that send folks basically into the intersection, instead of the actual crosswalk all the time, its wild. I attended a universal design workshop in 2019 and it was so great to see how cities are trying to make these improvements.

I realise how good or bad a city is designed sometimes when I started taking a trolley to the local shops when I need to carry more groceries. Interestingly Road Guy Rob also did a similar topic to this.

i love your channel, and this is the great video. it's really nice to see that someone thinks like you. keep up the great work!

Raised intersections and having places to sit alone would make a HUGE difference in my area (there are at least three schools less than a 15 minute drive from my house; a universal design would def. be beneficial for all those kids too)!

I'm so dedicated to watching all your videos that I just watched this entire video that explains exactly what I do for a living haha

Fantastic video! I shared this video to my Universal Accessibility class group. Universal design is for everyone, that’s why is universal…

I don’t have any disability myself, but a a personal experience that opened my eyes to this problems came from a very unexpected situation: Last year I started working for Amazon as a groceries delivery driver. Since I have to park on the street and not always close by the entrance of the place I’m making the delivery, I have to pull a wagon cart full of bags of groceries and water cases up curbs, or many ridiculous apartment buildings with 20 stairs just to get to a lobby just to find I have to go up and down 2 or 3 more stairs that lead to a hallway… On the same floor I was walking. Is very exhausting, but I feel very bad for people who have to do all that just to get around.

Thanks for this video! I love universal design so much - it is remarkable how probably every one of us benefits daily from these things, but many able-bodied folks have thought about these ideas and standards as though they're some form of charity that only helps the differently abled! I know I did, but now I think I'm much more aware and appreciative, and try to encourage and support more things that help make all accommodations able to be enjoyed by EVERYONE.

How can roundabouts be designed to be friendlier for pedestrians/people with disabilities?

Raised intersections can also be used to easily close off streets for street events or public food and shopping events promoting local businesses.

My father is in a wheelchair and as someone often pushing, I can tell you that in some locations, it can be very difficult. Just things like potholes or tree roots pushing up parts of the sidewalk can make it tricky. It's also as you said difficult to make a perfect street. For instance, depending on what pattern they use, those tactile tiles they use to warn blind people at intersections are really difficult to ride a wheelchair over. And on 6:14 you can see those big boulders to prevent trucks from cutting on the curb when turning. Those are really dangerous for people with vision impairment and if incorrectly placed, can also make it impossible to get between them with a wheelchair or mobility scooter.

Wow! I didn't know those arrows at a small number of intersections in my city of Chicago have the ability to vibrate. When I traveled to Evanston, I heard a PACE bus announcing it was turning. I wish more vehicles had that feature. It would be very helpful for visually impaired folks.

Love the video, so inspiring

In NZ, Curb Ramps are EVERYWHERE. If you find an intersection, it's most likely going to have a curb ramp. On some streets in busy places, they install bumpers which double as crosswalks.

I always forget you film in SLO! Love the subtle nods to local streets I've been on.

I'm an autistic transport engineering/planning student and I cried at the inclusion of neurodiverse and autistic people in this discussion. Thank you

Way forward!

another well made video

Universal Design for Learning is an important and essential concept in education (one that is under-discussed and under-implemented), so it is interesting to know the concept is extended to street and city design as well.

Thanks for putting metric values!

Oh dang, that’s San Luis Obispo!

EVERY CITIES NEED TO SEE THIS SO THEY COULD LEARN SOMETHING and DO IT!!!!!

I learnt so much from this video. My city has a loooong way to go💔

Thank you for the videos, I love the thought that goes into city planning and managing

Woooo, I saw me some West Palm Beach there, right in front of the library on Clematis and Dixie (FL-5).

In the uk pretty much all public paths have path ramps, tactile surfacing, crossings have audible noises as well as tactile surfaces for people with vision problems, street lights are everywhere except for country roads ( roads that aren’t used very often and don’t often have road markings )

OMG! someone finally mentions the Autism Spectrum. i respect you highly for it, because many forget about us it seems. the fact that you mentioned us makes my day so much better. thank you

The way I wish more places would design for the elements and heat in particular holy shit

oh, they just redid an intersection near me and actually made it with the curb extensions. It's pretty interesting. The city's also been installing those warning surfaces all over the place and even whole paths. Very funky to walk on, but really easy to follow the path.

What an excellent video. God I wish my city had places to sit on my walks

6:07 I never imagined the crossing at N Dixie Highway and Clematis St at West Palm Beach would be used as an example for raised intersections. Impressive!

As someone who's noise-sensitive, I disagree that there should be small pockets of quiet space. Streets should strive to be less loud overall. Creating small pockets instead of reducing overall noise levels almost feels like we're not giving it enough thought. Not Just Bikes has a great video on noise in cities if you ever feel like checking that out. Other than that, great video! :D

I've been waiting soooooo long for this video, thanks

Two words: continuous sidewalks. I know you can’t have them everywhere, but you can put them in at a LOT of places. Also improves safety, bc cars have to slow down to get over.

Nice shades dude😎

French future urbanism engineer here and like, I'm surprised. A lot of what's talked about there is common sense here at least in big cities, even mandatory in some cases (like the texture things in front of pedestrian crossings for visually impared people). I didn't even know it was possible not to have most of the things listed... However we also need to improve stuff as well (like the calmer spaces or benches that are both not hostile for people who want to sleep on them but also have a few armrests at the ends for people who need help getting up) Plus it's a bit rarer to see the things listed in small villages, there's improvement to be done there as well. Very interesting video overall, highlighting some needs I didn't know about !

interesting video, thanks : )

Great video - can you do a piece about what autonomous vehicles could do for street design? I see a scary future where cars are always the priority. MKBHD talks about it all the time in a positive light as a driver - sounds like a COLAB opp!!

One thing I see everyday and kind of wish you would talk about, is city buses and delivery trucks can never make turns in these tight intersections, and always hit the curb. Not really sure whats the solution, but these aren't for everyone, maybe the elevated one would work (no curb to hit) but you still need the turning clearance.

Oh. Finally I saw my city in this channel (Valencia Spain in 3:38)

The "Raised Crosswalks" and the German "Woonerf" are concepts that i would like to see more of pop up in the future

UDL is so important in every aspect of life. I wrote an undergrad capstone research paper about sidewalks in Seattle and the absolute mess they are in

Good well presented material here! The downside of curb cuts is that they allow aggressive bicyclists to take over the narrow sidewalks rather than ride in the street with the flow of traffic. More than once I've experienced bicyclists play chicken with me or outright ring the bells and demand I step aside.

Thank you for advocating for the disabled community, infrastructure is a constant struggle to negotiate and get improved.

Raised intersections (or at least raised crosswalks) have the huge advantage over curb cuts of not sending pedestrians shooting uncontrollably into the street when the sidewalks are icy.

This is actually really sad to see. Where I live in England has a lot of these functions and hadn't realised some people were deprived of such basic things. All crossings are marked by bumped and lowered pieces of pavement and are coloured accordingly to the kind of crossing for those with diminished eye sight , all crossings have pedestrian crossings lights which beep when you can cross and also have a little knob at the button of all crossings for blind people to hold and spins when the traffic is stopped by a red light. Also those interstates look absolutely terrifying???? What awful design, why is there no lights!??

Nice slide into the sponsor at the end

3:47 Valencia 😍 😍 😍 I`d recognize it anywhere

Something I found really interesting about the sidewalks in China were the band of textured paving bricks that seem to be everywhere. I think they're designed to help blind people walk straighter (they trace the bricks with their canes). They also add an interesting character to the sidewalks for the people who don't need them.

You are so wholesome

the place i currently live is less consistent on that front, but Saarbrücken (where I used to live until recently) had those blind ppl friendly crossings all over the place. I think accessible tram stops deserved a mention here too, like level boarding & intersections.

In my local community, there is this main thoroughfare that has up to 6 lanes total, with not-so-wide sidewalks. It gets busy on the street with many large trucks passing by making a lot of noise and blowing dust, and sometimes there are unwanted litter (broken glass, car debris, general garbage, etc.) with no benches, trash cans, and lots of drive-thru entrances for cars. This despite being the centre of a commercial area. I at times imagine the street being more pedestrian-friendly and safe with the points mentioned. Maybe I should voice my concerns to my municipality. Also, interesting fact, in Vancouver the audible sound are birds chirping.

Meanwhile, in my hometown they put barriers at the entrance of the railway station so you have to lift the suitcase over the barriers while entering.

I take dropped kerbs for granted here in the UK, they are at every junction where a pedestrian is expected to cross. I though I do not have a disability, it was always so noticeable in the US that some kerbs would so high and you were expected to live with it.

I have to say, it was a strange, jarring experience to immediately recognize one of the example clips you included (Wilkes-Barre, 5:30). I was completely caught off guard! Did you include that specific spot for a reason, or just happen across it when looking for stock footage?