City Beautiful

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Rome is called "The Eternal City" and with that much history, it can be a challenge to understand the geography and history of the city. This video breaks it all down, explaining why many of Rome's landmarks are where they are.

Produced by Dave Amos and the fine folks at Nebula Studios.
Written by Dave Amos.
Select images and video from Getty Images.
Black Lives Matter.
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Go crazy and buy this huge map: https://www.amazon.com/1748-Nolli-Laminated-Archival-Paper/dp/B018JDSO8E/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1529294019&sr=8-2&keywords=nolli+map+rome

Check out the Nolli website: nolli.uoregon.edu

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The 1748 Nolli Map of Rome is the best map of any city ever for three reasons: accuracy, detail, and influence. I’m not going to say it’s THE MOST accurate, detailed, or influential map ever, but it has all three attributes in spades. It’s one of the most important historical documents we have about the eternal city, Rome.

A. Ceen, Allan. “Nuova Pianta di Roma Data in Luce da Giambattista Nolli l’Anno MDCCXLVIII.” http://nolli.uoregon.edu/nuovaPianta.html

B. Ceen, Allan. “Nuova Pianta di Roma Data in Luce da Giambattista Nolli l’Anno MDCCXLVIII.” http://nolli.uoregon.edu/nuovaPianta.html

C. Nice, James. “The Nolli Map and Urban Theory.” http://nolli.uoregon.edu/urbanTheory.html

D. Ceen, Allan. “Nuova Pianta di Roma Data in Luce da Giambattista Nolli l’Anno MDCCXLVIII.” http://nolli.uoregon.edu/nuovaPianta.html

Produced in sunny Sacramento, California.

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Want to restore the planet’s ecosystems and see your impact in monthly videos? The first 100 people to join Planet Wild with my code BEAUTIFUL10 will get the first month for free at: https://planetwild.com/r/citybeautiful/join
If you want to get to know them better first, check out their project about fungi: https://planetwild.com/r/citybeautiful/m28

Some countries only have one major city—the city where just about everyone lives. This city can dominate the cultural and economic landscape of that country. Urban geographers refer to them as "primate cities." Can they tell us anything about urban planning? Are they a good thing?

Link to Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primate_city

Produced by Dave Amos and the fine folks at Nebula Studios.
Written by Dave Amos.
Select images and video from Getty Images.
Black Lives Matter.
Trans rights.

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Watching videos can introduce you to the world of city planning, but if you want to make change in your community, you need to get involved! This guide discusses all of the ways you can make a difference where you live.

Here are some more videos about social issues:

https://nebula.tv/videos/citybeautiful-the-highway-fight-that-changed-cities-forever

https://nebula.tv/videos/city-beautiful-the-most-miserable-city-in-america

This video is funded by the Cal Poly Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activities Grant program. Thanks!

Produced by Dave Amos and the fine folks at Nebula Studios.

Co-written by Sullivan Israel
Select images and video from Getty Images.

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Watch this video on Nebula: https://nebula.tv/videos/citybeautiful-why-us-cities-dont-build-metro-systems

New York, Boston, Chicago, and Philadelphia built their metro systems over 100 years ago, and since then there hasn't been a big boom in metro construction. Big cities like Houston, Dallas, and Phoenix don't have one. Why not? And should they?

Resources on this topic:

https://ggwash.org/view/71583/light-rail-heavy-rail-subway-rail-transit-modes-fall-on-a-continuum
https://www.metro.net/about/rail-modes
https://journalistsresource.org/economics/bus-versus-rail/
https://policy.tti.tamu.edu/strategy/heavy-rail/
https://www.cascadepbs.org/politics/2016/10/how-seattle-blew-its-chance-subway-system
https://enotrans.org/article/70-year-trend-federal-infrastructure-spending/

Produced by Dave Amos and the fine folks at Nebula Studios.
Written by Dave Amos.
Select images and video from Getty Images.
Black Lives Matter.
Trans rights.

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Check out Tom Scott here: https://nebula.tv/tomscott?ref=citybeautiful
Watch this video on Nebula: https://nebula.tv/videos/citybeautiful-can-i-design-the-perfect-neighborhood-street

We are used to the usual street in front of our houses: wide, parking, driveways, maybe sidewalks. But is there an optimal design? One that improves safety and makes it nicer to live along?

# Resources mentioned in this video

- Oregon Neighborhood Street Design Guidelines

# Other stuff!

Produced by Dave Amos and the fine folks at Nebula Studios.
Written by Dave Amos.
Select images and video from Getty Images.
Black Lives Matter.
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Receive 10% off on anything at Bellroy.com: https://bit.ly/4pIYlyn

Streets have more lines, lights, lanes, and complications than ever before. Is it too complicated, or should it have been this way all along?

Produced by Dave Amos and the fine folks at Nebula Studios.
Written by Dave Amos.
Select images and video from Getty Images.
Black Lives Matter.
Trans rights.

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Broadway used to be called "Automobile Row," but today, block by block, the City of New York is redesigning the street to minimize or eliminate cars. The stretch between Columbus Circle and Union Square looks completely different than it did in 2000. How are they doing this?

Resources on this project:
- https://www.nyc.gov/content/getstuffdone/pages/broadway-vision

Link to the Discord: https://discord.gg/7Fgyjx52B3
Produced by Dave Amos and the fine folks at Nebula Studios.
Written by Dave Amos.
Select images and video from Getty Images.
Black Lives Matter.
Trans rights.

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Compare news coverage from diverse sources around the world on a transparent platform driven by data. Try Ground News today and get 40% off your Vantage subscription: https://ground.news/citybeautiful

In the 1780s, the United States began to survey its land. This survey process resulted in townships six miles to a side, and roads every single mile. This video explores how that shaped our land and our cities.

Resources on this topic:

- Excellent journal article on this topic:
Webster, G. R., & Leib, J. (2010). Living on the grid: the US rectangular public land survey system and the engineering of the American landscape. In Engineering Earth: The Impacts of Megaengineering Projects (pp. 2123-2138). Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands.

- https://legaldictionary.net/metes-and-bounds/

- Surveyor Book: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Manual_of_United_States_Surveying_System/kRbA8nEdWTQC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=rectangular+survey+United+States+cities&pg=PR11&printsec=frontcover

- https://jchmhistorian.com/2021/09/27/monday-map-day-ft-howard-green-bay-1827/

- https://humantransit.org/2010/11/transits-role-in-sprawl-repair.html

Produced by Dave Amos and the fine folks at Nebula Studios.
Written by Dave Amos.
Select images and video from Getty Images.
Black Lives Matter.
Trans rights.

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Zoning may seem boring, but it dictates what can and can't be built in your city. I go through the basics of the zoning code (zoning ordinance), describe the pros and cons, and tell you how you can influence changes to your community's zoning code.

For more information:
http://dcoz.dc.gov/about/Zoning%20Basics06.06.11.pdf
http://plannersweb.com/2001/04/zoning-basics/

Photo credits:
Bettercities.net
DialogDesign.ca
Chris Brown on Flickr
City of Toronto
Form Based Codes Institute
Gary J. Wood on Flickr
Mike Mozart on Flickr
Paul Sableman on Flickr
State of California
Unsplash.com

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