Freiburg Germany’s Green City || FOREIGN REACTS

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hey guys welcome back to the channel we’re going to be checking out a video titled Germany’s Green City with more bikes than cars I genuinely cannot imagine a city having more bikes than cars but if that’s really the case that’s really you know cool because I’d imagine that you know those people take their life you know a lot serious you know a lot more serious like um I personally you know don’t ride a lot you know even though I recently learned how to ride because I now live in Europe like some of you guys do know um it’s it’s not something that I do all the time but it’s something that I want to do more of because it’s really much better for you it’s simple as that but without further Ado let’s check out this video if you have any recommendations click that link in the pin comment section and you’ll be able to recommend any video related to Germany and I’ll check it out as soon as possible without further Ado let’s get right to this video this is fryberg in brow a city in the Black Forest it’s often referred to as Germany’s Green City it’s a City with more than twice as many bicycles as cars and over 400 km of bicycle Lanes it’s a city with a lot of trams and amazing pedestrianized streets over the past few decades fryberg has become a leader in modern sustainable Urban Development and they’re building an absolutely amazing City in the process Germany is well known for its car industry and autobond but fryberg is different this is a city where cars do not rule fryberg is a university town and around 10% of the population attends the university so obviously you see a lot of students cycling to and from school dude and a lot of what the dude I’m not trying to over exaggerate this but dog like bro this looks like a whole sea of bikes bro like this got to be over a 100 bikes bro like I’m not trying to I’m not trying to trying to trying to gas y’all up bro but like this is really actually an impressive site like this is actually impressive bicy parked outside the university but you also see a lot of cargo bikes and families a key indicator that fryberg has a very Advanced bicycle culture the old town in the center of fryberg is a wonderful place to be there’s old architecture alongside the new and the streets are beautiful too isn’t this amazing amazing I even managed to film two trams going through here at once appreciate my patience and good timing everywhere you look there are trams people cycling and lots of people of all ages out enjoying themselves there are nice narrow streets and lots of outdoor patios the city center is almost entirely pedestrianized so of course it’s very [Music] quiet yet another reminder that cities aren’t loud cars are loud and when you do see the occasional car it looks comically out of place with so many people around and and and I hate to break it to you that car he said it look out of place but do you see how difficult it is to drive a car right there like you know what I like you know like um for example living here in Finland I live in North Finland right and uh when I go to like anywhere South Finland like I would consider South since I live in North everything below me is South right but when I go like a city or two below I you know and I I I I would drive I’m like man to drive here is just not feasible like I’d rather walk here like it literally brings out the mobility in your legs when you see a lot of people already walking and how difficult it is to drive so I don’t know why that person even is in I car man get out bro like on feet let’s go like that’s just how the vibe goes when I see people doing that the city center has these Open Water channels and it said if you fall in one you’re destined to marry someone from fryberg but the best part is that kids actually make boats to sail on the water isn’t this just one of the most wholesome things you’ve ever seen this is so much fun I was lucky enough to meet up with Ashton from the YouTube channel type Ashton while I was in town she and her family are from the US but they loved fryberg so much that they decided to stay in Germany permanently Ashton has great videos on her Channel about everything from macroeconomics to micro urbanism and she talks a lot about the differences between the US and Germany I’ll leave a link to her Channel below and of course she’s also an expert in fryberg which was great for my first trip here to this amazing City seriously the fryberg Oldtown is one of the nicest places I’ve ever been to so you might be thinking okay okay okay this is an old medeval city but actually it’s not what you might think sure fryberg was originally founded in the year 1120 but most of fryberg was leveled in World War II which was the case for many cities in Europe of course but what was truly unique about fryberg is that when they rebuilt it they made it similar to what it used to be instead of being rebuilt for cars so remarkably pretty much everything you see here is less than 75 years old unfortunately the rest of the city was not so lucky it’s commonly said in Friberg that the war destroyed 80% of the city and cars destroyed the other 20% outside of the city center neighborhoods were built with that car-centric vision of modity that was common across the world in the 1960s this road just outside of the city center used to be a narrow Street just like the rest with several popular beer gardens and restaurants but they were all destroyed to build the ringroad the 1960s really were the decade of destroy stuff to build roads and we’re still paying for those decisions today it was only very recently that activists were finally successful in getting a car Lane removed to build this totally insufficient bicycle lane this area will likely never return to its original Beauty and it’s entirely because of car infrastructure ironically the center of fryberg though rebuilt in the style of the original city was completely overrun by cars and asphalt look at this difference between this footage from 1973 and how it looks today this pedestrian Square used to be a parking lot now parking for the city center is in garages on the periphery there were several key decisions that put fryberg on the right path and avoided the destruction that comes from making a place carf friendly in 1972 the city voted to keep its tram Network this had a massive impact on the fryberg we see today there’s one consistent thing I’ve seen in cities all over the world every city that retained its tram network has better urbanism than any nearby City that didn’t but fryberg went a step further and actually expanded its tram Network through the 80s and 90s while other European cities were removing theirs the first part of the city center was pedestrianized in 1973 and once the cars were removed the city center became a successful business district with a popular Market that is still active today the market surrounds this beautiful cathedral and it’s one of the genuine highlights of the city center and of course this used to be a parking lot too in the 1970s there was a growing environmental movement that Pro I like that that that that uh idea of um you know like I’m not trying I’m like okay how do I make this that it makes sense like when I think about it city right there’s so much in a city that in my humble opinion it should not be something or a place where driveability is easy in my humble opinion and like it will never be easy to ever drive in a city it just will never be easy like you look at um a great city in in in in in in United States that’s in New York right uh New York City and um you think about drivve in there for for an individual well I’ve never driven in New York City actually CU I didn’t have a driver’s license but for people who have either driven or been driven in the in New York City it is it is quite an experience it is quite difficult to actually drive in New York City but get on your feet in New York City and it’s 10 times better right and um shopping becomes better like everything is much more visible when you are actually moving a slow pace in a sea in my humble feeding so having a parking you know location is really smart where you can just park and just you know roam the streets on your feet that’s what I think I think cars are better off for um you know country life like you’re living in a rural area area and um you know for example where I live right now like you know having a car and then you’re going to another city or something like that I think that’s you know special for cars but like I think this is like I deal I I I I really respect thiss that would destroy the neighboring Black Forest this kept the city more compact than most cities that were built or rebuilt for the automobile after the war in 2002 fryberg elected the first green party May in Germany and since then fryberg has become the model for sustainable City development in Europe one great example of this is voban a suburb completed in the early 2000s that was designed to be Environ Mally friendly from the start the buildings here were built to a very high Energy Efficiency standard and you see solar panels on roofs and balconies all over the neighborhood some of these buildings even generate more energy than they consume the neighborhood was built on the location of a former military base and some of the apartments were built from the original Barracks one really unique element is that many of these apartment buildings are collectively owned a group of people would would come together and build an apartment building themselves instead of buying units from a developer okay today the majority of residents in foban live in housing cooperatives or social housing developments when foban was first built only about half of households owned a car but remarkably that number has actually decreased especially after the tram line was completed in 2006 today the vast majority of households in foban do not have a car and there are only about 170 Motor Vehicles per thousand inhabitants I wonder if these old Clunkers count towards that number you don’t have to walk around very long to realize that a lot of people get around here by cycling even though this is a suburb on the edge of the city the neighborhood makes extensive use of modal filters allowing people walking or cycling to pass through while being off limits to cars this is exactly the same method that the Netherlands uses to discourage car traffic especially through traffic in residential neighborhoods this makes the streets of foban very safe for children and you see lots of kids out on their own and some of the streets here are designated as play Streets this neighborhood has one of the highest percentage of children in all of Germany which isn’t that surprising because places without cars are better for kids indeed faan is also very well served by you know like though I’m a car guy like I’m like I’m such a big car guy I I’m so happy that I have my human heart still working you know I think yesterday the the traic lights were out you know and um I was driving to get back home and I saw some kids going by you know and they you know when when when the um logically if the lights are on right the um pedestrians will get theirs and you will get yours whatever but the lights are out right and what did I do I drove around and I stopped and I told them to go right and I was so angry inside because I know that most people who are driving it doesn’t matter what country it is most people who are driving will not stop and allow a pedestrian to go across no matter what like I’ve seen it so many times and it gets me so angry like one day I was driving and I saw this guy and the kid was on the other side of the road but he was on The Pedestrian and the kid was waiting for the car to go by and I was like you’re not going to lose any time stopping at that pedestrian Crossing whatever and letting that King through so I really you know understand where he coming from with this video about kids being safer you know when there’s less vehicle because most people who are driving are so inconsiderate they don’t give one rat ass about nobody you know so I really respect it and I really appreciate it you know when the kids can actually go out there and actually be kids and actually play and have life bro because you know they don’t have to be worried too much about getting hit off a hit because of a car like that is mad scary which isn’t that surprising because places without cars are better for kids faan is also very well served by transit on the west side is a transit station with tram and bus stops connecting residents to other parts of the city but the tram line also runs along the whole side of the neighborhood making it easily accessible to everyone who lives here this should be the model used to design new suburbs everywhere unfortunately not all neighborhoods in fryberg are as welld designed as foban so you’ll see other districts with streets lined with parked cars and it always annoys me when cars are supposed to be par on the sidewalk because while fryberg spent only a few decades building car Centric infrastructure those places still remain as it takes many decades to repair that kind of damage but you can see some of those repairs taking place with extra space being given back to people who walk and cycle there is of course a lot of bicycle infrastructure in fryberg including many curb protected bicycle paths unfortunately even major intersections are totally unprotected designed in the Copenhagen style as opposed to using much safer Dutch designs and there are still many painted bicycle gutters and dangerous merge lanes on busy roads yeah I don’t like that so clearly there are still opportunities for improvement but many of the streets in fryberg have so little car traffic that dedicated bicycle infrastructure is not required and some of these have been designated as bicycle streets where people cycling can use the whole street and drivers need to yield to bikes and it’s always great to see parking spaces converted to outdoor seating for local restaurants now there’s a lot that’s been written about the cycling infrastructure in fryberg but I actually think the tram network is one of the city’s best features fryberg refers to its tram system as a St Bon instead of aen bond the usual German word for tram this is because they can consider it to be better with separated tracks traffic light priority and a higher average speed than most tram systems the trams in Friberg are very modern with level boarding at tram stops making the system very accessible though there are still some older trams that have yet to be replaced the tram Network covers most of the city and even goes out to several suburbs and the current planning rules state that new housing cannot be built unless it’s within walking distance of a tram line I didn’t even cycle while I was in fryberg because if I have a choice between cycling and taking a tram I will take a tram I was able to get everywhere I wanted to go and I never had to wait very long for a tram either the thing is the only thing with a bicycle um compared to a tra in my humble opinion why I wouldn’t choose the bicycle is just because the bicycle might be an expensive bicycle and somebody might try to get that bicycle you know but um if you have locks and like that and you know it’s a trusted uh area you probably be all right but me personally nah that’s the only reason why I would not choose the bike over the tra but every other reason is not bro immediate I’m on that bike I’m gone like I’m out the trams have a signal priority and a dedicated Lane for most of their routes getting around by tram is extremely quick and efficient and there are so many grassy tram tracks here I love grassy tram tracks also I like the new tram and bus station at Europa plots with chargers for the electric buses and the roof of this station is covered in solar panels in fact the entire tram Network as well as all of these electric buses are run off of renewable energy because of course they are fryberg is not a sprawling City so it’s very easy to get out into the black forest we we heard there was a great view from a cable car nearby so we set off to visit we took tram 2 out to the end of the line in the one of those man like bro I just wish I was able to experience a lot of cool stuff like I can’t believe it took until I got to filing before I even got out of train I’ve not even been on a a tram before I’ve seen them never went on one before I hope I get to do that soon you know but I really don’t really push things like I usually wait until the opportunity really comes you know but we all know opportunities out there you just got to go out there and reach for it and grabb it but um I’m really not a typ of guy just go grab I’m I just really chill and just you know let things play out but I think I got to start grabbing some of the opportunities cuz you know life is short so type you got to do what you got to do we picked up a bus we had to walk all the way from the trames right here this is so great I know this is just a silly trivial trip to a tourist attraction and this trip doesn’t really matter at all but this is the way public transit should be everywhere not just for the center of the city not just for commuting but for all kinds of trips that someone might want to take now the weather wasn’t the best but the view from the gondola was nice and when we got back the tram was waiting for us friberg’s train station is centrally located though not very pretty we got here by Train by the way and while the road directly outside of the station is not as nice as it should be there is a separate area above the station where you can board a tram and go into the old town without interacting with any cars at all or you can pick up a bike share bike to continue your journey into the City and there are clearly a lot of people who cycle here and if you need to access the other side of the city this walking and cycling bridge will take you over the train tracks which also used to be a carbridge until 1996 because of course it was I prefer it like this and now it leads directly to this bicycle parking garage for the train station fryberg is a highly desirable city that is sustainable both environmentally and financially and with great public transport it’s a beautiful place that’s safe for children accessible to all kinds of people and enjoyable to be inps it’s not thousands of years you know what I try go St you Pops come on now don’t do that old every one of us probably knows someone who is older than the fryberg city center which really does make you wonder why can’t we build more places like this it’s not like it’s lost knowledge we know how to build like this and we know people like being in places like this this is what the sustainable city of the future should look like not a place with wide roads and self-driving cars but a humanized city with clean and efficient public transportation and streets that are safe enough for everyone over the past last few years fryberg has become very well known by urban planners in Europe and many planners and politicians come here to learn about sustainable Urban Development which is great because as far as I’m concerned the more cities that copy fryberg the better indeed if you’re a fan of car-free places you might enjoy my video about zermat a car-free to nebula indeed uh uh I liked it I really like it a lot too I hope I could actually visit that place one day um but that’s really impressive you know to have so much bikes like it was so visible that they had a lot of bikes it’s not even like you know you couldn’t even see like clearly there’s so much bikes going on man like I’ve never seen a parking lot flooded with bikes like literally I’ve never seen that in my entire life so that’s actually pretty impressive and pretty cool I actually respect that a lot and um y’all can let me know what y’all think about it in the comment section down below and um yeah thank you for watching this video any recommendations as usual you can hit that um Link in the pin comment section you can recommend whatever videos you want to recommend as long as it’s related to Germany and also link for the original video will be in the description of this video so if you have not seen the original video you can click that link and go check it out anyways guys I’m out of here peace