@theninjabird9510

As one of three people that live in Monaco I have to say we are not a real country, you got us

@NiAlBlack

My takeaway from this video is that New York City's urban area as well as other urban areas in the USA should be built more like the Netherlands.

@lesumsi

I think the story of Urk & Burk is great summary of Dutch history. This should become a full-length movie.

@EenGamer.

As someone who has cycled across the whole country in 1 day, I can confirm its mostly fields.

@georgios_5342

Greece is also very similar to the Netherlands in that it has Athens, a massive city where around 40-45% of the population resides, with 1000 people per km². And the rest of the country is very sparsely populated

@markuserikssen

If you talk about The Randstad, it's perhaps one big city region, but once you get out there, it's definitely not like that everywhere. Here in the north, we have way too much space between cities and towns for it to be called a giant city. In that way, we are just a country with some very dense populated regions.

@CkBr

Most of the Netherlands isn't 'actually a giant city', and yet infrastructure outside of de Randstad, is still excellent. It isn't just the city aspect of the Netherlands that creates good infrastructure, its also government regulation. I feel like you should have at least mentioned that.

@tatyboy1337

The difference imo is that it is done so well - it's planned to be like this.

England could have Manchester&Liverpool, Birmingham, Leeds, Bristol, and London connected in a similar way. but instead we have London and everything else.

@5am646

I cannot believe I didn't realise you were Dutch until you pronounced 'Randstad', your (American) accent is seriously impressive

@RaVen99991

3:55 Utrecht is like a shopping hall imop as a dutch person, when you go shopping you either go to Utrecht or Amsterdam

@-haclong2366

N.Y.C. is actually a giant city, the Randstad isn't interconnected enough to be comparable. As someone who has lived in both I can see that N.Y.C. is actually a concrete jungle while the Randstad is the opposite of N.Y.C.

While Central Park is the sole exception to the large urban landscape of New York, the high rise districts in the Randstad are the exceptions surrounded by lots of rural land. If you travel from The Hague to Leiden you'll find lots of farnland with cows.

@Ninjaeule97

As someone who lives near Frankfurt and is currently staying in Helsinki (two metropolitan areas), I have to say this: Higher density leads to higher density if you let it. Real-life lore has a video series called Curious Population Patterns (Why x Country is y% empty). While geography plays into the makeup of a nation, there are limits to geographic determinism. The way people interact with geography is far more important. Places in the US could be much nicer if they hadn't decided on Euclidian zoning, but they did. Of course, high density leads to worse air quality if we continue to burn fossil fuels (or wood). That's not the fault of density that's caused by burning stuff. Having high density in some places and low density in the rest could actually make dealing with problems like Climate change easier. In the high-density areas, get rid of fossil fuel-powered vehicles and connect buildings to heat networks. Use the low-density regions to generate renewable energy and food to power the high-density ones.

@mariusfacktor3597

The Netherlands is the #2 country in the world in food exports, behind the United States. A city can't do that. The Netherlands is small but has good land-use while most other countries have egregious land-use. That's why the Netherlands can offer amazing amenities and services.

@m_a_e_x

I love the blender shots. It's really nice to see the underlying software and to give others a little bit of understanding how this kind of video is produced.
10/10 please add more random blender insights in your videos from now on.

@dond3r183

0:24 Funny fact is, that New York was founded by the Dutch. Plus New Netherlands was a 17th-century colonial province of the Dutch Republic located on the east coast of what is now the United States, including New York (New Amsterdam).

@LinusKuehl

I'm not entirely sure what point you're trying to make here --- the Netherlands isn't the only dense place in the world. For instance, the comparison to New York State isn't an argument for why what's been done in the Netherlands can only be done there. New York is also densely populated.. so why couldn't similar infrastructure be built there?

It also ignores that, even if a large area is not densely populated, cities very much still tend to be. Meaning that also in places that aren't densely populated, it doesn't mean that the cities and town in that place can't afford to build better infrastructure. Sure, you can attribute the Netherland's rail infrastructure to its large-scale density, but nobody is using their bike to go from Amsterdam to Enschede. So why couldn't any other city still do as good of a job building infrastructure for short-distance trips that don't leave the city?

@xdmelone3333

Build a city like New York the way Randstad is built then. The fact that Randstad is technecally an area with cities instead of a city with districts, doesn't change the fact that it is functionally the same. City infrastructure in many cities (for example the US) could be like Randstad instead of the way it currently is. Sure, connection between those cities is a different story that the Netherlands don't have, but that could probably be solved by high speed trains between the cities. For the minority living outside of these clusters, there can still be cars. Cars as main transportation inside cities and their direct surroundings is just ineffective and stupid.

@Sometimeswecandoit

5:37 uga booga explanation is top tier

@iTammy

I live in a city in North Holland and I can tell you, if I want to go home by train after, for instant, a festival, or a night party or after working nightshifts, you’re not finding a train persé and people have to run for the last train or wait for the first train while anywhere else night trains busses and metro’s are in full swing!
We just have two railroads, it’s prehistorical! 🥵🥹

This trajectory always causes outdated problems and always related to time!
Highly annoying! North Holland also needs a night train, it will do work and carrier related things more than good!
Owning a car gives people the opportunity to explore outside towns or outside jobs!
It’s absurd how all of this works in my country! 😜

@gaatjeniksaan336

Its highly wrong that Dutch people pay less on infrastructure. Every car owner here has to pay road tax dependent on the engine size and fuel type. I pay 76 euro per month road tax owning a 2 liter petrol car. For the same engine size, the road tax costs for a Diesel is more than twice that. Furthermore, NL has one of the highest fuel prices in the world. Public transport is only free for students and elsewise its more expensive that most other European countries.

In comparison, in Germany one doesn't pay road tax at all and fuel is cheaper.