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How Highways Almost Destroyed Amsterdam - Plan Jokinen

How Highways Almost Destroyed Amsterdam - Plan Jokinen on HackerTube: recommended by 2 Hacker News commenters across 2 separate months, 2022–2024.

Not Just Bikes

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A short Not Just Bikes video on the 1960s plans (Plan Jokinen) to cut highways through Amsterdam to accommodate cars. It shows how radically different the city would look had they succeeded.

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN commenters cite it as a concise illustration of how the Netherlands narrowly avoided car-centric planning and then built its bike culture.

people recommended it
2
separate months
2
strong recommendations
0
discussed on HN
2022–2024
“about those plans, the fightback in the 1970s, and the resulting bike culture that Amsterdam has today.”
— stevesimmons, Jan 2022, in “The Future of E-Bikes”

What HN commenters said

4 Hacker News comments link this video. Each one links back to its thread.

TijdreizigerJul 2022Recommends

Not Just Bikes made an interesting video on the thankfully-avoided plan to build a US-style highway system in Amsterdam: ▶ this video

in “When cities treated cars as dangerous intruders” · View on HN

stevesimmonsJan 2022Recommends

I do all those things in Amsterdam. I can get everywhere in Amsterdam much quicker by bike than driving or public transport. Cycling in the rain and snow [2] is no problem, you just need the right gear. What non-Amsterdammers don't realise is the city never used to be a cyclist's paradise. In the 1960s, Amsterdam's car-obsessed urban planners had grand visions to drive motorways through the inner city, razing the historical buildings, and constructing Manhattan-like skyscraper clusters. Here's a 3 minute video "Highways Almost Destroyed Amsterdam" [1] about those plans, the fightback in the 1970s, and the resulting bike culture that Amsterdam has today. Enjoy! [1] ▶ this video [2] [link]

in “The Future of E-Bikes” · View on HN

BadHumansMar 2024Cites it

Amsterdam and Paris used to be both be very car dependent. Here is a video about Amsterdam before they shunned cars. ▶ this video

in “California Approves Waymo Expansion to Los Angeles and SF Peninsula [pdf]” · View on HN

scrollawayJul 2022Cites it

Indeed it wasn’t always this way. And this mindset plagued more countries. The Netherlands narrowly avoided it: ▶ this video

in “When cities treated cars as dangerous intruders” · View on HN

Topics & tags

Transit, cities & urban planningamsterdamhighwayscar-centric designcyclingurbanism