This video compares the infrastructure of car-centered cities in the United States to pedestrian and bike-friendly cities like those in the Netherlands.
Students will learn about urban planning, urban sprawl, public transportation, and some of the factors and regulations that go into a city's design.
Teaching Tips
Positives
It shows footage from different cities around the world to help illustrate its points.
It challenges the viewer to think about the design and the intention of the infrastructure for where they live.
Additional Prerequisites
There is an ad before the video.
The content of the video ends at 16:28. The remaining time is an ad and credits.
Differentiation
Students can use information from the video to write letters to their local representatives to advocate for more bike lanes and pedestrian paths in their communities.
The video is sectioned into chapters listed in the description.
The description links to the references and related readings for students who want more context and data.
This resource is a 17-minute video providing narratives for efficient urban planning. It presents a case study on transportation infrastructure in Houston and the Netherlands and attempts to highlight the importance of designing not just car-centric facilities but also a great focus on pedestrian infrastructure such as sidewalks, green space, parks etc. to reduce road accidents, air pollution, and to also achieve environmental sustainability. It concludes that the Netherlands' transport model is environmentally fit for replication. Thus, this resource is recommended for teaching.
Standards
Science and Engineering
ETS1: Engineering Design
HS-ETS1-3 Evaluate a solution to a complex real-world problem based on prioritized criteria and trade-offs that account for a range of constraints, including cost, safety, reliability, and aesthetics, as well as possible social, cultural, and environmental impacts.
Social Studies
Civics & Government
Civics & Government 1 (D2): Students understand the basic ideals, purposes, principles, structures, and processes of constitutional government in Maine and the United States as well as examples of other forms of government in the world by comparing how laws are made in Maine and at the federal level in the United States.
Geography
Geography 1 (D2): Students understand the geography of the community, Maine, the United States, and various regions of the world, and geographic influences on life in the past, present, and future by describing the impact of change on the physical and cultural environment.
