Every Insanely Well Designed European City Explained

Have you ever walked through your city and felt like the entire place was designed for cars instead of people? Eight lanes of traffic, endless parking lots, and sidewalks that just end out of nowhere. Europe made a completely different choice. While some cities kept widening their freeways, these ones chose to shrink them, and the results speak for themselves. In this video, as a real urban planner, i'm breaking down the insanely well designed cities in Europe and exactly what they did right. From Edinburgh connecting eight centuries of history with a single footpath to Oslo ripping out 760 parking spaces and watching foot traffic go up, these are the cities that decided people matter more than parking... #urbandesign #cities #explained Edinburgh: Voted the most walkable city in Europe in 2026. Built on steep hills, yet the castle, museums, and galleries all sit within a 15 minute walk. Milan: Opened a fully driverless metro line in 2024 and turned 61 car-choked intersections into public squares with paint, planters, and benches. Berlin: A massive city where more people walk than drive. It shut down an entire airport and handed the 386-hectare field back to the public for cycling, kites, and vegetable gardens. Helsinki: Built an app that bundles transit, bikes, scooters, and taxis into one subscription with a single tap. Vienna: The city directly owns 220,000 apartments and subsidizes 200,000 more. 60% of residents live in affordable housing, and some old flats rent for around 480 dollars a month in a world capital. Bilbao: The greatest comeback in modern city history. A collapsing industrial port with 25% unemployment bet everything on one museum and rebuilt the entire city around it. Stockholm: Charges you to drive into the city center and rush hour traffic dropped 20%. Bordeaux: Built a tram that draws power from the ground so no ugly wires cross the old town. Zurich: One of the richest cities on Earth with shockingly low car ownership. Oslo: Removed all 760 on-street parking spaces in the inner ring and replaced them with bike lanes and parks. Which of these cities would you actually want to live in? Let me know in the comments! 𝗖𝗛𝗘𝗖𝗞 𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗢𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗥 𝗣𝗢𝗣𝗨𝗟𝗔𝗥 𝗩𝗜𝗗𝗘𝗢𝗦; Every Insanely Well Designed City & Country ↪ https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLO5PaPVyUlAk_9cvXhDGybzYvZuy0syOM Every Insanely Well Designed Cities Explained in 8 Minutes ↪ https://youtu.be/ZJD-2vm0EPE Every Insanely Well Designed Cities PART 2 Explained in 9 Minutes ↪ https://youtu.be/Ibeszi8ov18 -TIMESTAMPS- 00:00 Edinburgh 01:10 Milan 02:04 Berlin 02:52 Helsinki 03:41 Vienna 04:41 Bilbao 05:48 Stockholm 06:37 Bordeaux 07:28 Zurich 08:20 Oslo 09:23 The End If you'd like to support this channel and its mission to make urban planning knowledge accessible for everyone, you can join our "Planning Office" via the 'Join' button! 🤝 You can also offer one-time support using the 'Super Thanks' feature below the video and be featured on the 'Thank You Board' at the end of the video, just like all our supporters. 🙏 📩 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗰𝘁 (𝗕𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀): [email protected] **** Welcome to Urban Planner Explained! I'm Umut, an urban planner currently pursuing my Master's degree. I'm passionate about decoding the complex world of cities, and I'm here to break down everything I've learned—from university lectures to my travels—into clear videos. My goal is to make the often technical subject of urban planning engaging and easy to understand for everyone. On this channel, we explain various topics like city models, principles of urbanism, some insanely-well designed cities, and American suburbs in a simple and clear way. Of course, topics like Megacity projects, future city models, street patterns, smart cities, walkability, urban design, zoning, public transportation and urban planners are also in our area of interest. If you want to better understand your environment, join a conscious conversation about cities, and explore these living organisms with me, you're in the right place. Subscribe to join the community and let's meet in the next video! © 2026 Urban Planner Explained