Every WORST City to Live in Right Now Explained in 9 Minutes

Have you ever wondered why some cities feel like they're falling apart while their leaders keep saying everything is fine? Empty downtowns, vanishing residents, housing costs that swallow your entire paycheck, and infrastructure that hasn't been updated since your grandparents were young. These aren't temporary slumps. In this video, as a real urban planner, i'm breaking down the worst cities to live in right now and exactly why they got so bad. From Portland's 88% drop in skyscraper value to Dublin's housing crisis predicted to last another 15 years, these are the cities that look great in tourism ads and very different in real life... #urbanplanning #citydesign #explained Portland: Downtown office vacancy hit 34% and a 42 story skyscraper just sold for 88% less than it did ten years ago. Even nonprofits are fleeing the city. Chicago: Losing residents for nine straight years. The metro area shed 347,000 people through domestic migration since 2020, and the ones leaving earn way more than the ones arriving... Toronto: Average home over $1 million and the city builds 35,000 homes a year when it needs 52,000. The vacancy rate sits at 0.5%, basically nothing. Seattle: Median home price doubled in a decade while a basic apartment rents for $2,238 a month. King County has the second largest unsheltered population in the entire country... Denver: America's hottest market for years, now squeezed by a shrinking Colorado River, light rail that doesn't go where people live, and traffic on I-25 that never ends. Dublin: One of Europe's richest cities with fewer than 1,800 rental homes available across the entire country of Ireland. 60% of Irish people under 25 are considering leaving... Minneapolis: Five years after the 2020 crisis and downtown still hasn't recovered. Even Target reduced its footprint in the city where it's literally headquartered. Vancouver: Benchmark home price at $1.1 million. Detached houses average $1.9 million. Foreign investment treated homes like stock portfolios for decades and locals paid the price... If your city made this list, drop a comment and tell me what it's really like living there! 𝗖𝗛𝗘𝗖𝗞 𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗢𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗥 𝗣𝗢𝗣𝗨𝗟𝗔𝗥 𝗩𝗜𝗗𝗘𝗢𝗦; Every WORST Designed City in the World Explained ↪ https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLO5PaPVyUlAlZUNwrQe16tXpelR4M-ac6 Every WORST Designed City Explained in 9 Minutes ↪ https://youtu.be/JSa31h-v4d4 Every WORST Designed City Explained in 9 Minutes (Part2) ↪ https://youtu.be/dOhF3cvL5Yg -TIMESTAMPS- 00:00 Portland 01:23 Chicago 02:46 Toronto 03:47 Seattle 05:09 Denver 06:15 Dublin 07:25 Minneapolis 08:32 Vancouver 09:29 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