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@clawsoon

7 ай бұрын

You should definitely feature a whole bunch more towns, so that everybody doesn't try to just move to Brattleboro... 😀

@AlexeiLjanej

7 ай бұрын

Why not just randomly pick towns that have been entered into some sort of poll/survey

@Java42069

7 ай бұрын

this town looks like morgantown wv

@SSGoatanks

6 ай бұрын

Culdesac is building car free communities in Tempe AZ, encouraging residents to use ebikes, scooters, and public transportation!

Do the most improved town next. I want to see how it's possible to make progress.

@galacticpotato607

7 ай бұрын

yes!! how do we make more cities like this!!

@j.b.reefer9051

7 ай бұрын

Second this

@thebigbean8825

7 ай бұрын

Third this

@kevinbarnes218

7 ай бұрын

Fourth this

@MatthewSpencerKociol

7 ай бұрын

YES! That's important. If all we do is highlight cute historic villages with perfect local cultures that don't actually have much room for growth, the only thing we're doing is highlighting the next place that's gonna get gentrified by greedy capitalists.

Let's go, Vermont content!! Many Vermont towns still have core dense downtown areas and haven't suburbanized very much. Brattleboro is a lovely place!

@bibliotreka

7 ай бұрын

Yes, also similar for much of western MA and down into parts of northwest CT as well. The Ashuwillticook rail trail continues its expansion in the Berkshires so you can bike from one charming old New England town to the next, I think to eventually reach up to Bennington VT and down into CT. I love passing through the compact and lively downtowns and only a few minutes later you're back out into nature. I would love if that bike network one day connected to Brattleboro too.

@davidneman6527

7 ай бұрын

What can be said for Brattleboro can also be said for Waterbury, Montpelier, and even Burlington.

@travcollier

7 ай бұрын

Refraining from building a lot of paved roads and sewer systems... seriously, makes a significant difference when it comes to avoiding sprawl.

@whuwhaaa2

7 ай бұрын

You say that yet I've lived there since i was 12 and Its becoming more and more suburban by the year. One small plant of land after another is being sold and developed and country side of Vermont is slowely becoming a slightly less dense version of suburbia. It depresses me to know end honestly. I just wish more American would embrace land use laws...

@thndr_5468

7 ай бұрын

Yeah most of the good cities are where towns developed before the car

A little sad that it is so unique. Nearly every small & medium town would’ve been designed and laid out a lot like Brattleboro 100 years ago. Amazing that it kept its character the last several decades! So many towns and neighborhoods did not…

@warreneckels4945

7 ай бұрын

Most of your surrounding area is impossible to build on which probably helps. It also helps that the ethos of the community is that community in itself is a virtue. Lots of small towns around here, on the other hand, preferred to drive 20 miles to Walmart over paying an extra dollar for underwear. (It's not that Walmarts are lacking -- there are two just across the river in New Hampshire).

@elsenorgatito

7 ай бұрын

Brattleboro also has better, ahem, demographics, than most urban areas. That's why it doesn't have that much crime. Brattleboro really isn't all that cool, honestly. That being said, I listened to a podcast about Vermont that did a 20 min episode of rebuilding Brattleboro's downtown. I can send it to you if you'd like.

@TheMysteryDriver

7 ай бұрын

Everything they described is basically every town in West Virginia

@emmbarrmama3942

7 ай бұрын

@@elsenorgatito elaborate on the demographics

@SSGoatanks

7 ай бұрын

Americans shouldn't be taxed to fix car dependent infrastructure - voters should make wealthy auto corporations pay for it instead!

This is what the world needs! Dense rural towns where it's a short walk to get into the woods and nature. The best of both worlds.

@ojassarup258

7 ай бұрын

Outside of the US (and Canada?) that is usually how rural towns are :D

@ElMoppo1

7 ай бұрын

@@ojassarup258 Not just rural towns, here the gaps between towns and cities that are close often have a few small farms in the gaps.

@Jet-ij9zc

7 ай бұрын

It's nice until you want to own your own house and have a yard instead of an apartment/condo

@farzana6676

7 ай бұрын

It sucks. There's zero private yardspace.

@aeway_

7 ай бұрын

@@Jet-ij9zc Nobody is taking away your house bro, it's just that there is a need for more efficient housing options that don't exist much in some parts of the world like the U.S.

The train station was briefly shown in this video but Brattleboro is also served by free fixed route buses. They're pretty limited in headways and operating hours but its more than can be said about most of rural North America

@j.i.2923

7 ай бұрын

Used to have streetcars back in the day, until they tore it out in the 1920's.

@toadscoper4575

7 ай бұрын

Brattleboro is still highly car-dependent for what it is

@Koopzilla24

7 ай бұрын

@@toadscoper4575 Yeah hard not to be with its relative isolation being 16mi from the nearest other significant population center (Keene) and a train only once a day to any nearby "big" city (Springfield)

@FakeSchrodingersCat

7 ай бұрын

If they show up more then once an hour they are more then most of urban America too.

@AssBlasster

6 ай бұрын

I've lived in a walkable town (25K people) surrounding by endless farmlands and would have loved ANY intercity public transit. Only had a few $20 trailway buses going to nearby cities.

I didn't see an interview with someone who lives in an apartment building/condo. We should hear how those people feel about what they have access to.

I really like the insight that Abraham had about having to intentionally set plans to meet up with friends. But in smaller more cohesive communities, you're able to use happenstance to reconnect with acquaintances in the flesh, even if for only a few minutes.

@laurie7689

7 ай бұрын

Except that not everyone likes "happenstance". I don't even believe in going to my family's house (mom's, daughter's) without first calling and I don't like them popping in on me in my home either. I prefer NOT running into people that I've met before or know. It ruins my day.

@nishiljaiswal2216

7 ай бұрын

@@laurie7689 That is how life was before the advent of the car and people lived in closed-knit communities. It was normal to casually go to your friend's or family's home whenever.

@ianhomerpura8937

7 ай бұрын

​@@laurie7689 I don't get the American fascination towards being as isolated from everyone as much as possible.

@laurie7689

7 ай бұрын

@@ianhomerpura8937 Some people want to be around people and others don't. I fall into the "other" category. I simply don't socialize. I've never socialized, even when I was a kid. When other kids would approach me to ask me to play, I always refused. Eventually, they ceased to ask. I found them to be bothersome, even as a kid. My father rarely socialized with anyone outside the family either, until he met my mom. She was a timid shy wallflower. My grandmother had a cancer scare at one point and wrote letters to both her daughters which she kept and were found after her death (she didn't have cancer when she wrote them, but did die of cancer later in life). In the letter to my mother, she wrote that she was worried for my mom's future because she was so timid. She hoped that my mom would find somebody to take care of her since she couldn't handle taking care of herself. My dad was a good man. The word that best describes him is: Stoic. He tended to the needs of his family without complaint. He had a handful of co-workers that he considered friends, but he didn't ever socialize outside of work with any of them. Neither of my parents did. Work, home, and family were their world. Rarely was a word even spoken with a neighbor. That is how I grew up. Neither of them had friends in school either as kids from what I have learned. Neither did I. I can count on one hand the number of people that I've been friendly with in my lifetime.

@jasonarthurs3885

7 ай бұрын

@@laurie7689 Sudden Pop-ins are not acceptable, but that's not the scenario depicted and lauded in the video or by the OP. Instead, what was being discussed is the notion of strengthening connections of community members over time through the physical act of connection. Arriving unannounced to the home of relative or acquaintance is just uncouth.

I am a Vermonter. Most Vermont towns have a strong, vital downtown. Most shops are owned by local entities and you don’t see a ton of big box stores in Vermont. There are far more factors then I am aware of, but it makes for a very different type of town that you find in Vermont.

@wesleymiller9059

7 ай бұрын

My wife and I visited VT for the first time last year. We drove all over the state, and I was blown away. Speaking as an outsider here, you all have something special. I've never been anywhere like it.

@Observer_Effect

7 ай бұрын

Yep. But no others are right on the interstate and highway connecting the rudest/most-aggressive part of the United States (MA/CT/NYC/NJ) ---- so Brattleboro is going to get gentrified VERY quickly now that the world is getting harsher.

@mostdopecaptain3350

5 ай бұрын

@@Observer_EffectI wouldn’t be one to make assumptions. I was born in Vt and lived in Maine and Massachusetts and western Massachusetts is very similar to Vermont. They just suck up to big corporations which isn’t fun but it’s mostly rural towns that depend on local businesses.

@enjoystraveling

5 ай бұрын

I’m glad that in Vermont they don’t have a great many big box stores. I’ve only been to Vermont once on the way to Montreal at night so I’ve never seen it really but the states I’ve lived in have now so many big box stores unfortunately but for me, they overwhelm me because there’s so many choices in the big box stores and if you have a question, it’s hard to find someone to ask. I’d rather pay a bit more and not have a big box store and have less choices and a person that really cares to answer my questions instead of a gigantic company. I almost always shop at a small hardware store instead of the gigantic Lowe’s since I feel overwhelmed by going into Lowe’s so I don’t mind paying a little more at the small hardware store and the people who worked there take time to help me if I need it my questions. Unfortunately, in many cities, towns , states there’s not many other choices. Besides just the big box stores. PS the Vermont Hills and countryside look really beautiful !! I hope it stays that way and you don’t succumb to big box, stores and suburbs.

@keltic341thoughtyouknuskii34

Ай бұрын

So Corporate Greed isn't the problem after all. Since Vermont has one of the worst homeless problems in the entire country per capita, but it's run by the anti-corporate progressives and small mom and pops businesses.

I pass through Brattleboro regularly, and it was one of the first places in Vermont I ever visited. Makes me love the fact I left the suburban hell of SoCal for rural New England.

@pams3176

7 ай бұрын

I did the same, five years ago!

@cito2820

7 ай бұрын

New England is the best!!!

@wesleymiller9059

7 ай бұрын

Good for you. SoCal is a mess.

@Observer_Effect

7 ай бұрын

Just please, tell everybody else it sucks! ;-)

@wesleymiller9059

7 ай бұрын

@@Observer_Effect VT has high taxes for protection from transplants. I'm not making fun; I'm serious.

I've been to Brattleboro a few times and it is a lovely place. I just don't understand how the cost of living wouldn't be a part of this video if you want to give people the complete picture. It is extremely expensive to live there as well as many other parts of Vermont. No mention of real estate prices, taxes, price of goods? So many viewers would probably never be able to even think of affording a home there.

@Thefnafgeek

3 ай бұрын

Yes I can tell by some of the newer residents interviewed looked like 30/40 something upper middle class.

@sergi5816

3 ай бұрын

Maybe because there is no currently other places like that, and therefore it has high demand.

@krazykkarl

13 сағат бұрын

Good, keeps the riff raff away.

With a bit of work on their streets, they could easily become a car-light community. I believe the Dutch call it "autoluew". Less space devoted to cars, narrower lanes, complexity in the streets, traffic calming, less curbside parking and good bicycle infrastructure. It's not that you're not allowed to drive. It's that other modes of transit aren't treated as second-class.

@femkebeernaert

7 ай бұрын

Yes, autoluw in Dutch

@SuperTheFurry

7 ай бұрын

​@@gcvrsaYou have, I suppose?

@azu1394

7 ай бұрын

@@gcvrsa While I your comment points out some insightful stuff, it also comes off as a bit inflammatory. That being said, you are completely correct. A growing interest in pedestrian friendly infrastructure and car light/free communities is undeniably a good thing. That being said, it seems a growing amount of people are finding a bit too much confidence in what they suggest. Most don’t think about the implications of re-routing traffic, costs for the road itself, the time spent talking to property owners, etc etc. It is dramatically more expensive and complicated than most would hazard a guess for, but I can’t blame people for not knowing all the economics around this stuff. Overall I think a more productive way to continue the conversation would be to point them towards these issues so they can study for themselves. Otherwise, this just feels unproductive.

@lws7394

7 ай бұрын

@@gcvrsa What heavy thru traffic do you mean ? There is a deeplying North South highway that handles passing traffic (to the north, south, and east). There will be traffic to the west, especially with Brattleboro West. Basically most traffic in town will be with a destination. @Mofoman2000 : On the other hand most residential streets seem quite 'low traffic'/ autoluw already. So there is mostly the west-east street from the West neighbourhood and the street to Main Street. The lanes are so wide (1.7x the width of a Ford Explorer), you can narrow them to lower speeds. and create some space for bicycles and/or pedestrians.

@aceman0000099

7 ай бұрын

Yeah they already said the town is walkable, but what they could still do is add some more tree space and outdoor seating instead of those super wide roads

I don't think I've ever been as tempted to move somewhere as you showed Brattleboro. Beautiful buildings and a good density town that cuts off because people just "don't want to spread".. sounds right for me!

@MenacingWithVideos

7 ай бұрын

Make your home town more like Brattleboro. Don't be like NJB. Get to know your mayor instead.

@Jack-sq6xb

7 ай бұрын

@@MenacingWithVideospeople are allowed to move lmao

@micosstar

7 ай бұрын

@MenacingWithVideos is providing advice; is that a wrong?@@Jack-sq6xb

@setyourhandlex

7 ай бұрын

@@MenacingWithVideos While the broader goal should be to reform our current spaces to be more like what we want often that's not feasible. No amount of solicitation or campaigning will make Inglewood look like this in my lifetime, let alone stay within my price range. Besides, people moving puts economic pressure on the places they're leaving to change.

@MatthewSpencerKociol

7 ай бұрын

I think the lesson from this video should be, "through smart zoning and development, how can we make other towns like Brattleboro?" The problem in America seems to be only a small percentage of cities and towns are truly pleasant and sustainable and charming, and that leads to gentrification, NIMBYISM, and unaffordability.

This is how the suburbs should have been built

@laurie7689

7 ай бұрын

I didn't see anything that I'd consider appealing about it. It is just a small town, not a suburb. Suburbs are for people trying to get away from other people.

@ishathakor

7 ай бұрын

it wouldn't work because american style suburbs were made for people who didn't want anyone else around them but were too cowardly to live in the actual countryside. it's the countryside for city folk. so it's nothing. this is just a town

@ishathakor

7 ай бұрын

@@laurie7689 hey did you know that american style suburbs aren't the only type of suburb that exists?? suburbs that developed before cars looked way more similar to this town

@papaicebreakerii8180

7 ай бұрын

@@ishathakor yea most of those got assimilated into the cities tho. Every major city got sm semi-urban inner ring suburbs

@SoloRenegade

7 ай бұрын

the problem is zoning laws. zoning laws need to be changed, daramatically

I think a lot of New England towns have the benefit of their town core maturing before the suburban sprawl starting in the 50s, but a lot fell into new sprawled developments during that time, which creates a weird disconnect where many town residents live outside downtown, work in another suburb, and rarely go downtown. Brattleboro is a truly unique case and encouraging to see.

@microbios8586

7 ай бұрын

This pattern is probably true all along the East and in the South. Georgia has countless beautiful old town centers that developed in the 19th and early 20th Centuries. But now they are just a shell of their former selves. Nobody lives in those town centers, and the main businesses are niche retail and specialty dining- nothing for everyday errands. So despite the beauty and walkability, the town centers are basically unlivable. The pattern of suburban development is unbreakable it seems.

@andrewquigley8938

Ай бұрын

New Jersey and New York are the same. Not just New England, and many of those towns have better transit options than Brattleboro so

Vermont has the second largest rate per capita of HOMELESSNESS! There aren't any rentals (studio is now $2,000). There is a .4% (less than 1%) vacancy rate. Brattleboro is experiencing one of the worst homelessness crises in the state. If you want to buy? Good luck finding a property. Our real estate rates have risen dramatically since the pandemic. The average price for a home: $408,000 (if you can find it). This video was made before the statewide flooding in July. Finding a rental is virtually impossible.

As a region, New England has by far the best urbanism. So many beautiful small towns around that are a treat to discover and explore

@aceman0000099

7 ай бұрын

Distance to Europe Vs American-ness directly correlates (inversely) I guess

@toadscoper4575

7 ай бұрын

Disagree. As a New Englander, this comment is only applicable to maybe 5% of the region. Not only do these quaint small towns price out average folk but the region is just as car-dependent as the rest of the US. You’re not going to find decent public transit anywhere outside Boston and stroads are a-plenty. People need to stop romanticizing NE as this European-esque region, it’s simply inaccurate

@tomgeraci9886

7 ай бұрын

@@toadscoper4575Vermont is the only area that can truly claim to have compact development almost across the board. Sprawl along state highways is limited compared to the rest of the region, especially outside the larger cities of Burlington, Montpelier/Barre and Rutland. Way more of an emphasis on compact, village-style development, much like in a lot of rural NY

@tomgeraci9886

7 ай бұрын

@@toadscoper4575and a number of other mountain constrained areas/coastal towns have similar development (ie: towns in the Berkshires, North Conway, Rockland ME, etc) albeit with a bit more highway sprawl

@toadscoper4575

7 ай бұрын

@@tomgeraci9886 still unacceptable that all those regions are entirely dependent on cars. Vermont has zero rail transit beyond a few daily diesel Amtrak trains in a select few cities. At least MA, RI, and CT have stretches of the NEC that run through them (not to mention Boston is the only city in NE with mass transit). If Brattleboro were in Europe it’d most surely have an electrified intercity/regional rail connection along with a robust tram network. Unfortunately VT is contempt with maintaining car-dependency.

This is so crazy to see as someone who’s from the uk I can think of about 20 villages within 40 minutes drive of me exactly like this I had no idea America was so different outside the big cities

@Ula-Ka

7 ай бұрын

I was expecting the comment section to be full of Europeans saying this is just a normal town.

@Mana-hd5qt

5 ай бұрын

eh, uk villages and especially towns generally aren’t this dense though. The UK is a very dense nation sure, but town and city centres are relatively small compared to other countries like in asia and the americas. Lots of terraced homes and tightly packed houses in the uk, but not many multistory apartment buildings.

@patrickchampion8179

4 ай бұрын

​@Ula-Ka tbf it looks a bit better than a typical UK town which does tend to have suburban sprawl and wouldn't be quite as urban and developed if it had this sort of population. It does remind me a lot of places like Skipton and Whitby though which do have a sharp divide between a dense urban core and remote rural areas just a few miles away

@austinhernandez2716

2 ай бұрын

In America, this is very rare!

Has any economist applied the idea of the Resource Curse to land? It seems like having limited land forces towns to use land wisely, and this over time turns out to be a good thing.

@SoloRenegade

7 ай бұрын

very interesting idea. I'd love to know the answer to this as well.

@jackolantern7342

7 ай бұрын

@@SoloRenegadeSame here

@SoloRenegade

7 ай бұрын

@@eugenetswong we're right there with you.

@Stroporez

7 ай бұрын

I think Georgeism is kind of based on that. It prices in costs of land use instead of leaving it as an externality for all society to absorb.

@SoloRenegade

7 ай бұрын

@@eugenetswong clearly you've never lived in such a community before. it's not propaganda. it's just not that common anymore, but it used to be the norm in many parts of the country.

This is pretty much a typical UK village or small town! Every area is mixed use. You can walk down the roads (on pavements) where I am and pass: a grocery store; food shops; a garage/repair shop; local pub; hairdressers; butchers; a couple of small industrial units; a cricket pitch; a couple of soccer and rugby pitches; a few bowling greens; BMX/scooter/skateboard park; a park; pond; stream; play park; vets; farms and much much more. Houses range from single bedroom flats above the shops to a 10 bedroom house in a huge garden. All that within a 30 minute walk from my front door. Also a train station with trains every 10 minutes along the coast and up to London and busses around the main roads every 10 minutes. There is no church or other religious structure near, but there are a few around the area for the few people interested. No car is needed to go anywhere unless you want the problems of parking :P There are some massive housing developments going on in the surrounding areas despite huge local opposition as, instead of building on brown field sites, they are building on rural flood plains. And yes, the new houses flood and cause floods.

@keltic341thoughtyouknuskii34

Ай бұрын

Sure you did.

I'm not american, I don't even live in the US, but still I was brought to tears of joy over the beautiful way of living in Brattleboro compared to the otherwise so common sub-urban sprawl in America. I really believe this is the best way for humans to live: smaller cities with tight-knit communities, land use that is efficient and respectful of nature, and access to local produce. What else could you possibly need?

@andrew8501

7 ай бұрын

An airport and a job

@V45194

5 ай бұрын

@@andrew8501 Yes, economic opportunity is important. Judging from their thriving downtown, sounds like they're doing ok on jobs - certainly better than many small towns that I have been to!

@andrew8501

5 ай бұрын

@@V45194 when I lived in Vermont, I found that the state is entirely dependent on tourism. They certainly aren't good paying jobs unless you own and operate a business that draws tourists.

oh man I feel like Elgin, IL has great potential to be a strong town. Elgin's got all the elements - mixed use buildings, walkable downtown, lots of art and local businesses, public transit, etc. it's "in the suburbs" but it was established at the same time as Chicago so the suburbs just sprawled out to the valley it's in. but Elgin is often looked over bc it is lower income and minorities are the majority of the population. but it's such a special place and I have no idea what to do to help it.

@mamerndado6714

7 ай бұрын

Be an advocate! You can start a conversation to protect Elgin with your friends, family, neighbors. Strong Towns has resources you can use to inform yourself and your community. Fight for what is precious!

@Roma_eterna

6 ай бұрын

I’m visiting Chicago soon, and I’d love to check out Elgin!

This is so magical and I'm so jealous! I am currently living is such a horrible city that I have 0 friends in it.

@microcolonel

7 ай бұрын

Places are made of people; maybe your city is working against you, but if you're not good at making friends you have your own work to do as well.

@micosstar

7 ай бұрын

well-balanced advice@@microcolonel !

I dearly love Brattleboro - lived there for years and now live 20 min away. It has many wonderful qualities and I’m excited it won this award. But I had to LOL at “insanely well designed.” Anyone who ever has tried to drive downtown through what locals call “cluster**** corner”-especially when there’s a train going by-would find it hard to agree. It’s a sweet and very quirky New England town that’s relatively healthy largely because of tourism and people driving through to go further north to ski (which is a weakness in many ways, because climate change is going to kill ski resorts eventually). It literally *can’t* spread because of topography, which (along with Airbnb culture) also contributes to it having a rental housing crisis like everywhere else. It’s great but it’s not magic.

@TurtleKnite

7 ай бұрын

Driving thru downtown is annoying for sure but a big point of strong towns is that optimizing for Drivers makes things generally worse for everyone who's not in a car. As someone who works on main st, Brattleboro's downtown is absolutely lovely as a pedestrian, and also relatively accessible to pedestrians. I do wish there was better (read: any) bike infrastructure in and around downtown, but space constraints largely make that impossible unless you just completely removed street parking, and I think that's probably a non-starter politically speaking. Towns definitely got troubles. Lot of issues with homelessness because of that housing crunch, but the town is stepping up to try and deal with that problem. Like he said in the video, no where is without problems. But it's a damn good town, and you can absolutely live worse places.

@___.51

7 ай бұрын

I imagine strong towns would consider brattleboro's downtown traffic situation to be a good thing. They want you to get out of the car and walk around, not drive through town.

How do you give me so much hope about this country? So much of it feels like it doesn’t deserve hope.

A lot of arguments against infill development, more dense forms of housing, bike lanes, or less parking, is that people like space, that they dont want to live in a box. But people say they always want that "small town feel" and towns like Brattleboro show that you can have that and be successful.

I live in northeastern VT and I've only gone thru Brattleboro a few times but it always seemed nice. It has the same appearance as other towns along the CT river, brick industrial buildings, but also a connection with the surrounding agriculture. There are lots of other smaller towns in VT with similar qualities.

@Observer_Effect

7 ай бұрын

Yep, nobody should bother with Brattleboro, much nicer further up!

How has this not the most popular channel on YT right now? Everything you guys put out inspires me so much!

I hate how we have to have videos to explain to people that nice places to live are better then not nice places to live. I love small towns, and I love cities. I don’t understand how anyone can spend any time in suburbia while knowing that places like this exist

@user-qm4mb7ct3d

7 ай бұрын

​@@pelletrouge3032so instead of fighting crime they chose to separate normal ppl creating suburbia

@brianisbrined9255

7 ай бұрын

I DON'T like cities. I don't like spending time in them, I have no desire to live in them. Ideally I'd live in a rural area. I want to be left alone.

@chroma._.5986

7 ай бұрын

@@brianisbrined9255 that’s fine too if we eliminate the suburbs, rural folk like you get more land to chill out in while everyone else gets to live in walkable cities! win-win for everyone

@chroma._.5986

7 ай бұрын

@@pelletrouge3032that’s an economy issue, not a city building issue

@user-qm4mb7ct3d

7 ай бұрын

@@pelletrouge3032 if the police and military forces were encouraged to fight crime like it was done in Salvador and it gave fruit drastically reducing crime

This is why I could never live anywhere besides Vermont. A Vermont town is a community and we help each other. I live up the road from Brattleboro, so it's super cool to see it talked about in this video and appreciated for what it is. I love going downtown and to the farmer's market. People who dismiss Brattleboro as unsafe or sketchy are missing out!

@Urtlesquirt

7 ай бұрын

In NH but I recently moved to the Upper Valley and I love it! So great being able to walk into downtown Leb and walk to trails that run all the way to Hanover, Concord, and connect to the AT

This video reminds me of the small town i live in (Tecumseh, MI). Having lived here a year, ive gotten to know so many farmers, bakers and small businesses just by being able to walk and bike into town. CSA's are huge for the community here as well

I did not wake up today expecting to see the town I was born in featured in a KZread video. I live just 20 minutes away from Brattleboro and my mom still works there and I go to the town quite often. It's so nice to see some spotlight on the small urban communities that exist in Vermont. You really notice how the sense of community is maintained even with the urban elements.

@engineeredarmy1152

7 ай бұрын

As someone who is from a remote town in India, the probability of experiencing this very experience stands at zero. Lucky you to have this unique experience.

Seems like an amazing town. Yes, they all have their issues, but the acceptance of everyone across the board is something we need more of in this world. The world would be a better place if we had more of this.

See also: West Virginia, which hasn't done much development since the mid century. The small towns and cities are strikingly beautiful and dense.

@HasanibnSabah

7 ай бұрын

And probably infinitely more affordable.

@BigKy-Mart

7 ай бұрын

I was thinking about this when someone made the "Geography is destiny" comment earlier. I wonder though why most of these towns in West Virginia that were dense and once thriving are now vastly empty.

@safuu202

7 ай бұрын

Alot of WV grew alongside the coal mining industry. Once the coal mining industry in the US went bust for oil drilling and natural gas, alot of WV economy collapsed with it and hasnt recovered since.

Absolutely beautiful. So much of the north east serves as a great case study of areas with good roots that have been maintained to various degrees. New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine especially highlight lower-density development, as do many of the non-company towns that don't lay directly on the coastline.

@davidneman6527

7 ай бұрын

New Hampshire has plenty of great scenery but philosophically is very different from Vermont. The Rochester-Dover area is almost the opposite of Brattleboro: miles of suburban sprawl with hardly any central core.

@setyourhandlex

7 ай бұрын

@@davidneman6527 Ah, that's unfortunate. I haven't spent time in the state, so that's on me assuming it'd be like its neighbours (not that Maine and Vermont are flawless examples, just that they have lot of good areas to point to).

@tomgeraci9886

7 ай бұрын

Vermont’s towns developed in a similar compact way to much of rural NY and PA. NH is often very sprawling even in rural areas, with a lot of development along state highways instead of in compact villages/small towns

I love sharing this - it makes me love Selma NC (we were a finalist in 2023) even more - and makes me realize Activate Selma is on the right path to help our town be even stronger! So glad this wasn't a puff piece, Strong Towns! Congratulations, Brattleboro, VT! Your story, your resilience, and how you "dance" together is inspiring!

This is actually why I loved living in Hong Kong. Very concentrated central city, but nature very accessible right around it. I didn’t expect this before living there.

Great video. But I think if you showed a map and explain a bit about the land use patters of the town it would've been even more interesting. Thanks!

Really enjoyed my time in Vermont. Many of the cities that I had been to in Vermont are pretty similar to this community. Really wish more states would try and follow this example.

@gyandevi3361

7 ай бұрын

Vermont has the second largest rate per capita of HOMELESSNESS! There aren't any rentals (studio is now $2,000). There is a .4% (less than 1%) vacancy rate. Brattleboro is experiencing one of the worst homelessness crises in the state. If you want to buy? Good luck finding a property. Our real estate rates have risen dramatically since the pandemic. The average price for a home: $408,000 (if you can find it). This video was made before the statewide flooding in July. Finding a rental is virtually impossible.

@Qay

7 ай бұрын

​@@gyandevi3361 I see where you're coming from, but encouraging more of this style of development around the country would help satiate the market and lower the prices in communities like Brattleboro. That's how supply and demand works. Maybe read first before you copy & paste the same thing to any positive comment here?

Thank you for spending so much time in my home! Brattleboro isn’t perfect, not by a long shot, but it’s worth it. It’s worth the effort of overcoming challenges and strengthening our town for the future. There’s so much negative rhetoric around economic struggles impacting everyone after the pandemic gutted social supports. We’re not the only ones facing these issues and it’s imperative we remember those struggling are part of our community. The only thing you missed was how important our local pub is. ❤️ Kiplings Tavern, named after the author who spent his days in the area.

@Observer_Effect

7 ай бұрын

And - let's let it keep the same population roughly! The unsustainable cancerous idea of unfettered capitalism has people thinking anything can grow forever. Like Brattleboro now?! Keep it more like it is now. People should move in and out, be born and die ---- but it doesn't have to GROW. The Starbucks/Apple Store/etc vibe will find active hostility here.

Good for these people, very good!. Greetings from The Netherlands 👍👍

Personally this is why I love WV so much. I'm originally from a Philadelphia suburb, but when looking for colleges I decided to go to WVU, and part of that decision was for Morgantown itself, which shares a lot of similarities with the towns discussed here. It's not perfect by any means, but WV's unique topography kind of forces towns to be small and dense, which is great as lots of amenities are close by, why simultaneously being close to nature and being in vast forests just within a few minutes drive.

@gamerman7276

7 ай бұрын

If I move out to the country it's either gonna be to VT or WV.

This led me to google, where I discovered I could move from Oakland, CA to Brattleboro, VT. Not only would it DOUBLE the sq footage of my current place, but I would go from 1 to 3 bedrooms, 1 to 1.5 bathrooms, an in unit washer/Dryer + dishwasher AND that place is $100 cheaper than my 1 bdrm here in Oakland. I just wanna shout-out yourself and not just bikes for all the wonderful videos on strong towns!

@julianallen515

7 ай бұрын

Could you thrive in the winters? I couldn't.

@MatthewSpencerKociol

7 ай бұрын

LOL, as a former Californian, can I just say this is why the rest of the country hates us. We Californians move out of CA and we just end up jacking up the prices of housing everywhere else. It's not our fault that California is the 6th largest economy on Earth.

@bnobriga2

7 ай бұрын

@@julianallen515 That's a decent point. I lived in Reno for a bit and the snow/ice was the least enjoyable part. Snow I have learned is fun to visit, not fun to be trapped in. For some reason I just didn't think it would get too snowy up there but they are pretty far North.

@bnobriga2

7 ай бұрын

@@gcvrsa I have been, either lucky or unlucky depending, enough to be medically retired in my late 20s. So as long as the living expenses in the area aren't more than the Bay Area that wouldn't be an issue.

As a native New Hampshirite I love seeing my neighbor state on here ! Love VT and I love brattleboro ! As a kid I used to go see my family in CT every other weekend and we would always stop in brattleboro for lunch on the way . My sister also lives in ct so when we get her kids to have em up here in nh brattleboro is also always the meeting place . Such a lovely place !

Brattleboro seems to have quite a high percentage of good looking people. 🌹

I often stop here for lunch on the way to/back from skiing up in Vermont and I have to say Brattleboro is insanely underrated. the resturant ive eaten at like 3 times is actually in the drone shot at 0:48, on the right along the waterfront.

What an adorable little town, full of beautiful people!

Infill development is always a challenge - developers are hesitant, neighbours can be resistant, so often the result is only a trickle of new housing. I will be watching Brattleboro closely to see if they are able to lower housing costs with infill, it will be very impressive if they can pull this off.

@andrew8501

7 ай бұрын

That's one of Vermont's biggest problems. The place is a NIMBY stronghold. I drove up and down Vermont 20 times and there were never signs of development.

Back when I lived in New England, it was nice to visit Brattleboro. It was a lovely small town with good design.

Mind you, those long meetings are about real on-the-ground issues, not politics, not misc fake crap. Real discussions, no threats or BS. Go Bratt! We LOVE it here!!! Could sure use more affordable housing though.

This is exactly the kind of place I want to live in. Give me some acerage and the ability to grow food for those in the community and a place to share laughs and food and it's perfect

This is so incredible! So nice to see positive examples in America.

Living in Texas I don’t get to see this stuff much. I did go to Lancaster pa and omg that place was a strong town!

The "what kind of organs" with the restaurant sign in the background got me good

9:24 This is the way things were in many more places in the past. There were not the geographical divides along income lines. It is hard to avoid negativity in a community the more extreme the difference between wealthy and very modest incomes becomes. We have also been marketed to and atomized in such a way as to increase corporate profit, but to the detriment of community.

@Observer_Effect

7 ай бұрын

"Hard"? Within naked bloodthirsty capitalism's options . . . there is no way for it to happen. The wealthier, incoming, would have to really give immediately - a lot - to the community. "Trickle down" from buying your house and groceries here is laughable. Both sides are going to be increasingly self-righteous and angry. And it will continue to split the community. And crime, including violence, are going to continue to skyrocket.

@barryrobbins7694

7 ай бұрын

@@Observer_Effect Sweden does a much better job at overcoming the major defects in capitalism by having less capitalism. There are more billionaires per capita in Sweden than in the United States. Yet, their richest person has “only” $17 billion. They also don’t have the extreme poverty as in many parts of the United States. Sweden apparently realizes that market forces don’t solve every problem. Perhaps the belief that anyone can “earn” a billion dollars should be classified as a mental illness.

I live in San Francisco and run into people I know all the time. I think it all depends on what sort of neighborhood do you live in when you lie in a big city. My neighborhood is dense but still very "neighborhoody" and there are lots of familiar faces. Also making an effort to meet people as vital anywhere you live

Brattleboro seems interesting, and even very nice in its own way … but to be honest it’s FAR from my ideal of a place to live! I suppose I’m a city kid through and through, so Brattleboro seems much too sleepy:for my tastes. My idea of heaven is a first-story walk-up in a multi-family five-story courtyard low-rise, in a medium-density part of a major metropolis, maybe one half-block from two major bus transit arteries, with three major parks I can walk to in under two-to-five minutes (one of them having gardening allotments available to rent), with a bank, a post office, an urgent care clinic, a guitar shop, three bookshops, two thrifts shops, three supermarkets, several restaurants, one decent pub, and a cinema all within five-to-ten walking minutes from me, just eight blocks from the beach, and three blocks from the metro which during rush hour takes me to the heart of the metropolis in well under an hour - why, I was at one of the world’s major museums just this afternoon, on a passing whim! “I want to see a Chagall window!” thought I … and one short hour and a slice-of-pizza-on-the-way later, there I was in front of a Marc Chagall window!! I wish my branch library hadn’t been shuttered by my short-sighted city, and my favorite nearby used record shop went out of business, and the nearby fabric shop and hobby shop both moved away, plus after nearly thirty happy years I’m afraid the yuppies moving in will within the decade price me out of my own neighborhood … but it’s been a good run. Maybe I’ll try Paris next, their efforts to pedestrianize look promising. In any event, I think my point is: for some of us, having a few million people as neighbors is pretty swell, Boris de Vincennes or Lincoln Park or Central Park are plenty of nature, and if we just got rid of the cars, Paris or Chicago or New York City could be paradise!!

Words cannot describe how shocked I was to hear Connecticut. Then I found out it was Vermont. Yeah, makes sense

@Lactuca

7 ай бұрын

CT has some great small city urbanism! New London and Middletown are good examples that really need some love. And then of course New Haven and parts of Hartford (the parts they didn't bulldoze)

@ratking927

7 ай бұрын

@@Lactuca true. I think we have potential in some areas. New Haven is really cute but very far from a feeling of community. Our class tensions make it hard. It doesn’t feel as close knit.

Don’t let money focused suburb developers destroy this. Please don’t !!

Great story. Thanks for continuing to find these places and tell their stories. We get two things: first, we get examples of what has worked in different places; second we get hope that things can be better and that our effort in our own communities is worth the work. I do have one complaint: we really need to differentiate between "suburban" and "sprawl." Suburbs are the relatively complete places that may either have developed due to the strength of a larger urban center very near by, or that were previously independent and complete villages that have been connected to the larger urban center very near by. Sprawl is not a synonym for suburb. Spraw was the invention of building incomplete places that are typified by endless miles of residential subdivisions that are dependent on the use of automobiles, which then spawned the other inventions of the strip mall and single use districts that again depend on the use of the automobile. When we use the word "suburb" to describe the places that have done so much damage to our economy, culture, and environment, we are distancing and alienating the people who live in excellent communities - places that are often part of the solution. These places are part of the solution, not the problem. The word "suburb" did not come from the description of sprawl nonplaces. It came from the development of the network of shorter rail lines that connected the villages that circled New York City, which were built on a level created below the level at Grand Central Terminal that connected to other cities: the urban level. The level below became known as the "suburban" level. If we can include the people who live in a place like the Rivertowns along the Hudson north of NYC - complete communities that are walkable and not dependent upon the automobile - as part of the solution, we will have an easier time convincing them to manage there communities that reinforces what it takes to be a Strongtown. If we alienate them by saying that we oppose suburbs, we risk convincing them that they are not urban places. Since they cannot be considered rural, they become vulnerable to sprawl land use patterns as they grow, if they do not recognize themselves as being urban.

Wonderfully produced, thank you for sharing!

This town reminds me of the street i live in. Very well connected and open. Only i live in the netherlands. This town looks great!

This town is eerily similar to Viroqua Wisconsin! There are definitely improvements to be made, but it's so good to see what Viroqua could do! This is amazing! ❤️

By far your most relaxing video yet. Super inspiring.

This is how a lot of towns in New England are, I love it. Once you get away from the old US you get the more suburban Midwest/south and even worse the urban sprawl of the west.

the only thing missing is a cute tram line going north/south

I looked into their zoning laws and was pleasantly surprised. Their "residential zones" actually have flexibility in them to allow housing stock to grow with town population. The following are permitted uses from their site: "Single-unit detached dwelling Rooming or boarding house, Single-unit attached dwelling Retirement housing, Accessory dwelling Nature or recreational park, Duplex (2 units) Bus stop shelter, Triplex (3 units) Utility structures, Quadraplex (4 units) Communication antenna, Multi-unit dwellings (5 or more units) in existing residential buildings Agriculture and forestry". The zone also CONDITIONALLY allows things like small shops ONLY on two streets out of the hundreds that are there. Also a nice mixed use zone sprouting out from the downtown (Urban Center) district, but I have a feeling if I were to go look at historical satelite, those were probably there for a long time and got grandfathered in and it was then surrounded by the residential district and choked its growth. Ultimatley I feel like that if the time ever came where the Urban Center would need to grow to accomodate the larger population, I am doubtful the residents would allow it to happen. Still, this town has things set up much better than most.

Thank you for this!

I want to visit this beautiful town! thanks for sharing

I get the sense that Brattleboro is blessed with a strong tourism industry and a high value industry (healthcare) that really helps this.

As someone that has been looking for a new home in a new state for the past year, Brattleboro was at the top of my list. Unfortunately, the home prices are out of reach for a lot of people. That's even if you can find a single family home as it's mostly just multi-family homes for sale. Nothing against multi-family homes, but the prices for them are too much for even fixer uppers. If you are looking for affordable homes in small towns (50k population or less) with goals similar to strong towns (we're talking currently walkable/bikeable, some form of transit, homes that most could afford, and a community+city council aiming to push strong town values), here is my list in no particular order: Auburn & Lewiston, ME Pittsfield, MA Rutland, VT Mt Pleasant, MI Alpena, MI Marquette, MI Sheboygan, WI All have the con of being small so don't expect big change to happen like you would see in a city like Madison, WI, but I can't even afford a shoe box in a city like Madison. Drugs are a problem in Pittsfield and Rutland, but Brattleboro suffers the same con.

@MatthewSpencerKociol

7 ай бұрын

Pittsfield like most towns in Western Mass definitely have some serious issues going on, mostly poverty and lack of jobs. Throw in the high cost of living and it's a hot mess!!

@TurtleKnite

7 ай бұрын

I mean, like they mentioned in the video, there is a critical shortage of housing. My wife is a case manager in one of the Homeless Shelters and its absolutely brutal trying to find permanent housing for people. We were looking to buy in Brat but got outpriced and outbid on 2 different houses before we settled across the river in nearby Keene, which also has a lovely downtown but has succumbed a bit more to sprawl.

@TurtleKnite

7 ай бұрын

I just wish we had a bus system as usuable as the Moover is. Brat proves that you CAN have usable public transportation in more rural spaces, and I desperately want Keene to expand its Citybus routes to be as functional.

@JF-xq6fr

Ай бұрын

Alpena huh? Been there twice looking around for a retirement landing spot, but the vibe... Both times left me with a feeling of folks who do not want you there. Really should not matter, but it does. The town for its size is amazing for what it has, and the natural surroundings are so beautiful, remote, quiet laid-back and the entire area was so clean! I feel so drawn to the area and wish the vibe felt more welcoming.

Wow, amazing! I used to live across the border in Greenfield and always loved Brattleboro. Got engaged to my partner there two weeks ago! There are a lot of wonderful small towns like this in Western Massachusetts and Vermont

This was such a great video. I stumbled on it but it was an excellent piece of journalism. Well written, well shot, very well edited. Particularly loved the shot of riding alongside the child on his bike. I don’t think I could deal with the winter snow in Vermont to live there (SC here) but I’m definitely putting this town on my to-visit list!

This town is special. I wish I could live here honestly. I hope as they expand, they don't lose their connections and also the aesthetic. I hope for their infill densification projects they look at doing something like mass timber buildings, with maybe brick facades for the ground floors. Keep the character, but also stay very in touch with the nature. They could also do rooftop garden spaces to help maintain the food production for the additional people, plus perhaps be useful for people like me who like to garden but due to disabilities can't really do very hilly terrain. I think this town has a fantastic balance of urban and rural and is truly a bit of a time capsule.

Amazing video highlighting a beautiful town!

Really appreciated the format of this video highlighting all of the benefits of this lifestyle and beautiful scenery shots. Reminded me of my college town Athens, OH which has a tight knit community like this outside of the student population. Also Lancaster, PA is an extremely enjoyable historic town w/ modern amenities that I would recommend checking out!

The access to both natural environment and urban living is exactly why I chose to live in Juneau Alaska. I appreciate this video exploring the reasons this combo is wonderful... and it comes with planning challenges.

15:30 @CityNerd cameo!

As a European, I always hear about how "everyone wants to move to the US because it is so much better here..." but really, it is not! And this is actually the first video of my entire life that actually convinced me that there is a place that I would have loved to move in to! You really can see the community, the love and happiness people find from this town.

@wrong1029

7 ай бұрын

@@brianog5267 They're all expensive relative to neighboring towns due to scarcity. And these types of towns almost always have colonial roots, so they primarily exist on the east coast.

@saratemp790

7 ай бұрын

America is better than Europe in ways that tourists don't get understand. We have a better experience with our schools, with our colleges. Young people after college working in urban cities can have a lot of fun. Having space in the suburbs can also be good when you have a young family. So there are a lot of advantages living in the US, that European tourists don't get to appreciate.

@isfernandez914

7 ай бұрын

@@saratemp790 I'm terribly sorry but have you ever been to Europe? We do have suburbs, we do have Urban centres and the schools are free here with the same level of education as with the America. Here in Prague, you have anything xou could want (school, grocer's, parks, doctors, etc.) in a walkable distance and if not so, I you can easily take the convenient, comfortable and cheap public transport. When I used to live in Vancouver Canada, (not the US but somewhat comparable I think) we had to take the car everywhere and the amount of homeless people was staggering. Now I do believe there are good places to live in the US, and this video is an great example of such, which I would love to move in to, however those are the exceptions, not the rule.

@kaytobe

7 ай бұрын

❤❤ But that’s because the Vermont town centers that do exist, exist because they were designed as “New England”. We still have the same suburban sprawl challenges as the rest of the country but historical building practices combined with participatory democracy has kept it in check. On the other hand we have serious housing issues and connectivity issues to larger areas from an alternative transportation perspective. New England has serious issues ahead to keep the rural character and do infill development that people sometimes resist. Also we are losing our family farms, though some come to replace others there are a lot of issues around that.

@rixatrix

7 ай бұрын

As an American, I will say the American propaganda system is strong and starts at birth. I often wish we had more towns like the ones I’ve visited in Europe-walkable, pretty, with spaces people of all income levels can enjoy. There are plenty of good things about America (diversity, natural beauty, friendly people, industry) but European cities have a lot of elements that make everyday life more beautiful, meaningful, and connected. In America, to live in a town with lovely old architecture, well-tended parks, and neighborhoods with shops just down a tree-lined street, you need to be wealthy. Everything here is about how much money you have.

Great job presenting Brattleboro!

The problem with the coop is that usually you dont get to choose what vegetables you get, and if you arent a lover of all veggies it can result in some food waste :(

Wow, I actually stopped by here while passing thru for work - 7 years ago! It was a beautifully quaint community and truly felt like a home

❤Well done. Real Community of good people. Thank you, keep up the good work!😊

Wow, it looked beautiful that time of year.

Easton, Maryland is my hometown and also an amazing example of a great rural town. The actual downtown area of the town is walkable, and I often walked home from school or walked to a coffee shop from my house. There are suburban elements outside the town, but the council has expanded the walking trail in the center of the town to branch out to reach local shopping centers.

Love this town and I'm sure there's many more examples all over the country. You could do a whole series on them

This place looks so beautiful ❤

Can you do a video on placemaking? Like show a successful process from start to finish. People need to see how much a small group of people can do.

Yay Vermont!! I’ve lived in Windham county almost my whole life and am a student in Brattleboro. It really is an amazing town with a lot of rural charm with urban density, it really is a wonderful place and I’m glad I’m so close to it!

Never would have thought a KZread video about my home town would be so interesting lol

I grew up on the other side of the state and my town is dying or will be once the retirees start dying. It's sad because it was once a thriving farming community (when I was a kid, there were something like 40 small, family farms. There is now just 1). I can no longer live in such an area but it will always be home to me. It (like much of the state) is a great place to visit.

Beautiful and inspiring video.

Great story. Very uplifting!

I disagree with them not being perfect for arguing. To me, a real strong town is where people sit down together to discuss, instead of hating one another from afar. Discussion and arguing is a cornerstone to any healthy relationship, let alone community. Way to go Brattleboro!

Strong towns has been killing it lately. This is fantastic content that should be shown all over the country

As a New England resident i can say that is feels like so many small towns here. And thats amazing. I graduated in 2010 and my class was 86 kids, and that was in Massachusetts. I love New England for towns like this, and when i explore other parts of tye country nothing makes me feel more home then a town like Brattleboro VT or Douglas Massachusetts or a number of other tight knit towns

LETS GOO VERMONT, the state is honestly pretty good for development althoughout. I currently live on the UVM campus in Burlington and have pretty decent walk ability to the whole city. I can comfortably walk or bike all throughout. I would love to see a video on it sometime

I love the towns in Vermont! When I visit all the towns feel like they have so much community! Burlington is so nice too, very walkable if you live near downtown.

I like many things about this town. Community, farm markets, walkable downtown, interesting shops, and fresh groceries, but I don’t see many people walking or riding their bicycles around. It still looks like many people are getting around by their cars, which makes sense if they live out in the countryside. I see most people driving through the town with their cars, it seems they should make the four blocks of the walkable downtown closed to cars in my opinion

My wife and I are watching this and we felt in love. We wish to move here and live the rest of our life as retirees. Please can you find out more cities like this. Subscribed.