How Urban Planning Shapes Our Cities and Lives

CrashCourse

This educational video from Crash Course Geography explores the complex world of urban planning and how the design of our cities reflects deeper social, political, and economic relationships. The host, Alizé Carrère, guides viewers through the concepts of 'built environments' and 'urban geography,' illustrating how cities are not just collections of buildings but physical manifestations of cultural values and power dynamics. The video uses specific models and historical examples to demonstrate how planning decisions impact residents' lives, often reinforcing existing inequalities. Key themes include the Latin American City Model, which highlights the lasting impact of colonialism on urban structure, and a detailed case study of Brasília, a planned city that aimed for a utopian future but encountered the messy reality of human growth. The video also tackles difficult topics in North American urban history, specifically addressing 'white flight,' the construction of the interstate highway system, redlining, and urban renewal. These segments explain how systemic racism was engineered into the physical landscape of American cities. For educators, this video is an invaluable resource for connecting physical geography to social justice and history. It provides concrete examples of abstract concepts like 'zones of disamenity' and 'eminent domain.' Teachers can use this video to spark critical discussions about how their own students' neighborhoods were designed, compare different models of urban living, and analyze how historical policies continue to shape current economic realities.