YouTuber Daniel Steiner Explains Why Major City Maps Look the Way They Do

YouTuber Daniel Steiner's map explainer series connects abstract city maps to on-the-ground urban reality. He uses current and historical maps to show why street networks and neighborhood boundaries formed, and travels to cities to meet experts who point out physical traces of urban evolution. Examples include Roman London (Londinium), a Tokyo overpass where old Japanese roads converged, a surveyor's rod from Manhattan's original grid in Central Park, and Amsterdam's contours before its canals. Steiner has returned to New York for videos on Broadway, Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Staten Island. His Los Angeles video ends with a call for more subject requests. Other American cities covered include Chicago, Seattle, and Savannah, Georgia. He also explained how Mexico City used to be a lake. The series implicitly argues for combining top-down and bottom-up approaches to understanding cities.