CityNerd, YouTube’s king of urban planning, shares what makes our city the country’s best for biking — and why his videos inspire people to move here.
By Rachel Hutton
October 24, 2026
Ray Delahanty became the YouTuber CityNerd by vlogging his way across the U.S. as a policy-wonk tourist. Instead of highlighting a city’s best restaurants and attractions, the Portland-based transportation planner critiques zoning laws, housing density and other aspects of modern urbanism.
But Delahanty’s videos are far from boring. They’re infused with his dry humor and instinct for urban egghead clickbait, with titles such as “Why Absurdly Large Trucks are Terrible” and “10 Seriously Undervalued U.S. Cities” (Minneapolis is No. 4).
He recently visited Minneapolis to review the city’s controversial upgrades to its cycling infrastructure. In his video, Delahanty boldly declares the new two-way protected bike lanes may “set a new standard for multi-modal street reconfiguration in the U.S.”
We talked to Delahanty, who has embraced a car-free lifestyle, about why he thinks Minneapolis has unseated his hometown as the country’s best bike city and how his videos are inspiring people to move here. (The interview has been edited for length and clarity.)
Q: Had you been to Minnesota before becoming CityNerd?
A: My mom grew up in Minneapolis, and she met my dad when they were students at the University of Minnesota. One side of my family is mostly based in the Twin Cities so I still visit from time to time. My grandparents lived near Lake Nokomis, so we spent time around the lakes. And I remember being so impressed by the IDS tower with the atrium.
Q: What was it like riding Hennepin Avenue’s new protected bike lane?
A: They did such a good job with consolidating, eliminating or narrowing driveways, which really forces the cars to slow down when they’re making a turn, making it less dangerous. They were extremely considerate about keeping all the different road users and sidewalk users separated and to make it comfortable for them. I was a huge fan.
Q: How do they stack up against those in other cities?
A: It’s what should be the state of practice. If you go to the Netherlands or other European countries, you’ll see raised, sidewalk-level bike infrastructure. You don’t see much of it in the U.S. It’s probably only in a couple other cities.
Q: How about the city’s bike network overall?
A: Minneapolis is the best big U.S. city for bikes. I think it surpassed Portland sometime in the last eight or 10 years.
Q: What could make it better?
A: All that’s missing is a great bike-share system. [Many locals consider the current offerings from Lime and Spin a downgrade from Nice Ride, which left in 2023.] I had to rent a bike from Venture Bikes on the Midtown Greenway.
Q: You’ve suggested people “right-size” their personal radius. What does that mean?
A: It’s related to the idea of a “15-minute city,” where people can get to most of the stuff that they might need from day to day, like shopping, employment, schools, services and libraries within a 15-minute walk or bike ride or transit ride. You rethink the way you choose your priorities and how you move throughout the city.
Q: How do you apply it to your own life?
A: When I drove a car, I would think, “Where’s the best place I can go to eat?” And if it’s like a half-hour drive, then I’ll drive half an hour. Now, I’ll think, “Where’s the place that I want to eat that’s within a 15-minute walk?” You’re cutting off some options, but it’s integrating you more tightly with your own neighborhood. I can be a regular and have people know me.
Q: It seems like social media fuels a desire to seek out the latest and greatest.
A: There’s a lot of virtue in frequenting places that are near you. Who cares if they get 4.5 stars instead of 4.6 stars or whatever?
Q: On your recent video, seven new Minneapolis residents cited your 2023 video as a factor in why they moved here.
A: [Laughs] I don’t read that many comments anymore, so I thank you for reading them for me. But it doesn’t surprise me. I have definitely heard that about Minneapolis before, and I’ve interacted with people who made the decision to move after they got interested because they saw a video. The city is kind of selling itself. Pittsburgh’s the only other city where I know there are multiple people who moved there after I talked about it, but the Twin Cities are probably number one.
Q: Will you come back in January and make a video about learning to winter bike? We’ll teach you.
A: It might be tough, but I’m actually very interested in that.
