New Urbanist Memes for Transit-Oriented Teens, also known as NUMTOT or Numtots and variations by its members, is a Facebook group dedicated to discussion,

Internet meme An Internet meme, commonly known simply as a meme ( ), is an idea, behavior, style, or image that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. What is considered a meme may vary across different communities on the Internet ...

s, and general discourse surrounding New Urbanism and public transport. , the group has more than 227,000 members. The group was created in March 2017 as "New Urbanist Shitposting", and was intended as a spin-off to another Facebook group, dedicated to maps and cartographic jokes. Reception of New Urbanist Memes for Transit-Oriented Teens is generally positive, with mentions that the group has inspired its members to take urban planning courses and apply for internships and jobs. The group's members have created about 20 to 50 spin-off groups related to the original.

History

Originally titled "New Urbanist Shitposting", the group was co-founded by Juliet Eldred, then a college senior at the University of Chicago; Emily Orenstein, a junior classmate; and Jonathan Marty of New York University; on March 14, 2017, during their Winter Quarter final exams. It was a spin-off of another Facebook group "I Feel Personally Attacked by this Relatable Map," run by Eldred and Orenstein, which concerned

GIS A geographic information system (GIS) is a type of database containing Geographic data and information, geographic data (that is, descriptions of phenomena for which location is relevant), combined with Geographic information system software, sof ...

and mapping humor. Its formation was spurred by a discussion of the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act of 1956. On January 15, 2020, the NUMTOT "administrative board" (group administrators Juliet Eldred, Jonathan Marty, and Emily Orenstein, and group moderators William Clark and Sebastian Beaghen) announced their endorsement of Bernie Sanders for President of the United States.

Content

The group's content is user-submitted. As of March 2018, each post requires moderator approval. Posts include either

s, links, news articles, and popular culture references. Internet memes have been related to Amtrak, '' Dungeons & Dragons'', urbanist Jane Jacobs, New York City planner

Robert Moses Robert Moses (December 18, 1888 – July 29, 1981) was an American urban planner and public official who worked in the New York metropolitan area during the early to mid 20th century. Despite never being elected to any office, Moses is regarded ...

, and Thomas the Tank Engine among other related topics. The group's custom URL on Facebook is "whatwouldjanejacobsdo".

Forum Forum or The Forum (plural forums or fora) may refer to: Common uses * Forum (legal), designated space for public expression in the United States *Forum (Roman), open public space within a Roman city **Roman Forum, most famous example *Internet ...

administrators and moderators include co-founders Orenstein, Marty, and Eldred. '' Chicago'' magazine noted that the group has a strong left-wing political orientation, "imploring for public funds dedicated to transit, at a high cost to the rich." , Eldred estimates there are 300 posts per day. Orenstein notes 40% of the membership is 18–25 years-old, while 25% work in transit-related fields. '' The Guardian'' stated it was "predominantly

millennials Millennials, also known as Generation Y or Gen Y, are the Western demographic cohort following Generation X and preceding Generation Z. Researchers and popular media use the early 1980s as starting birth years and the mid-1990s to early 2000 ...

." Since the ''

CityLab ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

'' coverage, Orenstein reported there was an "uptick in ' market urbanist types'." As of March 2018, its

cover photo Cover art is a type of artwork presented as an illustration or photograph on the outside of a published product such as a book (often on a dust jacket), magazine, newspaper ( tabloid), comic book, video game (box art), music album (album art ...

is a member-designed satirical map wherein each station is labelled with a reference to the group's myriad in-jokes.

Reactions

Reception

Reception for the group has been generally positive. ''Angles from the CPJ'' described New Urbanist Memes for Transit-Oriented Teens as "a Facebook group to provide for the dearth of urbanist memes of the internet." ''Chicago'' said its "most hilarious moments happen when these streams converge, applying elbow-patched academic remove to nonexistent objects of pop-culture speculation." ''

'' called the group "a place to get engaged with matters of profound importance to local communities." The student newspaper '' The Heights'' remarked that the co-founder of spin-off group Boston College Memes for Jesuit Tweens "enjoys the content posted in

he group He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

" The '' Montana Kaimin'' mentioned the group in an opinion piece for Neo-Luddism. '' The Spectrum'' included NUMTOT among "part of a rise in niche Facebook groups that are often light-hearted" with Cone Spotting and Dogspotting. '' Chicago StreetsBlog'' noted that "

has U. of C. ( University of Chicago) roots."

Internal dissent

In Autumn 2017, Eldred requested group members to compensate the moderation for emotional labor via Venmo which was met with a critical reception. Eldred said "There have been times where it's like we're being asked to moderate the

Israeli–Palestinian conflict The Israeli–Palestinian conflict is one of the world's most enduring conflicts, beginning in the mid-20th century. Various attempts have been made to resolve the conflict as part of the Israeli–Palestinian peace process, alongside other ef ...

in a group about, you know, trains." There has also been criticism about political orientation of the group. Eldred said "the

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

s complain that the group is too

neoliberal Neoliberalism (also neo-liberalism) is a term used to signify the late 20th century political reappearance of 19th-century ideas associated with free-market capitalism after it fell into decline following the Second World War. A prominent fa ...

, and the market urbanists complain that the group is too communist. A lot of people will rag on the mods for being centrists. And most of us are socialists."

Impact

The group has inspired a number of actions. Members have been inspired to take urban planning courses, apply for internships and jobs for city halls and United States Department of Transportation, and organize local meetups to discuss discourse. Eldred recruited members to her Democratic Socialists of America local chapter. On January 15, 2020, NUMTOT administrators decided to endorse

Bernie Sanders Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician who has served as the junior United States senator from Vermont since 2007. He was the U.S. representative for the state's at-large congressional district from 1991 to 2007 ...

in the

2020 Democratic presidential primaries Presidential primaries and caucuses were organized by the Democratic Party to select the 3,979 pledged delegates to the 2020 Democratic National Convention held on August 17–20 to determine the party's nominee for president in the 2020 Unit ...

, praising his “message of peace, equity, and justice.” The reasons cited include Sanders’ support for building 10 million affordable housing units, making Section 8 housing assistance for low-income families an entitlement, national rent control, creating a National Housing Agency to combat housing discrimination, the Green New Deal, and investing $300 billion in public transport. In response, Sanders himself joined the group and thanked the group in a post, saying, “thank you NUMTOT for your support of our campaign, and for all you are doing to create the lasting and fundamental change our country needs”.

Spin-offs

Eldred says there are between 20 and 50 spin-offs, such as " 7000-Series Memes for Congressionally Disenfranchised Teens" (for Washington, D.C.), "Form and Function Memes for Architectural Teens," "Old Urbanist Memes for Chariot Riding Teens", "Pre-Columbian Memes for Maize-Cultivating Teens," “Dank Neotraditional Architecture Memes for Premodern Teens”, "Two-Wheeled Memes for Bicycled-Oriented Teens", "Southwest Transit Memes for Desert-Oriented Teens", and "Amchad Memes for American Rail Apologist Teens". A subreddit on Reddit where the participants create rapid transit systems based on the location of

Subway Subway, Subways, The Subway, or The Subways may refer to: Transportation * Subway, a term for underground rapid transit rail systems * Subway (underpass), a type of walkway that passes underneath an obstacle * Subway (George Bush Interconti ...

restaurant franchises, called "subwaysubway", was inspired by a NUMTOT group discussion. An

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

account using the NUMTOTs handle was created to share popular memes in the group on the platform. The group is unaffiliated with the original NUMTOTs group.

References

External links

* {{Facebook, groups/732590680233889, Official page
Associated book group
2017 establishments in the United States Facebook groups Internet-based activism Transport websites Internet properties established in 2017 New Urbanism Organizations established in 2017 Political Internet forums Political Internet memes Youth activists Works about rail transport