Justin Roczniak

Justin Gibs Roczniak (/ˌrɑːzniːæk/), also known through his YouTube alias donoteat01, is an American structural engineer, YouTuber and podcaster. He is known for his political commentary through the video game Cities: Skylines and as the co-host of podcast Well There's Your Problem.

Personal life

Roczniak is a structural engineer and lives in Philadelphia. He considers himself to be a socialist.

He is part of the Philly Transit Riders Union

YouTube career

On his YouTube channel donoteat01, Roczniak uploads videos on Cities: Skylines, using the game to explain the politics and power behind the construction of American cities. In the videos, he constructs case studies of urban development, discussing topics like public housing, slum clearance, and parking minimums. His main YouTube series is Franklin, where he discusses the historical development of cities through the fictional city of Franklin.

He co-hosts the engineering disaster podcast Well There’s Your Problem, which was initially an offshoot of his YouTube channel. It has been characterised by Hyperallergic magazine as exposing "the darkly humorous side of capitalism destroying bridges, dams, and more" and was praised by Patrick Yocum of the Boston Ballet as being a "sarcastic and dry conversation about some of the most ridiculous and occasionally tragic accidents, blunders, miscommunications and societal failures that make the world of big engineering projects so fascinating and scary".

Although Roczniak initially intended for his videos to focus on the history first and foremost, rather than be political, he has stated that it would not be possible to discuss history in an apolitical manner, as he considers it an "absurd standard" to hold history to.

Advocacy

Throughout his works, Justin Roczniak has advocated for many positions, such as increasing unionization, changes to urban design, rent control, and railroad nationalization.