• conditional_soup@lemm.ee
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      11 months ago

      I’d dead ass live in a commie block. I hosted a Russian exchange kid, he said it was close, but he liked his commie block better than the single family housing we had. Mainly because there are shops on the bottom floor and public transit just outside, so it was really convenient and you basically don’t have to drive anywhere ever.

      • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆OP
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        11 months ago

        Can confirm, I grew up in a commie block in Moscow and it was great. There was a big park downstairs where all the neighbourhood kids played. School was 15 min walking distance, stores, etc. You basically didn’t even need public transit day to day. Designing cities around microdistricts is absolutely the way to go.

        • lemat_87
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          11 months ago

          In Poland, we also had architects who designed such communities in 50’s or 60’s. Shops, drugstores, medical centers, playgrounds, recreation parks, sometimes much more, like kindergartens – all just downstairs. Mini-districts, almost self-sufficient. Maybe not everywhere, but I think this mindset was in all cities. Now we have something what Poles call “pato-developer” – extremely small apartments for high price, almost no shops so you need to sit at least an hour in a car to buy larger grocery. About 5 m^2 and 2-3 basic toys for kids to spend most of their time. And of course no recreation park, since CAR park is far more important. Today’s ideas about 15 min cities are noble, but just reinvention.

    • LeniX
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      11 months ago

      And they weren’t even that depressing, really. Many looked pretty nice when they were new, with the flowers and the foliage around them. Some of them even have murals made of tiles

      • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆OP
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        11 months ago

        Agreed, the whole trope of commie blocs being depressing is mostly just propaganda. It’s the same as Russia always being grey and in perpetual winter in movies.