“Commie blocks” can be quite nice if renovated and repaired regularly. The big problem with them is when they’re basically left to rot, with elevators that haven’t been inspected in over 2 decades, corroded water pipes, and jury-rigged electricals.
Edit: Should also probably mention that tenement blocks were absolutely perfect for their explicit goal: building pretty decent housing cheaply and quickly for post WW2 countries flattened by war.
And they provide high-density housing where everyone lives close to public transit and few people need a car. Then, your work, a mall, a park etc. can be three tram stops away.
I’m sure they do. They’re used in basically every country, to a greater or lesser degree. It just seems that when talking about a formerly or currently communist country, tenement blocks suddenly become “commie blocks”, as if it’s a uniquely Soviet style of housing or something.
They are not “commie blocks” they are an architectural design referred to as brutalist which was used around the world at the time. And their disrepair is on par and quite familiar to those of us familiar with tenements and slumlords in wealthy Nations. So it’s got nothing to do with Communism of any stripe.
“Commie blocks” can be quite nice if renovated and repaired regularly. The big problem with them is when they’re basically left to rot, with elevators that haven’t been inspected in over 2 decades, corroded water pipes, and jury-rigged electricals.
Edit: Should also probably mention that tenement blocks were absolutely perfect for their explicit goal: building pretty decent housing cheaply and quickly for post WW2 countries flattened by war.
And they provide high-density housing where everyone lives close to public transit and few people need a car. Then, your work, a mall, a park etc. can be three tram stops away.
South Koreans live in blocks too you know.
I’m sure they do. They’re used in basically every country, to a greater or lesser degree. It just seems that when talking about a formerly or currently communist country, tenement blocks suddenly become “commie blocks”, as if it’s a uniquely Soviet style of housing or something.
They are not “commie blocks” they are an architectural design referred to as brutalist which was used around the world at the time. And their disrepair is on par and quite familiar to those of us familiar with tenements and slumlords in wealthy Nations. So it’s got nothing to do with Communism of any stripe.