# Commieblock neighbourhoods



## koolkid (Apr 17, 2006)

sure, good one.


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## eklips (Mar 29, 2005)

Marseilles in the south of France:


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## Audiomuse (Dec 20, 2005)

We don't have commie block neighborhoods.

We have a few commie block buildings here and there.


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## Yörch1 (Oct 31, 2006)

Commiblocks in Mexico City...


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## Daryae_Abi (Jul 7, 2007)

My whole city is like that :lol:


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## Saigoneseguy (Mar 6, 2005)

Hanoi, Vietnam:


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## -Corey- (Jul 8, 2005)

LMCA1990 said:


> Are the buildings in my complex considered commie blocks :?


Yes, HORRIBLE


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

I don't know why people dislike commieblocks. As long as they're well maintained, functional, surrounded by green spaces and have good transit links I think they're pretty good!


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## Xusein (Sep 27, 2005)

They are OK. The thing that I dislike about commieblocks is that they are monotonous for the most part...they all look the same. AND the people who are the fans of these commieblocks are also big haters of suburbs, which are as cookie cutter. That's why I am glad that they are non-existent here where I live.

I prefer diversity when it comes to urban planning. A few here or there isn't a problem.


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## dhuwman (Oct 6, 2005)

well, commieblocks aren't that attractive, but they provide cheap, efficient housings.


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## Xelebes (Apr 1, 2007)

I'll have to dig up a good photo of Edmonton's Oliver, Grandin and Rossdale neighbourhoods. However, there is too much of a mix of housing there, but still dominated by commieblocks, I guess.


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## -Corey- (Jul 8, 2005)

dhuwman said:


> well, commieblocks aren't that attractive, but they provide cheap, efficient housings.


Yeah, but if you have the money and the houses are "cheaper" in the US (for example), why live in a commiebock like those buildings?? By the way, who live there? Poor people?


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## Daryae_Abi (Jul 7, 2007)

Vrysxy said:


> Yeah, but if you have the money and the houses are "cheaper" in the US (for example), why live in a commiebock like those buildings?? By the way, who live there? Poor people?


Depends on which one
But there is one here called Atisaz (the last picture I posted) which is mostly rich and middle class people.


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## Jünyus Brütüs (Jul 9, 2007)

Svartmetall said:


> I don't know why people dislike commieblocks. As long as they're well maintained, functional, surrounded by green spaces and have good transit links I think they're pretty good!


That's true but unlike normal apartment flats or detached houses they are smaller... Mainly they have 3 rooms, a kitchen, a bathroom and a small balcony which is very depressing. Btw you exposed to listen gossips or screams of your neighbours all the time in a commieblock. Mostly they have depressing architecture style too.


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## nuevo-chicago (Nov 24, 2007)

Vrysxy said:


> Yeah, but if you have the money and the houses are "cheaper" in the US (for example), why live in a commiebock like those buildings?? By the way, who live there? Poor people?


 Mostly criminals live in commieblocks at least here in the states.


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## siamu maharaj (Jun 19, 2006)

I love Commieblocks. Am I weird?


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## Iluminat (Jan 16, 2008)

SiamuRathka said:


> I love Commieblocks. Am I weird?


No I feel the same.


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## Iluminat (Jan 16, 2008)

Daryae_Abi said:


> Depends on which one
> But there is one here called Atisaz (the last picture I posted) which is mostly rich and middle class people.


Same with most c'block neiberhoods in Poland poor people ussualy live in old houses with little sun light.


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## Jonesy55 (Jul 30, 2004)

Vrysxy said:


> Yeah, but if you have the money and the houses are "cheaper" in the US (for example), why live in a commiebock like those buildings?? By the way, who live there? Poor people?


Many people like to live closer to the centre, to facilities etc and often that means living in an apartment (not a commieblock though neccesarily). If everybody lived in a house on a big plot, very few people could live close to the centre and the city would take up a huge area which would then mean that public transport wouldn't work properly and the city woould have to become car dependant. It would also probably mean that the centre would 'die' in favour of retail malls on the outskirts. Understandably, many people don't like this idea.

Commieblocks are often unattractive but they don't have to be, some are quite nice neighbourhoods with lots of greenery and good public transport.

As for who lives there, in Western Europe it is mostly lower income households but in Eastern Europe it seems to be more mixed.


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## eklips (Mar 29, 2005)

Still in Marseilles, the La Rouvière district, photo (and caps) by Chrispic. These buildings are very impressive when you see them for real, unfortunately it's a bit hard to find pics on the net.


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## Turknology (Jan 31, 2007)

SiamuRathka said:


> I love Commieblocks. Am I weird?


Commie blocks always gave me a good feeling.


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## PhilippeMtl (Aug 17, 2005)

eklips said:


> Still in Marseilles, the La Rouvière district, photo (and caps) by Chrispic. These buildings are very impressive when you see them for real, unfortunately it's a bit hard to find pics on the net.


Is this commieblock in IAM old school videoclip Petit frere ?
http://youtube.com/watch?v=l2rEdM5x4DU


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## Daryae_Abi (Jul 7, 2007)

eklips said:


> Still in Marseilles, the La Rouvière district, photo (and caps) by Chrispic. These buildings are very impressive when you see them for real, unfortunately it's a bit hard to find pics on the net.


I love them 
I didn't think France had many of this


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## GM (Feb 29, 2004)

Daryae_Abi said:


> I didn't think France had many of this


France has ton of commieblocks.

Here are some views from my window in Nanterre :


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## Daryae_Abi (Jul 7, 2007)

You live in a nice place. 
I live in the south of Tehran and most of those kind of buildings in Tehran is in the central city.


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## LMCA1990 (Jun 18, 2005)

Another pic of my complex:










My school (graduated though :tongue2: ):


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## -Corey- (Jul 8, 2005)

Jonesy55 said:


> Many people like to live closer to the centre, to facilities etc and often that means living in an apartment (not a commieblock though neccesarily). If everybody lived in a house on a big plot, very few people could live close to the centre and the city would take up a huge area which would then mean that public transport wouldn't work properly and the city woould have to become car dependant. It would also probably mean that the centre would 'die' in favour of retail malls on the outskirts. Understandably, many people don't like this idea.
> 
> Commieblocks are often unattractive but they don't have to be, some are quite nice neighbourhoods with lots of greenery and good public transport.
> 
> As for who lives there, in Western Europe it is mostly lower income households but in Eastern Europe it seems to be more mixed.


I know what u mean, but why do they built those ugly apartment-towers? I mean, if people here in San Diego want to live closer to downtown, they just rent/buy an apartment in a nice tower, we have apartment towers for median-income families and they do not look like those commieblocks from Europe or Asia. Our apartments tower (or condo-towers) look like this.


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## nuevo-chicago (Nov 24, 2007)

^And how much do they cost to rent? 1100 or 1500 just for a one bedroom room? It wouldn't be worth it and those middle-class families that live there are probably more in debt then you could even begin to imagine.


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## eklips (Mar 29, 2005)

PhilippeMtl said:


> Is this commieblock in IAM old school videoclip Petit frere ?
> http://youtube.com/watch?v=l2rEdM5x4DU


Don't know (I'd have to check) but I don't think so. These huge buildings on the cliff are actually a quite wealthy private residence.

Here are some buildings located in the north-east of central Paris called "les orgues de flandre" (don't know if they would be considered commieblocks by the thread starter but they definitely are residential modernist architecture)


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## Daryae_Abi (Jul 7, 2007)

Vrysxy said:


> I know what u mean, but why do they built those ugly apartment-towers? I mean, if people here in San Diego want to live closer to downtown, they just rent/buy an apartment in a nice tower, we have apartment towers for median-income families and they do not look like those commieblocks from Europe or Asia. Our apartments tower (or condo-towers) look like this.


It's too few. And cost a lot to design completely different buildings.
Anyway, buildings are the most beautiful when they are the same


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## eklips (Mar 29, 2005)

Here's a pano showing the towers of Paris' Chinatown.










That's how it looks from inside the district









An urban failure in my opinion, those the view at the top of these towers must be breathtaking.


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## Jünyus Brütüs (Jul 9, 2007)

whhoooaaaawww:eek2:


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## Daryae_Abi (Jul 7, 2007)

I like the right side of the picture!
Post more!


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## Iluminat (Jan 16, 2008)

>


thats fugly...


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## eklips (Mar 29, 2005)

"La grande Motte" resort on the Mediterranean


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## Jaye101 (Feb 16, 2005)

St. Jamestown, Toronto, Canada



















That picture of Paris is interesting. In Toronto, some of the buildings in St. Jamestown are named after Canadian cities.


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## señor cara de papa (Aug 10, 2007)

i made a commie block in sketchup a while ago, what do you think of it :


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## Iluminat (Jan 16, 2008)

add some balconies


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## Xusein (Sep 27, 2005)

Commieblocks in SimCity 4!  :banana:


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## robo_boss (Jun 10, 2007)

eklips said:


> "La grande Motte" resort on the Mediterranean


Do you know what commieblocks are? 'Cause thats not it


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## robo_boss (Jun 10, 2007)

Somewhere in Moscow.


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## goschio (Dec 2, 2002)

A commieblock from Stuttgart/ Germany:


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## -Corey- (Jul 8, 2005)

nuevo-chicago said:


> ^And how much do they cost to rent? 1100 or 1500 just for a one bedroom room? It wouldn't be worth it and those middle-class families that live there are probably more in debt then you could even begin to imagine.


No, it's like US$1600 or US$2600, by the way, San Diego is a rich city not poor.


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## Jonesy55 (Jul 30, 2004)

Vrysxy said:


> No, it's like US$1600 or US$2600, by the way, San Diego is a rich city not poor.


Yeah, so at say $2,000 per month these are not homes for regular working families. That's $24,000 out of net income per year which is a lot even in a fairly rich city like San Diego. You'd have to be earning more than the local median household income ($65,000?) to afford to live in those places unless you want to spend 50% of your income on housing.

Commieblocks and similar apartments enable people on average or below average incomes to live near to the city centre so they are not really aimed at the same demographic.


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## eklips (Mar 29, 2005)

Robo_Boss said:


> Do you know what commieblocks are? 'Cause thats not it


Actually the resort has two sides, one that we see on the picture and one that you only see at the end.

In the one at the end the buildings actually do have a block shape, unfortunately I didn't find any pictures after 10 minutes of google search and still wanted to post it 

You know, commieblock is an expression that was invented on ssc and it does not have a clear definition.


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## de flatneuroot (Sep 11, 2002)

Here a thread about a typical Dutch version of a commieblock district (Flatwijk in dutch).


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## eklips (Mar 29, 2005)

A commieblock district in Villeneuve la Garenne, a parisian suburb


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## Turknology (Jan 31, 2007)

eklips said:


> "La grande Motte" resort on the Mediterranean


I think they're too sophisticated to be commie blocks


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## Jonesy55 (Jul 30, 2004)

I used to live not far from this - I thought it was very cool looking when I first saw it.


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## Jünyus Brütüs (Jul 9, 2007)

Looks Beautiful but what is that?


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## Hanshin-Tigress (Apr 10, 2007)

what exactly distinguises commieblock from apartment/cheap condo complexes?


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## Jonesy55 (Jul 30, 2004)

Kafkas said:


> Looks Beautiful but what is that?


social housing/commieblock in Paris suburbs.


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## Turknology (Jan 31, 2007)

Hanshin-Tigress said:


> what exactly distinguises commieblock from apartment/cheap condo complexes?


I think commie blocks are just 8-12 story buildings that all look more or less the same, two windows at the front, a balcony. Also it changes according to country, some places commie blocks are cheap residentials while in some places they are much more expensive and are for the upper middle class. For example, a friend of mine lived in a flat in what could be called a commie block due to architectural style but the flat was worth 1 Mio USD.


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## Jonesy55 (Jul 30, 2004)

Hanshin-Tigress said:


> what exactly distinguises commieblock from apartment/cheap condo complexes?


not a lot, commieblock is SSC-speak only I think. Maybe a commieblock has to be publicly owned not privately :dunno:


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## Jünyus Brütüs (Jul 9, 2007)

Jonesy55 said:


> social housing/commieblock in Paris suburbs.


They look like arrchitectural masterpieces. At least the first one.


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## Hanshin-Tigress (Apr 10, 2007)

hmm cuz i know alot of apartment complexs that would be passed as "commieblocks" but they arent imo


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## eklips (Mar 29, 2005)

Jonesy55 said:


> I used to live not far from this - I thought it was very cool looking when I first saw it.


Yeah the Paris agglomeration is full of these modernist or post-modernist hidden architectural curiosities.

Similar to these buildings are those, not far from my university, albeit on a smaller scale (they are hardly what forumers here call commieblocks):


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## Xusein (Sep 27, 2005)

New York is the only city in the US that has commieblocks on a grand scale.

However, they call them "projects" or "PJs" for short. 










(not public housing)


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## TalB (Jun 8, 2005)

Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village, which is the first pic, aren't housing projects, they to are privately owned.


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## Xusein (Sep 27, 2005)

^^ I always thought they were, honestly. Got confused with Queensbridge.


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## I-275westcoastfl (Feb 15, 2005)

Vrysxy said:


> I know what u mean, but why do they built those ugly apartment-towers? I mean, if people here in San Diego want to live closer to downtown, they just rent/buy an apartment in a nice tower, we have apartment towers for median-income families and they do not look like those commieblocks from Europe or Asia. Our apartments tower (or condo-towers) look like this.


Those are luxury Condos, pretty sure they aren't affordable for the middle class.


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## robo_boss (Jun 10, 2007)

Ancient commieblocks??


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## Jonesy55 (Jul 30, 2004)

^^ Where's that? Yemen? Looks great!


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## Xusein (Sep 27, 2005)

Shibam, Yemen...world's first SkyscraperCity.


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## goschio (Dec 2, 2002)

^
Must have been very impressive back then. Like New York in the 1940s.


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## Stifler (Apr 11, 2006)

My town has many (awful) commieblocks. That's what happen when a small town becomes five times bigger in a matter of years. The companies built and gave these dwellings to their employees, and now mostly low-income families live there.


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## -Corey- (Jul 8, 2005)

Jonesy55 said:


> Yeah, so at say $2,000 per month these are not homes for regular working families. That's $24,000 out of net income per year which is a lot even in a fairly rich city like San Diego. You'd have to be earning more than the local median household income ($65,000?) to afford to live in those places unless you want to spend 50% of your income on housing.
> 
> Commieblocks and similar apartments enable people on average or below average incomes to live near to the city centre so they are not really aimed at the same demographic.


Yeah i know, but the thing is that yout dont have to be rich to live there, just upper middle class.


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## TalB (Jun 8, 2005)

The Penn South Complex, which is located near MSG, isn't a housing project either, but it can pass for one seeing its design.


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## Peshu (Jan 12, 2005)

My home town has too many commie blocks ( Toronto ) .In My town of residence commie blocks are virtually non-existant ( Melbourne ) ypu might get a couple of individual buildings known as housing commision flats which are actually pretty good quality . There is absolutely nothing like the concentration of commie blocks you get to see in many European , Asian or American cities .

Thank christ . As those commie blocks make me wanna uke:


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## RawLee (Jul 9, 2007)

Some commie-neighbourhoods in Budapest,including mine:




































And my neighbourhood:


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## FIDEL CASTRO (Nov 20, 2007)

My G-d

People are son ignorants. We don't have commie blocks here in America. :bash:
America was never a communist country.


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## Hanshin-Tigress (Apr 10, 2007)

silly lee


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## Xusein (Sep 27, 2005)

FIDEL CASTRO said:


> My G-d
> 
> People are son ignorants. We don't have commie blocks here in America. :bash:
> America was never a communist country.


It's just a name for an ugly low-income housing project. It's common in plenty of formerly communist nations, but it's in a lot of nations that were not communist (including the US).

----------------------

Well, here is Co-Op City in New York. It's not public housing, nor is it filled with poor people, but it's huge. It's a co-op, the largest housing development in the US and the largest co-op development in the world. It has 38,000 people and 35 high rise towers. I actually posted a pic of it before. 

When I see this when going down I-95 or the Hutch, I know that I've reached NY.


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## TalB (Jun 8, 2005)

The same can be with Starrett City over in Brooklyn.


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## Xusein (Sep 27, 2005)

Wow, cool pics TalB! kay:


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## D.D. (Nov 26, 2007)

luckily i haven't seen a commie block where i live


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## siamu maharaj (Jun 19, 2006)

Hanshin-Tigress said:


> what exactly distinguises commieblock from apartment/cheap condo complexes?


If you ever see an appt complex that you think was designed using just a pencil and a ruler and minimal windows, then it's a Commieblock.


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## hellospank25 (Feb 5, 2008)

There are some awesome commieblock in New York
Very tall and with great views
i wished i lived in one of them :drool:


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## Tubeman (Sep 12, 2002)

The magnificent Red Road flats in Glasgow:


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## eklips (Mar 29, 2005)

^^ impressive blocks Tubeman

La noue district in Montreuil, an eastern parisian suburb:


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## GM (Feb 29, 2004)

_Le Sillon de Bretagne_ in Nantes. At the time of its construction (1971-1972), it was the biggest social housing block in Europe, with about 900 flats.

Pics by me :


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## aaronsummers (Nov 9, 2007)

*Marxist - Leninist Blocs*



Turknology said:


> Commie blocks always gave me a good feeling.


I prefer Marxist - Leninist Blocs :cheers:


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## monkeyronin (May 18, 2006)

St. Jamestown, Toronto. 14,000 people in 0.2sqkm. 









Thorncliffe, pop. 30,000 (not all visible)










Some other "commieblocks" from around Toronto


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## Bartolo (Sep 20, 2004)

Toronto is big with the Tower in the Park style of apartments


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## Astralis (Jan 28, 2007)

Some of these commieblocks in Toronto don't look that bad...


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## Jonesy55 (Jul 30, 2004)

The Park Hill estate, Sheffield, UK. Built between 1957 and 1961, these blocks are now protected buildings and can't be demolished. Property development company Urban Splash are giving them a make-over though.


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## Iluminat (Jan 16, 2008)

> Property development company Urban Splash are giving them a make-over though.


I hope it's just cleaning...


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## Jonesy55 (Jul 30, 2004)

Iluminat said:


> I hope it's just cleaning...


It's a bit more than a clean but the developer has a good record of converting/renovating historic buildings across the North of England.

http://www.urbansplash.co.uk/

http://www.urbansplash.co.uk/documents/FS_ParkHill.pdf


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## Sideshow_Bob (Jan 14, 2005)

señor cara de papa said:


> i made a commie block in sketchup a while ago, what do you think of it :


It reminds me of a commieblock I know in Stockholm.


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## Obscene (Jul 22, 2007)

Some swedish suburbs.

Hagalund, Solna (Stockholm)
Known as Bluehill:

















Malmvägen, Sollentuna (Stockholm)









Fittja, Botkyrka (Stockholm)

















Rågsved, Stockholm









Täby, Täby (Stockholm) unlike the others considered a desirable place to live (according to the general population atleast..)

















Akalla, Stockholm









Farsta









Bergsjön, Gothenburg (göteborg)









Hammarkullen, Gothenburg









Rosengård, Malmö


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## drunkenmunkey888 (Aug 13, 2005)

10ROT said:


> New York is the only city in the US that has commieblocks on a grand scale.
> 
> However, they call them "projects" or "PJs" for short.
> 
> ...


The amount of commieblocks in NYC rivals that of any eastern european city.


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

HK is one city with high-concentrations of public housing and tower blocks. 

Here are some neighbourhoods with high concentration.

Photo credit: hkskyline at http://globalphotos.org

*HK Island*

Wah Fu



























*The New Territories*

Tsing Yi









Shatin


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## Nikom (Sep 24, 2005)

*Some in Lisbon,Portugal *

*Rinchoa*










*Odivelas*










*Mt. Abrão, Queluz*










*Alfragide*




























*Alfornelos*




























*Amadora*










*Portela, Sacavem*










*Vila Franca de Xira*


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## princeofseoul (Jun 8, 2004)

Japanese commie blocks (=danchi).

Danchi (団地) is a sino-japanese compound word. "Dan" means group and "chi" means earth or land. It means grouplands or commieblocks.









A danchi. Pictures of Toyosu, Tokyo Neighborhoods, March 2006.
View picture in 1024x768 pixels. View Toyosu on map.










Pictures of Toyosu, Tokyo Neighborhoods, March 2006.
View picture in 1024x768 pixels. View Toyosu on map.










Super danchi complex. Pictures of Tama Plaza, Yokohama Neighborhoods, 2007.
View picture in 1024x768 pixels. View Tama Plaza on map.










Within the danchi. The rent here is not high (perhaps 30,000 per month for 30 square meters) but great luck or "special connections" are needed to get in. Pictures of Tama Plaza, Yokohama Neighborhoods, 2007.
View picture in 1024x768 pixels. View Tama Plaza on map.










Some Danchi. Pictures of Futako Tamagawa, Tokyo Neighborhoods, 2007.
View picture in 1024x768 pixels. View Futako Tamagawa on map.


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## princeofseoul (Jun 8, 2004)

Some pics of Korean commieblocks, also called danchi. In sino-korean danchi means the same as danchi in sino-japanese, i.e. groupland.









Pictures of Guseo-dong, Busan Neighborhoods, February 2008.
View picture in 1024x768 pixels. View Guseo-dong on map.









Pictures of Guseo-dong, Busan Neighborhoods, February 2008.
View picture in 999x736 pixels. View Guseo-dong on map.










The stream and the commie blocks. Pictures of Beomosa, Busan Neighborhoods, February 2008.
View picture in 768x1024 pixels. View Beomosa on map.










Entrance to commieblock complex. A bit ugly but they provide a good standard of living for the middle class. Pictures of Jangjeon-dong, Busan Neighborhoods, February 2008.
View picture in 1024x768 pixels. View Jangjeon-dong on map.










Pictures of Busandae, Busan Neighborhoods, February 2008.
View picture in 1024x768 pixels. View Busandae on map.










Gireum Centreville -- a complex of 20 towers of 23 stories each. Pictures of Gireum, Seoul Neighborhoods, April 2007.
View picture in 990x730 pixels. View Gireum on map.










Typical danchi complex. The cost is around 250 million wons (250,000$US) for 90 square meters. Pictures of Daewha, Goyang Neighborhoods, February 2007.
View picture in 1002x736 pixels. View Daewha on map.










Pictures of Daewha, Goyang Neighborhoods, February 2007.
View picture in 1024x768 pixels. View Daewha on map.









Typical garage of commie apartment blocks. Pictures of Daewha, Goyang Neighborhoods, February 2007.
View picture in 1024x768 pixels. View Daewha on map.









Inside the commieblock. Pictures of Daewha, Goyang Neighborhoods, February 2007.
View picture in 1024x768 pixels. View Daewha on map.









Inside the commie block. Typical of korean apartments: no balcony but a veranda. Pictures of Daewha, Goyang Neighborhoods, February 2007.
View picture in 1024x768 pixels. View Daewha on map.


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## krudmonk (Jun 14, 2007)

From an aesthetic viewpoint, these are a thousand times worse than McMansions. They are hideous and depressing. They look like 1960s skyscraper stumps, but with parking lots.


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## Sideshow_Bob (Jan 14, 2005)

/\ Why compare them with Mc Mansions? :nuts:


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## krudmonk (Jun 14, 2007)

Sideshow_Bob said:


> /\ Why compare them with Mc Mansions? :nuts:


Because they're both unimaginative, utilitarian and hideous.


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## particlez (May 5, 2008)

> Because they're both unimaginative, utilitarian and hideous


yes they're both aesthetically lacking. but commieblocks actually make sense in many other aspects, whereas mcmansions are rightly criticized as the embodiment of the worst of post industrial, overconsuming, environmentally degradating, faux historicist architecture. 

apart from their often bad aesthetics (blame low budgets and pre-fab architecture, not density height), commieblock buildings unfortunately have been conflated with both the modernist ghettoes of the postwar western world, and with the proletarian dwellings of the discredited marxist regimes. 

people should not equate high density prefab architecture with the robert taylor homes. the ghettoes of america were built at a time of de-industrialization, white flight, increased automobile usage, a hollowing out of the welfare state, etc. the commieblocks weren't the cause of this decline, they were merely built at the time of it. 

before people cite jane jacobs to refute this argument, remember that jane jacobs was opposed to the wholesale demolition of certain politically and socially disempowered neighborhoods (the ones with colored folks), and the wholesale paving of freeways over the previously poor yet functioning neighborhoods.


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## Ni3lS (Jun 29, 2007)

Bijlmer - Amsterdam










Rennes !!


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## ♣628.finst (Jul 29, 2005)

princeofseoul said:


>


Japanese commie-neighbourhoods are beautiful! :cheers:


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## zachus22 (Dec 4, 2006)

Is it safe to say that New York and Toronto are the commieblock capitals of North America?


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## Iluminat (Jan 16, 2008)

commieblocks and water a perfect combination :drool:


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## mgk920 (Apr 21, 2007)

zachus22 said:


> Is it safe to say that New York and Toronto are the commieblock capitals of North America?


Isn't a central requirement of a 'commieblock' that it must have been built by a government-run housing agency?

If so, then NYC would certainly be tops in that department.

I don't consider high-density residential buildings built on a 'market rate' basis by private developers to be true 'commieblocks', even though some of them might look like them. Ie, some people might think of the Lakeshore East complex, as well as some of the other high-rises in the area, in Chicago to have many (at least on the surface) attributes of 'commieblocks', but I would never think of them in such a manner. OTOH, most of the Chicago Housing Authority's 'projects', many now gone, certainly are/were.

Mike


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

zachus22 said:


> Is it safe to say that New York and Toronto are the commieblock capitals of North America?


There was also *Chicago* but they demolished most of them including the infamous Cabrini Green.


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## eklips (Mar 29, 2005)

zachus22 said:


> Is it safe to say that New York and Toronto are the commieblock capitals of North America?


There are many blocks in DC as well.


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## monkeyronin (May 18, 2006)

eklips said:


> There are many blocks in DC as well.


Now that I look, there certainly do seem to be alot, but not nearly as many as NY and TO. Even Chicago probably has more, Montreal too. DC's are mostly low-rise as well, so a much smaller share of the population actually lives in one.


Anyway, I found this and thought it was interesting - a map of Toronto showing apartment towers constructed between 1945 and 1980s-ish. Mostly in the 60s and 70s however.


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## OMH (Aug 21, 2007)

zachus22 said:


> Is it safe to say that New York and Toronto are the commieblock capitals of North America?


Toronto really has a lot of commieblocks (70's apartment towers), probably more than i've seen in any other city, even in Europe(probably some EE cities have more and possibly Paris or Berlin have more,though none of the cities that i know have more.) NYC also seems to have a lot, though my guess would be that
Toronto has more (they seem to be everywhere in Toronto, in almost every district, especially in North York there are tons of them), though most of them seem to be rental apartments rather than public housing, i wonder that there're so many commies in Toronto ,anybody knows why ? was there such a huge demand for them in the 60's and 70's?


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

Yes DC's blocks are mostly low-rise. Outside NY and Chicago, commieblocks are mostly low to mid-rise. Other US cities with high concentrations of commieblocks that still exist today would be Buffalo and Detroit. 

There were major projects in other US cities but were demolished. One infamous project would be the *pruitt iggoe* housing in Saint Louis, MO.










This housing were actually designed by Minoru Yamasaki who designed the WTC in NY.


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## Astralis (Jan 28, 2007)

This one in St. Louis looks massive :yes:.


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## particlez (May 5, 2008)

eh, that was demolished in 1972. pruitt igoe was hailed as an architectural breakthrough, then criticized as a hellhole a few years later.


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## Astralis (Jan 28, 2007)

Yeah... too bad for that though :dunno:. It didn't look bad at all.


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## Momo1435 (Oct 3, 2005)

A nice pruitt iggoe movie:


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## ovem (Mar 25, 2007)

athens... not really commie blocks but looks like especially the 1st one... most of them are offices...
office:








hotel:








office:








office:








luxury houses:


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## Ian (Nov 26, 2006)

Commieblocks in *Buenos Aires*...

Villa Lugano neighborhood, really scary... :shifty:




















La Calle Soldado de la Frontera que va por la mitad del barrio










Premetro



















^^ all the pics by gusdreams


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## Iluminat (Jan 16, 2008)

impressive


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

particlez said:


> eh, that was demolished in 1972. pruitt igoe was hailed as an architectural breakthrough, then criticized as a hellhole a few years later.


One reason is the segregation plan for its residents. One area of Pruitt Igoe were for caucasians while the other were for african americans. 

Another is the lack of government support plus the "skip stop" lifts


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## adrimm (Dec 17, 2006)

LMCA1990 said:


> Another pic of my complex:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I would not consider your complex to be "commie block", 1) its not as massive, and 2) it has some colour. Actually I wouldn't consider about 40% of the pictures posted on this thread to be true commie blocks - they have more interest to them, or are smaller than the bland massive expanses. The BAs buildings are pretty spot on tho.

For me the quintessential commieblocks are still those that are found surrounding the cities of the former soviet union. Prague . I think that they are ugly, but the one I stayed in (Hurka, great Prague) had great selection of shops, restuarants & services along the ground floor of each building, the metro station was right there. Aside from the lack of cheer, balcony and ensuite laundry, it was very livable. 

I couldn't find a picture of Hurka, but this is the next stop on the metro: Luziny, also Prague (the part tourists don't usually go to).


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## Jonesy55 (Jul 30, 2004)

WANCH said:


> One reason is the segregation plan for its residents. *One area of Pruitt Igoe were for caucasians while the other were for african americans. *


:wtf: Was that legal??


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

Jonesy55 said:


> :wtf: Was that legal??


Definitely no! 

Here's from Wikipedia

_Designed in 1951 by architect Minoru Yamasaki (who would later design New York's World Trade Center), the complex was named for St. Louisans Wendell O. Pruitt, an African-American fighter pilot in World War II, and William L. Igoe, a former U.S. Congressional representative. Originally, the city planned two partitions: Pruitt for black residents, and Igoe for whites. But as segregation was ruled unconstitutional in the 1954 Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education, the project was opened as racially integrated that same year. But within two years, most white residents had found the means to relocate._


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## megacity30 (Oct 8, 2011)

(2) New commie-block type housing, China

http://www.wantchinatimes.com/newsphoto/2011-07-05/450/%E6%88%BF%E5%83%B9-124635_copy1.jpg


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## megacity30 (Oct 8, 2011)

(3) Commie-block type buildings in the foreground, with more stylish buildings in the background - Shanghai, China


http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/4d78cfadccd1d56f53180000-401-301/china-housing-apartment-shanghai.jpg


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## megacity30 (Oct 8, 2011)

(4) Another commie-block-type building in China

http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/4bd06e437f8b9a5479e90100/china-apartments.jpg


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## megacity30 (Oct 8, 2011)

(5) Commie-block-type buildings in the foreground - Manama, Bahrain

http://www.constructionweekonline.com/pictures/Manama,%20Bahrain.jpg


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## megacity30 (Oct 8, 2011)

(6) Couldn't resist - another commie-block-type facade in China


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## megacity30 (Oct 8, 2011)

(7) Commie-block buildings on the right-side of the picture- Lilongs in Shanghai, China


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## megacity30 (Oct 8, 2011)

Looking down into Shanghai's Lilongs that are NOT commie-blocks


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## megacity30 (Oct 8, 2011)

(8) Commie-block-type buildings - Chawls in Mumbai, India


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## megacity30 (Oct 8, 2011)

(9) Commie-block-type buildings: Chawls ringing a slum in Mumbai, India.
One of the world's most expensive cities, even a slum tenement costs $120,000 upwards, therefore forcing many of its residents to rent rather than purchase.


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## Rebasepoiss (Jan 6, 2007)

KOTIKKEAN said:


> Guys, I want to ask those who live in commieblocks around the world. How often do you have any problems with the neighbors? For example, for Russia it is very urgent problem. Our urban population lives mainly in the apartment buildings. In one house can live the middle class, student, retired, alcoholic, nouveau riche, etc. And often there are problems - loud music and parties, the noise due to repair, at least - flooding and fires ... Police are extremely reluctant to respond to such challenges and troublemakers are often not afraid of being fined. Under Russian law, in an apartment house should be quiet from 22 pm till 7 am. We often say in Russia - buying an apartment you buy and its neighbors. In my case - I bought an apartment 4 years ago. At that time it was a new building. The house is mainly inhabited by representatives of the middle class. But the problem is that very bad noise isolation. I hear shouting of the neighborhood kids, talking neighbors in the kitchen at night. One of my neighbors - a student who has often alcoparties :bash:
> I'm interested to hear from you - so if these issues are relevant for your country? Or do you have more educated population living in commieblocks, which strictly obey the law?


I've lived in a 5-storey commieblock for 6 months now, having never lived in a commieblock before and I agree with you: noise is a big issue. Fortunately I live on the 5th floor and therefore only the downstairs neighbours with their occasional yelling at children bother me. Soviet built commieblocks lack any kind of noise insulation and 8cm of concrete definitely isn't enough to block any noise. I can't even invite a few friends over for a beer since our talking bothers the downstairs neighbours (which is a bit ironic ).

Another issue (at least in this commieblock) is the large number of debtors that owe money to the apartment cooperative. My downstairs neighbours owe the cooperative € 1,600 and the biggest deadbeat in this building owes around € 2,000. That's more than a year's worth of communal bills.

(For people who don't know: In Estonia, the water and heating bills are first payed to the cooperative and then the cooperative pays to the heating and water companies. If any of the residents don't pay, the cooperative has to pay for them, otherwise the water/hear would be turned off for the whole building. In rental apartments the simple choice would be to take the apartments away from the debtors but since in Estonia the large majority of apartments are privately owned, it takes a difficult and expensive legal battle to take away an apartment from a resident)


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## SydneyCity (Nov 14, 2010)

Some Sydney public housing complexes:

Sirius Apartments, possibly the most iconic commieblock in the world (mainly due to its location as well as its interesting architecture):


One Way! Jesus by suavehouse113, on Flickr


Sirius, Sydney by cityofsound, on Flickr

Waterloo Estate, largest public housing development in Australia, with 6 high rises and dozens of low and mid rises:


P1010050 by bilateral, on Flickr


Public housing towers by fabian-f, on Flickr


waterloo skyline by ghee, on Flickr


Suicide Towers by traffman, on Flickr

Poet's Corner (located 500m from Waterloo)


Housing Commission Apartments - Redfern by David Collier Photography, on Flickr


Inner city dust storm by Marilia Ogayar, on Flickr


Waterloo Public Housing Towers by bilateral, on Flickr
NOTE: Mistitled Flickr image - This tower is in Poet's Corner, Redfern, not Waterloo.

Other commieblocks around Sydney:


47 | Michelle Vandermeer, Dan Duggan by Ambiguous Horse, on Flickr


RIMG0010 by chamarisk, on Flickr


Guess where sydney by Vucko1000, on Flickr


highmodern by GirlGenius, on Flickr


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## Jonesy55 (Jul 30, 2004)

Rebasepoiss said:


> I've lived in a 5-storey commieblock for 6 months now, having never lived in a commieblock before and I agree with you: noise is a big issue. Fortunately I live on the 5th floor and therefore only the downstairs neighbours with their occasional yelling at children bother me. Soviet built commieblocks lack any kind of noise insulation and 8cm of concrete definitely isn't enough to block any noise. I can't even invite a few friends over for a beer since our talking bothers the downstairs neighbours (which is a bit ironic ).


8cm? That's all?


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## Severiano (Jul 5, 2006)

China is all commieblocks unless you live in a place that was built up before 1949.


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## SydneyCity (Nov 14, 2010)

^^

Aren't there lots of new suburban developments around major Chinese cities?


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## Rebasepoiss (Jan 6, 2007)

Jonesy55 said:


> 8cm? That's all?


I was a bit wrong, actually. The thinnest panels are around 10cm, the thicker ones are something like 15-20cm. Nevertheless, bare concrete is not very good at noise-proofing floors. You need some kind of dampening material under the floor to decrease the sound of steps, talking, music etc.


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## KOTIKKEAN (Apr 21, 2011)

^^
Yes I agree with you!!! But i hate our russian commieblocks!! i live in my villa in Koh Samui. my flat 40m in Vladivostok cost 130 000 USD... so I don't want to live in Russia)))


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

Here are some pictures of the commieblock suburbs of Stockholm, starting with Fittja that was mentioned in the thread earlier (note the families and childrens play areas in use). It was quite cold today so not as many people around in the pictures. I took these photos. The area has a bad reputation due to the number of immigrants, however, I have never felt unsafe at night here, nor has my wife. It's not the prettiest area, but the apartments are quite nice inside despite their rather grim exterior. 









































































Plus, just for a bonus picture, here is a picture of the suburb of Bredäng. Looks quite similar in style to the Chinese suburbs. It's a nicer commieblock suburb and one I quite like comparatively.


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## VITORIA MAN (Jan 31, 2013)

VITORIA NORTH SPAIN old ones
and the new ones..


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## Cal_Escapee (Jul 30, 2010)

Brand new Commieblock in San Francisco? You decide . . . and tell us (me) what you think. It was designed by a (pretty) famous US architecture firm (Arquitectonica) and took decades to be approved by the city Board of Supervisors, but now it's going up (first of 4 phases complete, second topped out, 3rd close to beginning)--1900 rental apartments on a main street.









http://www.trinityplace.com



























Above 3 iages: http://arquitectonica.com/blog/portfolio/residential/trinity-place/









http://www.trinityplace.com

Phase 2 under construction with the completed phase 1 behind:









My photo


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## VITORIA MAN (Jan 31, 2013)

seoul


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