@@@@ Caution you may want to check your PC is not infected My AV just detected a threat when I downloaded your settlement layout and quarantined it @@@@
The minute I saw this I had to chuckle, actually it was not only in the soviet and Warsaw pact country's that this type of inhuman human battery farm housing was constructed, now it's great for a military base of course but over here in the UK entire council housing estates of concrete block housing were constructed, yes they may have been slightly better than their eastern European counterparts but not by much, same problems.
Tearing down established community's and putting people into these type of homes created social problems including crime and loneliness despite people being crammed together they often had no idea of who or what their neighbours were and so community seldom took root in these type of buildings at least in the UK.
Due to their prefabricated nature they suffered mould damp problems, piped in heating through duct's caused respiratory problems and spread colds and influenzas so was eventually abandoned in favour of piped water heating but in the end the only solution was usually to tear them down but even then many still exist in western Europe as well as the legacy of the soviet block's own communal housing.
Now it was not all bad over here as their were a great many very well made council houses built as well but it was never perfect.
I like what you have done and of course as was the fate of many western European former social housing block's in eastern Europe as here many private developers have often snapped up these failed projects at a bargain price and renovated them into luxury apartments.
But a bit more trivia if you think it was bad what governments often did to their people have a look at what people can do to themselves, their was once a famous and very crime ridden city that became basically a single building called Kowloon walled city that while within what was then British controlled Hong Kong was actually governed by it's own criminal gangs and a no go area to law enforcement for the most part. Kowloon Walled City - Wikipedia
Now to be fair not all social housing was a failure in either the soviet block or western Europe and much of it was very successful and a vast improvement over the slum's it replaced, most of the problem was a lack of later investment, proper social management and leaving these community's to decay rather than tending to them and maintaining them.
A lot of the people who occupied these at first had their first indoor toilette and first true kitchen and bathroom so for them it was luxury, the root of the problem's that later plagued these was mostly down to poverty driven crime, vandalism and lack of public maintenance of these social housing schemes, often this lack of investment was deliberate policy by some especially economic (neo liberal) right wing governments in the west and corruption in the east (all politicians are corrupt east and west).
Sorry for that brain fart but your creation is a talking point and a good on so I am going to download so I can endorse.
Nice reflection on the topic, I too think there is a biased opinion on such housings. Toll of Great war led to the introduction of social housing in all parts of the world, and millions were moved into new homes. With care and investments, gentrification and renovation programs can be developed for existing buildings. In the end, it all depends on sustaining feedback between tenants and urban administrations.
In Poland this type of building is considered better then new profit driven architecture because of planning, for example between buildings there is far more space for parks, car parking and so on, also apartments size is far more reasonable. We also had no problem with destroying existing infrastructure for obvious reasons. Mould and heating are maintenance problems not building type problem, if you take care of it will work well (if not see Russia). UK had, if i remember correctly, problems with corruption and quality control when licencing this tech, so simply not built to spec. You are correct in blaming lack of investment, that is why every building here has either owner or community council and you pay for maintenance. Google street time scale jumping shows a lot how those buildings can be revived (at least in Poland), praga północ in Warszawa is great example but small cities and villages like Gorzyce (a village of one big factory and population of 6432) show it too(too bad there is no pictures from 90s, contrast would be insane). And Ukraine shows resilience of those buildings (again, if build to spec).
Mate, in many european countries, this ( or similar) social housing was very useful. Even today is. And not exactly as replacers for something like "slums". I mean, really? Do You know something about those blocks built for workers? Well, don't mind. And btw, even in the "rich" neighborhoods there's problems... I assure You. P.S. My English is trash. I know. Hope You can understand what I'm trying to explain.
Nothing wrong with your English, I am what is called a PLASTIC Scouser which is slang for someone from Liverpool that grew up outside of Liverpool a city in the northwest of England.
I grew up in a NEW TOWN as they were called a place built to house excess population from the city's and can give some examples from here, Kirkby which is more or less still Liverpool where I lived until I was about two years of age has had a long standing legacy of criminality and unemployment with run down council housing though it is far better than it used to be back in the 80's and early 90's now, Skelmersdale New Town another where I lived until I was in my late 20's has idiots like this living there. Trust me these idiots (Well maybe I am unfair they are just really stupid kids but dangerous to themselves and others) would not last five seconds in a big city but tiny fish smaller pond or so the saying kind of goes. https://youtu.be/VB0EqEnadOc Some vintage videos many of these have now either been demolished or are now luxury housing after being sold off and renovated but some are still slum's. https://youtu.be/K25fNv9VAYY https://youtu.be/4HJLqxOFa2Q
As for Skelmersdale it was not always like that but went downhill when the government removed funding and stopped investing in our own kids being a bunch of neo liberal hypocrites only serving their own greedy selves but that is another matter.
I just can say something that You and I know: Mofos. Mofos everywhere... /s Yeah, I know. Unfortunately, some "species" (Im not sure They are ppl) are common all around the world...
Patience. And good luck. We are gonna need it. P.S. Politicians* are scum. 99% at least.
Just wanted to pop in and let you know, this is a fantastic design! I always have trouble creating these types of buildings. In my neck of the woods, we don't really have an "Inner City". My community typically focuses on specific artists like FLW.. etcetera. It's a pleasure to see this and you've definitely given me some inspiration. Thank you!
Sincerely,
AdamaSanguine
P.S.
I hope you wouldn't mind if I were to do something similar?! Completely sperate and in a different area, of coarse. (Sometime in the future)
12 comments
The minute I saw this I had to chuckle, actually it was not only in the soviet and Warsaw pact country's that this type of inhuman human battery farm housing was constructed, now it's great for a military base of course but over here in the UK entire council housing estates of concrete block housing were constructed, yes they may have been slightly better than their eastern European counterparts but not by much, same problems.
Tearing down established community's and putting people into these type of homes created social problems including crime and loneliness despite people being crammed together they often had no idea of who or what their neighbours were and so community seldom took root in these type of buildings at least in the UK.
Due to their prefabricated nature they suffered mould damp problems, piped in heating through duct's caused respiratory problems and spread colds and influenzas so was eventually abandoned in favour of piped water heating but in the end the only solution was usually to tear them down but even then many still exist in western Europe as well as the legacy of the soviet block's own communal housing.
Now it was not all bad over here as their were a great many very well made council houses built as well but it was never perfect.
I like what you have done and of course as was the fate of many western European former social housing block's in eastern Europe as here many private developers have often snapped up these failed projects at a bargain price and renovated them into luxury apartments.
But a bit more trivia if you think it was bad what governments often did to their people have a look at what people can do to themselves, their was once a famous and very crime ridden city that became basically a single building called Kowloon walled city that while within what was then British controlled Hong Kong was actually governed by it's own criminal gangs and a no go area to law enforcement for the most part.
Kowloon Walled City - Wikipedia
Now to be fair not all social housing was a failure in either the soviet block or western Europe and much of it was very successful and a vast improvement over the slum's it replaced, most of the problem was a lack of later investment, proper social management and leaving these community's to decay rather than tending to them and maintaining them.
A lot of the people who occupied these at first had their first indoor toilette and first true kitchen and bathroom so for them it was luxury, the root of the problem's that later plagued these was mostly down to poverty driven crime, vandalism and lack of public maintenance of these social housing schemes, often this lack of investment was deliberate policy by some especially economic (neo liberal) right wing governments in the west and corruption in the east (all politicians are corrupt east and west).
Sorry for that brain fart but your creation is a talking point and a good on so I am going to download so I can endorse.
You are correct in blaming lack of investment, that is why every building here has either owner or community council and you pay for maintenance.
Google street time scale jumping shows a lot how those buildings can be revived (at least in Poland), praga północ in Warszawa is great example but small cities and villages like Gorzyce (a village of one big factory and population of 6432) show it too(too bad there is no pictures from 90s, contrast would be insane). And Ukraine shows resilience of those buildings (again, if build to spec).
And btw, even in the "rich" neighborhoods there's problems... I assure You.
P.S. My English is trash. I know. Hope You can understand what I'm trying to explain.
I grew up in a NEW TOWN as they were called a place built to house excess population from the city's and can give some examples from here, Kirkby which is more or less still Liverpool where I lived until I was about two years of age has had a long standing legacy of criminality and unemployment with run down council housing though it is far better than it used to be back in the 80's and early 90's now, Skelmersdale New Town another where I lived until I was in my late 20's has idiots like this living there.
Trust me these idiots (Well maybe I am unfair they are just really stupid kids but dangerous to themselves and others) would not last five seconds in a big city but tiny fish smaller pond or so the saying kind of goes.
https://youtu.be/VB0EqEnadOc
Some vintage videos many of these have now either been demolished or are now luxury housing after being sold off and renovated but some are still slum's.
https://youtu.be/K25fNv9VAYY
https://youtu.be/4HJLqxOFa2Q
As for Skelmersdale it was not always like that but went downhill when the government removed funding and stopped investing in our own kids being a bunch of neo liberal hypocrites only serving their own greedy selves but that is another matter.
Yeah, I know. Unfortunately, some "species" (Im not sure They are ppl) are common all around the world...
Patience. And good luck. We are gonna need it.
P.S. Politicians* are scum. 99% at least.
Sincerely,
AdamaSanguine
P.S.
I hope you wouldn't mind if I were to do something similar?! Completely sperate and in a different area, of coarse. (Sometime in the future)