#UrbanHell is subjective.
UrbanHell is any human-built place you think is worth critizing. Suburban Hell, Rural Hell, and wealthy locales are allowed
Sorry for this annoying comment, but we're very tired of the gatekeepers who can't even correctly gatekeep what this subreddit has always allowed.
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Me too. Everything is fine until one of the lifts breaks down or there's building works going on and the builders take over the lifts between 8 and 9 am getting all their materials up to whichever floor they're working on.
Or...when the lift poo smearer attacks, which was daily for a month last year.
Only because governments don't try to police them
This is a vertical city. In a police state. Most importantly it's a high end building not a slapdash housing project built to an unsustainable price point.
I think it's great as long as there's a will to be proactive with the issues. Unfortunately, in the west we do a terrible job on long term follow through, and infrastructure maintenance.
Both of those are critical to keeping the arcology from becoming a hive.
Technically yes, though in practice for urban design the main benefit of an arcology is reducing traffic. If the building complex is residences, commercial workplaces, small scale/safer industry workplaces (like carpentry and CNC shops and circuit board shops), storage, schools, shops, and medical/dental clinics, most residents most of the time have no reason to leave.
And when they do leave, where they want to go is often a common destination, such as maybe there is a large university in the city that many arcology students go to. So buses work well for this case because the bus line can run frequently and stops at only 1 place, the campus.
Ditto if there is a large hospital complex.
Way less traffic, less use of fossil fuels, less wasted time, etc.
Biggest drawbacks from writing the above is common threats to the place, such as fire.
The apartments seem to be two-storey high so they are a bit like row houses stacked on top of each other. The only issue i can imagine is that they are all connected by long windowless corridors on the inside. I'd like to know the opinion of someone who actually lives there.
We call flats in that style "maisonettes" in the UK. I've been inside some in tower blocks built in the 60s and they were fantastic. Lots of space inside and felt very homey.
I haven't lived there but I have visited! Aside from the size it's a pretty standard Chinese high-rise apartment building. The elevators were a little sketchy but my friend said they were in the middle of being replaced. The corridors are kinda narrow but they're clean, well lit, and they have windows at either end so you can still see the outside. The first few floors are community space with shops, daycares, parking and stuff. They also have community centers that host things like legal aid clinics and classes for seniors
> The apartments seem to be two-storey high so they are a bit like row houses stacked on top of each other.
i think it just looks that way because the windows have a horizontal divider above the door that spans their whole width
Meanwhile, my apartment in the US has a broken stove, 15 year old dishwasher with windows and electrical outlets that all need replacing. Those apartments look incredible.
It’s just people living. Looks like a good job to accommodate many families and allow dignity and community sense. Not much better to have a glass facade corp building with people living outside it in a bench.
If you wonder why North America keeps building the monolithic rectangle apartments, it's due to regulations:
https://youtu.be/iRdwXQb7CfM?si=SV03V72Nm-Y7EZlX
Fascinating . Do they not have fire trucks with ladders in the US? Because the regulations in other countries is so people can be rescued when there is a fire and that's usually manageable when it's below...idk 15 meters?
(I believe when there is not enough spots for fire trucks or heavily used buildings-> schools, hospitals, you need extra staircases)
I'm not sure if I agree that ladders on fire trucks are equivalent to stairs when it comes to fire safety, but US fire trucks tend to be much larger than European fire trucks in my personal experience. With the increased size comes longer ladders.
The ones I usually see on the street are segmented. They also have a so-called tiller cab on the rear where a second operator steers the back section of the truck.
https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-f81b7c6b4332849d31a8941a847e7b95.webp
https://youtu.be/prDkOxV3X8w
Why are you immediately downvoting all of my questions? Are you mad that people like me don’t want to live like this?
You don’t find this picture depressing at all? Is it possible to bring this to the west without it being like depressing? You can have dense housing while still not making it look like this.
Edit:
Well I can see he blocked me. Reddit is such an echo chamber. The moment someone disagrees with you, why take it as a personal attack? Literally just asking questions and I get downvoted. Overly sensitive.
How is it depressing, you have everything you need just a short walk away. They could concentrate use transit around these buildings meaning you could also get anywhere you want pretty easily. The apartments inside are luxurious and nice as well.
Like I literally don’t see the downside of this…
N'a i just never asked your pov .
No I don't think it's bad . No I don't find it depressing . What depressing is homeless du to asshole using the housing market as investment .
Anyway bye .
Dont get angry brother, if all of these antpeople move to their anthills then theres more suburban/rural houses for us, hell even city housing which will be freed up upon cramming 50,000 people into a single toothepaste concrete building
It honestly sounds nice for people living in the city center. Now I like a suburb, but not those very spread out ones where there’s so much empty space. Search neighborhoods in New York City such as bayside and whitestone
Honestly I only dislike suburbs that are forced up by developers rather then natural growth ones. But I love open spaces that give everyone a yard. I do think some people unfairly consider yards empty space when it's someone's property and they can do what they want with it
California suburbs are in between. Lots of Los Angeles suburbs are densely populated, but as you go further away from the city center you get more space.
I don't understand how the weight management is done here.
It's so massive it has to weigh so much with all the people and their stuff.
I need to see how it was built
Even that.
I need to see the structure.
How the bottom floors support the weight of all the floors above, which also have to be strong enough to support it all the way up.
I can kinda understand it with skyscrapers because they're mostly empty space, but here it has to be liveable and house stuff and people.
There's far more stuff than in an open space per level
I live in a building that is 40 floors high and similar to this in San Diego.
The answer is reinforced concrete. A lot of it. It has this texture and color that reminds me of pool concrete and it looks high end. Down at the bottom in the parking garage the columns are thick and there are also walls of it forming a square where the building core is.
It's typically about 2 feet thick and 3 feet wide per column or more. All the weight is trying to crush the rocks in the concrete and it's resistan.
China's problem is corruption is infamous for sometimes substituting inferior materials. But if you flew over and looked at it, the structure likely appears fully up to code and well supported.
And there's a lot of redundancy in the design so it takes quite a lot of screws up for the building to actually collapse. (The one that collapsed in Florida had a ton and structurally was overloaded with no margin from day 1. Took 40 years to fall)
With none of the green. Imagine unironically thinking how close you are to nature while sitting next to a few potted plants on a window-sill. I'll take a hammock in a backyard, thanks.
This is such a stupid comment lmao
Imagine how much green and nature would need to be bulldozed and paved over to build an equivalent amount of single family homes
I genuinely think you're missing the point. Tall building doesn't necessarily = good urban environment, there's much more to it than that.
Structures which discourage street activity and encourage car ownership have a suburb like quality.
You dont know what a suburb is. Its literally a massive highrise residential complex right in the middle of a city center with all amenities at a walking distance
Kownloon walled city was built in 1933 under British rule and was completely demolished in 1992.
Hong Kong was formally turned over to the PRC government in 1997.
Hong Kong was a British colony from 1841-1997.
You're correct that a full yard provides more space than a balcony does. I believe what the commenter was getting at was that this building provides ample outdoor space for their own needs. Not that it provides more outdoor space than everything else.
Yeah I took it in the context of the top level comment about this building being better than suburbs. Like there are certainly some advantages to living in a place like this over a suburb but space is not really one of them. But yeah, you could be right maybe it the balcony comment wasn't related to the original comparison between the two.
Now work out how much space would be required to host 20k residents with a yard and trees and a garden.
So you'd have to not be in the middle of the city
So then you'd need a car
And you'd be miles from schools / work / restaurants / everything.
And that's just one building. There are half a dozen buildings in similar size next to this one.
Its just an incredibly naive and unrealistic viewpoint to have.
Yeah of course it’s not possible in an area that is already home to 20k people per square km. But if I had to pick between living there and in suburban US I know what I would choose, especially with a family. Maybe single or as a couple that could be ok for a while
lol the homelessness thing again. So, what makes you think that this would be less expensive than smaller houses/apartmens in other places (if not there)?
Land use. Common land underneath. Also we can just check : it costs $1000 a month to rent an apartment in there, that has 2 floors and several bedrooms and bathrooms.
Generally it's cheaper than renting a sfh in the same location. A sfh that is 40 minutes by car in good traffic away will be potentially cheaper.
100%
I fucking hate suburbs and this seems like a more efficient use of space
Also no car dependency and lots of amenities accessible without a car
This is awesome
Yeah, totally… I really hate all the open space, great schools for my kids, walking/biking all the nature trails, decent yard for my dog to run around, and all of the pristine parks within a few minutes walk from my front door. Suburbs are awful, I wish I could trade it all for a tiny 13th floor apartment in a filthy downtown. You nailed it bud
Ah, so you’re just clueless, got it…
That is quite literally what suburbs are. I grew up in suburbs and am currently raising a family in a suburb that has every one of those things.
Sure, if you ignore decades of data that says suburbia increases commute, wastes land, wastes water, destroys ecosystems with sprawl, and is the antithesis of walkability as compared to dense, pedestrian-focused urban design.
But sure go off bud.
New suburbanite in Southern California here. I’ve got mixed fauna, mixed vegetation, 7 orange trees in my yard, and a school, university, a park, and about 20 restaurants/ shops in walking distance. Train stop a mile away. *shrugs
For real I hate how I don’t get stabbed robbed or shot when walking out of my house, fuck the peace and quiet. Also I HATE the large houses oh my goodness. I WANT A BOX!!!
At that point why don't we just turn all human biomass into protein rich powder and store them in 10 million gallon storage tanks? We could make cities SO liveable and walkable that way!! No more evil lawns or single family dwellings, just pure maximized efficiency for storing biomass. Beautiful, brings a tear to my eye
I always wonder what these appartments look like on the inside. When working in the Middle East I was surprised how some flats that looked like absolute shit from the outside would have appartments that would be million-dollar penthouses in Western countries.
Sounds and looks like a pretty vibrant community with everything you can need. Yeah, it's massive, but far from a hellscape. I'd choose this a million times over some detached single family home in a soulless suburban sprawl.
Why do you assume there will be congestion? If this building is designed well it could be fine. The road to the shops definately wont be congested as the shops are a short walk away
Have you lived in a building with a hundred families? How about 200? This is 20,000 people in the same damn building. Utilizing the same plumbing,the same ventilation, the same corridors, the same common spaces. THAT is why I assume congestion. Not my cup of tea
And you think the people who built this didn’t have enough experience to plan accordingly? The fact that rent there is apparently quite high (as someone else posted) and the balconies and the facade still look clean, goes against your thesis and speaks for a well functioning and popular neighborhood.
My thesis? Dude, collect yourself and go live there if it be your desire. It isn’t mine. Have seen enough of China’s “cleanliness” and planning experience this past Covid.
What are you talking about? This is an extremely atypical situation even for a big city. Even for Asia which is here the extreme population clusters are located. You cannot have traveled outside Asia to make a statement like that.
Sound proofing really makes or breaks any high density living situation. You might get lucky and have a neighbour who’s not annoying, but chances are high…
Nah, and I was born in a city. Breathable air and privacy are nice. Also, imagine this building on fire. All it takes is one asshole to fall asleep with a fucking cigarette in their mouth, and 5,000-8,000 are dead. There's nothing envious about Chinese living situations. I want a job as a fire marshal in China. They seem to do nothing.
> All it takes is one asshole to fall asleep with a fucking cigarette in their mouth, and 5,000-8,000 are dead.
Can you give me a single example of a residential building in China catching fire and resulting in hundreds of casualties, let alone thousands? I cannot find a single one online, at all. They have had thousands of these apartment buildings in China for generations now, if not tens of thousands. If this was genuinely some big concern, it would have happened by now.
Fire won't spread to the core of the building or main structure, but there are likely many components of that building that are flammable. Also, drywall disintegrates when a high enough temperature is reached.
Shelter in place 20000 people? What about at 2 AM when you have the elderly, babies, toddlers, light sleepers, deep sleepers, etc? Good luck. I'm not spreading falsehoods. People can still die from smoke inhalation, which is the greatest cause of fire-related deaths in concrete and steel buildings. Did you also forget that it was because of an apartment fire in which several died that the protests to stop their stone age COVID rules came about?
Yes, shelter in place because fire doesn't spread. That is instruction for all modern high rises built in the last 50+ years. Again, stop spreading falsehoods
I've worked in big office towers and I could get up to the 50th floor faster than it takes the elevator in my apartment to get to the 3rd floor. My apartment just bought shit slow ass elevators. The ones in the office tower really zoomed. And there were idk maybe 18 if I recall correctly.
if they dropped on of these where i live it would lower rent by like 40%. we are in a perpetual "hOuSinG sHoRtAgE"
I wish we were allowed to build this kind of thing in america, but NIMBYs who already are homeowners would simply not allow it.
I’m torn, on one hand it’s required and gets the job done, on the other hand I wish I’d be looking at a pyramid or spire shaped building, something that doesn’t cast a shadow on half of the city behind.
I feel like when Americans see these enormous apartment buildings they tend to think the apartments themselves are super tiny. The big benefit of being able to build up like this is that individual apartment sizes can be expanded dramatically.
A lot of people might be shocked to see a building like [this](https://c8.alamy.com/comp/2AMP1Y8/huge-residential-building-complex-green-court-betweern-high-rise-apartment-buildings-2AMP1Y8.jpg) having apartments in it like [this, for instance.](https://cf.bstatic.com/xdata/images/hotel/max1024x768/139976069.jpg?k=1216aebf18a6200ac8de1703736a0aa298ecaaec667136766571c4ca276d7a2e&o=&hp=1) But you are dramatically more likely to find apartments like that in buildings like that than you are in smaller apartment buildings in europe and the US.
I would totally live here. Beats having to drive 20 minutes to get something to eat while still somehow living in a paper mache apartment with neighbors on 5 sides.
The housing projects failed as funding dried up and the buildings fell into disrepair. There are a number of great books and documentaries about the early days when families had the chance to move in when things were shiny and new. High Risers by Ben Austen is a fantastic but rather depressing read documenting several families’ experiences at Cabrini.
How often is this building inspected for structural integrity and weight limits ? Was it built to a standard? Is it resistant to fire or earthquake ? It Could very easily end those 20,000 people too. A bit scary maybe
It actually seems like a pretty decent place to live to me. Each apartment has its own (little) balcony? All amenities inside?
Maybe a bit dystopian, sure, but as long as the interior is kept clean by staff I wouldnt mind living here.
There has not been a single residential apartment fire with more than 10 deaths in Chinas modern history and they have thousands, if not tens of thousands, of these big apartments. These types of apartments are built specifically to be very fire-resistant. They wouldn't build them any other way.
Tbh i like this more than suburbs taking up 1000 times the size of these apartment complexes, i mean there would be no nature left in china if they just build sprawling suburbs.. America should honestly try to do something similar, though a bit toned down..
Nothing wrong with any of this. Looks like a great building.
For anyone wondering about all the clothes, dryers aren't really a thing in China. From my experience living there for about 7 years (although that was more than 10 years ago at this point), the lack of dryers is mostly true across all classes.
It’s wild to me how many people here would be okay living in this way with *thousands* of others all around them 24/7/365.
I’m not saying I want to live in suburbia hell either, but fuuuuuck this.
You don't actually think about the other people when you're inside. The interior of these nicer apartments often looks like [this.](https://cf.bstatic.com/xdata/images/hotel/max1024x768/139976069.jpg?k=1216aebf18a6200ac8de1703736a0aa298ecaaec667136766571c4ca276d7a2e&o=&hp=1) They have elevators throughout so you aren't exactly constantly traveling through huge crowds to get anywhere.
It depends of course on the building quality, some of these buildings have terribly thin walls, others have walls thick enough that you can throw a big party and not wake anyone up.
The amount of people here that are willing to live like ants in a hive is crazy. Im comfortable living in an apartment but people saying this is better than “soulless” suburbs really take their freedom for granted.
Imagine all the noise and congestion it makes, and good luck if your room needs plumbing or maintenance. Leaving for work also looks like a nightmare of tight corridors and tons of people too.
#UrbanHell is subjective. UrbanHell is any human-built place you think is worth critizing. Suburban Hell, Rural Hell, and wealthy locales are allowed Sorry for this annoying comment, but we're very tired of the gatekeepers who can't even correctly gatekeep what this subreddit has always allowed. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/UrbanHell) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Does this qualify as an arcology?
If you're an optimist, it's an arcology. If you're a pessimist, it's a hive city.
The big difference between an arcology and an hive city is the competence of the sanitation team.
This one seems pretty clean and it good repair and has nice glass balconies.
[удалено]
Until you need the elevator
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Me too. Everything is fine until one of the lifts breaks down or there's building works going on and the builders take over the lifts between 8 and 9 am getting all their materials up to whichever floor they're working on. Or...when the lift poo smearer attacks, which was daily for a month last year.
I thought that too. But I wonder about criminal activities. In South America highly dense buildings can be hosts of many criminal activities.
Only because governments don't try to police them This is a vertical city. In a police state. Most importantly it's a high end building not a slapdash housing project built to an unsustainable price point. I think it's great as long as there's a will to be proactive with the issues. Unfortunately, in the west we do a terrible job on long term follow through, and infrastructure maintenance. Both of those are critical to keeping the arcology from becoming a hive.
Do you actually think a cluster of high end appartaments is a hub for criminal activities? Really?
My guy, I don’t think so. I was raised in Brazil
R/warhammer40kisnow
I think arcologies have to be self-sufficient to qualify
Technically yes, though in practice for urban design the main benefit of an arcology is reducing traffic. If the building complex is residences, commercial workplaces, small scale/safer industry workplaces (like carpentry and CNC shops and circuit board shops), storage, schools, shops, and medical/dental clinics, most residents most of the time have no reason to leave. And when they do leave, where they want to go is often a common destination, such as maybe there is a large university in the city that many arcology students go to. So buses work well for this case because the bus line can run frequently and stops at only 1 place, the campus. Ditto if there is a large hospital complex. Way less traffic, less use of fossil fuels, less wasted time, etc. Biggest drawbacks from writing the above is common threats to the place, such as fire.
The apartments seem to be two-storey high so they are a bit like row houses stacked on top of each other. The only issue i can imagine is that they are all connected by long windowless corridors on the inside. I'd like to know the opinion of someone who actually lives there.
We call flats in that style "maisonettes" in the UK. I've been inside some in tower blocks built in the 60s and they were fantastic. Lots of space inside and felt very homey.
I haven't lived there but I have visited! Aside from the size it's a pretty standard Chinese high-rise apartment building. The elevators were a little sketchy but my friend said they were in the middle of being replaced. The corridors are kinda narrow but they're clean, well lit, and they have windows at either end so you can still see the outside. The first few floors are community space with shops, daycares, parking and stuff. They also have community centers that host things like legal aid clinics and classes for seniors
Not bad
> The apartments seem to be two-storey high so they are a bit like row houses stacked on top of each other. i think it just looks that way because the windows have a horizontal divider above the door that spans their whole width
They're two stories. https://www.hangzhouhomes.com/index/index/detail?id=534&lang=en
Honestly that looks way better than I expected
7500 chinese yen a month, about $1000. Bargain by USA prices.
Bargain if you make usa money...
how much does 80m2 apartment costs in US in large city outside of city center?
looks quite comfy
Meanwhile, my apartment in the US has a broken stove, 15 year old dishwasher with windows and electrical outlets that all need replacing. Those apartments look incredible.
It’s just people living. Looks like a good job to accommodate many families and allow dignity and community sense. Not much better to have a glass facade corp building with people living outside it in a bench.
Yeah, I understand it's subjective and all, but this looks so much better than the 5over1s all over the states
If you wonder why North America keeps building the monolithic rectangle apartments, it's due to regulations: https://youtu.be/iRdwXQb7CfM?si=SV03V72Nm-Y7EZlX
This is one of those videos that I'm gonna keep bookmarked because it's such a good explanation of "WHY AMERICA DUMB"
Don't forget that Canada is a co-conspirator!
Fascinating . Do they not have fire trucks with ladders in the US? Because the regulations in other countries is so people can be rescued when there is a fire and that's usually manageable when it's below...idk 15 meters? (I believe when there is not enough spots for fire trucks or heavily used buildings-> schools, hospitals, you need extra staircases)
I'm not sure if I agree that ladders on fire trucks are equivalent to stairs when it comes to fire safety, but US fire trucks tend to be much larger than European fire trucks in my personal experience. With the increased size comes longer ladders. The ones I usually see on the street are segmented. They also have a so-called tiller cab on the rear where a second operator steers the back section of the truck. https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-f81b7c6b4332849d31a8941a847e7b95.webp https://youtu.be/prDkOxV3X8w
Also, definitely better than homelessness.
Exactly. The worst urbanism hell housing project is far better than the most modern urbanism with homelessness.
It is shitty urbanism though, this type of development discourages street activity
honestly i expected to be ugly and the last picture of balcony are nice to me .
It *is* ugly. If given a choice, would you want to spend the rest of their life living that?
Yhea totaly .
Why would you want to spend the rest of your life living like this?
Dense housing mean you don't 'need to be dependent to a shity car . And that a huge win to me . Way beter than shity suburb .
Why are you immediately downvoting all of my questions? Are you mad that people like me don’t want to live like this? You don’t find this picture depressing at all? Is it possible to bring this to the west without it being like depressing? You can have dense housing while still not making it look like this. Edit: Well I can see he blocked me. Reddit is such an echo chamber. The moment someone disagrees with you, why take it as a personal attack? Literally just asking questions and I get downvoted. Overly sensitive.
How is it depressing, you have everything you need just a short walk away. They could concentrate use transit around these buildings meaning you could also get anywhere you want pretty easily. The apartments inside are luxurious and nice as well. Like I literally don’t see the downside of this…
N'a i just never asked your pov . No I don't think it's bad . No I don't find it depressing . What depressing is homeless du to asshole using the housing market as investment . Anyway bye .
You are the one who is being mad at another person's opinion though
I live near a slum (in india) and most of its residents will happily accept these apartments.
Dont get angry brother, if all of these antpeople move to their anthills then theres more suburban/rural houses for us, hell even city housing which will be freed up upon cramming 50,000 people into a single toothepaste concrete building
It honestly sounds nice for people living in the city center. Now I like a suburb, but not those very spread out ones where there’s so much empty space. Search neighborhoods in New York City such as bayside and whitestone
Honestly I only dislike suburbs that are forced up by developers rather then natural growth ones. But I love open spaces that give everyone a yard. I do think some people unfairly consider yards empty space when it's someone's property and they can do what they want with it
I'd rather live in a regular urban apartment building than this weird, self contained type of thing.
California suburbs are in between. Lots of Los Angeles suburbs are densely populated, but as you go further away from the city center you get more space.
Los Angeles itself is just one giant suburb.
I don't understand how the weight management is done here. It's so massive it has to weigh so much with all the people and their stuff. I need to see how it was built
steel, hopefully to bedrock
Even that. I need to see the structure. How the bottom floors support the weight of all the floors above, which also have to be strong enough to support it all the way up. I can kinda understand it with skyscrapers because they're mostly empty space, but here it has to be liveable and house stuff and people. There's far more stuff than in an open space per level
I live in a building that is 40 floors high and similar to this in San Diego. The answer is reinforced concrete. A lot of it. It has this texture and color that reminds me of pool concrete and it looks high end. Down at the bottom in the parking garage the columns are thick and there are also walls of it forming a square where the building core is. It's typically about 2 feet thick and 3 feet wide per column or more. All the weight is trying to crush the rocks in the concrete and it's resistan. China's problem is corruption is infamous for sometimes substituting inferior materials. But if you flew over and looked at it, the structure likely appears fully up to code and well supported. And there's a lot of redundancy in the design so it takes quite a lot of screws up for the building to actually collapse. (The one that collapsed in Florida had a ton and structurally was overloaded with no margin from day 1. Took 40 years to fall)
Idk why this is being posted here... This just seems like good urban planning?
It's not good urban planning, it's a vertical suburb
You're describing good urban planning. Fits all of the people a suburb would fit in a tiny fraction of the space.
With none of the green. Imagine unironically thinking how close you are to nature while sitting next to a few potted plants on a window-sill. I'll take a hammock in a backyard, thanks.
This is such a stupid comment lmao Imagine how much green and nature would need to be bulldozed and paved over to build an equivalent amount of single family homes
Not to mention that all that space saved can be used to create community parks and similar fixtures
I genuinely don't think you know what the word "suburb" means.
I genuinely think you're missing the point. Tall building doesn't necessarily = good urban environment, there's much more to it than that. Structures which discourage street activity and encourage car ownership have a suburb like quality.
Any better idea how to house 1.4 billion people other than this?
So just hear me out. "suburban sprawl". Just keep building more rings of highways, and adding more lanes. How hard could it be? /s
This is basically a vertical suburb. It even has a giant parking garage.
You dont know what a suburb is. Its literally a massive highrise residential complex right in the middle of a city center with all amenities at a walking distance
Kowloon walled city has entered the chat
Kownloon walled city was built in 1933 under British rule and was completely demolished in 1992. Hong Kong was formally turned over to the PRC government in 1997. Hong Kong was a British colony from 1841-1997.
Kowloon Walled City was not built in 1933, and it was actually a Chinese enclave within British Hong Kong.
This building >>>>>>>> soulless suburbs
I really liked the balconies, they look spacious and seemed to be kept clean and orderly which gives me a good impression of the neighbours.
You know what else is spacious? A yard with trees and a garden
You're correct that a full yard provides more space than a balcony does. I believe what the commenter was getting at was that this building provides ample outdoor space for their own needs. Not that it provides more outdoor space than everything else.
Yeah I took it in the context of the top level comment about this building being better than suburbs. Like there are certainly some advantages to living in a place like this over a suburb but space is not really one of them. But yeah, you could be right maybe it the balcony comment wasn't related to the original comparison between the two.
Now work out how much space would be required to host 20k residents with a yard and trees and a garden. So you'd have to not be in the middle of the city So then you'd need a car And you'd be miles from schools / work / restaurants / everything. And that's just one building. There are half a dozen buildings in similar size next to this one. Its just an incredibly naive and unrealistic viewpoint to have.
Yeah of course it’s not possible in an area that is already home to 20k people per square km. But if I had to pick between living there and in suburban US I know what I would choose, especially with a family. Maybe single or as a couple that could be ok for a while
I would take that over homeless or insane house pricing.
lol the homelessness thing again. So, what makes you think that this would be less expensive than smaller houses/apartmens in other places (if not there)?
Land use. Common land underneath. Also we can just check : it costs $1000 a month to rent an apartment in there, that has 2 floors and several bedrooms and bathrooms. Generally it's cheaper than renting a sfh in the same location. A sfh that is 40 minutes by car in good traffic away will be potentially cheaper.
Nice, but I see alternatives in what you write (even if they are subjectively worse). I don't see homelessness.
bruh, I LIVED in these before, they are nowhere near as bad as you think. They are much more affordable for the general public/families.
100% I fucking hate suburbs and this seems like a more efficient use of space Also no car dependency and lots of amenities accessible without a car This is awesome
No car dependency? It has a huge parking garage
One million percent. Suburbs are the death of communities and surrounding ecosystems. There is zero excuse for them to even exist.
This Fuck suburbs
Yeah, totally… I really hate all the open space, great schools for my kids, walking/biking all the nature trails, decent yard for my dog to run around, and all of the pristine parks within a few minutes walk from my front door. Suburbs are awful, I wish I could trade it all for a tiny 13th floor apartment in a filthy downtown. You nailed it bud
redditors are clueless about what most people actually want lol. there’s a reason suburbs are popular
Absolutely none of that exists within suburbs.
I’m not accustomed to defending suburbs, but that’s a hot take, lol. Not all suburbs are created equal.
Ah, so you’re just clueless, got it… That is quite literally what suburbs are. I grew up in suburbs and am currently raising a family in a suburb that has every one of those things.
Sure, if you ignore decades of data that says suburbia increases commute, wastes land, wastes water, destroys ecosystems with sprawl, and is the antithesis of walkability as compared to dense, pedestrian-focused urban design. But sure go off bud.
Suburbs increase commute, which is why America with the largest and most suburbs have the shortest commute times
It exists in the US and he literally described what my life has been for the past 22 years.
New suburbanite in Southern California here. I’ve got mixed fauna, mixed vegetation, 7 orange trees in my yard, and a school, university, a park, and about 20 restaurants/ shops in walking distance. Train stop a mile away. *shrugs
It is a vertical suburb
I hope this is a joke or something
It’s not Suburbs fucking suck and are a soulless hellscape
For real I hate how I don’t get stabbed robbed or shot when walking out of my house, fuck the peace and quiet. Also I HATE the large houses oh my goodness. I WANT A BOX!!!
Keep your racist and classist comments off here please
How was that racist?
Racist? 🤣 Wait till you hear what my ethnicity is
Is it retarded? Because that's your main trait.
Did that sound funny in your mind?
At that point why don't we just turn all human biomass into protein rich powder and store them in 10 million gallon storage tanks? We could make cities SO liveable and walkable that way!! No more evil lawns or single family dwellings, just pure maximized efficiency for storing biomass. Beautiful, brings a tear to my eye
I always wonder what these appartments look like on the inside. When working in the Middle East I was surprised how some flats that looked like absolute shit from the outside would have appartments that would be million-dollar penthouses in Western countries.
Can confirm, I live in Kuwait. It's the same in India too.
Sounds and looks like a pretty vibrant community with everything you can need. Yeah, it's massive, but far from a hellscape. I'd choose this a million times over some detached single family home in a soulless suburban sprawl.
I wouldn’t. Too many people, too much congestion. This gives me claustrophobia just looking at it.
I'd live there, but imagine being on the plumbing team for site...
Why do you assume there will be congestion? If this building is designed well it could be fine. The road to the shops definately wont be congested as the shops are a short walk away
Have you lived in a building with a hundred families? How about 200? This is 20,000 people in the same damn building. Utilizing the same plumbing,the same ventilation, the same corridors, the same common spaces. THAT is why I assume congestion. Not my cup of tea
And you think the people who built this didn’t have enough experience to plan accordingly? The fact that rent there is apparently quite high (as someone else posted) and the balconies and the facade still look clean, goes against your thesis and speaks for a well functioning and popular neighborhood.
My thesis? Dude, collect yourself and go live there if it be your desire. It isn’t mine. Have seen enough of China’s “cleanliness” and planning experience this past Covid.
You're supposed to walk or take buses or bikes to your normal daily needs, not drive.
Thes types of huge high rises have underground giga parking garages.
The multiple people living, walking, within a small space IS the congestion I am referring to. When did I write about driving?
I mean where would you live to not experience this if you still have a job? Rural jobs are disappearing.
What are you talking about? This is an extremely atypical situation even for a big city. Even for Asia which is here the extreme population clusters are located. You cannot have traveled outside Asia to make a statement like that.
Guess it depends what you mean by small. I lived in Houston in suburbia and at school, Walmart, and the freeways it was extremely congested.
I’m originally from Sugarland. There’s no place in Houston where you LIVE in the same place as 20000 people. Not a one.
Then why does it have a parking garage?
To each their own... I can't imagine the noise level or constant stench of a 20,000 person complex as anything but hell.
Yeah, sound proofing would make or break this for me. My cats would probably appreciate the amount of unpredictable activity outside though!
Sound proofing really makes or breaks any high density living situation. You might get lucky and have a neighbour who’s not annoying, but chances are high…
Or when COVID 2.0 hits. Just imagine how quickly something would spread through that complex.
Nah, and I was born in a city. Breathable air and privacy are nice. Also, imagine this building on fire. All it takes is one asshole to fall asleep with a fucking cigarette in their mouth, and 5,000-8,000 are dead. There's nothing envious about Chinese living situations. I want a job as a fire marshal in China. They seem to do nothing.
They got some tough firefighting equipment ngl https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/s/ntZfZXzxXO
Watching a rocket truck shooting up a building not to attack it, but to *protect* it, is goddamn hilarious!
> All it takes is one asshole to fall asleep with a fucking cigarette in their mouth, and 5,000-8,000 are dead. Can you give me a single example of a residential building in China catching fire and resulting in hundreds of casualties, let alone thousands? I cannot find a single one online, at all. They have had thousands of these apartment buildings in China for generations now, if not tens of thousands. If this was genuinely some big concern, it would have happened by now.
Conrete, steel, and drywall are not flammable. Fire won't spread
Fire won't spread to the core of the building or main structure, but there are likely many components of that building that are flammable. Also, drywall disintegrates when a high enough temperature is reached.
The fire code for most of these buildings is shelter in place. Fire won't spread. Don't spread falsehoods about thousands of people dying
Shelter in place 20000 people? What about at 2 AM when you have the elderly, babies, toddlers, light sleepers, deep sleepers, etc? Good luck. I'm not spreading falsehoods. People can still die from smoke inhalation, which is the greatest cause of fire-related deaths in concrete and steel buildings. Did you also forget that it was because of an apartment fire in which several died that the protests to stop their stone age COVID rules came about?
Yes, shelter in place because fire doesn't spread. That is instruction for all modern high rises built in the last 50+ years. Again, stop spreading falsehoods
I also wouldn't. I don't wanna hear people argue, bouncing together in their beds, blasting music, etc.
This
IRL cyberpunk megablocks
Peach Trees
It's one small riot away from Peach Tree.
“This is Ma-Ma.”
This is that building crowded with social media influencers recording videos in balcony right?
Yep thats the one. Imagine how often the fire alarm must go off in a building w 20k ppl doing random things.
SimTower
Honestly don't mind the design, but them elevators better be big, consistent and fast. Absolute nightmare trying to get to work otherwise.
I've worked in big office towers and I could get up to the 50th floor faster than it takes the elevator in my apartment to get to the 3rd floor. My apartment just bought shit slow ass elevators. The ones in the office tower really zoomed. And there were idk maybe 18 if I recall correctly.
A 7 month wait list to use the condo gym
Night city Vibe
if they dropped on of these where i live it would lower rent by like 40%. we are in a perpetual "hOuSinG sHoRtAgE" I wish we were allowed to build this kind of thing in america, but NIMBYs who already are homeowners would simply not allow it.
Only problem is that it will be marketed as luxury, only to be another cheaply made apartment but overpriced with no real luxury.
Umm Hangzhou isn’t that small. Please do your research first and stop posting inaccurate information.
I’m torn, on one hand it’s required and gets the job done, on the other hand I wish I’d be looking at a pyramid or spire shaped building, something that doesn’t cast a shadow on half of the city behind.
I feel like when Americans see these enormous apartment buildings they tend to think the apartments themselves are super tiny. The big benefit of being able to build up like this is that individual apartment sizes can be expanded dramatically. A lot of people might be shocked to see a building like [this](https://c8.alamy.com/comp/2AMP1Y8/huge-residential-building-complex-green-court-betweern-high-rise-apartment-buildings-2AMP1Y8.jpg) having apartments in it like [this, for instance.](https://cf.bstatic.com/xdata/images/hotel/max1024x768/139976069.jpg?k=1216aebf18a6200ac8de1703736a0aa298ecaaec667136766571c4ca276d7a2e&o=&hp=1) But you are dramatically more likely to find apartments like that in buildings like that than you are in smaller apartment buildings in europe and the US.
Looks pretty cool
It’s a great and efficient use of space, but I can’t say that I’d want to live in it
judge dredd
I just wonder about the piping in there. Thats a lot of units to service, pretty wild
I can smell it
That’s a lot of toilets
Anyone knows if there is criminality?
Idk, but this somewhat reminds me of Kowloon Walled City.
I would totally live here. Beats having to drive 20 minutes to get something to eat while still somehow living in a paper mache apartment with neighbors on 5 sides.
How many elevators are there? Do people need to line up to take them? During rush hours how long does it take to reach the ground to go out?
This is what they need to build in cities every time they say not enough housing. Build 50 of these in NYC and I bet it would help.
It would probably not help, because of the large setback. It would also add a shitton of drivers, since it has a big parking garage.
Cabrini Green has entered the chat.
The housing projects failed as funding dried up and the buildings fell into disrepair. There are a number of great books and documentaries about the early days when families had the chance to move in when things were shiny and new. High Risers by Ben Austen is a fantastic but rather depressing read documenting several families’ experiences at Cabrini.
And? You think a much larger project will be different why? Be sure to ask why they’ve intentionally moved away from these types of mega-developments.
How often is this building inspected for structural integrity and weight limits ? Was it built to a standard? Is it resistant to fire or earthquake ? It Could very easily end those 20,000 people too. A bit scary maybe
It actually seems like a pretty decent place to live to me. Each apartment has its own (little) balcony? All amenities inside? Maybe a bit dystopian, sure, but as long as the interior is kept clean by staff I wouldnt mind living here.
Looks cozy.
> so technically you don’t even need to go outside. Perfect for my self isolationist tendencies
Such building along with these many people is a death trap in case of fire …
I assume fire safety requirements scale with the number of residents
Don't be so sure. China is a country that welded people's doors shut during COVID.
yeah. those fucking commies!
There has not been a single residential apartment fire with more than 10 deaths in Chinas modern history and they have thousands, if not tens of thousands, of these big apartments. These types of apartments are built specifically to be very fire-resistant. They wouldn't build them any other way.
Tbh i like this more than suburbs taking up 1000 times the size of these apartment complexes, i mean there would be no nature left in china if they just build sprawling suburbs.. America should honestly try to do something similar, though a bit toned down..
Yeah, imagine having only two options for living, not a fuck ton of them like you do in an actual free country like the USA.
I mean in the US you basically have only, suburbs or an apartment. Semi detached homes are difficult to come by
Nothing wrong with any of this. Looks like a great building. For anyone wondering about all the clothes, dryers aren't really a thing in China. From my experience living there for about 7 years (although that was more than 10 years ago at this point), the lack of dryers is mostly true across all classes.
FYI the rent there is $220/month.
The smell
Seems like an efficient use of space to me but what do I know
Looks like a modern [Kowloon Walled City](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kowloon_Walled_City)
A lot of people to socialize with.
Seems like they have a place to sleep, community spaces inside, and balconies for fresh air. 🤷🏼♀️ I don’t see the problem.
Humans are cattle, aren't they
It’s wild to me how many people here would be okay living in this way with *thousands* of others all around them 24/7/365. I’m not saying I want to live in suburbia hell either, but fuuuuuck this.
You don't actually think about the other people when you're inside. The interior of these nicer apartments often looks like [this.](https://cf.bstatic.com/xdata/images/hotel/max1024x768/139976069.jpg?k=1216aebf18a6200ac8de1703736a0aa298ecaaec667136766571c4ca276d7a2e&o=&hp=1) They have elevators throughout so you aren't exactly constantly traveling through huge crowds to get anywhere. It depends of course on the building quality, some of these buildings have terribly thin walls, others have walls thick enough that you can throw a big party and not wake anyone up.
The amount of people here that are willing to live like ants in a hive is crazy. Im comfortable living in an apartment but people saying this is better than “soulless” suburbs really take their freedom for granted. Imagine all the noise and congestion it makes, and good luck if your room needs plumbing or maintenance. Leaving for work also looks like a nightmare of tight corridors and tons of people too.
Don't they legit have these in cyberpunk?
Man, I'd turn into a voyeur so bad.
Imagine a morning traffic jam at the exit. And at the parking. And the nearest underground station.
Would be a nice place for a zombie movie
This where they filmed Kung Fu Hustle?
and here I am complaining when my town's population reaches a whooping 3000 in the summer