Yeah, the Soviets and central planning get a lot of deserved flak, but as someone who grew in that part of the world, I hold that they got high density urban pl

Yeah, the Soviets and central planning get a lot of deserved flak, but as someone who grew in that part of the world, I hold that they got high density urban planning right. Not the execution, of course - the endemic corruption saw to that, all those buildings need a lot of repairs and upkeep, but the plan was sound. You have small quiet commercial buildings on the ground floor and every district has basic amenities within walking distance, with large communal green spaces. Sadly we're now trying to do everything the American way, i.e. the way 80s-90s America is presented by TV. You can look at a new building and pinpoint which sitcom served as inspiration. Picture perfect buildings being plopped on the outskirts of the city with frankly absurd connections to the roads around them. Residential-only buildings being built right to the edge of the road and cannibalising all the green space. New roads cutting right across old footpaths with no way to cross them. At least there's a little bit less corruption and a bit more freedom.