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Comment by surfmike | Hacker News Reader

The embedded street view of a five-story "Khrushchyovka" actually looks pretty nice. Very green, narrow streets, and car-free passages between buildings.

My mom lived in a similar style building in Poland. The quality wasn't great, but my cousins have renovated some of their units to really nice sleek modern apartments.

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I lived in a post-Soviet country for a year several years ago. The neighborhood I lived in had this kind of block layout, and I agree, I much preferred it to anything I've ever seen in America.

You could walk on footpaths to the open-air market, to the kiosks, even to restaurants, didn't have to worry about traffic or road noise, it felt just like a very natural, easy place to live.

Contrast that with living in Seattle, where even where it's walkable, so much of the public space is given up to cars.

As a westerner that spent time in Poland and lived in one of these buildings (in a renovated unit), I can say there were things to like. The best part is like you say, the green spaces between the buildings, particularly when you had a view on them from one of the upper floors. Very peaceful on the balcony. Plus the stairs were good exercise :)

Yeah, this is pretty much where I grew up - loved walking between the buildings, lots of places to play and I never felt unsafe:

https://www.google.pl/maps/place/Braszczok,+Brzeszcze/@49.97...

Yes!

I absolutely love Polish neighborhoods, I wish the style remained and the buildings were upgraded to newer versions.

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