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Comment by ethbr0 | Hacker News Reader

One thing I've been confused about, from the time I've visited friends and (briefly) lived in big box condo / apartment buildings... why aren't there more community spaces?

And no, I don't mean "the pool" or "the weight room." I mean actual lounge areas. Social areas. Hell, even Marriott's Residence Inns do a better job than your average building.

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Agreed. I'd love to see more apartment buildings have bakeries, cafes, or other public spaces on the ground floor. Then you can get to know not only your neighbours in your own apartment building, but in shared spaces for the surrounding areas too.

My apartment (in Germany, not USA) has that. I hope it reopens after the pandemic.

That's unfortunately only true for old (100+ years) buildings, most newer developments don't have commercial space in the ground floor.

What are needed are more community spaces.

Parks, YMCAs, basketball courts, cafes, etc.

Anecdotally it feels like it should be more complex than that, as two of the three whose construction I’ve watched to completion since I moved here have ground floor commercial space.

I thought about mixed use (commercial on first, residential above) when I wrote my previous, and left it out, because it seems like a nuanced subject.

In that "Community spaces" is a subset of "businesses an owner leasing commercial space would rent to."

I don't think we're talking about a Subway sandwich shop on the ground floor being helpful.

I read in Dublin they built these sorts of appartments but then they got banned.

That’s something I find odd, but I grew up as an only child. I actively avoid speaking to my neighbors for the most part and always have. Their business is none of mine.

That’s not to say I don’t have a few close friends, but certainly not my next-door neighbors.

Would people actually hang out there?

You mean like a bar?

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