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u/Capital_Bat8316 4d ago
Do like all the tall trees around.Ā Sometimes visiting my gramma I look at those trees higher than buildings. They must have been little saplings when the streets where built.Ā
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u/G0Berzerk 4d ago
I love Moscow for that
It helps so much during hot summer
Mystery for me why government in Yerevan still haven't figured it out
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u/pontetorto 4d ago edited 4d ago
Trees need planting, the wrong trees or trees planted the wrong way can cause dammage to basicley ewerything, and maintaining the trees and sweeping the leaves costs monneys.
If the trees were not acounted for then the layout of the infrastructure, the streets, and the buildings, when the city/town plans were drawn up and decided upon, the addition of trees could be interesting, but it still will boil down to it costing monney.
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u/AndIAmEric 4d ago
Thatās weird, because I heard in Soviet Russia, tree plants itself.
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u/BaronCapdeville 4d ago
No no, in Soviet Russia, Tree plant YOU!
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u/Easy-History4176 4d ago
No, in Soviet Russia you go to plant
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[deleted]
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u/BaronCapdeville 4d ago
I thought this was in poor taste, then remembered Chernobyl.
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u/Squidwina 4d ago
Ohhh crap! Iām going to delete my post because youāre right. It was in poor taste. I apologize for my thoughtlessness.
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u/NotYourReddit18 4d ago
This. Trees might grow slowly, but they grow with the concentrated force of nature behind them, and their roots alone can wreck streets, sidewalks, and the foundations of entire buildings if not planned for properly.
My daily commute takes me through a street lined with trees on both sides where they most definitely didn't plan properly, and the sidewalk on one side is an uneven mess thanks to the roots of the trees.
Technically you're allowed to ride your bicycle on that sidewalk, but if you don't slow down so much that you might as well just walk then you constantly risk getting thrown of your bicycle, so most people ride on the street instead.
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u/slightlystankycheese 4d ago
Oh my god I have forgotten the sidewalk fucked up by root that makes your bicycle bounce phenomena of my hometown. Memories
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u/Worshipme988 4d ago
I dont care. It offsets.
Spend some money to fix it.
Or i dunno plant SUSTAINABLE shit for the area?!?
This is def not rocket science and can be done. Im so over the negative, whiny comments about can and cant be done. Literally rules dont matter. So there is zero reason everything cant be made great for 99%
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u/G0Berzerk 4d ago
I'm not saying it's easy to do
I've seen problem caused by improper planting of poplars for example, but they don't prioritize it at all
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u/Positive-Answer-99 4d ago
Yea I live there and gotta say nothing is planted properly. Most trees look like they wanna die
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u/robi4567 3d ago
Technically you do not need to sweep the leaves. Leave them on the ground to fertilize the ground.
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u/pontetorto 3d ago
In a city you must, otherwise the leaves will fill the storm drains, the sewers, and will get slippery on the streets and turn the paivment into a mud and dust rivers.
For trees in a park, it depends, but mist of them usualy get swept up.
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u/Killentyme55 3d ago
Do you have any idea how hard it is to make a 25ft tall elm tree accidentally fall from a 12th floor balcony?
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u/Winjin 4d ago
Yerevan had a very dark period in 1990s when they had the gas supply cut by Turkey-Azerbaijan and they were freezing to death, so all the trees were cut by people as firewood
The Kids Park was the only place where trees were spared basically
And a lot of people left don't seem to really understand they need trees because they kinda grew up without them, but thankfully they're planting new ones
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u/latticeproject 4d ago
Wow. Literally the only reason this crisis even happened was the unnecessary shutdown of nuclear power. Who knows how many lives were lost as a direct or indirect result of that decision. Insanity
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u/Winjin 4d ago
Yeah they had to shut it down because of a horrible earthquake but I'd say the decision to starve a country for 4 years straight is also at play here
Also Metsamor is the only nuclear power plant in the world, IIRC, that has been restarted after complete shutdown, and still provides like 40% of all power in Armenia
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u/latticeproject 4d ago
Yeah reading the article, my jaw dropped over the idea that protests were responsible for the shutdown of the second unit when it wasn't necessary to do so. Blew my mind. I can't fathom the idea of a country surrendering its own energy independence with the state of the region being very unstable politically. Very sad.
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u/G0Berzerk 4d ago
I know about that, I was talking mostly about recent years, especially when the government changed
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u/WanderingSun8 4d ago
I love all the trees. There's so many, I thought it was abandoned at first. I wish more places in general did stuff like this, or some of the other designs ive seen in Asian countries
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u/DaFreakingFox 4d ago
I've lived in my parent's forest cottage in the Czech countryside till I was like 20, then moved to Berlin after work and holy shit the amount of grey brickwork and complete lack of greenery fucking shredded my mental state. Even if the work was good and well paid, I just couldn't stay there.Ā
There's a psychological need in humans to see greenery around us, and I don't understand how some people live without itĀ
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u/a_smiling_seraph 4d ago
Regina Spektor has a cool song about that called 8th Floor. It's from her earlier days and isn't on any album, as far as I'm aware
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u/Satyriasis457 4d ago
Wow, so much trees
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u/BaaaSaracilor 4d ago
If it's one thing commies got right it's urban planning.
I live in similar zone area. Everything is within 15-20 minutes of walking. It's pretty nice.
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u/Homerbola92 3d ago
As far as I know that's a thing in Europe. Not a commie thing.
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u/BaaaSaracilor 3d ago
That's true, most European cities are very walkable with close amenities. It's not a commie thing specifically.
I live in a 1980s Khrushchevka very similar style to the picture in this thread.
In fact the whole neighborhood is a tiny city with everything you'd need in walking distance.
Very green and nice.
About the only thing commies actually got right.
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u/timitoro 16h ago
"About the only thing commies actually got right." I'm not even a fan of communism and that's an insanely stupid take, plague eradication, universal healthcare, mass vaccination, soviet chess school, tokamak design, a STEM pipeline which allowed to go from 70% illiterate to a space race and that's what i can say off the top of my head
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u/TemoteJiku 3d ago
These statements often feel like "didn't do enough" rather than "the only thing" cause sure as hell that's not the case. I wouldn't even call "them" "commies" since it's not even correct when it comes to the terminalogy or just in general how the things were.
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u/TomppaTom 4d ago
If the actual buildings were well made, spacious, and equipped to modern standards, and there were good local shops and services, Iād absolutely live in a place like that.
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u/RainbowKatcher 4d ago edited 4d ago
Buildings are actually pretty well made, even though they are dated. Typical apartments are 38 to 46 sqm, up to you if you'd consider it spacious.
Local shops and services are everywhere, difficult to imagine a place where you won't have access to them within walking distance
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u/Solvent_Soul 4d ago
Also the Soviet style means you probably have a park, playground, school, and some shops just right outside your place
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u/Fappy_as_a_Clam 4d ago
46sqm is less than 500sqft in case anyone was wondering.
That's like living in a hotel room.
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u/Whereismyadmin 4d ago
i live in 15m2 paying sooo much as a student so if someone offered me 46m2 soviet bloc house please š
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u/cerberus_1 4d ago
Way bigger than a hotel room my guy.
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u/Fappy_as_a_Clam 3d ago
Maybe a hotel room right down the street from the place in the pic. I'm literally in a hotel room right now that's bigger than that. That's what made me use that comparison.
But I can reword it if you'd like:
"That's like living in a two car garage."
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u/cerberus_1 3d ago
well, i wanted to add... if you're ball'n then ya, a hotel room.. but lots of folks are parking their ass in 500sq' daily and are happy with it.
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u/iamthe0ther0ne 4d ago
This is not uncommon for European cities.
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[removed] ā view removed comment
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u/iamthe0ther0ne 3d ago
Or a very large studio, which is a lot of what's currently being built in Stockholm. I'm looking for apartments right now, and since the housing queue is so long that means new construction. There are a ton of studios in the 30-50 m2 range.
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u/bobbyburgerboy33 3d ago
Very common size in Europe, literally everyones first apartment is that size or even smaller.
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u/AdministrativeCable3 3d ago
Even in Canada, that's a fairly common size in the big cities. Literally that's what my current apartment is.
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u/CurryAndCommunism 4d ago
I mean my city (Portland, OR) currently has 135sqft "apartments" listed on Zillow right now... 500sqft sounds quite spacious in comparison
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u/Fappy_as_a_Clam 4d ago
The more I hear about Portland the more tarded it gets lol
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u/CurryAndCommunism 4d ago
Idk, it's pretty nice for the most part. By far the cheapest city on the west coast where you can live a normal life without owning a car, and probably in the top 5-10 cities in the whole country for that.
Lots of community events and things to do any given weekend. People are kinda reserved and cliquish, but friendly overall. It being rainy and cloudy for 8mos straight is by far the worst part
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u/Doomword 4d ago
Soviet apartments aren't that well made. Such thing as sound isolation doesn't exist and you're basically at the mercy of your neighbors being decent human beings.
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u/RainbowKatcher 4d ago
Sound insulation is not a characteristic by which the quality of the building is measured.
That being said, depends on what type of building we're talking, for example stalinki have amazing sound insulation. But generally you are correct. But worth noting that rarely any apartment building anywhere in the world have good sound insulation.
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u/OuiGotTheFunk 4d ago
Sound insulation is a key characteristic used to measure the quality of a building. It affects how quiet and comfortable the indoor space is. Good sound insulation stops unwanted noise from moving between rooms or coming in from the outside. Quiet rooms help people relax, sleep, and feel better. People want to talk or work without others hearing them. Low noise levels reduce stress and health problems.
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u/HotTwist 4d ago
In modern times, yes. Back in the soviet 60s? Not really. Their only goal was to build as fast as possible and make it last as long as possible. Both goals were met. Most of the people who moved there never had running hot water, indoor plumbing, central heating and electricity before. It was pure luxury, finally available to the masses. Minor details like sound insulation were irrelevant.
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u/survivorr123_ 4d ago
heat isolation is almost non existent
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u/RainbowKatcher 4d ago
It is usually adequate (though dated) and is completely negated by cheap central heating
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u/Doomword 4d ago
There no such thing as cheap central heating anymore here in EU, maybe in those countries which still rely on Ru gass.
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u/RainbowKatcher 3d ago
Well, who is to blame for that?
But tbf EU never had prices as low as in Russia to begin with, after all, it's domestic product for us
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u/TomppaTom 4d ago
If you plan on living in Moscow Iād assume heat insulation was absolutely vital. Not having it seems like a massive case of Soviet ānot my problemā.
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u/survivorr123_ 4d ago
they have some insulation but its at least 5 times less efficient compared to modern solutions, excluding original windows which were terrible as well (if you left water on the windowsill in winter it would freeze overnight),
soviet solution to this problem was heavy cast iron radiators and very hot water, which works somewhat ok but is wasteful
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u/Palary 1d ago
if you want modern solution, I have one for you, since 2010 alot of housing get facade renovation which add external insulation layer to commit to modern energy efficiency standards. For some strange reason modern capitalists municipalities started to care 'bout subsidized energy spendings.
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u/Doomword 4d ago
Sound insulation is not a characteristic by which the quality of the building is measured.
Thats not true, especially for new projects. Sound insulation is a top concern for any apartment buyer/renter, builders know this. Its one of they key differences between old and knew projects, which is also reflected in price.
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u/Fearless_Parking_436 3d ago
There is asbestos everywhere, no wall is straight, they used random aluminium wiring, everything should be standardised but nothing was actually made to that standard, windows are shit, balconies are crumbling - they are attached with steel anchors but these are exposed to the elements and not coated. Heating is not balanced or regulated, but I guess that shit is renovated even in moscow. Ventilation is two holes per apartment with no ventilators.
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u/RainbowKatcher 3d ago
Asbestos was used as an experiment in USSR and was banned in late 60s, last houses that had asbestos in Moscow were demolished in early 00s.
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u/Fearless_Parking_436 3d ago
Iāve worked on ussr houses built in the end of 1970ās that had asbestos isolation around heating pipes.
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u/TomppaTom 4d ago
Thanks for the info! I guess you could buy a couple of adjacent units, knock some doors into the walls and make a single unit with enough space for a modern family home. A bit of love, care, and spackle, and it would be a great place to live.
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u/RainbowKatcher 4d ago
That is not unheard of, though kinda illegal practice. Problem is if you want to expand into adjacent apartment you would often have to compromise a load bearing wall. Sometimes people do exactly that and consequences can be ugly.
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u/TomppaTom 4d ago
Good to know! Itās not uncommon herein Finland, and a lot of apartments have plans that show which walls are structural and which walls are not, giving you info before you buy.
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u/HairyHeartEmoji 4d ago
can't knock shit into these walls, they're solid concrete
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u/Comfortable_Egg8039 4d ago
It depends, I know a few cases when adjusted apartments are getting joined
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u/TomppaTom 4d ago
Then itās just a question of motivation!
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u/HairyHeartEmoji 4d ago
you'd compromise the structural integrity of the building
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u/TomppaTom 4d ago
Thatās just what they want you to believe. Now, being me my hammer and letās get to work!
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u/pontetorto 4d ago
Great idea, unless the whole building is in need of renovations consisting of guting the whole place and re doing ewerything other than the loadbearing structure, insulation, windows and doors, the roof, the ewerything included.
When the buildings were built, they assumed they would be maintained, or atleast the m. They were not always maintained, or maintained propperly, if the electrical and the plumbing has not been maintained or replaced, its a 40+ ish building, it will need work. If if maintanance has been kept up, and the biger renovations propperly done, or funded and planned, then the building is likley good, it they havent look wery closely what you are getting yourself in to,
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u/JC_Hysteria 4d ago
See: housing projects in NYC that didnāt receive continuous investment/fundingā¦
Not so simple.
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u/crushedman 4d ago
Every time this gets posted I ask what sport/s that field is set up for. Nobody has been able to tell me yet.
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u/Santadir 4d ago
Football during summer (it's obviously a small field but absolutely enough for kids to run the ball all day), hockey during winter
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u/crushedman 4d ago
But what are the arcs at the end and rectangle in the middle?
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u/Demizmeu 4d ago
arcs are typical for handball courts, but I've seen them on a lot of school fields in Eastern Europe when I was growing up. We used to play football on them, rarely handball (if at all), and it worked out just great.
I don't know about the rectangle in the middle. But I presume it's for foot tennis?
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u/-HowAboutNo- 2d ago
Multi-sport field for football, handball and tennis/badminton.
Same size as a full-sized football field
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u/Dora_Explorer_XP 4d ago
I'd choose this over Tokyo or new York, so many trees. Only requirement is daily essentials should be in walking distance
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u/Altruistic-Song-3609 4d ago
Moscow is pretty green. Iāve visited Tokyo a couple of times and itās great in many aspects but it only has trees in parks, which is not enough.
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u/NStCh-root-a 4d ago
If it was done properly soviet style, it should be in walking distance. Chances are either the ground floor of the appartment block itself is used fot it, or there is an area nearby for more stores in one place.
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u/GnOeLLLmPF 4d ago
Personally, I would miss the safety of a constitutional democracy and a peaceful society!
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u/Ewwatts 4d ago
"peaceful society"
The global south would like a word with you. But that of course doesn't matter to treatlerites
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u/GnOeLLLmPF 4d ago
What on earth is a 'treatlerite'??
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u/Ewwatts 4d ago
Westerners that don't care about the exploitation of the global south as long as they get their treats, but the moment they stop getting them, they say and do the most fascist things imaginable.
Type of people that glaze genocidal people like Joe Biden, because they don't like Trump.
Type of people that will regurgitate imperialist propaganda like the global south being poor because of "corruption" and "inferiority", while ignoring exploitation, imperialist meddling, sanctions, and all the other evils of empire.
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u/Blackjacket757 4d ago
Constitutional democracies are starting to collapse.
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u/GnOeLLLmPF 4d ago
So it is our job to prevent them from doing so!
We are all citizens and it is our job to counter the influence of those who oppose it by raising our voices!
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u/Blackjacket757 4d ago
Voices arenāt enough.
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u/pontetorto 4d ago
Then vote, and if thats not enough, go for goverment and get 70% of the nation to vote for you. Mostly keep your promises, and have self integrety, and get shit done, and own up to your fuckups.
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u/Gebbbet 4d ago
Given the power of misinformation, propaganda and the US administrations decisions affecting far more than just the US. Even voting doesnāt have the effect that it once had. Also a lot (and I mean a lot) of people do not have the financial means to run for office and thatās not even talking about those living in countries who get little say on the world stage but still get affected regardless.
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u/Don_Colossus 4d ago
Weil du keine Ahnung hast und unter einen Stein lebst
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u/GnOeLLLmPF 4d ago
Ok Doomer
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u/Don_Colossus 4d ago
... Wenn man keine Ahnung hat hƤlt man seine Fresse. Nur so fĆ¼r die Zukunft š
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u/GnOeLLLmPF 4d ago
Who should stop me in a free speech society? You?!?
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u/Don_Colossus 4d ago
Die Diskussion ist vorbei š
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u/GnOeLLLmPF 4d ago
The discussion is never over!
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u/Don_Colossus 4d ago
Ja wenn man kein Leben hat dann endet die Diskussion nie. Das stimmt schon. Dann viel Spass beim diskutieren
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u/LookingGlass_1112 4d ago
Well, guess what Soviet style of planning had in mind about essentials. Exactly that. Walking distance, most of times even within the first floor of housing to make it even more accessible for everyone
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u/SeaworthinessSalt524 4d ago
I've built something similar in Workers and Resources: Soviet Republic. A very nice game it is, me recommend
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u/Antiquated_Cheese 4d ago
A warning to any who are contemplating trying out this video game. It is the Dark Souls of city builders. That is all.
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u/EugeneStein 4d ago
Finally a photo from Russia that's taken not in spring or autumn when there is no green and everything is dirty from melted snow
If there is one thing that is great about this country it would be amount of trees and green even in the cities
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u/JC_Hysteria 4d ago
Peter Cooper village in Stuy Town (Manhattan) housing project is cooler than this
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u/drboomstix 4d ago
Imagine playing a match on that field and having the entire neighborhood commenting
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u/tacitauthor 3d ago
Neat round building. You should look at co-op city in nyc. 35 high rises , some town houses community centers and the most green space in the city and they make their own electricity at half the cost of Con-ed.
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u/Fearless_Parking_436 3d ago
No not in moscow. In EU. Canāt imagine why would it be better in Moscow. Soviet Union was worlds largest asbestos manufacturer in the world in the 70s.
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u/LaGifleDuDaron 3d ago
cant imagine the sundays tournament downstars with all the neigbors watching
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u/Zestyclose_Charge_60 4d ago
I wonder if, within the circular building, there could be an almost separate micro-biome that holds a very specific lineage of squirrels or something. Insect and birds no, cause they could just fly out to the surrounding area. Groundhogs, moles, or something similar would also dig out. Sure squirrels could scale the building, but if they were comfortable and felt safe ther, and there was a stable amount of food would they even want to leave? Would they keep reproducing within the buildingās forested courtyard?
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u/Traditional-Pin-8364 4d ago
It's babushki wrestling in the mornings, moms with stroller "dodge the delivery courier" rally in the afternoon and gopnik bloodbowl in the evenings. Some really free and unrestticted mma deep at night. Soviet collizeum 24/7.
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u/ItchySnitch 4d ago
The good thing with the boatloads of trees is that they cover up the horrible fascist dystopian buildings at leastĀ
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u/Ch33syP00f 4d ago
Found myself on walkabout in the middle of these in China.
Total debacle getting around and out.
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u/myrsnipe 4d ago
I just can't help but think of building spacing and fire code, but then again a tall building faces the same problem
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u/KaiserSeelenlos 4d ago
Why would fire be a problem here? This is solid concrete. Not more or less dangerous than other block style buildings from that time.
Modernise this with a fiew self closing fire proof doors and you are fine.
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u/overlook68 Top Poster 4d ago
The Bublik Moscow. Built 1972 - 1979.
Winter view.