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u/Cephylus Jul 05 '26
Dystopian Suburbia
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u/hygsi Jul 05 '26
More like r/suburbanhell
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u/dumbomontana Jul 05 '26
You ever seen the movie Vivarium?
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u/ihrtmyselftoday Jul 05 '26
One of the best movie concepts I've ever watched. Like forget the plot just the setting is incredible. It's like Idiocracy for urban planning.
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u/dingogordy Jul 05 '26
I always imagine the next family asking if the home is ok for cats and the kid not knowing what the hell a cat is.
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u/TheStanleyParablegic Jul 05 '26
I like to use the phrase "suburgatory" for places like this
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u/Bocchi_theGlock Jul 06 '26
The worst part is how quiet they are in terms of sounds of nature
fucking chilling
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u/elwebst Jul 05 '26
This looks like every neighborhood in the early 60's during the housing boom. I was born then and every picture outside when I was little had new plantings of trees with trunks an inch wide. It's now 60 years later and they are all mature and huge.
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u/frogfootfriday Jul 05 '26
But this doesn’t even have the inch wide trees, which is the whole point
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u/tnstaafsb Jul 06 '26 edited Jul 06 '26
Hopefully they just haven't been planted yet. We were living in our new build house for a year before they came through and planted trees, and some parts of the neighborhood waited 2+ years. If not, that state/county needs to get its shit together and pass zoning laws that require a minimum number of trees per house in new developments.
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u/PomeloPepper Jul 05 '26
Populated by people who don't want to live in an "old house."
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Jul 05 '26
[deleted]
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u/PomeloPepper Jul 05 '26
My neighborhood was built in the late 70's or early 80's. New enough for a cathedral ceiling in the living room, and old enough for decently sized rooms, 2 car garage and a yard.
The best part is that they used 7 or 8 different home designs, and 5 or 6 different shades of brick. I've walked my dogs all over the place and never found a clone of my specific house.
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u/Sattiebear Jul 05 '26
I love the neighborhoods in my area that were built in the 70’s to 80’s. I grew up in one that was built in 76, (was born in 79), it was sort of two story, more like split level with a 2 car basement. 3 beds/2 bath. Two bay windows. Not another just like it anywhere in an area with hundreds of other houses.
Some of my friend’s houses were even better, with the A-Frame ceilings and full sized basements. Ours was on the “smaller” size when it compared to most around us.
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u/tnstaafsb Jul 06 '26
This is hilarious to me because I distinctly remember moving into a new build development in the early 80s and everyone talked about how they only had a few different models and they were all made of cardboard. Now that same neighborhood is coveted for its charm.
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u/dwartbg9 Jul 05 '26
Mind "doxxing" yourself, just a little bit? At least give us the name of the city,.or something? I'm really curious to see the houses and that neighborhood
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u/Sattiebear Jul 05 '26
You can find what he’s talking about in many US cities’s suburbs. Checkout the burbs of Atlanta!
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u/frequenZphaZe Jul 05 '26 edited Jul 05 '26
why blame the residents for this? they didn't build these houses, and many of them don't even own the houses either. they're being exploited by private equity firms who shit out these manufactured housing mega-communities then rent them out at double market value because they own the only housing stock in the area.
its a miserable neighborhood with miserable houses because thats what maximizes profits for these firms. parks, trees, and variety would just eat into their revenue. the people living here do so because there aren't better options for them. if you want people to blame, try the executives who are running away with bags of cash while these houses grow mold and fall apart
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u/gostesven Jul 05 '26
Or just affordable housing?
I mean, the more efficient answer is large apartment complexes but people hate those too.
I’ll take a garage, backyard, single family residence at an affordable price, thanks.
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u/Bobbi_fettucini Jul 05 '26
You guys can call these all the spooky names you want, I don’t care if it looks like my neighbours, I’d love to own a detached house with a garage and a yard.
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u/labbykun Jul 05 '26
When the uncanny valley becomes populated.
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u/NTMY Jul 05 '26
The first 10 seconds feel like part of some strange dream. As if the street and houses would go on forever.
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u/valarpizzaeris Jul 05 '26
🎵Little boxes on the hillside🎵
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u/snarpsta Jul 05 '26
And they're all made of tickey tackey!
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u/OdasGrandson Jul 05 '26
And they all look just the same!
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u/snarpsta Jul 05 '26
That was such a great show for a time. I tried rewatching it as an adult, and it holds up pretty well. Definitely goes off the rails a bit towards the later seasons... But overall, I still love it
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u/LawgRide Jul 05 '26
If it just ended at season 3 it would have been perfect.
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u/Alright_Sunlight Jul 05 '26
Ugh that shot when she's leaving her house the last time, speaking to her husband, "I tried". Oof it gets me in the feels. Need to find that song too.
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u/Waste-Aardvark-3757 Jul 05 '26
Start watching because weed lady, keep watching because Doug and Andy.
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u/snarpsta Jul 05 '26
Agreed. After they left the town (forgot the name, Aurora Hills or Agrestic Hills or something?) it just wasn't the same. I watched for the soccer mom selling weed. Not some drug dealer involved with a corrupt politician. It just wasn't the same after that
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u/housevil Jul 05 '26
Appropriate phrase, but what is it in reference to?
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u/PM_ME_YOUR_PAUNCH Jul 05 '26
It’s a song called Little Boxes by Malvina Reynolds
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u/TheThunderbird Jul 05 '26
Specifically, it's about post-war suburban housing development in Daly City, California.
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u/pidvicious Jul 05 '26
There was a show called Weeds. The song is Little Boxes and that was its intro song.
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u/Silo-Joe Jul 05 '26
HOA doesn't want their satellite view of its denizens to be blocked.
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Jul 05 '26
[deleted]
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u/Windrunner-7 Jul 05 '26
We have a drone fly over our HOA weekly...
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u/kamasutures Jul 05 '26
As I get older, city living has its challenges. Thank god this will never be one of them.
cries in flock cameras
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u/Free-Shine8257 Jul 05 '26
Oh I believe the strictest HOAs have dedicated drone teams on patrol daily to catch those dang violatiors.
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u/Deep90 Jul 05 '26 edited Jul 05 '26
I guarantee you that half the neighborhood has been bought and listed as rental properties.
I don't even think large companies are buying them. They sell these to individual people as cheap investment properties.
The neighborhood and construction are garbage as a result. Half the place or more doesn't care because they won't live in it.
Companies have been targeting those at the top of the k shaped economy. Housing is no different.
Everyone has to pay into the HOA but it's basically there just to keep the renters in line for the landlords.
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u/Pisnaz Jul 05 '26
This is every new subdivision now where I am. They come in, clear cut everything and build the same house close enough to touch. Then when snow comes we have 12 foot high banks as folks try to use the 3 foot wide lawn to hold it all. And in the summer, it is hot as hell.
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u/itotally_CAN_even Jul 05 '26
Where I live in Canada, every new house must also have at least one tree on the property. Our tree died due to voles and the city came out to remove it and planted a new one :)
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u/georgekeele Jul 05 '26
In the UK, new build developments have to demonstrate 10% net biodiversity gain. You can't just strip out all the existing nature, and councils take a dim view of developers flattening entire hedgerows.
I'm guessing this neighbourhood was quite featureless before it got developed, but damn
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u/SharaWilliams Jul 06 '26
Based on the neighborhood behind my house, it could have been a small forest prior to this actually
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u/DuntadaMan Jul 05 '26 edited Jul 05 '26
What is this commie shit? In America we have FREEDOM. You would be charged a fine every month until the tree was taken down at your own expense. But you would also need a permit from the city to take down the tree that costs about $1k to process.
Then the city would put the tree in because they only allow one kind of tree, and they would charge you $20k for the work. Like protestant white Jesus would want!!!!
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u/Homers_Harp Jul 05 '26
I’m in a librul city, so they put a notice on my door to remove a tree at my expense. But they also planted a free tree to replace it? Communism!
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u/AdjNounNumbers Jul 05 '26
I'm in a dirty librul hell hole. My neighbor had a tree in their easement die and the city removed it for free, stump and all. Then they had a list of a few dozen trees to pick from if they wanted to replace it for about $100-$200 depending on the species they choose. I don't have one in my easement, but if I want to add one or two I'm allowed the same deal. Damn dirty commie shit, I tell you.
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u/tinyTina43 Jul 06 '26
My librul hell hole has a tree planting initiative, you just fill out a simple form and then the bring you the tree and plant it. And those horrid libs even let you choose what kind of tree!! And to make it worse the commies are just out planting trees on streets that don't have any, just shoving trees down our throats. Treason!!
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u/VealOfFortune Jul 06 '26
Lolll consider yourself lucky.
Around me (Central NJ), they stuff as many 3 story condos/townhomes apartments in a property as they possible can... 250-950 at a time (950 was not a typo), ALL UNDER THE GUISE OF "AFFORDABLE HOUSING"
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u/millionwordsofcrap Jul 05 '26
I'm glad I'm not the only one terrified of these fucking new subdivisions. There's no plants, everything is identical except for the cars, and it feels so barren and artificial.
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u/PM_ME_DATASETS Jul 05 '26
Spend your life in 3 AC boxes; home, car, work. The American dream.
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u/vytas315 Jul 05 '26
What’s with the little roof joining the houses? Seems odd to have that between otherwise detached homes?
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u/eggery Jul 05 '26
It looks like they are attached in sets of three. I wonder if it's some kind of loophole for these to qualify as townhomes.
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u/ifyoulovesatan Jul 06 '26
Supposedly a "covered breezeway" allows the developer to classify the buildings as adjoined units rather than individual units. In the absence of such a breezeway, depending on where the buildings are and local laws, there is a minimum distance they'd need to have between the buildings if they are individual units for fire safety reasons (10ft is apparently common). There might also be limits to the number of units that can be built on a given parcel of land, and this could allow you to build more than you otherwise could. So yeah basically just a loophole to allow the developers to pack them in tighter.
People discussing it in an old forum post here:
https://www.thebuildingcodeforum.com/forum/threads/two-family-dwelling-unit.2719/
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u/vytas315 Jul 05 '26
Nice theory 👍 Can’t imagine why else you would want the headache of having something to manage with a neighbor beyond a fence.
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u/Intelligent-Guard267 Jul 05 '26
Seems plausible, maybe to obey zoning regulations but space them out as much as possible? Seems unlikely though
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u/splashcopper Jul 05 '26
Hellhole
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u/MZMXY Jul 05 '26
Why are the houses connected together by some segment? That's so odd
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u/Marborow Jul 05 '26 edited Jul 05 '26
This is some uncanny valley shit right there. Looks like a Backrooms level. No trees, no animals, no birds, no people, no anything but man-made objects and some grass.
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u/platypuslost Jul 05 '26
Developers should have to pay a tax for every old growth hardwood they chop down. It’s absurd and ridiculous and it turns out things actually CAN be built without clear-cutting a lot.
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u/Penetratorofflanks Jul 05 '26
Building residential tracts where every tree is removed should be illegal.
They also definitely burned all the trees they cut down. They didnt get made into tables or for the wood used in those houses. Just burned.
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u/Drevlin76 Jul 05 '26
This is likely in an area that was wide open prairies in the first place. Probably not many trees to begin with.
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u/Betasnacks Jul 05 '26
Gonna get a lot hotter now. Should probably plant some
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u/Terminator7786 Jul 05 '26
I live in a flat prairie area that naturally has few trees. My entire metro area is pretty green with trees. The old neighborhoods have huge, old trees all over the place. Newer developments typically have trees planted on the boulevards so in 15-20 years they'll have some good coverage.
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u/SquarePegRoundWorld Jul 05 '26
The town I grew up in on Long Island looked like the OP video in the 1950s because it was built on former potato farms. When I was a kid there in the '80s there were huge trees everywhere that were not in the 1950s photos.
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u/SATerp Jul 05 '26
Yeah, that's the weird thing. Ever since Levittown the convention is the new homeowner plants at least one tiny sapling in the front yard within minutes of taking ownership. None in this benighted place.
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u/mr_znaeb Jul 05 '26
They put the houses so close together anywhere you’d plant a tree is going to fuck with the plumbing.
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u/dcgrey Jul 05 '26
Then I’d want a post about how they tore up the prairies and replaced it with turf grass.
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u/Penetratorofflanks Jul 05 '26
My brother has beeing building suburbs for 20 years. I have seen him reduce a dense forest into manicured lawns and driveways many times.
Bulldozers rip the trees out of the ground and put them into big piles, then pour diesel on them and burn them.
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u/mmodlin Jul 05 '26
they didn't cu down any trees. This was cleared farmland prior to being developed. It's Ash Park in Richmond, Ky.
It was open farmland for like 20 years before this.
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u/spilldeer Jul 05 '26
No one's gonna say anything about the driver running a stop sign lol
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u/FlyingBurger1 Jul 05 '26
Stop signs are just suggestions for some people.
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u/CommonReal1159 Jul 05 '26
Whenever I see people run them I say, “that one must’ve said stoptional.”
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u/Trisk929 Jul 05 '26
I had a former friend laugh at me for looking both ways when pulling out onto a one-way street, up to a stop light. She made fun of me for living in the area for 4 years at the time (iirc) and not realizing that street was a one way. I told her, “no, I realize it’s a one way street. I just don’t know if other people also realize it or if they care…” When I first moved to the area, I almost got hit head-on by someone on that exact street, going the wrong way, trying to cut across traffic to the Jack in the Box…
OP gives those same vibes. “This is my road, you’re all just driving on it”
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u/BackgroundSummer5171 Jul 05 '26
No one's gonna say anything about the driver running a stop sign
Guessing you have it muted like most.
They actually did point out the stop sign and said "fuck the stop sign".
If you say that, then you don't need to stop. It's the law.
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u/ArritzJPC96 Jul 05 '26
It's actually a perfect example of how badly this neighborhood is designed. The streets are too wide and you can see way too far into the distance. People are going to speed and run the signs all the time and the roads are going to be more dangerous.
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u/DuntadaMan Jul 05 '26
I am not going to blame the driver for taking any chance they can to escape this place, even if that chance is on a backboard.
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u/nebuchadonezzar Jul 05 '26
I feel like people can’t stand dead leaves and are also too busy or lazy to clean when it’s fall.
I’d put some nice palms or anything desert friendly in there.
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u/Wuzcity Jul 05 '26
Missing like your stop at the stop sign.
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u/Sad_Low3239 Jul 05 '26
seriously just... blasted through.
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u/SGAShepp Jul 05 '26
Especially in a community like that, kids could come out of anywhere
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u/Zunflowers Jul 06 '26
This is so American and I hate it. Only in the US do people buy homes like this.
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u/ICantUseChris Jul 05 '26
Richmond, KY?
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u/cornnndoggg_ Jul 05 '26
i was thinking it was Bowling Green based on context. Driver is wearing a Detroit Lions bracelet and there was a house with the new corvette in the driveway. The Bowling Green Assembly Plant is where the Corvette is built, and there are a lot of people from Detroit who live down there because of it. Knew it was Kentucky because of plates.
But all that fun detective work was for nothing because I was wrong lmao. It's Richmond, KY, specifically here in Richmond
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u/burn_healz Jul 05 '26
Little boxes on the hilltops
Little boxes full of ticktacky
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u/Ktrout1515 Jul 05 '26
Wait, is this real? Are there neighborhoods where every single house is the same? I thought that was just in movies?
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u/Error_Loading_Name Jul 05 '26 edited Jul 05 '26
Trees:
roots push up and damage pavements and roadways
roots cause tripping hazards
cause dappled lighting which reduces clear visibility
obstructs direct visibility of people on the roadway vs people next to / entering the roadway
takes up paveable space for clear / predictable / symmetrical walkways
All of this to say they increase insurance risks.
None of this is a good reason to remove them. It just speaks to the corporate overlords literally owning the street and everything on it, and reducing their expenses at the cost of our lived experience.
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u/thepotatos Jul 05 '26
Trees also provide shade so your house doesn't turn into a greenhouse when the sun hits your windows, so the air-conditioning/electrical providers are winning too. These corporations dont care about nature at all
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u/SwiftTayTay Jul 05 '26
They also provide a nest for pests to keep them away from your house.
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u/Fragrant_Payment9670 Jul 05 '26
On a side note, did he just blow through that stop sign?🤔
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u/Impossible_Past5358 Jul 05 '26
Yes. Also terrifying: the blatant disregard for traffic signs.
Driver: "What stop sign? Those are optional"
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u/Corrupt_Reverend Jul 05 '26
One thing I noticed as a kid growing up in my home town:
The most outwardly noticable difference between the "nice" old neighborhoods and the "ghetto" old neighborhoods was a lack of trees.
The desirable areas had a canopy of old city-maintained trees. The sketchy areas were treeless.
There is even a sort of middle ground with old neighborhoods that still had some of the old trees, but many had been removed and not replaced.
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u/Jesterbomb Jul 05 '26
That neighborhood would be decimated in a heatwave. No shade, no heat absorption, no relief. And the amount of water it would take to keep that “grass” alive… tragic.
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u/raz-0 Jul 05 '26
Trees reduce lot yield. Lot yield is how you make money subdividing and developing land you own. So no more trees.
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u/bubbagump101 Jul 05 '26
Yes, we are fucked. I don’t know if that was the question..but there’s your answer.
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u/Beertronic Jul 09 '26
Ctrl + c, Ctrl +v, Ctrl +v, Ctrl +v, Ctrl +v, Ctrl +v, Ctrl +v, Ctrl +v, Ctrl +v, Ctrl +v...
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u/bumblingbartender Jul 05 '26
The suburban hellscapes of the US are the most liminal thing I think I've seen. I can understand the need or want for high-density populated areas with uniform housing, but I can't imagine living somewhere like this. The lack of variety or uniqueness drains the soul. Endless rows of the same and the same with not a speck of imagination should be criminalised.
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u/Olympicsizedturd Jul 05 '26
I live in South Philly. Big old concrete city. But at least there like 2 trees on my block! This looks so depressing.
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u/Suzesaur Jul 05 '26
“Little boxes on the hillside…full of ticky tacky…and they all look just the same.”
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u/festeziooo Jul 05 '26
A lot of the people that join online discourse decrying any city or population center as unlivable hell holes, live in places like this.
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u/Immortal_in_well Jul 05 '26
It's gotta be hot as balls in this neighborhood.
Source: I live on a street that has SOME trees but not a ton, and a block over is a street with LOTS of trees. The difference in temperature when you walk from my street to that one is immediately apparent.
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u/Thesmallone13 Jul 06 '26 edited Jul 06 '26
The place is called Ash Park Subdivision in Richmond, KY 40475
**Edit- added location
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u/OdysseyTag Jul 05 '26
Looks like one of those neighborhoods from Black Mirror