this post was submitted on 11 May 2025
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Denser housing doesn't lead to more sustainable communities, it leads to more insanity. Even grouped single family houses start to be awful with hoas and shit.
I always forget that you Yanks have things like HOAs, and can't keep chickens or paint your house the colour you like.
Don't you have the freedom to leave the Home Owners Association, or set up your own one?
Edit: apparently it's in the EU. I only really know British and to a lesser Chinese housing stuff. China does have HOA style stuff.
Not a yank, as you've already discovered. But to answer your question, I don't know about suburbs and the like, my experience is only with apartment building hoas and no, you can't leave them. The thing is part of the property is shared–like corridors, stairways, lifts, any space that is not a home, even the facades...
Some issues are solvable with better architecture but developers don't make money on it, many only build for the landlords. Stuff like good soundproofing between separate units, both a lift and multiple staircases in bigger buildings, visual variation between buildings or parts of buildings so people don't get lost or stir crazy, outdoor spaces with both vegetation and useable areas.
Depends on your city, but many need more medium-density, not go straight from terraced housing to seven floor buildings.
The worst HOAs are in low density American suburbs. The most healthy communities are always high density working class neighborhoods - the sort that keep getting gentrified into oblivion because everyone wants to live there.
I live in a 'high density working class neighborhood' in a big dense city, and have for most of my life except some years I moved to a small village. Certainly not healthy, I would be even hard pressed to call it 'community'. 'Rat race' or 'crab bucket' seem more appropriate.
The least energy intense communities are dense communities.
This is a step in the right direction.
Higher density leads to:
It absolutely makes sustainable communities.
I live, and has lived for most of my live, in a big and dense city, one of the biggest in the eu. I lived, for a few years, also in a small village (~2k-3k people) that's now my (adopted) hometown. The city is definitely much more concrete heavy than the village. My sister still lives there in a much bigger home than me and her utility bills are identical to mine even given that I'm not at home half of the days for work or visiting her, so no the power consumption is much more dependent on the quality of the buildings. The other points are probably right, but I prefer the power lines to the rats and cockroaches, the garbage piling up on every corner, the smell, the noise, the crazies and junkies (we have those in my small hometown too but not even near in quantity or 'quality').
I get the impression that all the proponents of these 'high density' housing ideas haven't lived in a high density working class area ever, and probably wouldn't last long if they get themselves in one.
To a degree yes, but a larger HVAC system that cools 100 apartments is going to be more efficient that 100 window units. It's not a guarantee, but it's far easier to fix when it's all one building.
I live in the heart of a major city in a large apartment building complex that has about 90 units. I don't have rat problems, cockroaches, or junkies around. The walls are soundproofed well, so I don't deal with any more noise than a suburb.
You're confused about the source of your problems.
Excuse me if I'm wrong but central hvac system, the word 'complex' instead of just 'apartment building', no junkies, soundproofed walls... doesn't sound like 'working class high density housing' to me. At least that's not a thing where I'm from.
Now a 'major city' without rats and roaches??? It has to be a cold as fuck city, definitely not a thing in temperate climates.
It sounds like your arbitrarily gatekeeping this.
It's temperate.