Comment by csydas | Hacker News Reader

Comment by csydas | Hacker News Reader

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I haven't lived in one nearly as long, but I find them okay for the most part. I'm a US expat so it took me a bit to get used to the rather compact nature of the apartments in St. Petersburg, but while the outsides of these buildings look like they're begging to be torn down, most people have done some amazing modern renovations with the actual apartments themselves. My partner's mother has a very lovely multi-room apartment, and my only complaint with it is just that the shower room is far smaller than I'm used to.

In SPB at least, new construction is going up as fast as they can do it, and while a lot of it is done in more remote areas (end of Metro lines), there is plenty to support people who live in those areas. Dozens of full grocery stores within walking distance at the base of every complex, bus transit is plentiful and relatively frequent (compared to US bus schedules anyways), and the developers/city do seem to try to create good public places for families, such as playgrounds and parks. I have to echo what a lot of others have said, it's nice to be able to walk through the complexes and not have to worry too much about cars. The complexes closer to the city proper have some difficulty though with cleanliness just because a lot of the gardens and embankments aren't well tended to or the infrastructure built to contain the dirt has finally given out after 60 some years, and no one has bothered to fix it. The city tearing up roads and grass embankments to replace ancient plumbing doesn't help much either.

It's not perfect, obviously - the newer buildings are mostly small one or two room apartments, but they have modern amenities, are wired up with modern network and electrical, and overall look nice.

Don't think they'd ever fly in the US though...just not "personal" enough.

> Don't think they'd ever fly in the US though...just not "personal" enough.

I wonder if that's really true. Personally I hate paying rent ... absolutely hate it. Most of my day is spent either at office or at coffeeshops/bars for work and again in gym/bars/coffeeshops/traveling after work/on the weekends. A house is just a place to sleep and cook when I have some time. I absolutely hate paying ~10% of my paycheck for rent; so if we had such "impersonal" but functional residences, I would gladly live in them.

I think this has been tried a few times in multiple cities. Seattle had a thing where people lived in really tiny aparmtents (like one room with shared amenities in a public area), and there was some conflict over it but I can't recall what it was. The residents were happy, but for some reason the city and neighbors weren't.

And my personal experience is that people would in general dislike it, with a preference for a private space. I remember comments about the apartments I had when I lived in the US being "small"; I'm of the same opinion as you that a home is pretty much just a place to rest, cook, and clean up, and if I could find a smaller place with the few amenities I wanted, I would.

But that doesn't really seem to be what people are interested in, and the few smaller living spaces available are usually inflated in price due to them having been a fad at one point.

The idea of apartment ownership is also a bit different in the US versus abroad, as my partner's family owns their apartment - they can do the floors, drill into walls, remodel the bathroom, all without anyone else's approval. Such renovations are considered pretty standard and from what I'm told they're considered already as part of the cost of purchasing an apartment. The location and the space is more important than what it looks like.

Compared to apartments in the US that are pretty clear about what sort of decorating and remodeling is and isn't allowed, and the sense of home is much different.

That's true. I bought my first house (I'm in the US) because I wanted to be able to alter my living space - plant a garden, turn a bath into a shower, upgrade a circuit from 15 amps to 30. Even when there's no disputing the change is an improvement, landlords don't like it when you modify their property, and I don't really blame them.

I think St. Petersburg has/had somewhat better housing. Even 'khrushevkas' aren't entirely uniform.

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