Could you elaborate on why it doesn't work? That first example looks like a lovely place to live, at least compared to most urban landscapes... As long as it isn't far away from more lively areas.
* As a resident the grass is useless. You cannot use it like a garden because it's not yours. You cannot put garden furniture there or plant things. Sitting there feels weird because all the neighbors can watch you from above.
* It doesn't work as a park either. People will not feel comfortable walking around or picnicking on these bits of grass, because they are too small and clearly belong to an apartment building.
* They turn into parking lots, because people want parking more than useless bits of grass.
The traditional closed city block structure is better and very popular. Building around the perimeter right against the street and a shared space in the middle.
Green Parking Lots that would be something nice..
These are abundant in Germany, but the green that grows between them isn't exactly a pleasant sight. They are not so much used for the greenery but as a compromise between natural seepage and vehicle compatibility.
That seepage is important because any sealed off surface area increases flooding risk downstream. Of course nobody really cares for that, but the sealed surface also determines your utility bill for wastewater treatment, and people quite certainly do care for that.
I'm not saying the pictured is a horrible dystopia, but it could have been much nicer. Nobody is going to sit under those trees among the cars.
There are a few factors I've heard for this trend:
- There are ample green spaces between houses, but they're too small for some of the purposes parks serve, like sports, or to have barbecue without someone calling the police.
- At the same time, they don't replace gardens because you wouldn't be allowed to grow anything.
- They are, however, large enough to lower the density of the neighbourhood, to a point where retail locations are no longer comfortably reachable on foot. It's not quite obvious from looking at it, but my second example has probably 4x the people per area than the first.
- Depending on the social structures, these developments can further crime because they offer many small, unobservable spaces and getaway routes.
Some of it may also be the result of the location where these developments were build, or that they were initially occupied by a very homogenous population (young families in the 60ies -> old people now). But the trend has moved decidedly towards higher-density mixed environments.
That may be a measure of success. If people have chosen to stay in the same neighbourhood (or haven't chosen to leave) then it at least suggests the local community is functional?
My wife's grandmother lived in such a town, and when we visited it was clear the town had seen better days. Most things were closed, hardly any people our age, and those that remained were looking to leave. Almost everyone we saw was old.
It can mean success, but doesn't have to.
Real estate is cyclic. When I was a kid, whole stretches of blocks in the Bronx or Brooklyn looked like recent war zones. Now they are good working class neighborhoods.
Likewise, quaint country villages near where I live now are decaying rural slums.