Build proper walls!
It get that average Joe in the anglosphere is clueless when it comes to aparments, bike lanes and other uncommon issues, but why are planners illiterate too?
Even when they invest the top dollar, they still can't get it right.
I lived in an apartment in Czech republic and never heard my neighbours, never had a noise complaint.
Moved to UK, and in a terraced house I could hear my neighboir's baby crying. Had neighbours call police over parry noise in a detached house (!). Wtf.
I was shocked to discover that in UK separations between apartments are just made of drywall - thats a security risk!
In Czech republic the apartment building has a yard, a lawn, a space for a barbeque and a playground for kids. This is not rocket science.
Apartment in UK has a concrete courtyard that looks like a prison, and a tiny lawn in the front with a big sign "no ball games" and "do not step on the grass".
Ex-communist countries actually know how to build apartments that work, any shorcoming are due to lack of money. If you pay top dollar, you get nice and livable apartments.
In Anglosphere, apartments suck no matter how much you pay, either the planners can't read or learning from counties with the most experience is beneath them.
Not sure if buildings are like that in the Czech Republic, although the Chinese learned these techniques from the soviets so it wouldn’t surprise me.
Why do you think so? That's extremely short, even the worst quality soviet blocks last more.
Europe has some apartment blocks that are 200 years old.
They can last more than 30 years with lots of extra maintenance, the problem comes when that maintenance isn’t applied.
I live in a townhouse with shared walls on both sides and we never hear our neighbours. I’ve asked them if they hear us (we have teenagers) and one said never, the other said sometimes an occasional thud (teenagers wrestling).
Similarly we have a private outdoor space or deck and a shared open area. Both are great and well designed. I think it can be done well.
I know too that often it is not.
If you're used to the stick-built homes and ballon framing, then the article quote from Vanwyck is right: “The majority of North Americans haven’t experienced high-quality housing, and so they also don’t know what they’re missing and what they can ask for.”
In the apartment house I live in Sweden, I hear less of my neighbors than when I lived in a detached house in the US. The walls and floors here are SOLID! I had to get a impact drill so I could install curtains, the concrete is that tough.
Some apartment complexes have a private courtyard garden where you can bbq and play with the kids (and play with the dogs, though you'll need to go elsewhere to let them pee and poop), and have the upkeep paid by your rent.
Ours doesn't, but our nearest park is across the street and the nearest big playground 5 blocks away, see https://www.google.com/maps/@58.2841034,12.2930193,3a,75y,23... . And we have several large shared rooms in the basement where the kids can play on wet dreary days, or hold a birthday party or, in my case, work during the COVID restriction years.
Now, I hate mowing and gardening, which is why I also paid someone to do it for me in the US. For those who like it, I can totally see how having a yard would support that hobby.
The fact that you can hear your neighbors through the wall is a sign of terrible design and construction choices. Hell, most sane apartment layouts minimise if not eliminate shared walls entirely.
Different people have different tastes and preferences. Of the ~30,000 municipalities in the country, we have exactly one that resembles the high density walkable/transit-oriented city described above. Do you really think that ratio accurately reflects Americans' preferences?
There's at least most of NYC, Boston, & Chicago.
And listening to their leafblowers/lawnmowers/other yard tools blasting a thousand decibels of noise on the weekends is?
A lot of the mowers etc are turning over to electric so the cacaphony of weekend 2 strikes is fading away