Shitty is comparative. I've seen people pay a lot more for way worse infrastructure in London, Paris, or San Francisco.

Of course, Nordic countries are much better infrastructure-wise. But they provide a lot more expensive, and more restrictive environment.

(Background: a Finn who has in addition to Helsinki lived in St. Petersburg and Istanbul, and has been in Berlin for the past couple of years)

Couldn't disagree more. You should see London. Germans seem to inherently like quality discipline and order and they don't put some ancient laws in front that prevent from taking down some "historical" buildings in order to renovate the city - I'm looking at you, UK.