How did planners design Soviet cities? 

as one who live in a khrushchevka, when i first launched The Sims i was very confused that kitchen and dinner should be two different room, lol

Ngl the micro-district hits really different when you're a kid. I remember it being so fun when all of the kids gathered in the park in the middle and we would play.

"Kitchens were tiny" *shows a kitchen twice the size of the one I share with four other tenants here in the UK*

Important thing was that the blocks were all unfenced, if you left the house you found yourself immediately surrounded by open alleys and greenery like in a park, wchich always was close by. The streets were never in the way, only small ones to get to the parking lots, so you didn't really worry about cars. I never had more than 5 minutes way to the store, to school, to the park, to any playing field. And we kids all knew each other even from different blocks because we were running around all over the place. I only appreciate it now that I'm older and living in a deeply fenced part of town favoring cars and streets above all else. It's a nightmare.

Mid century Soviet Union: Duplicated apartment blocks Mid century United States: Duplicated suburban houses

I'm a Russian urban researcher focusing on constructivism and living in Moscow. Your narrative is surprisingly exact, neutral and not ideologically coloured about the Soviet architecture like other American stories. I really appreciate it. Your example with the movie is very useful to understand the Soviet approach. It was a real solution of the housing deficit at that time.

Imagine having your kids go to a school that's only five minutes away, by foot! Unthinkable in the US. It's crazy how we don't even realize how much valuable life time we waste with driving and traffic.

Hi from Siberia!) will add two things: 1) in the Soviet microrayons each house has a yard - a place with many trees for children to play and adults to communicate. Now many yards are filled with cars, but in my childhood, children played different games in the yards - there were slides, horizontal bars, a sandbox, etc., and adults played chess, dominoes, just talked; 2) on the territory of Soviet schools there is always not only the school building - there is a stadium, alleys, horizontal bars, etc - children and adults could walk and play, in winter they went skiing on the school grounds. Visiting cities in Europe and the USA, I was surprised that parents are forced to take their children to a park by car so that they can play - because there are no such yards and schools near the houses.

We have so much land in Russia - we build skyscrapers HORISONTALLY

The key thing here is that they promised housing for everyone, and kept their promise. The houses were not pretty, but they served their purpose.

-This sounds familiar... **looks out of the window** -Oh yeah, that's why!

people say Soviet architecture is depressing, but you know what's more depressing? homelessness.

I think it is important to mention that a huge part of the Soviet union was in total ruins after the war. Building a lot of identical and pragmatic buildings probably was the best solution to get dwellings to everyone fast. I would think so anyway. I really don't know.

A Russian here. The cities and such planning really give your place a unique atmosphere, it is hard to explain. Imagine coming outside of your house and wishing 5 minutes of walking you can get to your school, play soccer with your friends outside, and go grocery shopping It is very common for kids to play soccer outside and then hear your mom calling you out of the window for dinner :)))

“Kitchens were tiny” HK Resident: *LAUGHS IN HONG KONG*

I grew up in Yugoslavia, which had similar housing policies, now living in the West. The apartments in Eastern Europe were equal size as the ones in the West of that time, and bigger than the newly built Western ones. Also, in the socialist countries I never saw an apartment without a hallway/entry room, which is so widespread in the West (entering directly into the living room). Next, no building put a shade to another, even if you lived on the first floor you had sunshine...nowadays, with urban mafias, it's all stack next to each other. I'm grateful to have experienced that lifestyle, new generations will never know what they missed.

I live in a rather small soviet style neighborhood in Tallinn, Estonia and it's very interesting to see in here how the older side of the neighborhood has Stalinka style buildings and how they gradually change to the Khrushcheyovka style and in the other end of the neighborhood there are also some high rise towers. However most of these houses are now very nicely renovated and don't look anything like the ones showed in the video!

I was a little disappointed this video didn't touch on "dachas" - Russian country houses. People were expected to stay in their little city apartment during the week and have a small plot of land out side of the city to relax and have a garden. At times, a personal garden was an important part of the food supply

Wow, being Russian myself I was surprised by this video neutral non-political view and factual correctness of all data. You can literally see how deep digging work autor did here. This is really a great overview, thanks!

Well I moved from the UK to Moscow and Live in a Khrushcheyovka on an old Soviet period block, I can tell you, it's amazingly convenient and really green, you really come to appreciate it, it grows on you!

I grew up in a micro district like this in Romania. This video made me realize that indeed most of my life growing up was within this districts as you had everything you need there

As someone who was born and raised in a Khrushchevka as part of a "mini-district", I have to say, I was pretty happy there. It's a giant city block with dozens of buildings and lots of trees between them, no car traffic, there were multiple playgrounds and soccer fields or basketball courts. My school was a 5 minute walk. Local clinic was like 15 minute walk. Supermarket was a 5 minutes away. 3 of us lived in a 2 bedroom small flat and that was considered "lots of space". There were literally 4 floor plans and all my friends had one of those 4 floorplans, so when I walked into a new apartment, i knew exactly where everything was. Kind of funny. Oh, and all the modern pictures of those grey, bleak, run down buildings - that wasn't the case in USSR. It was well-maintained - freshly painted and masonry fixed every few years. Lots of gardens and flowers. It wasn't terrible... still was poor compared to spaces in American suburban homes and multiple TVs and cars.

Yeah they’re not the most visually appealing housing, but the design makes so much sense. I love how everything you might need is literally almost all nearby. The convenience is intriguing

My mother's family: She, brother, Mother and Father received from the Evil and Terrible Soviet regime a four-room flat in a newly-built house in 1980. Her parents had been on the waiting list for housing for five years. Her Father worked in a factory as Machinist-Lathe. Her mother worked in a steel factory. A this flat is now worth a 35-years mortgage with avarage workers salary...

"Kitchens were tiny, only 6 square metres" ,,, cries in British housing

The Soviet Union was playing City skylines with Cheats

I grew up in a typical micro district. As a kid I didn't notice or care all the buildings looking the same, built out of the same gray concrete panels, they were just normal homes. My parents were safe to let me wander around the district, because you could walk almost everywhere without crossing any roads, there were stores 1-2 minutes away and my school 5 minutes away. There were 3 playgrounds right outside my apartament building, it was a 5 section, 5 floor building built in the 1980s.

My mothers family lived in one of these microdistricts in Kabul called makroyan. It was built in the 60's by the soviets and I've been to makroyan in Kabul and the houses still stand up remarkably well despite their age and the war that devestated Afghanistan. It definitely still is the best place to live within in Kabul in my opinion as it actually has some greenery and is less buzy and poluted that the rest of the city, i do think these microdistricts could serve as a way of solving the housing shortage which many countries have without destroying traffic but I highly doubt that most governments are competent enough to do such a thing without either completely undercutting the amount of public transport or taking an eternity to complete it

The western part of the USSR was devastated by WW2, they didn't have the luxury of picking and choosing for housing for the people made the homeless.

The micro districts are kinda cute in a weird way. It’s like The Soviet Union was playing Cities Skylines

As an American living in Russia here's my take...... I used to own a house in the US and hated the idea of living in an apparent. First off most apartments I had rented were wood, so you got a lot more noise from your neighbors. Of course living in the burbs I had to take my car to buy most everything, but I never thought much about it. However I now live in a somewhat newer (but not brand new) Russian apartment building. I've gotten used to it. First I'll say noise from neighboring apartments isn't too bad. Yes, you do hear your neighbors sometimes, but it's not the same as in a wooden apartment building and I don't really notice it. Second what I do REALLY like about where I live, is that you can get everything you generally need for living within a 5 minute walk, and a lot of stuff is within a 1 minute walk. Generally the bottom level apartments have all been converted to stores. I can even buy stuff to replace a faucet or change the locks on my doors from stores a couple minutes away. It's super convenient.

When I compare this to the state of housing in the UK this kind of urban planning honestly sounds like a dream.

as a person who lived and lives in the remnants of these cities...I just love how the soviet style city planning involved a lot of vegetation in their street plans. Every time I go pass one of those areas I feel like i can breathe again. Every time I move through the newer parts...everything feels just jammed so tightly together that it crushes you down.

"Everything is built like a block in the USSR!" Walks around home town in Canada in neighborhoods built in the 80's... ah yes, we didn't make any block neighborhoods at all...

i live in poland, and seeing that every block looks exactly the same, that scenario is very possible. Thanks to the soviets, i dont have to ask my friends where the toilet is, since every apartment looks the same.

As a guy from Romania 🇷🇴 I used to hate this socialist blocks (or communist blocks as we call them here.) I was believe they look horrible with no design at all. However, after I start to travel to Europe and I saw that even in Sweden they was have them I start to appreciate them more. Nowadays in Romania we paint them and refurbished them so they look a bit better I saw this in Poland too. But of course if you don’t maintain them after 40 years they will look horrible (grey and depressing) and that’s not the communist regime fault! It’s the fault of the regimes that follow after and didn’t bother to even paint them! However the apartments are quite cozy inside. Let’s be honest, in this times most of the people in Europe they don’t afford a real mansion anyway so they are quite ok for me. Also people who are bitching about so much tend to forget something: this apartments in Romania they use to be for FREE! Not to say that after the fall of the communist regime the government decided to sell the ones still in the state property with a value of 2 fucking Romanian salaries back then! Try now to buy an apartment with 2 salaries! It’s one of the things communists did good that explain why Romania has the highest ownership rate of apartments in all Europe. It’s because of this communist apartments. In this days you won’t get a cola for free! Back then the government was much more interested in everyone having a home and a job and less interested in the architecture/design style. Being a homeless is much worse than having a small apartment and a job! Also I like that this communists blocks have gardens around them with trees and small parks, grocery stores, schools, etc. basically there is a community there. Which I don’t find with the new ones this days that they remove as much is possible from space around in order to cut the costs! No trees, no parks, basically a prison type of building! Yeah, and people blame the communist?! What’s the point to start building mansions with beautiful design that cost 100.000€ if no one can afford them anyway?!

Soviet cities? We’re one step closer to you talking about Pyongyang

I'm an American who has been to Russia several times, staying a few months each time. I have to say that the micro district model is kind of awesome. There are children who play in the courtyards, buses and consistent and affordable transport to get you everywhere (and I mean everywhere), and access to grocery stores, food, bakeries, and other shops within a 3 minute walk at all times. It is AMAZING to not need a car and have access to food and transport. Not everywhere, but many people take good care of their apartments because they own them and care about how they look and function. I lived in a block with probably 1,000 other apartments and it was quiet! Access to things like this is so rare here in America and I think we could benefit from a little bit of this. Great video.

In my own studies, I've come across a few interesting related points: 1. In the 30s, a poll showed that housing was not a big concern for people. Yet, housing was a high priority for the state considering the rapid development in progress. 2. The housing of the Kruschev era was meant to be temporary. Economic stagnation led to them being used far longer than their intended lifespan. 3. Like "The Irony of Fate," it wasn't uncommon for Soviet films to make fun of aspects of the Soviet Union or even the political elites.

I grew up in East Germany, so I am familiar with "Neubau" buildings on the edge of cities. My family used to live in a "Altbau" (from the late 1800s) neighborhood. Many of them were run down, but major streets had a variety of specialized stores. People were split about the Soviet style buildings that popped up in the 70s and 80s. Sure, they were ugly and were seen as chicken coops. But they had central heating. Many people preferred that over carrying coal from the cellars to heat multiple room ovens every day in the winter.

Some tweaks: 1) the architecture of soviet cities wasn't built based on a socializm ideology with restricting private property. It was built to fit the needs of fast urbanization caused by fast industrialization. At the very beginning of young Soviet State it was among the urgent problems to solve - Russian Empire was definitely an agroindustrial(more agro then industrial) country with huge amount of rural population (Even in this video you can see the difference between late Russian Empire style and Stalin's epoch). Also ask anyone from post-soviet union about "kommunalka" or "obshchezhytiye". 2) After WW2 Soviet cities lied in ruins and once again the problem of living space was among urgent one. Khrushchyovka was an answer - cheap, unified, fast-to-built (especially panelled ones). Moreover - they were built as a substitute and were planned to be in use for 5 years, as a temporary measure, until things become better, and new better buildings with appartaments will be built and people will move to them. 3) indeed, soviet architecture school experienced heavy influence of western schools. The "Mikrorayon" or microdistrict is a compilation based on a famous Unit d'Habitation and modulor ideology. In conclusion, among other achievements (both good and bad) architecture of soviet cities is the unique case, where very prophetic ideas has been realized in improper environment)

The micro district idea is actually rather neat, as it allows for essential services to be nearby (cutting travel time and reducing need for transport infrastructure), as well as being modular, allowing for fairly extensive expansion... Thinking aloud, this could maybe be adapted, with a micro district with regularly used, easy to provide services in built (I.E convenience store, medical clinic, primary/secondary education...), whilst several micro districts come to form a larger district, which would have a centre where less frequently used services are located. This could also allow for different variants of micro districts based on need (I.E, residential, commercial, industrial...), allowing for a variable district makeup, without needing to vary the modular plan too much...

I live in Poland and honestly, the buildings from the 50s and the 70s are much better than the buildings built by private investors, not to mention urban planning. What's been happening to our cities since the transformation is just a shit show, investors keep building more and more buildings while no one takes the responsibility to build more public infrastructure, so the same roads, hospitals and schools that were built in the socialist era are now supposed to somehow provide services to many more people.

I actually really like the planning put into the city design. Having everything available on foot sounds seriously awesome, and making and keeping the commitment to provide housing for all is a noble idea.

As someone who lives in a suburb in australia, I wish our urban planning was as conciderate as this. You have to drive everywhere and everyone goes to the city for work and back out after. If you put all the jobs in one place, why are you wondering why there is so much traffic?

At least these cities were planned, here in Brazil most cities are a jumbled mess of high-traffic avenues, overlapping bus lines, slums, luxurious high-income neighborhoods and sidewalks that barely fit the lamppost

Wow! As someone from that area, I'm amazed how accurate and well balanced this one is. Usually, westerners don't bother with details when talking about day-to-day life topics in USSR. However, I should point out few things missed out. 1. No mention of high push towards district heating and hot mains water supply in these houses. Larger area would get it's heating and hot water from big boiler house or electric power plant (waste heat utilisation) few km away. Which apparently is far more efficient than running individual boilers in every household. 2. Quite often people were awarded with small piece of land on the outskirts of the city (or further away from it) where they could do some gardening or grow homegrown vegetables. Or in some cases it would've piece of land where you could build a holiday house. Ps. The address in the film you mention is an interesting coincidence - it's not some generic street name (after some leader or significant person) it is 3rd Builders street.

Actually Soviet cities are perfectly positioned (better than most cities in the West) for green transition. They are designed to be dense (hence can be much more efficiently heated), in places where they have been preserved, they are orders of magnitude greener in terms of surface area dedicated to greenery, they encourage walking (hence less car traffic), socializing and sharing. In Eastern Europe they have started retrofitting these buildings with elevators when none existed in the original plan and adding more insulation. In right hands, Soviet cities can be turned into amazing places to live, and are hidden gems of city planning waiting to be rediscovered. P.S. When watching this film pay attention to how few of the images of Soviet cities are shot in spring and summer, most of them are shown during the winter where they look more derelict than they actually are. This is an old tradition in the West.

this has long and deep effect on Chinese urban planning, the idea of micro district and standardizing is still the prominent way we build our cities now.

"Kitchens were small" Mexican rural areas: THE ENTIRE FUCKING YARD IS MY KITCHEN MIJO

Also Soviet cities weren't build with cars in mind unlike American cities. There were very few parking available and people had to rely on public transport (which is a good thing if you ask me).

I'm from Russia. I received two apartments from my grandmother in a nine-story building built in 1963.The house was a cooperative (loan) and for 10 years you could pay for it, in addition to cooperative houses there were also free houses, and while you are in line you are given a hostel

I grew up in one of these micro-districts in a huge 10 floor building in T-shape. And living there was extremely comfortable, everything I ever need was within 2-5 minutes from my door. There was a supermarket built into the actual living quarters, lots of restaurants, a hospital, police department, storage units/gatages train station, kindergarten, clothing shops and even a bunker underneath the place I lived (but it wasn't maintained good, so it was halfway broken, so me and other kids used to sneak in and explore it) also all those building used to look the same from outside, but after fall of Soviet Union when people started becoming richer than started changing outside of their own apartments. So now most of those buildings look like badly made mosaic. Also all most of my friends/relatives had the same type of apartments in different cities.

4:30. No. The big houses were build not only for party elite. My grandparents have recived an apartment in "big stalinka" becouse they were cientists and engineers, as well as all their neighboors in this building

4:21 My grandmother was a junior school teacher. My grandfather was a sailor. They were given a flat in a "stalinka" building of the class you describe "for the elites", right in the center of the city.

I live in a Soviet German "locker for workers" in the central micro-district. You were really able to synthesize your research into an explanation that truly speaks on the lived reality. I think a big factor in these tiny dorm flats - mine is one of 1.8 million identical units - is that it really was designed for us to just sleep and bio break in but we have opportunities for a robust life outside the flat. My building itself has a courtyard for the residents to touch grass, hang laundry, and plant in a raised bed. On the next block is a small park with a playground. The next block over from that has the kindergarten, another playground, a community center, a grocery shop, pharmacy, and multidisciplinary doctor center. I used to live in an American city that was addressing its housing crunch with tiny flats that didn't even have kitchens, but was just bulldozing all the park land and making absurd "loitering" laws. This kind of living is not sustainable without those opportunities to be outside in your community. Even just the walk 2 blocks to your housing block's grocery store is the fresh air needed to make tiny flat living tolerable. Going from tiny living box to transport box on wheels to work box then back in the evening... kills the soul, man. Not even owning a car because everything that's not 1500m from your flat is 200m from the transit corridor 500m away... that's such a load off! Since this kind of living forces us all out into common areas, I have developed connections with my neighbors that I haven't experienced since the good old Gen-X childhood days. Even though we are in a central district of a major city, I'm the odd man out because I lock my door! The cashiers at the block's grocery store know me since I'm able to just pop in for bread on the way home and know I'm still struggling with German, so they're patient and kind. I think one thing that colors a western view of these "standard buildings" 😉 is rental terms in most cities. The idea of having a generic concrete cube _is_ depressing when you can't paint, hang shelves, and will have to renew every year or two. The lease I'm enjoying now is essentially lifelong (cancelation on either side is quite a process) and I have the freedom to do whatever I desire inside, as long as it's returned to a white concrete cube when I move out. Once you pass by the other cubes and open my door, there is no question of whose flat it is! I find my living space to be very individual. This is the first time I've ever been allowed to have my own curtains instead of the provided blinds. With the need to purchase my own fridge, I got a very energy efficient one so my electric bill is pretty great. Despite the pre-fab construction that was replicated over and over across a good third of this world, my tiny Soviet box is genuinely the most "me" dwelling I have ever had.

I lived in a Soviet style flat in Poland for the first 10 years of my life. We kept our building very clean and colorful. We planted flowers everywhere. I guess, as the saying goes- "how you make your bed, is how you're gonna sleep" or something to that effect 🌴

I feel like the micro district could be an amazing type of city planing if they had the time and resources to make them more aesthetically pleasing

I live in an area in Finland that clearly took great inspiration from Soviet planning. My flat looks identical to the khrushcheyovka example and the area is easily divisible in micro districts with easy access to amenities such as grocery store, library, kindergartens and schools and lots and lots of different sports fields to all directions. I'm absolutely loving it, and it is true, I do not need to leave my district at all especially during these times of remote working. And when I do, the multiple methods of mass transit are literally at my doorstep taking me to the city centre fast via this arterial road, or alternatively I may choose to cycle following an excellent bicycle path. Although the building itself is cheap and ugly, there is so much beauty in the surrounding areas. It is like living in the woods or in a park, while actually living in a very highly populated area. When living in Britain, or even in a more traditional Finnish suburb, I absolutely hated the fact that to access any amenities one basically must drive a car, or at least take the bus. I think the Soviets were ahead of their time in this, my flat is allowing me to live in a very eco friendly way.

I lived in these apartments in Kazakhstan (4 different cities) over 7 years. The renovated old ones were generally much better than the apartments newly completed.

The biggest and most striking difference from living in a soviet city and a US city (NYC) is the vast amount of greenery the soviet city planners managed to stuff in between those housing. It's strips of housing, then trees, then playgrounds, then trees, then housing etc.. In New York the street scape is characterized by endless and varied stores and shops with nature pushed into designated areas aka the park and the social space is encased in shopping activity; even the European urban plazas are nowhere to be found with people having to hand out in Starbucks or a local McDonalds. In soviet cities, thruways (pedestrian and even driven) are mostly layered tree'd areas with those concrete building slabs peering out the top, with the commercial activity in this case stuck into designated areas, be it the corner store or the central shopping district.

America: CRTL+C CRTL+V Suburbs Russia: CRTL+C CRTL+V Apartments

These micro districts are actually very green, like an endless Park with a few buildings strewn in. Very advantageous compared to the extremely dense and sealed ground developments we build in western Europe today.

Hello. A Greek living in Cephalonia island in Greece who has visited Gomel,Belarus six times (to spend time with my in laws). I live in 52 sqm,they live in 62 SQM. And the 10sqm difference feels like 20-25 because the effectiveness of the Brezhnev era flat they live is great. It's a 1978 building ,looking scruffy on the outside but tip top on the inside... Great and very informative video by the way....

I still live in 5-storey Stalinka which is ~70 year old. My grandparents got it freely in times when country were rebuilding after WW2. And I like it. Pretty solid building. Build fully from the bricks, no concrete parts. 3+ meter tall ceiling. Very wide walls which prevent a lot of sounds from the neighbors. Etc. It is build so damn good that I believe it will stand another 70 years easily...

Well, I gotta say that the Soviet or Communist city planning was waaaaaaaaaaay better than what happens nowadays. I live in Romania and until age 7 I've lived in an industrial town that was built according to the Sovietic rules described in this video. Actually, the place were I use to live was called "Micro" followed by a number. If you compare the "micro-raions" with the current situation of city planning, you will be surprised to see that today, private investors are building without any care about life quality. The main interest today is MONEY. People might need a plot of green grass, maybe some trees around their place, there are some small things that can greatly increase the overall happiness of the people living in the new apartment blocks. But the investors are like: "whoaa... did you just said that you need a park in your neighborhood? get your ass to the country side and stfu. Instead of being grateful that you've received a parking lot for your junk, you are asking for parks with benches and trees and play grounds and stuff? pfff.... "

One must remember that those Soviet buildings were much nicer-looking when they were newer; the realities of the collapse caught up with them. But even now, the more modern Russian buildings are much more well-connected to their surroundings than those in other countries. It's funny, I grew up in Russia, and I thought nothing could be more depressing than Khruzshevkas -- until I saw the US suburbs: flat and bland, chains and malls and parking lots, soooo many parking lots...

Everyone said they were ugly, so I developed a love for the Brutalist and Modernist style of architecture they used to build Soviet housing. I know the ones Brezhnev built in the 70s and 80s were better than the ones Khrushchev built in the 60s, and had things like bathrooms, central heating, elevators, proper garbage disposals, and ofc bigger apartments, but I would live in both! I hear they are really cheap to rent today also! hahaha

I lived in a micro district in Minsk in 1980s. Our apartment had unmetered hot and cold water, same with heating in winter. Two schools within 10 minutes walk, a small shopping mall, childcare facilities and an easy access to public transport. My grandparents paid for the apartment in full from their savings and they were not rich by any means. So my parents had a mortgage free place for themselves before they turned 30.

“The Kitchens were tiny” *LAUGHS IN NYC*

I live in khruschevka in Saint-Petersburg and I like it. My house is pretty old so the walls are thicker than the usual in khruschevka so I don’t hear anything from my neighbors! I also like that everything I need (hospitals, shops, bus stations, even metro station) is like 5 minutes away from my house on foot. Even if the kitchen is small, it is suitable for a family of 3 people. We also have a lot of parks, trees, infrastructure all around our district which is amazing. Even some people may say that these apartment buildings are ugly, they may look good is local management companies take care of them, as much as people who live in this houses. The houses also look good if they’re plastered and painted nicely! Also even if the house is not beautiful outside somehow it gives me such warm nostalgic vibes even though I was born after the USSR dissolution.

Варламов конечно молодец, совсем без акцента говорит!

I love how historians often forget that Russia had 2 revolutions. Lenin did not overthrow the Zar Nicolas ll, but the provisional government led by kerensky.

I actually remember “The Irony of Fate” being on repeat every year around Christmas/New Year every year as a child.

I LOVE THE MICRO DISTRICT IDEA!! That’s so brilliant to have your housing and amenities within walking distance. Imagine having a public transportation system taking you from that cozy place to work and back? That would be incredible!! Cars would become non necessities!

Lol, the kitchen at 5:38 that you call 'tiny' is actually bigger than the kitchen in my family home in the UK, where my mum would cook for me and my 5 siblings! Americans must be used to very large kitchens. Also I really like the idea of the micro-district, I've always thought that's how cities should be planned normally

As a Western European this not only happenss with Soviet eastern european cities, I see American suburbs all the same too, they look like hundreds of copy and paste neighbourhoods, so weird.

Here's a fun fact for you. The street with trees on it in the center of the shot at 8:36 is called "ulitsa Marii Ulyanovoy". It was named that in 1963 after Vladimir Lenin's sister Maria Ulyanova. But from 1958 to 1963 it was called "Tretya ulitsa Stroiteley", i.e. Third Street of Construction Workers. Incidentally, Irony of Fate protagonists both live on Tretya ulitsa Stroiteley (though the film was shot at a different location). Looks like it was Fate that guided your hand when you were choosing the photos to illustrate your video. :-)

I live in a micro-district (we call them blocks here) of New Belgrade, a Soviet-style planned district of Belgrade, Serbia, former Yugoslavia (never a part of Soviet Union but a communist country with planned economy nevertheless). I can testify that it's a positive and pleasant environment for living, especially for raising a family. It's very peaceful, very safe, everyone knows everyone else, there's a lot of open space between the buildings where children can play and people can hang out, and indeed all that you need in everyday life is within couple hundred meters.

I live in a microrayon like that. And they're actually cool. What I've got within a 5 minute walk: a few supermarkets, a couple of schools and kindergartens, some bakeries and pizza/sushi places. Within a 10 minute walk, there's a children's polyclinic, 2 post offices, some private clinics, a public library. A 15 minute walk takes me to a polyclinic for adults and a gym. Two parks (one is with amusement rides) and a river within 5 to 15 minutes walk. I can get to a cinema within 20-25 minutes. There’re quite a few barbershops / hairdressers’... There're tons of places within a 1 to 20 minutes walk! I can't imagine living in an American suburb. You spend half of your life in traffic jams! Public transit is pretty good though still leaves much to be desired. But it covers most of my needs. I don't have to drive or even own a car. The architecture is not esthetically pleasing at all, that's true. But it's pretty functional. There could have been more different designs so that microrayons at least looked different. Most crtitisists call it "Soviet shit" but capitalists build the same "shit": esthetically their high rises aren't much better than the Soviet ones. Most people either can't afford single family homes or prefer living closer to where social activities happen. The ugly visual design is often commentated with a lot of greenery: trees, lawns, flowers everywhere. My city looks as if its highrises were sinking in a green sea. Many khruschevka districts look like parks with lots of thick trees planted decades ago. The Soviet city planning also provided for green belts between industrial and residential zones. In my city, one such zone has been cancelled or narrowed and is under residential development now. Capitalism!

The micro district system makes so much sense and is exactly how I imagined an ideal city would be planned. In the US, depending on where you live, you can't really go too far without a car since the infrastructure was built around major roads so you can end up super far away from important places. The micro district for the most part eliminates the need to have a car to get somewhere which means less traffic jams, pollution, and dependence on cars. Having a car is nice but when you don't have one, it sucks in the US.

That video was actually objective and not ideologically biased against USSR, I like it, thank you

Can confirm all of this. I'm from Europe and have lived in Russia for 6 months. In the 2 places that I lived (in Spb and Nizhny) I had supermarkets, schools, police stations, everything within a 5m walk, and the things that were too far, I could take the metro (3m walk, there is a metro every ~2 minutes from 5 am to midnight) or a bus (about 20 different lines passed by both my streets, both private and public owned bus companies, one every ~4m, identical ones every ~10-15m). Say whatever you want about the regime, but life there is much easier in terms of mobility. Edit: As pointed out in the comments, yes, unfortunately, it only applies in the bigger cities, just like in the rest of the world. And yes, Russia has technically part of its territory in Europe, although the cultural changes are big enough for me to consider it different from the rest of it.

I lived in moscow for 20 years and then in Northeast of US for 20 years. I want to say that while soviet buildings are ugly to look at the overall urban planning in large cities in USSR was superior. In most cities in US you need car, there is no other option, public transport is horrible, or , very often , not available at all. US houses are larger but in densely populated areas all you have is streets of 3 stories of essentially same houses/townhouses , roads and cars. There is no shops within walking distance, no parks. without a car you can walk miles and miles on exact same streets . yeah houses themselves are nicer, but living space around them is non existent. in Russia the multistory apartments themselves are horrible (often way worse than US projects), but you have a lot of green space, children and adult parks to walk around. City like new york has very few green spaces compared to amount of people living there. Moscow has huge amount of green spaces - large parks, small parks and simply courtyard squares everywhere. In us cities you typically have a few medium sized park for entire city, and thats it. Like boston commons or central park Us suburbs is another topic. But again same design -you cannot do anything fun if you just leave your house - there is nothing in walking distance. You need first get into car and drive somewhere

That’s what a micro district is. When I was in school in the 70s, from my house I could walk to 4 neighboring schools in 10 minutes. The same can be said about kindergartens, shops, pharmacies, hospitals, etc. Add a good public transportation system here. In general, living in an "evil empire" was not so bad as you might think.

Они отличные - просто нужно не забыть что они считались временным решением и что просто были не достаточно качественные - Но в итоге - ссср нет - а они стоят - хотя уже пережили свой срок слубы в 30-50 лет

5:40 “Kitchens were tiny” Do you consider that tiny? That’s the average size of a kitchen here in Scandinavia

French architecture: art British architecture: art Italian architecture: art Soviet Union architecture: tetris

i was born in poland, but moved out of the country. i have to say, i miss this sort of communist blocks. everything is so close and practical, and i feel like you know your neighbors more

another Eastern European here... Thanks for all the effort put into this video and for all the documentation. However I must add some things. As somebody else mentioned in the comments, living in these kind of building is indeed atmospheric. The noise and the sounds are all a lot different than in Western cities. Also many of the neighborhoods are actually super green and they do have a peaceful vibe to them. I really dislike it when people from the West call these constructions dull or grey or identical. I mean yes, that is somewhat true, but that doesn't take away from their value. Whenever the socialists mass-produced something, they instantly became criticized (and still is for some reason, even though communism is 30 years in the past). But let's not forget that capitalism is also, even more so now, THE absolute mass-producer in the world. And the same people criticizing communism just seem to overlook this fact. As if mass-production is a problem only as long as the communists are doing it.

Great unbiased video. Unfortunately we see Soviet housing criticized for it's unappealing facade rather then the close to complete elimination of homelessness that it achieved. This was great at highlighting both.

Want to add that the main reason of building such huge amount of standardized housing was ww2 during which lots of cities were completely destroyed... This buildings were great solution to supply houses for huge amount of people, which we can compare with population of Italy during such a short period of time. So if you will ever need to build a full city and have not enough time, I advice you to learn their experience :)

I grew up in 10-floor standard house in Omsk. The most of the city has been constructed in Soviet era. Except of ~5 19th century streets. Later I saw towns which were founded during Soviet time and they were all the same. Just check this: every Russian city has Lenin street and it is somewhere in the city center.

The only bad thing about these buildings is their ugly appearance, but that can be fixed. Most of them are built quite well and the residential zones are so good. You walk out of the block and you are directly on the street, which is like a park.

I live in a Soviet style industrial city and I must tell you, these microdistricts are a lot better than either the standardized grid system or cul-de-sacs, in terms of traffic flow, accessibility and even aesthetically (from the inside). Yes, the buildings are big and bulky, but they are all placed around neat little parks and plazas. When I look out the window, I can barely see the surrounding wall of buildings from all the greenery. If you play any city-building game, definitely give microdistricts a try! You'll be surprised, how efficient they can be.

I wanna see this dude play Workers and Resources: Soviet Republic.

Second type of Stalinka was not exclusive for Party elite: top engineers, doctors and scientists often lived there. These building were also often used by government institutions, not for apartments.

I grew up in Moscow and now I live in London. And especially this winter I have missed the comfort of Soviet apartments. They might look ugly from the outside but they are so comfy ones you are in and the most important thing is they are super warm compared to British houses and flats, on top of that you never have to worry about running out of hot water, it's literally unlimited. A colleague of mine, the same age as me (37), grew up in Manchester, not a small city by any means, but he didn't have hot water in his house at all, he told me they washed once a week. Honestly, I was shocked. The other guy told me, he fills a bottle with hot water and puts it in his bed to make the bed warm. It feels like some basic things have been turned into luxury in Britain.

They laughed at the Soviets, told children that in the Soviet Union a family lived in a cramped apartment and shared their car. Now they tell workers about how great it is to live in a small coop without healthcare and then pay some more to used an car sharing app. Feels like the worst of both worlds.

During 20th, soviet architecture was focused on experiments, during Stalin's era - on some massive neoclassics. Later, with all the urbanisation, with migration of peasants into cities, lack of houses in the cities became too big, many people lived in shared appartments, or some temporary buildings. Such typical constructions actually were invented in Europe by such people as Le Corbusier, although adapted for the Soviet environment by local architects. And yes, they were the simplest way to give housing to many millions of people, and do it fast. There was no aim to make it all look similar, it was an inevitable downside of extremely fast development. But, there were made quite nice murals and mosaics on the building walls, especially in the republics if USSR. And what was the best - it was the amount of free space, grass and trees around and inside the microdistricts.