!architecture !engineering without getting into the merits of apartment blocks (I believe they're great for social housing projects), here's /r/urbanhellcels discussing the horror of American Suburbia. I partially blame films like "American Beauty" for this.
Where the F**K are the trees?! That should be illegal...
Edit: I see the trees now - Thanks guys, I thought it was all bushes and shrubbery. I didn't realize ONLY having small trees could disturb me so, Lol
Ok, avoiding heat island effect is something suburban urbanists should take in account.
Idk, maybe it's just because I'm British and quite young so the best home 90% of us could afford is one room of 15 sheds stacked on top of each other but I always though these were kinda nice. A little samey sometimes, sure, but they don't seem THAT bad.
In the uk i feel like you. Can access stuff easily via walking or public transport if you are living in such a small space. As that's usually in cities more culture etc. lived in Oxford n the housing is tiny but theres stuff to do outside yk? Idk
Lmao, Bongs posting their 
What depression really looks like
And here even /r/urbanhell isn't having ut anymore
Y'all act like people can't walk 15 min to a park here, this looks a common middle to above middle income neighborhood. You know what you probably won't find here? Homeless doing drugs, gangs, traffic. This looks like peace away from home, they probably see their neighbors once a week. It looks like I can grill in my backyard all day long without anybody bothering me.
Now for commieblocks 
https://old.reddit.com/r/UrbanHell/comments/15kjnk3/commieblocks/
Unironically comfy
the fact all the buildings look the same height is really satisfying ngl
I thought they hated the sameness of the suburbs 
Looks like afforable and healthy housing, dense enough to be serviced by public transportation. Could use a new coat of paint and some additional facade elements like shading and such. But overall, I love it.
It just needs some painting
I grew up in a 5 story Khrushchevka. It needed better insulation, but the actual urban planning was brilliant. Huge play area for children up front, close to stores and public transportation. Lots of benches and green areas. Beat the pants off any shitty American suburb with no sidewalks, where you could get run down by an SUV without even being aware of it.
SUV chads continue to make redditors seethe!
https://old.reddit.com/r/UrbanHell/comments/fvn45q/moscow_russia/
Meh. The apartments in the photo appear to have balconies and wooded courtyard areas between buildings. There are millions of people in this world who would love to live in a clean apartment with heat and running water; apartments like these would be like paradise for them. If you think this is urban heck, you ain't seen nothing!
Fine, but it doesn't change the fact those buildings look hideous and probably need maintenance, they were build with pre-fabs back in the 1960s and have problems with insulation.
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Maybe I'm crazy bc this is Austin and I think it's kinda arid there, but this looks like a fairly new housing development. I bet in a couple decades after the trees grow in and get taller than the houses it'll be much more pleasant.
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I still hate those new suburbs that put a fat house on an undersized yard. I much prefer older suburbs where you have room for detached garages, big yards you can spread out in and lots of room for boomer activities like tinkering on your lifted '99 Blazer (don't make em like they used to
) and having people over to grill and sit around a fire pit 
That said, it's infinitely better than paying rent to a Chinese PE firm that owns your soy box where you have to step over puddles of homeless semen in your entryway and you can't have guests over because you physically don't space for chairs
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Mowing fricking sucks.
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!homeowners
Any thoughts on robot mowers? I'm thinking about getting one to move the majority of my yard that's at a harsh incline.
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Frick lawns. The only reason you maintain grass is to sell your house to the next guy who wants to sell it to someone else while still hating the lawn.
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That's where the robot comes in.
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Robots can't pull weeds or throw fertilizer every holiday or lay weed killer.
Yet.
Still, grass is fricking fake and straight.
If you want a robot to maintain it then you don't actually want it enough.
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my robot mower speaks spanish.
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I just planted a bunch of wildflowers so I don't have to mow. It would be bee genocide.
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Sucks if you live near mosquito country
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Robot mowers (and honestly electric mowers in general) suck butt if you have a decent sized lawn. I like to mow though
it's theraputic.
Edit: if you have a harsh incline get a self propelled mower or ride-on
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How much is decent sized? I'd guesstimate it's about half to 3/4 an acre that I want it to take care of.
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For 3/4ths of an acre, you'd be changing the battery on an electric frequently. Bite the bullet and invest in a ride-on mower. Learn to appreciate the act of maintaining and your role as a steward of the earth. Also it's a nice break from a nagging wife and kid (or husband if you're a twink idk). Literally about to mow my own rn good luck king.
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Pretty much. It sucks if it's a hot day when you have to mow (and it's always a hot day when you have to mow), but when you get that shit down to a dead even 3.5" all around, all the clippings pushed off to hidden areas because you've gotten good at this, stringtrim the shit into perfection, wipe off the sweat and grab a beer, the wife and dogs then come out in their bare feet and comment on how great it all looks...
!homeowners
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the battery on an electric mower can't even last long enough to mow 3/4th of an acre?
god darn that's a robo
if I ever heard one
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Dude it's so bad. What's worse is the price of a replacement battery is as much (or more) expensive than the mower itself. Gas never let me down.
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If the ground was flat and not at a hateful incline there wouldn't be a question. I'm thinking the incline is "mower tumbles over onto me" territory.
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Part of the trick is finding a good "line" to mow. If you have a ride-on and you're doing an incline you go up and down, not side to side, to increase traction and prevent rolling over. For any impossibly steep parts you can just use a weed eater. Find a model you think might work and check YouTube to find an endless supply of boomers reviewing it.
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I remember a small town Husqvarna dealership having a few buzzing around their ditch driving by on the highway a few years ago. Looked cool
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I just let my lawn grow r-slur long. I only mow it like 3 times a year. I also dont bag my clippings, i just let that shit fly everywhere. I assume my neighbors hate me but i dont really care lol
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This is actually better for your lawn, tell your neighbors to enjoy the free fertilizer
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Reddit moment
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I like mowing but hate edging so I pay a guy to do that
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I'm so tempted to grass you for that comment.
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Why come?
Its one thing on a 70f day on a riding mower with 1/2 acre of flat grass but I ain't so lucky.
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Yeah kinda. Plus where I live all the grass just dies (and gets replaced by weeds) unless you pump water into it constantly over summer so I've just been replacing as much as possible with garden beds
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Check out Zoysia grass.
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Cute twink
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Just replace it all with crab grass or clover
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I actually prefer attached garages because that way you can get to/from the garage without having to worry about the weather, plus it's more efficient in terms of HVAC.
But I agree on the yards. One of the issues I have with the luxury houses here in Chicago is they have literally no outdoors space at all. They could but instead they completely maximize the sqft area of the home. They could also put a nice deck on the roof, especially at the ~$2mil price point, but they never do. My takeaway is that the people living here just hate the outdoors.
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Austin is also a disgusting humid swamp with zero public land and a brain eating amoeba in their algae-filled slime lake so yeah, no shit people hate the outdoors there
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If you think Austin is humid then you are arap
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In what sense is an attached garage more efficient for HVAC than a detached one?
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You'll get less heat loss for the shared wall between the main house and the attached garage than if that wall was to the outside.
I'm assuming you're not actually heating/cooling your garage in either case. But if you have HVAC in your garage as well it's probably also more efficient to have it attached for the same reason.
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People would rather have 4000 square feet for their 1 kid than 2000 square and any space for social activities.
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What if it snows? You want to have to walk through it from the garage to the house?
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Pluses and minuses for sure. The biggest advantage of detached is it's way easier to have additional storage space or a shop setup, and if you are doing car work you have a space away from your house for all the mess
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Redditors act like forests get clear cut for new housing as if they're not using old farmers fields for subdivisions.
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Forests absolutely get clear cut for new housing divisions lmao I see it happen all the time
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e-e-erm those were bad faith f-forests
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Not in TX though. It's always old farmland that gets sold off to build these neighborhoods
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Always?
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100% of the time, r-slur. Cutting down a tree to build a house is illegal is Texas so they need to get the farmers to do it and buy the field.
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For sure happens in the PNW but like...are there any forests near Austin, Texas?
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Its incredible they can't plop a 7-11 in the grid to serve the mayofats
. Just one 
.
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This but unironically. Zoning laws should allow gas stations and convenience stores in residential areas. Would cut down on drunk driving.
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I just want a neighborhood pub. The British are absolutely on point with that, having a spot walking distance from you house for some cheap meals and a few beers would be awesome. I don't care if it closes at 10pm, it would be a nice way to meet a few neighbors and just chill
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Zoning laws are cancer, outside of extreme cases like building an oil refinery next to a suburb (also cancer)
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Kitty, it's why Houston has jobs and world class cancer hospitals
Keep the economy going
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Metastasize baby metastasize
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Why not put a bar in the middle too? Would liven up the neighborhood amd provide some good drama/fights to watch from your porch. Thats the dream, just grab your guitar and give them a soundtrack.
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Too noisy
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They could easily put in some kind of plaza near the middle, surrounded by roads so nobody's house is directly adjacent to any of the businesses there. It would be such a great location too, I mean basically everybody in the entire housing complex that drinks will be there at some point. Same with like a bougie grocer or something.
I assume they get more money from building more houses though, since all the decisions are based on money.
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Decisions are restricted by zoning and zoning is slow to change. You can't just upzone a small part of your land (especially not in the middle).
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Ah good point, the developers would probably be all for it but the zoning likely restricts them.
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Like half of issues in housing rn are caused by local boards being incompetent and corrupt as shit, developers would happily meet demand if it were legal.
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I feel like they'd be able to increase the value of their houses this way but it's whatever
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It's about having your own place in a safe neighborhood while feeling like you belong to a community, without being completely isolated from it. There's also the point that you're not being exposed to any dangers of the city.
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You arent thinking big enough. Imagine having a bunch of drunk neighbors at 1 AM stumbling home and you decide to grill on your porch. That attracts the drunk zombies. Then you turn on your sprinkler system when they get on your property. See? Live, Laugh, Love.
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there is probably a gas station at the entrance to the neighborhood
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Very, very unlikely. These kinds of developments basically always just dump onto busy access roads. I've visited many and never seen one with any kind of business at the entrance, gas station or otherwise.
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Not mine though
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Yeah this is the biggest issue. Should have a neighborhood restaurant or pub at least.
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Fat people would drive to it anyways
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Plus those commieblockcels can't math. Even if there was only 1 tree per single family house, they can't seem to do the math that there are about 6 trees per 100 unit apartment building.
!anticommunists !mathematics
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That grass looks thirsty as frick
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