[Alexx]

The most striking thing about visiting the southern industrial cities for me was how (especially towards the outskirts) they tend to build the exact same residential skyscraper several times next to each other. You just don't really see that in Western cities so much.

[seanmcdirmid]

These are part of the same apartment complexes, which are like gated planned communities in the states, except with apartment buildings rather than houses. In Beijing, most housing outside of the 3rd ring is like that...heck, even inside the 3rd ring, you'll see a lot of communities, just with lower height buildings because they were built much earlier.

[dmoy]

Not just beijing, but other big northern cities as well. Hell even "small" cities. River fronts along songhua on all the cities around there have >>30 story apartment complexes with like 5-20 identical buildings each. One of them uses giant lights to make a sort of pixelated movie screen at night, which only passably works cus the buildings are all the same and run by the same complex.

Very much not just a southern thing.

[hibikir]

Repeated, cheap residential housing is common everywhere, it's just a matter of height. In the US, we have cookie cutter suburbia. In England, you have row houses. In Spain, depending on the city, you go from 5 stories to 12 or so, depending on the city: For example, do an image search on Malaga around the bullfighting ring. China is just building taller.

[psyc]

Does anybody else find it hilarious that not one, but two comments present suburbia as the eminent example of cheap rubber-stamp housing in the US?

[skewart]

Honest question, why is that hilarious?

There is a huge amount of cheap, cookie-cutter housing in American suburbia. In fact, I suspect a large majority of single family suburban houses built in the last 50 years are rubber stamp clones from homebuilder planbooks.

[Nomentatus]

See the very old song "Little Boxes" by Malvina Reynolds, also famously covered by folk singer Pete Seeger. I loved it back in 1960, when I was a kid revolted by the sameness of the suburbs.

[jackcarter]

The blueprint was Corbusier's "Radiant City" proposal [0]. It took hold in the US in the form of lower-income housing projects. It turns out that it combines the worst of city life (anonymous neighbors, no personal outdoor space) with the worst of suburban life (unused common areas, lots of wasted space).

[0]: http://www.archdaily.com/604056/north-america-s-radiant-city...

[maxsilver]

I don't understand these criticisms. As an American, I think our cities would be vastly improved if we copied this form of housing for lots of people, instead of just low-income housing. (In my city, the low-income-only housing is usually the highest quality housing across the city, and is far nicer than anything a mid-income person is allowed to purchase).

The current alternative that US prefers is far worse, in my opinion -- these micro-unit apod-ment things, with no personal space, no outdoor space, grossly overburdened personal-areas-forced-into-common-areas, and general dorm-room-for-life lifestyle.

[psyc]

I wonder if the apartment-dwellers around central park are similarly despondent about their worst-of-all-worlds habitat.

[dilemma]

In China, common spaces are actually utilized.

[chrischen]

China has about 5x the population.

So in America where you have the same McMansion replicated 10-20 times in CHcina you have the same condo tower since it has to house more densely.

[davidreiss]

> You just don't really see that in Western cities so much.

You should visit the projects in the NY area or chicago. There are rows and rows of same red apartment complexes. But those seem to be falling out of favor now as they are being torn down.