Guys the issue isn't (mainly) that these are all identical cookie cutter houses without a grass lawn, or what they're one step away from apartments (these are worse than apartments), or even that it's "high density" housing (it's not really, they're still single family homes).

the issue is this sort of development is a fucking zoning dystopia that manufactures human misery. I think north Americans who haven't been outside USA or Canada will often forget that the majority of the world and most of human history did not have towns carved up into "housing zone" and "everything else" zones.

The extinction of mixed use zoning has been devastating on communities. It leaves people in food deserts. it leaves people more sedentary and pedestrians more at risk because of car dependency. it leaves children alienated, depressed, and much more dependant on their parents for longer when they need a drive to go anywhere interesting. Not to mention a lack of any profit generation besides property taxes leads to suburbs consistently being subsidized by the inner cities because they are economic sandpits with 10x the asphalt, piping, and utilities needed because every home needs its own independent setup.

Having swaths of land designated for absolutely nothing but residential development is a waste at every level. Hell, even communist bloc housing was smart enough to keep a ground floor for business space, many have small groceries or stores to keep things walkable.

This setup is an extremely common sight in eastern Europe. They aren't American style non-perishable food desert corner stores either, they sell fresh meat and produce and many are open 24 hours. The nearest thing you can get around here to "European" style zoning (we had it too actually, we just bulldozed it all lol) is probably Montreal because Quebec prides itself on french identity and architecture/city planning is no exception.

I stg the north American white middle class is so agoraphobic they built themselves into misery pods, but hey at least there's no undesirables in the neighborhood bringing down property value so in the end it was all worth it. And yes a lot of it does all come back to racism. A combination of white flight from urban areas and the exclusion of black veterans from the G.I. bill lead to these homogenized ivory towers of nothingness.

the entire film is designed with classic 50s-60s art styles, a lot of the interior design of the parr household is in 60s style, fashion is generally reminiscent of the 60s, in the beginning of the film all the photographs and video are grainy and shot in 60s style, the technology in bob’s office is very dated, when edna is going on her “no capes” rant she cites superheroes who died from cape designs and says their deaths were in the 50s, all the cars in the film have 60s models, any advanced tech we really see is seemingly kept secret from the general public, here’s a newspaper from the film:

may 16th, 1962

Holy fuck

Jack-jack is a baby boomer

Baby Boomer? Jack-Jack? I trusted him…

My lavish dream lifestyle: 200% tips at IHOP and throwing struggling artists a couple hundred bucks to sketch my latest asshole OC. I buy my cats better food. I get new underwear twice a year, including a new bra. I have my jeans hemmed, and buy name-brand crackers. Nobody I know ever has to worry about a vet bill again. I quietly bankroll surgery and binders and electrolysis for every struggling trans person on Tumblr. The zoo near me builds a 300% larger reptile house and names it the Wigglesworth Von Snakeface Rept-o-Rama, and I hire a Great Dane ninja to shit on Trump’s Hollywood star every day and post the picture to Facebook and Twitter. Snakes manifest in nazis’ houses. They are made of red-hot chains and never stop screaming. My skin is clear. I sit on my front porch and drink tea. Someone hands me a hamburger.