Channel 4 Documentaries
2 HN recommenders · recommended in 6 months, 2021–2023
4:11 · 246K views · Aug 8, 2019
Channel 4's George Clarke visits a council estate in Vienna and is surprised by amenities such as swimming pools and private TV channels. It showcases Vienna's high-quality social housing.
HN points to it as proof that government-provided housing can be attractive, in housing and homelessness threads.
6 comments from Hacker News
That's just not true. The problem is that government housing is so terrible that sleeping on the street is preferable to some. Public housing in Austria is high quality, cheap and plentiful, with two-thirds of Viennese residents living in it. Coincidentally, homelessness is a non-issue in Austria compared to the US (based on my experience living in the Bay for 10 and in Austria for 20 years). See this video for what government provided housing could be. this video
Government can build if private industry will not. If you argue "we can only fix this with the private sector and private investment", welp, we tried that and we're plain ol' fucked at the moment. Vienna is a great example. [LINK] (Youtube: Vienna's Radical Idea? Affordable Housing For All) this video (Youtube: Does Vienna Have the World's Best Council Housing?)
Vienna is a great example. [LINK] (Youtube: Vienna's Radical Idea? Affordable Housing For All) this video (Youtube: Does Vienna Have the World's Best Council Housing?)
Sure, I can at least give you my opinion. * They eliminate a lot of street life. Towers almost always have completely dead frontages at ground level - and they are unlikely to be directly adjacent to a real street. You will be driving to a mall - private space that has none of the democratic nature of a public street. * They often reduce the connection between neighbours. Meeting someone in a lift or a corridor isn't the same as stopping to talk to someone in the street. * The 'parks' are normally poor quality. Humans tend to feel more comfortable in enclosed spaces[1], whereas the parks are open fields that feel overshadowed by the large towers. * The parks often feel unsafe too. A significant reason for this is that towers eliminate most of the 'eyes on the street'. You are likely to feel much safer walking past a row of terraced houses than between tower blocks at night. * The buildings are often poorly built/maintained and become eyesores. * They are often built in conjunction with wide roads and excessive parking. Most countries have a good example of how housing towers go wrong. France has its Grands Ensembles - many of which are really cool buildings but which have not aged well[2]. Glasgow is now demolishing many of its towers[3]. Here's an in-depth report from Create Streets, a social enterprise that studies this kind of thing in the UK[4]. For balance, there is a more positive example in Vienna's social housing[5]. [1] [LINK] [2] [LINK] [3] [LINK] [4] [LINK] [5] [VI
> Also with all rental properties being government-owned there would be zero uniqueness and everyone would be forced to make due with whatever the government thought they needed. A good example of this is old Soviet-style tower blocks, where no matter how big your family you get the same size apartment. That part is just not true. See Vienna. This is public housing: [LINK] So is this: this video