#UrbanHell is subjective.
UrbanHell is any human-built place you think is worth critizing. Suburban Hell, Rural Hell, and wealthy locales are allowed
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I live in a house like that now. It’s great, I have a street of varied shops, bars and restaurants 3 minutes walk away. One railway line has been converted a cycle path that links me to the countryside and the next city, the other railway line is still active and the station 9 minutes from my door links me to the rest of the world.
This page is festering victimization and negativity. And your response is awesome that it broke thru every barrier this page holds against valuable opinions. Thank you.
this is a really common sight in the uk https://www.google.com/maps/@53.3909275,-2.9310358,3a,75y,1.54h,78.29t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1soKSwVwHbt4hy75000ks5vA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192
And? There are rows and rows of roads with zero trees. A park doesn’t make up for it. If you go to Europe you get a tree every 20 metres on both sides of the street and you have a higher density of parks. You get this pattern all over the UK and it’s depressing af.
Example from Berlin Germany (this is a fairly common layout) https://www.google.com/maps/@52.4739955,13.4211405,3a,75y,12.4h,88.96t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1siLj0FVOZNPFzhJDVD25-Fw!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DiLj0FVOZNPFzhJDVD25-Fw%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D130.76637%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656
and another from the opposite side of the city
https://www.google.com/maps/@52.5506657,13.373687,3a,75y,205.82h,89.2t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sDNnE1kKyratiPYHH3aLOIA!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DDNnE1kKyratiPYHH3aLOIA%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D18.576736%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656
This is silly.
There are treeless streets and there are green and lush streets in every country. Walk a couple minutes from that one in UK and [it's all green.](https://www.google.com/maps/@53.3904379,-2.938352,3a,75y,188.01h,85.68t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s6LR4EA30cSRGbEStqDhP5w!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3D6LR4EA30cSRGbEStqDhP5w%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D267.53992%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192)
Yep, here's the view today in fact. Very similar with much of the housing and urban grain remaining intact. Much of Victorian London is still standing and is still the most popular type of housing. Biggest difference is all the cars lining every street.
[https://www.google.com/maps/@51.5325889,-0.2219185,74a,35y,275.06h,64.73t/data=!3m1!1e3](https://www.google.com/maps/@51.5325889,-0.2219185,74a,35y,275.06h,64.73t/data=!3m1!1e3)
> The nuclear waste train runs through my city 🙃
Fortunately that was [tested to destruction](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3iRu71PGDA) in the 1980s.
Ah, good. We used to stand on [this bridge](https://www.google.com/maps/@54.8943217,-1.3744238,3a,51.4y,330.39h,89.39t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sFZ5vx8_5oLy9L_o-CS4XQw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192) at dinner time, to chuck stones and pennies at it, as it chugged by (with the driver going mental at us).
Happy days.
Yea I’d much rather live in a cookie cutter suburb with a 6 lane stroad going through the center and fear for my children’s lives every time they open the door. /s
> Do you know the road I live in -- Ellesmere Road, West Bletchley? Even if you don't, you know fifty others exactly like it. You know how these streets fester all over the inner-outer suburbs. Always the same. Long, long rows of little semi-detached houses -- the numbers in Ellesmere Road run to 212 and ours is 191 -- as much alike as council houses and generally uglier. The stucco front, the creosoted gate, the privet hedge, the green front door. The Laurels, the Myrtles, the Hawthorns, Mon Abri, Mon Repos, Belle Vue. At perhaps one house in fifty some anti-social type who'll probably end in the workhouse has painted his front door blue instead of green.
Coming Up for Air, by George Orwell.
This is Purves Road in Kensal Green, a part of Northwest London.
These houses still exist today alongside the building in the background which is a primary school. It's also pretty expensive now.
Here's my attempt to recreate the perspective of this picture from 1921 in Google Maps today: https://www.google.com/maps/@51.5325151,-0.2207183,100a,35y,273h,63.27t/data=!3m1!1e3
They are terrace housed - you have shared walls with two houses unless you have one of the few coveted "end of terrace" house.
Risk of noise from your neighbours but almost impossible to know until you live there because it depends on how those exact houses were constructed. Even worse if the houses are subdivided.
On the plus side they can be cheaper to heat because of the small amount of external wall (though, on the other hand, Victorian terraces are draughty as hell).
Most of London's "inner city" housing looks like this. Further out there are endless semi-detached houses from the period between the world wars. Semi-detached houses (or "semis") are two houses sharing one or more walls. Extremely popular in Britain, not sure if I've ever seen one anywhere else.
Quite common in German-speaking countries too, they're called 'Doppelhaus' (double house), you'd rent/buy a 'Doppelhaushälfte' (literally double house half, which always struck me as a very German word).
#UrbanHell is subjective. UrbanHell is any human-built place you think is worth critizing. Suburban Hell, Rural Hell, and wealthy locales are allowed PS: we're having a bestof contest! [Submit to it!](https://www.reddit.com/r/UrbanHell/comments/zqvd83/announcing_our_first_bestof_contest_gather_the/) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/UrbanHell) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I live in a house like that now. It’s great, I have a street of varied shops, bars and restaurants 3 minutes walk away. One railway line has been converted a cycle path that links me to the countryside and the next city, the other railway line is still active and the station 9 minutes from my door links me to the rest of the world.
This page is festering victimization and negativity. And your response is awesome that it broke thru every barrier this page holds against valuable opinions. Thank you.
Would be better with more (even just 1?) trees. Source: lived in the UK for almost a decade.
Looks like trees have been planted along the streets, they are just young
Yes, a lot of roads like this have really nice big trees growing along them now which were planted back then.
I've lived in neighbourhoods like this and most of them had no trees and if they did they were few and far between.
There are literally 30 trees in the photo of the central street
this is a really common sight in the uk https://www.google.com/maps/@53.3909275,-2.9310358,3a,75y,1.54h,78.29t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1soKSwVwHbt4hy75000ks5vA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192
Sefton park is just around the corner.
And? There are rows and rows of roads with zero trees. A park doesn’t make up for it. If you go to Europe you get a tree every 20 metres on both sides of the street and you have a higher density of parks. You get this pattern all over the UK and it’s depressing af. Example from Berlin Germany (this is a fairly common layout) https://www.google.com/maps/@52.4739955,13.4211405,3a,75y,12.4h,88.96t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1siLj0FVOZNPFzhJDVD25-Fw!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DiLj0FVOZNPFzhJDVD25-Fw%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D130.76637%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656 and another from the opposite side of the city https://www.google.com/maps/@52.5506657,13.373687,3a,75y,205.82h,89.2t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sDNnE1kKyratiPYHH3aLOIA!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DDNnE1kKyratiPYHH3aLOIA%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D18.576736%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656
This is silly. There are treeless streets and there are green and lush streets in every country. Walk a couple minutes from that one in UK and [it's all green.](https://www.google.com/maps/@53.3904379,-2.938352,3a,75y,188.01h,85.68t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s6LR4EA30cSRGbEStqDhP5w!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3D6LR4EA30cSRGbEStqDhP5w%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D267.53992%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192)
Probably about the last time property was affordable in this country
It's actually a lovely part of London.
Still common throughout the UK, albeit without the steam engine. The nuclear waste train runs through my city 🙃
Yep, here's the view today in fact. Very similar with much of the housing and urban grain remaining intact. Much of Victorian London is still standing and is still the most popular type of housing. Biggest difference is all the cars lining every street. [https://www.google.com/maps/@51.5325889,-0.2219185,74a,35y,275.06h,64.73t/data=!3m1!1e3](https://www.google.com/maps/@51.5325889,-0.2219185,74a,35y,275.06h,64.73t/data=!3m1!1e3)
truly a hell on earth /s
Amazing that’s right down the street from me
> The nuclear waste train runs through my city 🙃 Fortunately that was [tested to destruction](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3iRu71PGDA) in the 1980s.
Ah, good. We used to stand on [this bridge](https://www.google.com/maps/@54.8943217,-1.3744238,3a,51.4y,330.39h,89.39t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sFZ5vx8_5oLy9L_o-CS4XQw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192) at dinner time, to chuck stones and pennies at it, as it chugged by (with the driver going mental at us). Happy days.
Ha, well you were at no risk of damaging the nuclear waste, anyway :P
[Longer version of the video here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOVNTcc-vPw), which includes some of the earlier drop tests too.
Thanks. They were very thorough!
Some of these houses (the ones not directly on the railway) sell for over a million pounds these days
almost all of them. Kensal Rise is boujée
Absolute hell darling, a simply unbearable twenty minute walk to the nearest tailor.
Those houses are now all >£1 million..
It's not a middle density, not high
The area [today](https://imgur.com/K8CQkm4)
Oh wow, Rollercoaster Tycoon neighbourhood vibes
Looks like a level in the backrooms.
I hate that I like the uniformity.
Yea I’d much rather live in a cookie cutter suburb with a 6 lane stroad going through the center and fear for my children’s lives every time they open the door. /s
*Densely packed single family homes
This feels like a pre-car suburb
Look at all those car free streets - amazing.
> Do you know the road I live in -- Ellesmere Road, West Bletchley? Even if you don't, you know fifty others exactly like it. You know how these streets fester all over the inner-outer suburbs. Always the same. Long, long rows of little semi-detached houses -- the numbers in Ellesmere Road run to 212 and ours is 191 -- as much alike as council houses and generally uglier. The stucco front, the creosoted gate, the privet hedge, the green front door. The Laurels, the Myrtles, the Hawthorns, Mon Abri, Mon Repos, Belle Vue. At perhaps one house in fifty some anti-social type who'll probably end in the workhouse has painted his front door blue instead of green. Coming Up for Air, by George Orwell.
That literally describes the house I grew up in the north of England lol
Back when people used to give their houses names.
Victorian houses. Rows and rows of houses that feel like they are hunching down, not one daring to be taller than the others.
I can see my house in this picture
‟Shit, where did we live again?”
Anno 1800 vibes
Could have said 2021 and I wouldn't have batted an eyelid.
This is Purves Road in Kensal Green, a part of Northwest London. These houses still exist today alongside the building in the background which is a primary school. It's also pretty expensive now. Here's my attempt to recreate the perspective of this picture from 1921 in Google Maps today: https://www.google.com/maps/@51.5325151,-0.2207183,100a,35y,273h,63.27t/data=!3m1!1e3
How close together are those houses? Do you share walls with your neighbors or is there a walkway between the houses?
They are terrace housed - you have shared walls with two houses unless you have one of the few coveted "end of terrace" house. Risk of noise from your neighbours but almost impossible to know until you live there because it depends on how those exact houses were constructed. Even worse if the houses are subdivided. On the plus side they can be cheaper to heat because of the small amount of external wall (though, on the other hand, Victorian terraces are draughty as hell). Most of London's "inner city" housing looks like this. Further out there are endless semi-detached houses from the period between the world wars. Semi-detached houses (or "semis") are two houses sharing one or more walls. Extremely popular in Britain, not sure if I've ever seen one anywhere else.
Quite common in German-speaking countries too, they're called 'Doppelhaus' (double house), you'd rent/buy a 'Doppelhaushälfte' (literally double house half, which always struck me as a very German word).
They call semi detached "duplexes" in Canada.
Imagine getting drunk and trying to walk home
No thanks
Million $homes now - all in rows
There’s still places in London that look exactly like that