Yeah, but there are entire shopping districts and community centers withing spitting distance of the apartment, while the suburbs are like 2 miles from the nearest McDonalds, and another 3 miles to the library.
I don't wanna have to hike for an hour and a half just to get a burger.

Commie Blocks may be ugly, but the concept was kinda genius: prefab houses. Shit was quick, easy and cheap… also very cheap to maintain and to modernize. They still to this day allow the best living quality for the least amount of money.

Many former commie blocks are now in a better state than many "Western house blocks" because the latter is a pain in the ass to maintain. The standardized nature of these block houses means you can maintain systems for the fraction of the money and at a much faster pace, since the crew already knows where the pipes and cables are.

With a fresh coat of paint they can look just like new!

Before

After

The problem was that Russia and Co. were too poor and corrupt to even properly maintain THAT, but that doesn't make the concept wrong in on itself. The politicians also thought they knew better and often sabotaged the overall concept of how housing, commercial district, libraries and playgrounds/parks would be laid out… often removing the latter for MORE housing.

"Commie blocks are shit out of principle" is the architectural equivalent of judging a book by it's cover!