[4wsn]

Yeah. These romanticized threads always give me a kick. Every large city here in Germany has a chronic smell of diesel and dog piss. There's a level of grime to everything that would really bother someone used to an American suburb. Not to mention the majority of apartments are in old buildings with no ventilation or cooling.

Like you said, there's advantages but ignoring the downsides is amusing if you've ever actually lived in a large city.

[Gigachad]

It's a bit different in Australia in Melbourne/Sydney. You have suburbs but they have all developed micro cities around the train station. So you have these spots that don't smell like piss and smog, have a supermarket, bars, restaurants, and brand new highrises with high quality apartments.

Super easy to live car free since your day to day stuff can be accessed by foot, and the train to the CBD is super easy to access as well.

[4wsn]

Never had the pleasure of visiting but if this is accurate it might sound like the best of both worlds.