Why do Lviv & Vilnius look nicer than Polish cities?

Lwow and Vilnius look better-maintained than many Polish cities of similar sizes, yet Poland is wealthier. What gives? Vilnius skyline looks smaller but better (more Western-looking) than that of Warsaw. It's like Melbourne in the 70s. When did things go wrong in Poland? Are Polish architects paid peanuts? Or maybe Polish officials are even more corrupted (how?).

Vilnius downtown is much quieter than big Polish towns - apart from govt there is not much commercial activity during the daytime and at night the bars and clubs are in very specific areas.

There isn't much traffic - even on the main drag, Gedimino there are only a few cars and a few buses. A few times I have needed to be at a meeting the other side of town and made it in 10 minutes. In Warsaw or Prague you would start thinking about that an hour beforehand. In Bucharest you probably wouldn't even bother arranging two appointments in the same morning. Sofia is also pretty quiet for traffic though ?

Vilnius does have very ugly suburbs - lots of high rises and some of the osiedle are just as big as in Warsaw or Krakow. All of the shopping is also outside the town centre - it has some enormous, tasteless malls.

That`s your private opinion which isn`t necessarily true.

Or maybe you should stop asking stupid questions at last? The more you post, the stupider it becomes.

I am sorry, I got too emotional, it seldom happens to me, probably I am a bit irritated today:


I meant: illogical questions.

It's easier to manage smaller cities (Lviv & Vilnius vs Warsaw). Warsaw and some other cities in Poland still try to find their own character. Building something modern when there are historic buildings around is difficult to match and it doesn't always work. The problem is, when one architect screwed, it's impossible to fix it.

I also thought so having in mind hopeless ruins left by communism. However, I saw to my great pleasure that everything can be improved. You only need money - that is the only problem.

I had been devoid of hope for a decade or two after communism collapsed until I saw to my great relief that anything can be improved.
E.g,, 1970s house

• 
  gfq5BMo92XnppY_me.jpg
  

That's quite a manky makeover. It just looks like a fairly dull modern house. Some of the old 60s and 70s angular houses have been updated in a far better way without hiding what they are.

Exactly!!! Much better than the previous communist monstrosity. Your perfectionism is useless here. Don`t expect they make a palace out of communist block. Ha!!!

It's often a mistake to describe something as 'communist' when in fact it's just of its time and much the same as anything elsewhere regardless of political issues.

The angular houses can be and often are modernised without trying to disguise their original form.

Which fell on communism in Poland.

Only when cities are white.

Gary, Indiana, is a small city. It's black and hell on earth.

And communists allowed only such architecture - everything had to be unified, like the ranks of obedient troops ready to attack in order to die for the revolution incited by communist agents in the free world.

I heard stories of communist architects who rejected all modern designs and forced private investors to build their houses in communist block style. House by house, street by street polluted by such architecture.

And today you prefer to absolve them of their crimes. AmaSSing!

And fascists only allowed such architecture - by exploiting workers to the extent that their housing was uniform.

There's nothing inherently 'communist' about such architecture. It exists outside countries that had governments which identified as communist.

I just went for a Google walk in Vilnius. Perfect! No graffiti!

I guess there are no stupid Polaks there, either...

Warsaw where I used to live. Under commies, those walls were just the way they should be: moron-free.

• 
  Warecka.jpg
  
• 
  Kubusia.jpg
  
• 
  AL6m4.jpg
  

Don`t be stupid. They chose best streets in the centre devoid of grafitti for goggle view. While your photos are from worse districts further from the centre.

Lviv is a run down hole once you get outside the pretty old town