I lived in a post-Soviet country for a year several years ago. The neighborhood I lived in had this kind of block layout, and I agree, I much preferred it to anything I've ever seen in America.

You could walk on footpaths to the open-air market, to the kiosks, even to restaurants, didn't have to worry about traffic or road noise, it felt just like a very natural, easy place to live.

Contrast that with living in Seattle, where even where it's walkable, so much of the public space is given up to cars.