I was thinking the exact same thing. In my suburban part of the east bay area, the nearest real parks are about a 45 minute walk away, through bland boring suburban streets, the nearest schools would require a car to reach, the closest supermarket is about a 20 minute walk away and there's essentially zero public transit (slow buses about once an hour).
The small town my wife is from in the North Caucasus region of Russia has green everywhere. It also has schools, kindergartens, small grocery stores and parks within ~5-10 min walking distance of pretty much the entire city and public transit everywhere, roughly one bus per route every 5 minutes.
Sure the buildings are arguably uglier but the area as a whole is beautiful and far more livable.
>“But everybody wants to live in one.”
This was the part that I didn't understand until I experienced it. If they were more visually appealing from the outside, and in the stairways, people may stop hating them.