Chains of the same minimalist apartment with no attempt at decoration. Supermarkets where they've spent years researching where to place products and how long to make this or that aisle. Restaurants with super minimalistic design choices which leave no impact on me.
Everything looks like the interior of a hospital, or a McDonald's built after 2010.
I really fucking hate having to live near these places. Utterly soulless environment.
modern suburbia (which is where i grew up) is about 100x more soulless so this post kinda falls flat for me. would it be nice if my city weren't almost entirely owned by the same 4 companies that own every other city? probably yeah. but it still beats the shit out of mcmansions with huge lawns and no trees
The development patterns of US cities has been deeply impacted by the highway system. The term 'highway rash' has been used to describe the sprawling patterns of chain retail and dining and gas stations, etc that form around highway entrances/exits. This further centers highways within developement patterns.
Modern gentrification of the last decades has resulted in a similar 'rash' kind of developement pattern deeper into older neighborhoods, often in a denser context. Maybe you could call it gentri-rash?
tbh I feel that more about suburbia than anything. I like cities, but that's also been my environment pretty much my whole life. while I don't think rural areas are soulless, I don't like them very much personally :p
The big ones with specific quirks are, but spend a day in one "small" county capital that no one outside of China has ever heard of and you've seen them all.