Why are North Koreans avoiding the upper floors of newly built apartments?
People living on upper floors have to carry everything they need to their homes, including water drawn from wells and firewood, a source told Daily NK
According to the source, the province began building high-rise apartments in Chongjin five or six years ago on the orders of the central government. But because the apartments have no elevators, residents on the upper floors have a hard time getting up and down. They also lack reliable electricity and water, making them unpopular with locals.
With no elevators, no running water, no central heating and unreliable electricity, it sounds as if North Korea has already ventured into the exciting world of Net Zero apartments.
Our lot must be watching with great interest.
3 comments:
We used to live in a third floor flat (= US fourth floor) and waltzed up and down the stairs happily. The secret is to be well, in your twenties or thirties, and unencumbered by children or old folk.
My mother had a bad leg all her life. Dad built a bungalow for them. I don't suppose NK does bungalows for cripples. I'm not at all sure how well Britain does now on bungalows for cripples: our bungalow was built before the ill-advised postwar planning reforms.
In future the proliest proles, guilty of wrongthink, will get the best views. Because they will be exiled to the topmost floors of apartment blocks.
dearieme - I think NK makes sure anyone with any visible disability isn't allowed into Pyongyang. We've been looking around at a few bungalows with a vague interest in single storey living, but they don't seem to have many mobility advantages over our pre-war house. No stairs seems to be about it.
DJ - and they will have to pay more for every takeaway and grocery delivery.
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