In Britain after WWII there was a severe housing shortage and the solution they came up with was "row houses" basically large apartment blocks. The genius part of this was along with this you also got an allotment. A small parcel of land where you could garden and enjoy the outdoors.
Doesn't sound like the libs core m-o. Maybe, like this pipeline fiasco, they were convinced it would make the PCs their friends, and it failed as miserably then too?
My grandparents had a council house in the UK, thankfully the allotmemt was just an extended back garden/yard. It was affordable housing for a family of 8.
Personally I think countless 3-5 storey steel-concrete multi-unit buildings are preferable from density, comfort (sound and heat insulation) and durability standpoint.