To make these liveable, you have to have very strong central planning. Many former/currently communist cities look like this with varying height.
In Moscow for example, new apartments tend to be 25-40 stories high. However, they have large offsets from the street, are not built “shoulder to shoulder” with neighbors and generally developments from inner courtyards that are big enough to have parking and a soccer field.
There’s also a phenomenon of what locals call “pinpoint development”, where some unscrupulous developer will try to stick a tower in these courtyards and ruin the setup for everyone.
Contrast that with SF or NYC - you hardly have open plots of lands and everything is one giant wall of buildings.
NYC does this through zoning regulations. Older buildings were typically designed with setbacks [1]. After zoning code changes in the 1960s most buildings became tall boxes attached to open plazas or low rise buildings instead.
In Moscow for example, new apartments tend to be 25-40 stories high. However, they have large offsets from the street, are not built “shoulder to shoulder” with neighbors and generally developments from inner courtyards that are big enough to have parking and a soccer field.
There’s also a phenomenon of what locals call “pinpoint development”, where some unscrupulous developer will try to stick a tower in these courtyards and ruin the setup for everyone.
Contrast that with SF or NYC - you hardly have open plots of lands and everything is one giant wall of buildings.