Yeah, lots of it is vile, but there are actually some really cool versions as well. My favourite is the Barbican in London. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbican_Estate. And then there's the Brunswick estate, which looks fabulous now that they've done it up. http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2006/oct/23/architecture.communities It's just up the road from where I used to work, and there's an arty movie theatre there.