Bah, just as usual, it only depends on how affordable a mid-rise building is supposed to be. That's nothing new under the sun, right? Over here, out of the hundreds we're getting, it ranges from shockingly mediocre for the poorest suburbs to fine quality for the better off, but I think overall, we're seeing some constant improvement.
Also, and this is something rather new locally today, residential midrises are starting to rise higher again, like this.
http://www.issy.com/taxonomy/term/49...euble--atypik-
Yet again, many locals remain traumatized from the 60s/70s developments that were too poorly laid out (
yep, for surface parking spaces all around...), which they wrongly link to the height of a building, but fact is there's no choice today, as building land in most the inner metro area is rarefying. Only, parking spaces are underground and fewer today, which will force more people into using the mass transit network to some extent. Those who don't like it still can choose to live a less dense outer suburb, to keep their cars in a satellite municipality.