Plavnieki is one of Soviet era residential areas in Riga, each of them housing several tens of thousands of people. They are often described as soulless, but in comparison to similar looking areas in Western European cities it is quite clean, orderly and safe. I think that Paris would be happy to exchange one of its banlieues for Plavnieki. Recently the municipality added some new rental apartment houses using Soviet designs, but making exteriors more colourful, thus adding a new twist to area's apparance.