Modern Chinese buildings manage both, having 30 storey buildings and green areas in between them. The area my aunt lives in in Wuhan has 5 or so towers surrounding a little communal green space with exercise equipment, children's playground, trees and flowers and a communal square. Also the ground floor of the towers generally have general stores, barbers, ping pong and mahjong tables and a pharmacist. Underground parking with a bus stop on the main street. It's pretty cool, actually. I don't think I've ever witnessed any housing that's that dense and still has a decent sense of community and character.

My grandmother, however, still lives in an old ass brutalist apartment complex with just a (relatively) large communal rec room in the middle with just ping pong tables and old timers chain smoking indoors while playing Chinese checkers. There used to be more than half a dozen trees but as people started owning cars, most of them were cut down for a parking lot.

The difference between housing built in the 80's and last decade is night and day.