Are these growth suburbs as grim as they look?

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/melbourne-s-growth-suburbs-are-a-disaster-but-one-place-offers-hope-20250912-p5mui8.html

Just looking at these photos of Melbourne growth suburbs that just look bleak. Identical huge houses on tiny blocks enormous distances from the CBD. No street trees, no shade, often no footpaths. Though that doesn’t matter because there’s nowhere to walk anyway if you could (shops, cafes, etc.). No public transport and poor road links.

Obviously lots of people still buy these places. Are people happy living like this?

I assume the houses are built poor quality.

Are people happy living like this? Not like they have many options though. Established suburbs are out of reach financially. Apartments are incredibly hard and expensive to build.

Surely we can do better than this with some planning?