There are not many places in the developed world where you have the choice between a single family home in the suburbs or a steel box in the sky. Those buildings up there often look like this on the inside. They are places where people can live densely, but not uncomfortably. They are rarely small, only if you want a small apartment because you don't have kids.
Can I just add that both pictures here are in Berlin, where land is pretty expensive. You can find similar situations in Paris, Barcelona, Hamburg, Prague, etc. It is only in London, where land can cost between 2 and 5 times more than LA, Moscow, where land can cost even more, where there are fewer mid-rises, but there are still many of them. Not suburbs doesn't have to mean tiny apartment by a long stretch