We need to make our cities and towns more family friendly. This is called the “missing middle” in housing, and it’s why in north america all we see are either large condo towers or single family homes, which also drives our urban sprawl problems. Which exacerbate out dependency on cars.
Almost all new large towers/buildings in north america prioritize bachelor’s units 1 and 2 bedroom units. Trying to find a well priced 3 or 4 bedroom in a “lively” downtown center, close to transit and work, with plenty of schooling in the area is almost impossible. It’s also a factor in why cities became so empty during the pandemic, ie. Not to many families living permanently in cities.
Here’s a good article that also talks about the same issue with some different apparment layouts, and why developers don’t provide adequate family units.
https://www.centerforbuilding.org/blog/we-we-cant-build-family-sized-apartments-in-north-america
This together with zoning requirements in north america is pushing most cities and developers to only cater towards large towers or single family housing.
Another factor is the obsession for everything needing to be large, including living space (US in particular). My 1BR condo back in Asia was a little less than 400 sqft. In the US, 1BR apartments are at the minimum 600 sqft. That window limitation on the 2 staircase rule can be remedied if bedrooms were a little smaller, or if the living room was smaller if you want bigger bedrooms.
There are absolutely 1br apartments in the US that are < 600sqft, because I lived in one.
Also, implying that a large living space is a bad thing is kind of a weird take.
I didn’t say large living spaces are bad. I just said that most things in the US are designed to be larger than they should be. Also, my comment pertains to high density living in urban megacity areas, which is what I lived in back home. Obviously there are cases like that in the US, most notably NY or SF, but a lot of them leave more to be desired. Small doesn’t have to be cramped or uncomfortable.
A lot of this is because dense housing is for the wealthy in the US. You listed NYC and SF but almost every single big city has a dense center it’s just expensive. Generally expensive apartments are designed to be more spacious.
Large living spaces are bad, they take up extra space and cost more to heat and maintain.
40m^2 is plenty of space for two people to live together comfortably, provided it’s well laid out.
The problem is that everything is large. Couches, appliances, wardrobes. Microwaves and dishwashers and washer and dryer and then how am I supposed to have a table big enough to do a puzzle on? What if I want to do a puzzle and my partner wants to take out the sewing machine and start a project at the same time?
I had a 45m^2 single bedroom apartment which had a lot of wasted space (like, there was room in the bathroom for another bath, amongst other things), we had a full compliment of white goods, and there was enough space that when my then girlfriend/* could rebuild a motorbike in the living room without having to move any furniture or even park either of the bicycles outside.
/* Now wife, for obvious reasons.
I think there is a cultural tendency for larger spaces, but ultimately these lead to a lot of unused room or arbitrary stuff collecting. People can have a very fulfilling life on much less junk than they assume. The sheer volume of storage units in the US should tell us all we need to know about our lives of excess.
Very well put!
40m^2 is plenty of space for two people to live together comfortably
Not if you have any hobbies.
As mentioned in another comment, when my other half was rebuilding a motorbike in the living room of our old flat, I didn’t even have to move any furniture. She would tinker away pulling the engine out while I practiced guitar.
Are the hobbies that you have things like indoor rock climbing at home?
Well I was in a pretty well laid out 590 sq. ft. with my girlfriend, and we had a queen bed, two computer desks, a piano, an L-couch coffee table, entertainment stand, dining table, guitar amp, and kitchen. That and 3 cats and a gecko terrarium.
So no, I could not bring my motorcycle up into the condo and work on it without moving any furniture. And hobby-wise I ran out of space for my 3D printers and CNC set-up, and she was incredibly cramped with her piano and desk against each other.
And how much of that did you actually need? Why have two desks and a dining table when you can put a laptop on the table? Why have an L shaped sofa and not a compact 2 person sofa? Why have a grand piano (I’m assuming since you had a lot of space) rather than a compact electric piano?
In our first apartment we had a king size bed BTW, the space under it was great for storage and good sleep is important!
Our desktops aren’t exactly easy to move onto and off a dining table, and there is no way I’m settling for a laptop. We have an L-couch because we like to host people, and have parties. We have a full length electric keyboard, because that’s what there is space for.
You sound very condescending by the way, you should lighten up your tone.
Agreed, I want to downsize, to reduce my carbon footprint and declutter/simplify my life. My plan is for an external workshop structure to hold all the things that I work on but don’t require expensive, continuous climate control. That and building a sustainable ecofriendly home with renewable energy, geothermal would be really cool.
Yeah, several times when I was younger I had to move house with only what I could fit in my car or what I could carry. It forced me to really think about what possessions actually matter, and feel the benefits of how having less stuff helps free oneself from the consumerist mindset.
On another note, geothermal energy isn’t feasible for most places, and building from scratch is harder than it looks … the best thing is to repurpose what already exists to your needs and use it in the best way you can. I bought a house that had been abandoned, and it’s gradually coming into shape with improvements like insulation and double glazing … eventually I hope to have heating from a heat pump, but that’s out of my price range for the moment.
I’m not buying the idea of single staircase being the problem, and I’ll keep preferring to have a second means of egress, thank you. Although I have to admit if Canada really requires it about 2 stories, that may be excessive. My town has a lot of three deckers, which are really built like normal houses and that should be fine. But once you get to many” units, not so much.
Similarly with the other discussion on building materials: I can see something like a three decker being built to the same standards as any other house but once you get to “many” units, materials the are more sound, water, fire proof become more important.
I agree with the need for higher density housing, but too many proposals amount to cheapness that will impact the lives and safety of the tenants. It’s really not an acceptable tradeoff
Exacerbates* 😅
But, “make out cities” sounds fun/horrific, depending on a few factors.
Like Mortal Engines, only instead of city cannibalisation there’s giant robot kissing.
If you’re looking for more on this, the book Arbitrary Lines by M. Nolan Grey makes good arguments for abolishing/reforming NA zoning laws and also has some good explorations of the arguments for zoning.
