[design-of-homes]

"I also question how well tiny homes make sense as a solution for long-term housing"

I also agree. This article is one of the few examples of a tiny house situated in what seems like a dense urban environment. In contrast, many tiny homes are placed among open space. The tiny homes don't feel cramped because they're surrounded by nature, with beautiful long uninterrupted views out of the windows. No noisy neighbours or traffic nearby either.

But take away the countryside location of these tiny homes and could the tiny house work in an urban environment? I doubt it. The future for housing for most people on the planet (including the US) is in cities and urban environments. Can you live in a tiny home where you don't have long, uninterrupted views out of your windows? Or where you only have windows along one side of your dwelling (e.g. single-aspect apartments). Do you feel you have enough privacy when your apartment or house is joined with your neighbour's home?

Millions of people already live in homes like this and have to contend with these issues. Can we have small or modest-sized homes that give us light, space, privacy, quiet and comfort in a noisy urban setting? It's one of the most pressing and important issues in housing design - and one that architects and home builders have failed to address.

Also, space can be 'modest' in size rather than 'tiny' and still be sustainable or amenable to high density. For example, London has it's own housing design guide that recommends new one bedroom apartments for two people to be a minimum of 50 square metres (538 square feet). That's still less than space standards in continental Europe but it's enough space to live comfortably even if it doesn't count as tiny by Western standards.

[alistairSH]

Also, space can be 'modest' in size rather than 'tiny' and still be sustainable or amenable to high density.

And in most of the US, we can increase density massively without reducing size to “tiny” or even “small” sizes. The norm in the US is a single-family home (~70%, including townhomes). We could build a lot more large apartment/condo buildings. A lot more duplexes. Both are rare in most of the US. Apartments are almost exclusively targeted at younger, childless people and rarely more than 2 bedrooms.

[bsder]

The problem is neighbors.

The reason why everybody wants a detached home is so you don't share a wall or floor with a neighbor.

Dense housing could be built so that you are well isolated--unfortunately, it never is. Consequently, you have to deal with stomping upstairs, dogs that bark all day, etc.

If people are truly interested in dense housing, we'll need some building codes that make building it a bit more expensive.

[alistairSH]

Agreed. Apartments are largely viewed as temporary and not for families - thus they’re built cheaply and not big enough (to meet American family expectations). The current 5-over-1 trend is awful in this regard. Yeah, it’s inexpensive to build, but light wood framing done to a tight budget leads to noisy, smelly, awful places to own or live long-term.

[ClumsyPilot]

Apartments in dense cities are worth millions of dollars, and yet their construction quality is surpassed by some soviet brutalism from the previous century.

Also laws and planning for apartments and leaseholds are absolutely atrocious in UK and most contries that do not have a socialist past - people in charge just do not understand how to deal with them.

[somishere]

Agree, esp. regards a clarification around 'tiny'.

Personally (controversially?) I've always questioned the idea of a tiny house in the countryside. In dense urban (and otherwise restrictive) environments focusing on size makes some sense. But in a rural setting? Emphasizing 'tiny' over e.g the UN-Habitat's mantra of "fast, affordable and absolutely green" feels like a misinterpretation and unnecessary burden ('fast' might be switched out in this context too). I'm not advocating for sprawling mansions by any means, but certainly a more holistic consideration of space and its effects on mental health.

[lmm]

> For example, London has it's own housing design guide that recommends new one bedroom apartments for two people to be a minimum of 50 square metres (538 square feet). That's still less than space standards in continental Europe but it's enough space to live comfortably even if it doesn't count as tiny by Western standards.

According to the article, that's almost "tiny".

I lived alone in a 47 square meter apartment until recently, and it definitely felt larger than it needed to be.

> This article is one of the few examples of a tiny house situated in what seems like a dense urban environment. In contrast, many tiny homes are placed among open space. The tiny homes don't feel cramped because they're surrounded by nature, with beautiful long uninterrupted views out of the windows. No noisy neighbours or traffic nearby either.

> But take away the countryside location of these tiny homes and could the tiny house work in an urban environment? I doubt it. The future for housing for most people on the planet (including the US) is in cities and urban environments. Can you live in a tiny home where you don't have long, uninterrupted views out of your windows? Or where you only have windows along one side of your dwelling (e.g. single-aspect apartments). Do you feel you have enough privacy when your apartment or house is joined with your neighbour's home?

Apartment living is fine (although limiting cars in cities is a must since they're so noisy). I'm pretty sure this guy's big problem is that he's living alone and working from home. That's a recipe for going stir-crazy however big your house is. (And I have to wonder: why pay city-centre prices if you're working remotely anyway?)

[msh]

You might enjoy the non-work possibilities that city center living provides.

[kQq9oHeAz6wLLS]

Another advantage of tiny homes in rural settings is they're generally optimized for outdoor living, thus dramatically increasing the usable space by using the abundant outdoor space.

Urban settings generally lack that option.