I live in apartment. Not a micro-one. But I imagine you can find solace in just having only the things you need. Why do you need a ranch size home and 20 acres?
This comes down to having freedom and experiencing life on 'a ranch and 20 acres'. If you've never experienced life in such a way, it is almost impossible to understand why people live this way.
I for one love having my own washroom and bedroom where I can rest, relax and find silence.
Do you think a family of 4 would find comfort in an apartment?
I'm fairly sure if money were no object and transportation was near instant, myself and most people I know would choose the ranch and 20 acres.
I've grown up in a spacious house and am living now on about 800 sq ft with my wife and a baby. That's more than those people in Hong Kong but, given where I am coming from, it is constraint.
My wife is coming from a former communist country. There, 60 sq m were regarded enough for a family, and she feels perfectly comfortable in our space. She wouldn't want more.
And in fact it does have some merits: I can clean the apartment in an hour. I am forced to throw things out that I don't really need, which makes my life simpler. And since it allows us to live right in the city I don't really need a car. We can do all grocery shopping by foot, and we have all amenities nearby. That's something you'd miss out on a ranch.
I don't live on a ranch, and don't really have any desire to, but let's play devil's advocate.
With a ranch and lots of land, you can grow your own food, raise your own animals and not be tied down to requiring (as much) other people. You don't have to deal with traffic (foot or road), generally anyway, and your neighbors are probably pretty friendly - probably because they don't have to deal with masses of people on a daily basis and aren't stressed out / overly stimulated.
You get the night air, the country views and peace and quiet. That goes a long ways for some people. That is something you don't get in a urban setting.
> You get the night air, the country views and peace and quiet. That goes a long ways for some people. That is something you don't get in a urban setting.
Country views, not so much, but I live in a city on Massachusetts's South Shore and I get fantastic night air and the place is quiet as a grave after about 9PM.
I'm fairly sure if money were no object and transportation was near instant,
It's 2013 ... why can't we have that ? Surely the technology for this exists. I've always had this dream of "turbolifts" from startrek, the ground-based version. They're basically single-wagon trains that can go horizontally and vertically so they function as elevators. So you get in at the end of the hallway (or even the front door of your room) and you step out at work, or in a public station, or ... The big difference is, of course, that it works like a car. You get in whereever and you get out at home, or vice versa. No trains, no swapping cars, no ... Make it cheap by mass producing small cars.
Why can't we build something like that ?
Heh, I've even programmed algorithms for routing these things. There are lots of problems of course, the cars need to be extremely reliable, or you need an extremely flexible mechanical design so you can pick broken ones up from rails. But a comfortable, large, elevator takes up much less space than a car, but of course needs much more infrastructure ... Oh well, dreams ...
It would also cost an insane amount of money, as well as inevitably only being for the very wealthy. You might make things better for yourself but definitely not all of mankind.
As humans, we tend to aspire to more than absolute necessity. Go too far and it turns into indulgence. Personally, I'd like to continue living in a place that allows for movement beyond 180 degrees of rotation.
Well, I live in a "ranch size" home on 10 acres. Why?
Actually I'd rather have 20 acres, or 100, but within the constraints we set, this is what we could (barely) afford. I like my own space and I consider it one of the things I "need." In fact, it's way up there in terms of priority. Your "needs" may be different. I've lived in large, medium, and small cities and I simply prefer to live in a low-density area.
Now, about the house itself, it's too big: I'd prefer something about 1/3 the size. Unfortunately, it's impossible to find a small house on a large acreage unless you want to commute over an hour to work and no bank will lend the money to build one.
For me, first, because it's cheaper, and two, because I won't be near people. I certainly enjoy the convenience of living in a city and being in an apartment, but I strongly dislike having so many people near me. I look forward to buying 5 or 10 acres and building a nice 2000sqft home where I can enjoy the outdoors and the lack of people.
Do you have children? Or a dog? It is usually a good idea to have one extra room per each member of the family. This way if you want to be alone for a while you can. Or if you want to listen to the music that others don't appreciate you can (headphones can be tiresome to wear).
plenty of cultures don't generally have room to be alone at home. Not saying I don't like the idea. Just pointing out that depending on where someone grows up the idea that they might have alone time at home might seem strange.
Could you name me some of those cultures? What interests me is given the choice would they want to have extra space or not? IMHO good indicator of it is how their rich live.
Maybe it is baseless but I wanted to give a little perspective, to show that it's not always about your wishes. If you live with someone you have to accommodate for their needs as well.
What does need have to do with it? If people want to live in a "cozy" apartment in the heart of a bustling city or if they want to live on a ranch home with 20 acres, and can afford to do so, why shouldn't they?
Most of the world has only the things they need, if they even have that. It isn't a choice. And there isn't as much solace in being unsure whether you can eat tomorrow or not as you might think.
I live in a studio apartment in an Eastern-European capital city and you're right, there's no room for a bike in here. Well, tough luck for me, it means I'll only bike whenever I care enough about it to rent one.
If I don't care about the location of said ranch, I just found several options that I could buy for basically the same price as my current 650 sq ft. apartment.
> But I imagine you can find solace in just having only the things you need.
No. You, maybe, but not me, and certainly not everyone.
And that's not even fully addressing the unstated assumption that everything you 'need' would even fit in an apartment, let alone a micro apartment.
Getting rid of things isn't always a good thing to do. Having the ability to be fully packed and ready to move in an hour is a tactic, not a life philosophy.
Simple living and minimizing material possessions is absolutely a philosophy, and an increasingly popular one at that. Im not sure how you argue otherwise.
Oh, it can certainly be a life philosophy, but like everything, people change.
It really seems to be age related. When you're younger, you tend to have nothing, so embracing minimalism seems like a good way to go. As we get older and achieve some level of success, a better quality of life tends to follow, and with it more material possessions.
Later, perhaps when we become aware of the number, and perhaps the burden (maintenance, storage space, etc) of all those things, minimalism again starts to look good.
Right now I'm waiting for the kids to grow up and leave so I can talk the wife into us living on a boat :-)
It certainly can be a philosophy. For the past 6 months I've lived in a tiny place away from my apartment, where (the apartment) I only spent 6 nights in during the same time. I am being convinced increasingly I do not need, or even WANT, the extra space. Were I to find a companion who shared this view, I think I could live this way for several years, if not for the remainder of my natural life.
– no kitchen, I have to eat out every day, which makes me fat
- no sofa or decent desk – I have to lie on my bed all the time, bad for my back
– no space for guests – can only hang out in restaurants and bars, which makes relationships a bit more distant
All this has an effect on society and culture over here, and it's pretty bad.