I find it’s a more complex issue which we (humans) have created ourselves. This problem is very prevalent in north America for example.
If you look at most downtown cores, there is a shortage of family sized homes, what I mean here is 3 bedroom and 4 bedroom homes that allow a family to grown and remian in a city center.
Most new build condos are designed as bachelor’s/1 bedroom plus den/2 bedroom with rarely anything bigger. Generally these units have a second bedroom with no window.
The reason for this is north america fire codes. I provided a link below that talks about how in north america it’s more expensive for developers to build 3 and 4 bedroom units as the square footage required is more then what is typically require in European countries for example. Typical 20-30% more, and this is because of north america condos requiring large long corridors down the center between units. This is not common in other parts of the world.
What happens here is as couples want to start a family, they have no choice but to move out into the suburbs. In the suburbs developers build townhomes or single family homes, which causes urban sprawl.
This drains cities of families that would potentially have more money and energy to spend in improving their neighborhoods. And would allow cities to become more family centered.
The pandemic was no help, but IMO it was not the cause, instead it brought to light a issue that is already brewing but most of us have not yet noticed as a issue.
The solution here is we need more mid-rise mixer-use developments in our cities, I mean the buildings that most north america cities lack right now because of zoning requirements. I am talking about buildings 4-8 story building. This would help solve the housing crisis (less families looking for homes in the suburbs), increase density in the city’s, keep families in the cities, increase transit (as more people means more transportation is needed) and keep out cities “alive”.
I find it’s a more complex issue which we (humans) have created ourselves. This problem is very prevalent in north America for example.
If you look at most downtown cores, there is a shortage of family sized homes, what I mean here is 3 bedroom and 4 bedroom homes that allow a family to grown and remian in a city center.
Most new build condos are designed as bachelor’s/1 bedroom plus den/2 bedroom with rarely anything bigger. Generally these units have a second bedroom with no window.
The reason for this is north america fire codes. I provided a link below that talks about how in north america it’s more expensive for developers to build 3 and 4 bedroom units as the square footage required is more then what is typically require in European countries for example. Typical 20-30% more, and this is because of north america condos requiring large long corridors down the center between units. This is not common in other parts of the world.
What happens here is as couples want to start a family, they have no choice but to move out into the suburbs. In the suburbs developers build townhomes or single family homes, which causes urban sprawl.
This drains cities of families that would potentially have more money and energy to spend in improving their neighborhoods. And would allow cities to become more family centered.
The pandemic was no help, but IMO it was not the cause, instead it brought to light a issue that is already brewing but most of us have not yet noticed as a issue.
The solution here is we need more mid-rise mixer-use developments in our cities, I mean the buildings that most north america cities lack right now because of zoning requirements. I am talking about buildings 4-8 story building. This would help solve the housing crisis (less families looking for homes in the suburbs), increase density in the city’s, keep families in the cities, increase transit (as more people means more transportation is needed) and keep out cities “alive”.
Here is the link to the article. https://www.centerforbuilding.org/blog/we-we-cant-build-family-sized-apartments-in-north-america