Architects condemn 'shoe-box homes'

[dellzeqq]

Cities in the sky is a middle class dream and has only ever worked for the well off or those living in a country with a better standard of living across the board and less of an income gap.

happily sufficient numbers of the middle classes dream of living in a high rise block to make them very profitable. And sufficient numbers of elderly people dream of living in a high rise block to make them popular.

You write with the certainty of someone who's never been to Paris, to Madrid, to Milan or to Stockholm, much less to London, where high-rise living works in the sense that people queue up to pay money for it (I once saw two people fight over their place in the queue) and love it when they move in.

 

[dellzeqq]

Gary - the percapita energy cost of city dwelling is much lower than suburban or 'country' living. Who do you think moans about petrol duty? I suppose you could argue that if we all moved out of the cities and became smallholders then we'd save on transport costs, but (I write this as one who defers to nobody in his admiration of Cobbett) that saving would almost certainly be accompanied by a breakdown in civil society and mass starvation.

 

[MontyVeda]

...

Anyway what good does criticising small modern houses do?

You are architects .......design something bigger and better and, which is kind of important, affordable,

There was a thing on R4 a few weeks ago about the housing shortage. Many developers own loads of land but they're not quite ready to build on it yet... why... because mortgages are harder to get so they don't want to build if they cant sell them for the (their) asking price.

So the potential to build is there, but because they are worried first time buyers can't raise a mortgage, they choose not to build. I guess a housing shortage is good for developers as it keep the prices up, the last thing they want is a stack of new houses which aren't selling because that would affect their profits.

The 'developers' were then asked about why their houses were so small in comparison to Europe, they all declined to comment... although the answer is obvious.

 

[Zoiders]

happily sufficient numbers of the middle classes dream of living in a high rise block to make them very profitable. And sufficient numbers of elderly people dream of living in a high rise block to make them popular.

You write with the certainty of someone who's never been to Paris, to Madrid, to Milan or to Stockholm, much less to London, where high-rise living works in the sense that people queue up to pay money for it (I once saw two people fight over their place in the queue) and love it when they move in.

You write with the certainty of someone who hasn't a clue what it's like living on the margins of society.

The aspiring classes grasping for everything and anything in a certain post code is nothing to to with the success or failure of highrise social housing projects.

 

[dellzeqq]

and.............because a few people decide to shoot in the lifts nobody should live above three storeys?

Most people aspire, in one way or another. It's an endearing human trait that makes for a better world.