It’s a current joke that “you know you live in San Francisco when your friends move to Manhattan because the rents are reasonable”. San Francisco has the highest rents and the fastest growing house prices in the US, driven by an apparently insatiable demand that far outstrips supply. In parallel with this is the rapid expansion in micro housing developments, both newly built and retrofitted. While compact living has long been a part of urban culture in Europe and Asia, an interesting question is why the increase in demand in some US cities for compact and micro-housing in particular, why now, and will it continue?
Urbanization and pricing is about supply and demand. The economic factor driving urban housing prices is fairly simple: supply is unable to meet demand. For every article on new urban culture from liberal Meccas like Portland there are pragmatic, business-centric treatises like the LABC Report on Livable Communities. The raging debate in San Francisco around tech shuttles which transport workers from desirable urban neighborhoods to suburban office campuses often ignores that development rules and the basic laws of supply and demand are doing far more than the “Google buses” to exacerbate issues associated with increasing prices and neighborhood population.
Demand is about opportunity and desirability. Cities provide an unparalleled level of productivity, opportunity, and cultural experiences. In places like San Francisco’s South of Market (SOMA) neighborhood a plethora of creative workspaces like SOMA Central sit alongside developments like SOMA Residences, which make a feature of their 100% walkscore. New York's The High Line is a fabulous example of repurposing old infrastructure to create a communal park. Even how buildings are painted helps transform the urban experience. It’s not purely the Millennials who are driving demand, with members of previous generations also seeking the practicality and social benefits of living in these reformed urban environments.
Housing reflects changes in cultural expectations. A common assumption is that people only live in micro-apartments because they can’t afford anything else. While that may have once been the case, what can best be described as luxury micro-housing as exemplified by this clever New York micro-apartment design and developments like AVA 55 Ninth and 30 Dore St. (Affordable and mixed-income development will be the topic of a future post.)
These apartments appeal to those challenging traditional perspectives on personal space, ownership, and consumption. The core mindset is “why own things you don’t use every day?” Need a car? Use zipcar, Uber, or Hertz. Need to host a dinner for 10? Rent a private dining room with its own kitchen – or use the one in your complex. Want to go to bars, restaurants, and theaters? Walk or cycle. This redefines personal space to be truly personal with emphasis on the completeness of the design of that space to be both functional and enjoyable, and recognizes that luxury is an experience.
This lifestyle is a deliberate choice rather than one of economic necessity, and it seems that there are an increasing number of urbanites who embrace and are prepared to pay for that lifestyle. Browsing available property in SF and NYC shows there are a range of housing options around the same price-point as well as affordable options in nearby suburbs.
Design with the experience in mind. Because the micro-living lifestyle expands beyond the ‘four walls’ of the traditional apartment, creating virtual models that truly allow someone to visualize and experience the living space and surrounding urban environment is compelling. Enabling potential residents to seamlessly experience the lifestyle – from neighborhood to building to apartment to furniture – becomes a selling point, especially as those environments are configured, customized, and increasingly even manufactured to the unique specifications of designers and customer.
Whether urban micro-living will expand as a desirable option outside of high-priced, high-density urban areas like SF and NYC is questionable. People who seek the urban micro-lifestyle are likely to be attracted to those cities, supporting continued localized demand. Where living space is more available and affordable and more limited access to shared facilities and services as is the case in most conurbations in the US, micro-apartments are likely to remain a niche choice alongside the small house movement or aimed at the lower end of the market.
Regardless, BIM is a useful tool in improving urban design by effectively engaging communities and stakeholders in the planning process. The city planners, property developers, communities, and architects who collaborate on creating planning rules that provide a range of housing options that appeal to different lifestyle expectations are most likely to be successful in achieving their objectives around urban development and growth.
[More here about Autodesk's BIM solutions. Stories of micro-apartment design can be found on YouTube, and in this blog about the SF's smallest most expensive apartments.]
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