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Do Europeans live in small cupboards? There are energy exporting nations in Europe and they're still more energy efficient than the US. Is Europe also food po

Do Europeans live in small cupboards? There are energy exporting nations in Europe and they're still more energy efficient than the US. Is Europe also food poor because they experience lower rates of obesity? Is eating yourself to death an expression of freedom and the great American dream? >expansive thinking Yes why don't you take your own advice.

elbigbad 4y ago
I am in Europe now and am an American, I’ve lived in various major cities in USA including east and west coast. I have also lived in a handful of major European cities. So while my opinion is anecdotal still, it’s not uninformed. Comparatively yes, Europeans live in small cupboards by and large. There has to be some data on per capita living spaces between the two though. Largely anecdotally, I’d say people in NYC who are interns or new in careers out of school live in the same sized places that people in, for example, London or Brussels live for their entire lives, per capita speaking. Additionally they drive much smaller cars, as you probably know. None of this is a bad thing, it does tend to be an artifact of smaller, walkable cities and a sacrifice for that sort of thing.
- morsch 4y ago
  Average living area per person in NYC is 50 m2, in Berlin it's 40 m2. http://urbancalc.com/post/NYC-Residential-Density/ http://urbancalc.com/post/NYC-Residential-Density/ https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/255812/umfrage/wohnflaeche-je-einwohner-in-berlin/ https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/255812/umfrag...
  - elbigbad 4y ago
    Thanks! This tracks my experience, good to hear it somewhat justified with data.
    - benj111 4y ago
      I wouldn't describe 4/5ths the size of a house as a cupboard. 50sqm sounds small to me. Does that mean that Germans and Americans live in cupboards? Or does it mean that that people prioritise different things?
      - morsch 4y ago
        50 m2 per person. Presumably single person households are a bit larger, and families a bit smaller than 50 m2 per member, but that's just an educated guess.
jollybean 4y ago
So much for the bigotry. Europeans are almost as fat as Americans and White Europeans are basically the same as White Europeans in that regard. I've lived all over both continents and yes, Europeans live in very small flats. Energy is prohibitively expensive. I enjoy European culture a bit more (both have advantages), but in North America you have the choice generally to live big or small. Not everyone needs a big home (or ranch) but wide open spaces are really nice. We probably all have an overpopulation problem, but it'd be really, really nice to solve our energy problems, it comes along with fixing climate change and dumping Russians and Saudis from having so much power as we currently are sending them all of our surplus. And yes, we already 'expansive thinking' in North America, it's why generally we have a bit more material abundance and are a bit wealthier at least by economic measures.
- dagw 4y ago
  but in North America you have the choice generally to live big or small How is that different in Europe? For the price of a one room flat in the centre of the nice part of town you can equally get a nice big house with a garden way out of town if that is what you prefer. Sure US houses tend to be bigger on average, but it's not like you can't buy a big house on the cheap if that is what you want. You just have to be willing to live an hour+ drive away from anything in a place with no jobs. The only real difference is that, on average, Europeans tend to prioritise shorter commutes and living closer to town over large homes.
  - geraldwhen 4y ago
    You can have large homes close to work (<20 mins) in much of the USA. I can count on my hand the number of people I know with a commute longer than 30 mins.
  - arethuza 4y ago
    Indeed - as someone who moved from a (large) flat in central Edinburgh - if you go one hour out of Edinburgh (which is an easy commute if you go somewhere near a train line) then you get an awful lot more for your money. A nice single bedroom flat in the centre of Edinburgh is about £400K - that'll get you a pretty nice house with a garden somewhere like Fife.

elbigbad 4y ago

I am in Europe now and am an American, I’ve lived in various major cities in USA including east and west coast. I have also lived in a handful of major European cities. So while my opinion is anecdotal still, it’s not uninformed. Comparatively yes, Europeans live in small cupboards by and large. There has to be some data on per capita living spaces between the two though. Largely anecdotally, I’d say people in NYC who are interns or new in careers out of school live in the same sized places that people in, for example, London or Brussels live for their entire lives, per capita speaking. Additionally they drive much smaller cars, as you probably know. None of this is a bad thing, it does tend to be an artifact of smaller, walkable cities and a sacrifice for that sort of thing.

morsch 4y ago
Average living area per person in NYC is 50 m2, in Berlin it's 40 m2. http://urbancalc.com/post/NYC-Residential-Density/ http://urbancalc.com/post/NYC-Residential-Density/ https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/255812/umfrage/wohnflaeche-je-einwohner-in-berlin/ https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/255812/umfrag...
- elbigbad 4y ago
  Thanks! This tracks my experience, good to hear it somewhat justified with data.
  - benj111 4y ago
    I wouldn't describe 4/5ths the size of a house as a cupboard. 50sqm sounds small to me. Does that mean that Germans and Americans live in cupboards? Or does it mean that that people prioritise different things?
    - morsch 4y ago
      50 m2 per person. Presumably single person households are a bit larger, and families a bit smaller than 50 m2 per member, but that's just an educated guess.

jollybean 4y ago

So much for the bigotry. Europeans are almost as fat as Americans and White Europeans are basically the same as White Europeans in that regard. I've lived all over both continents and yes, Europeans live in very small flats. Energy is prohibitively expensive. I enjoy European culture a bit more (both have advantages), but in North America you have the choice generally to live big or small. Not everyone needs a big home (or ranch) but wide open spaces are really nice. We probably all have an overpopulation problem, but it'd be really, really nice to solve our energy problems, it comes along with fixing climate change and dumping Russians and Saudis from having so much power as we currently are sending them all of our surplus. And yes, we already 'expansive thinking' in North America, it's why generally we have a bit more material abundance and are a bit wealthier at least by economic measures.

dagw 4y ago
but in North America you have the choice generally to live big or small How is that different in Europe? For the price of a one room flat in the centre of the nice part of town you can equally get a nice big house with a garden way out of town if that is what you prefer. Sure US houses tend to be bigger on average, but it's not like you can't buy a big house on the cheap if that is what you want. You just have to be willing to live an hour+ drive away from anything in a place with no jobs. The only real difference is that, on average, Europeans tend to prioritise shorter commutes and living closer to town over large homes.
- geraldwhen 4y ago
  You can have large homes close to work (<20 mins) in much of the USA. I can count on my hand the number of people I know with a commute longer than 30 mins.
- arethuza 4y ago
  Indeed - as someone who moved from a (large) flat in central Edinburgh - if you go one hour out of Edinburgh (which is an easy commute if you go somewhere near a train line) then you get an awful lot more for your money. A nice single bedroom flat in the centre of Edinburgh is about £400K - that'll get you a pretty nice house with a garden somewhere like Fife.