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Yea - also idk why people keep thinking you need to downsize your lifestyle drastically or at all. I live in a decent-sized metro area in a 2500 square foot det

Yea - also idk why people keep thinking you need to downsize your lifestyle drastically or at all. I live in a decent-sized metro area in a 2500 square foot detached home in an urban neighborhood. It's perfectly normal and fine. People have cars, but they also walk and bike to a lot of places. There are restaurants and shops nearby to walk to. There are lots of young parents with kids and a school nearby too. Unfortunately people equate good urban planning with this weird dystopian view of a 400sqft apartment and clothes hung out to dry and getting stabbed to death on the street instead of how Americans built in the late 1800s and early 1900s with small businesses, restaurants nearby, parks for everyone to enjoy getting out and gettin some sunshine, and other amenities. "But it's expensive" - yes because we are market-locked into building nothing like this so scarcity drives up the prices.

paulcole 4y ago
> this weird dystopian view of a 400sqft apartment and clothes hung out to dry This is only dystopian if this is how you view it. I live in a 600 square foot apartment and hang my clothes out to dry. The sun is free! A 2500’ square foot house is much more dystopian to me personally.
- ericmay 4y ago
  I’ve lived in both. Both are fine and serve different communities and different people at different points in their lives. Ideally these different size dwellings are mixed in to the same neighborhood. I didn’t mean to suggest one is bad (though I think skyscrapers are an anti-pattern as well just less harmful) - just that some Americans will paint any attempts at meaningful urbanization as Hong Kong as opposed to their current size home when the reality is there isn’t a size trade off that needs to be made you just need to do more with how the suburban neighborhood is built/zoned out.

paulcole 4y ago

> this weird dystopian view of a 400sqft apartment and clothes hung out to dry This is only dystopian if this is how you view it. I live in a 600 square foot apartment and hang my clothes out to dry. The sun is free! A 2500’ square foot house is much more dystopian to me personally.

ericmay 4y ago
I’ve lived in both. Both are fine and serve different communities and different people at different points in their lives. Ideally these different size dwellings are mixed in to the same neighborhood. I didn’t mean to suggest one is bad (though I think skyscrapers are an anti-pattern as well just less harmful) - just that some Americans will paint any attempts at meaningful urbanization as Hong Kong as opposed to their current size home when the reality is there isn’t a size trade off that needs to be made you just need to do more with how the suburban neighborhood is built/zoned out.