4 ms·

I thought you must have bigger houses? no? I mean how can you claim to have better standard of living and live happier life in a small house without any space?

guard-of-terra 12y ago
It's always a tough choice between a huge house in sprawlville on one side of spectrum and a tiny apartment in the centre of the (non-urban-flighted, alive and walkable) city. And of course everything in between. You can't say that in "better standard of living", home size matters and home location doesn't. Europeans have less sprawl but smaller houses, that's just it.
- Benji_San 12y ago
  It shouldn't really be a tough choice. The "suburbia" dream is flawed on so many levels that it isn't even funny. Yet people are clinging on to it like leeches because they've been told it will make them happy.
  - guard-of-terra 12y ago
    Well, on the other hand it's very hard to make the whole large urban core interesting and alive. Urban core is always smaller to fit everybody, hence unrealistic prices (think SF). And urban city outskirts aren't so much fun (still small apartments but not much life; crime is sometimes a problem too). Not much better than suburbia.
  - Loughla 12y ago
    That's not really fair. Just because the suburbia dream is flawed for you, doesn't mean it is for everyone else. I really do know folks who love living in a subdivision, being on the community board, watering the lawn in khaki shorts, the whole nine yards. They love all of it. Different strokes for different folks, Benji. Not everyone wants to live in the city where everything is so tight and expensive. Not everyone wants to live in the country where everything is so god damned far away. Some want to live relatively close to their work, have large sized yards like you would in rural areas, but still have access to shopping and amenities similar to cities.
  - randallsquared 12y ago
    Perhaps those of us living in suburbs like it? :) http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=78c72193-8f5e-4ae3-8b10-e9cc058a8047&k=14483 http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=78c...
Dewie 12y ago
So, I guess you made your account solely to trot out American stereotypes?
alkonaut 12y ago
The average house sizes are more culturally rooted than dependent on standard of living. For example, by measuring size of apartments/houses and cars/capita you'd find Manhattan to be the poorest (lowest standard of living) part of the US which is of course nonsense. We don't have urban sprawl in order to accommodate cheap/large houses, but it's by choice, mostly. Standard of living and various happiness indices include so much more than could be fitted into the term purchasing power (which is higher in the US than in most of the world). My standard of living is very dependent on 5-6 weeks paid holiday, 6-12 months paid paternity leave and so on. In my income bracket I could afford those things just by saving, that is, I pay more for them through taxes than I receive back, but I'm still strongly for them. Among other things because only through normalizing long paternal leaves did it become acceptable to employers to interrupt your career 6-12 months 1-3 times in a career, without being classed as "not motivated" or passed over for promotions etc.
aestra 12y ago
>how can you claim to have better standard of living and live happier life in a small house without any space OH BOY. Having a huge house doesn't actually make you happy. You only think it does. http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/qa-stuffocation-author-james-wallman-1280.php http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/qa-stuffocation-... http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/08/opinion/sunday/dont-indulge-be-happy.html?pagewanted=all http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/08/opinion/sunday/dont-indulg...

guard-of-terra 12y ago

It's always a tough choice between a huge house in sprawlville on one side of spectrum and a tiny apartment in the centre of the (non-urban-flighted, alive and walkable) city. And of course everything in between. You can't say that in "better standard of living", home size matters and home location doesn't. Europeans have less sprawl but smaller houses, that's just it.

Benji_San 12y ago
It shouldn't really be a tough choice. The "suburbia" dream is flawed on so many levels that it isn't even funny. Yet people are clinging on to it like leeches because they've been told it will make them happy.
- guard-of-terra 12y ago
  Well, on the other hand it's very hard to make the whole large urban core interesting and alive. Urban core is always smaller to fit everybody, hence unrealistic prices (think SF). And urban city outskirts aren't so much fun (still small apartments but not much life; crime is sometimes a problem too). Not much better than suburbia.
- Loughla 12y ago
  That's not really fair. Just because the suburbia dream is flawed for you, doesn't mean it is for everyone else. I really do know folks who love living in a subdivision, being on the community board, watering the lawn in khaki shorts, the whole nine yards. They love all of it. Different strokes for different folks, Benji. Not everyone wants to live in the city where everything is so tight and expensive. Not everyone wants to live in the country where everything is so god damned far away. Some want to live relatively close to their work, have large sized yards like you would in rural areas, but still have access to shopping and amenities similar to cities.
- randallsquared 12y ago
  Perhaps those of us living in suburbs like it? :) http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=78c72193-8f5e-4ae3-8b10-e9cc058a8047&k=14483 http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=78c...

Dewie 12y ago

So, I guess you made your account solely to trot out American stereotypes?

alkonaut 12y ago

The average house sizes are more culturally rooted than dependent on standard of living. For example, by measuring size of apartments/houses and cars/capita you'd find Manhattan to be the poorest (lowest standard of living) part of the US which is of course nonsense. We don't have urban sprawl in order to accommodate cheap/large houses, but it's by choice, mostly. Standard of living and various happiness indices include so much more than could be fitted into the term purchasing power (which is higher in the US than in most of the world). My standard of living is very dependent on 5-6 weeks paid holiday, 6-12 months paid paternity leave and so on. In my income bracket I could afford those things just by saving, that is, I pay more for them through taxes than I receive back, but I'm still strongly for them. Among other things because only through normalizing long paternal leaves did it become acceptable to employers to interrupt your career 6-12 months 1-3 times in a career, without being classed as "not motivated" or passed over for promotions etc.

aestra 12y ago

>how can you claim to have better standard of living and live happier life in a small house without any space OH BOY. Having a huge house doesn't actually make you happy. You only think it does. http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/qa-stuffocation-author-james-wallman-1280.php http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/qa-stuffocation-... http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/08/opinion/sunday/dont-indulge-be-happy.html?pagewanted=all http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/08/opinion/sunday/dont-indulg...