Shlomo Angel and Patrick Lamson-Hall write,
densities in today’s Manhattan can increase again if we allowed its lower income residents—and lower income, given today’s housing prices, includes its middle income residents as well—to live in more cramped quarters and to consume less floor space per person. As long as public authorities can maintain acceptable elementary standards of health and safety—from access to water and sanitation, to proper ventilation and fire protection—there is no reason to restrict the housing options of lower income residents by mandating a minimum consumption of floor space. A contemporary densification policy may thus entail the removal of zoning and building standards that require minimum apartment sizes, allowing for the construction of micro apartments as well as single rooms sharing common facilities (formerly known as SROs, Single Room Occupancies). It may entail extending legal permission to subdivide larger apartments into smaller ones by furnishing them with additional kitchens and bathrooms. And it may also entail the passage of new regulations that eliminate the exclusionary restrictions now imposed by the boards of cooperatives and condominium associations on the leasing of apartments that are left empty to non-owners, as well as the prohibitions on the rental of rooms on a short or longer term basis.
Most interesting was their demonstration that Manhattan density peaked in 1910, then fell through 1980. Think of the elevator as increasing effective floor space and the subway as reducing the demand for housing right near factories.
The question is why when what the market wants is lower density.
I’ve wondered about this kind of solution, also proposed for San Francisco. While the sky’s the limit on building space, what about the scene at street level? How dense are we willing to let THAT get? Manhattan’s theatre district was India-style jam-packed with pedestrians when I was there last e.g.
This seems like a coordination problem or just a cout issue. How technologically difficult is a two story sidewalk?
In Hong Kong, tiny but somewhat fancy apartments are doing very well. The idea is instead of making them cramped closets, you use state-of-the-art “small house” tech (and some old tech, like Murphy beds) to make tiny spaces (<200 square feet) livable for people who spend most of their time outside. If you built a NYC high-rise that had these along one of the main subway lines, they would likely sell quickly.
http://english.cntv.cn/2014/07/29/VIDE1406605201725733.shtml
I need my phone and an air mattress. I want to live in a van. Then I wonder why the van? I guess I just love square footage.