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posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday March 10 2020, @09:01AM   Printer-friendly
from the tiny-homes dept.

Downsizing the McMansion: Study gauges a sustainable size for future homes:

What might homes of the future look like if countries were really committed to meeting global calls for sustainability, such as the recommendations advanced by the Paris Agreement and the U.N.'s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development?

Much wider adoption of smart design features and renewable energy for low- to zero-carbon homes is one place to start -- the U.N. estimates households consume 29% of global energy and consequently contribute to 21% of resultant CO2 emissions, which will only rise as global population increases.

However, a new scholarly paper authored at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) assesses another big factor in the needed transformation of our living spaces toward sustainability -- the size of our homes.

The paper published in the journal Housing, Theory & Society makes the case for transitioning away from the large, single-family homes that typify suburban sprawl, offering new conceptions for what constitutes a more sustainable and sufficient average home size in high-income countries going forward.

The article surveys more than 75 years of housing history and provides estimates for the optimal spatial dimensions that would align with an "environmentally tenable and globally equitable amount of per-person living area" today. It also spotlights five emerging cases of housing innovation around the world that could serve as models for effectively adopting more space-efficient homes of the future.

"There is no question that if we are serious about embracing our expressed commitments to sustainability, we will in the future need to live more densely and wisely," said Maurie Cohen, the paper's author and professor at NJIT's Department of Humanities. "This will require a complete reversal in our understanding of what it means to enjoy a 'good life' and we will need to start with the centerpiece of the 'American Dream,' namely the location and scale of our homes.

"The notion of 'bigger is better' will need to be supplanted by the question of 'how much is enough?' Fortunately, we are beginning to see examples of this process unfolding in some countries around the world, including the United States."

Maurie J. Cohen. New Conceptions of Sufficient Home Size in High-Income Countries: Are We Approaching a Sustainable Consumption Transition? Housing, Theory and Society, 2020; 1 DOI: 10.1080/14036096.2020.1722218


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  • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday March 11 2020, @12:32AM (4 children)

    by Phoenix666 (552) on Wednesday March 11 2020, @12:32AM (#969369) Journal

    "Socialism" is as poisonous a term as "nazism," and we cannot forget that. It's a modernist, totalitarian ideology that is responsible for the deaths of tens of millions of people.

    That aside, we seem to agree on the mindset, no matter what you call it. It doesn't work. Fully tried, it requires force and death. It is the opposite of pluralistic, free, democratic society.

    Let's save the environment with an approach that doesn't employ the socialist mindset. The environment must be saved, but we cannot kill ourselves to do it.

    --
    Washington DC delenda est.
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  • (Score: 3, Touché) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday March 11 2020, @02:03AM (3 children)

    by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Wednesday March 11 2020, @02:03AM (#969407) Journal

    Yeah, fuck socialism. God forbid we end up like those horrible shitholes Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Iceland. Awful. And mostly atheist, too, those places! God is righteously venting his divine fury on them by...uhh...making them...some of the best places on earth to live...? Huuuuh.

    --
    I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
    • (Score: 2) by ChrisMaple on Wednesday March 11 2020, @02:40AM (2 children)

      by ChrisMaple (6964) on Wednesday March 11 2020, @02:40AM (#969441)

      The countries you cite are not socialist, they are mixed market economies injured by a partially socialist welfare system. Current socialist states are places like Venezuela and North Korea.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 11 2020, @05:53AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 11 2020, @05:53AM (#969514)

        Current socialist states are places like Venezuela and North Korea.

        Those are not true socialist states though.

        Just you wait... There will be a glorious socialist utopia any day now.

      • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday March 11 2020, @02:53PM

        by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Wednesday March 11 2020, @02:53PM (#969642) Journal

        I know :) But when the kind of idiot like the one I replied to says "socialist" they're trying to conflate Venezuela with Denmark.

        There is more meaning behind what these people say than the literal face value of their words. They have an agenda, and they are leaning into it. If you don't pay attention you could get suckered in too. Don't turn your brain off: read what they mean, not just what they say.

        --
        I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...