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Most Americans would rather live in a big house in a car-based community than a small house in a walking-based community. (www.pewresearch.org)
submitted 7 months ago by to c/fuckcars@lemmy.world
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[–] 29 points 7 months ago* (7 children)

I wouldn't mind living an an apartment building nearly so much if only the building came with shared versions of the amenities a single family home might have: A yard for kids and dogs to run around in, a garden area with planters, a garage so people can work on their vehicles... If a 12 or 24 unit building just had single shared versions of these amenities it would make the apartment lifestyle a lot less restrictive to people who feel pressure to buy a house but don't want to burn their life savings. Two reasons this doesn't happen are regressive zoning codes and landlords treating shelter as an investment to squeeze value.

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  • [–] 11 points 7 months ago (4 children)

    Yeah I could never willingly live in an apartment for many reasons, but a few of them being:

    no common outdoor area for pets, so if your dog needs to pee you have to take them for a walk around the block to pee on some tiny patch of grass beside the street.

    As you mentioned no garage/driveway to work on a vehicle or even have any other space intensive hobby/activity like woodworking.

    Privacy, I just hate having neighbours and noises at all times of the day.

    Gardening for more than a couple pots of tomatoes and herbs on a balcony.

    And many more

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  • [–] 9 points 7 months ago (3 children)

    Privacy, I just hate having neighbours and noises at all times of the day.

    This was a big thing for me. I understand that my apartment is surrounded by other apartments but I don't like being constantly reminded of it either by the noise they make or trying to be super quiet in mine so they aren't bothered.

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  • [–] 7 points 7 months ago

    The problem with many apartments in the US is shoddy construction, not density.

    I live in a Victorian row house, at the end of a row, so I have one neighbor I share a wall with. It's two courses of brick with an air gap in the middle. The house is well-constructed, so we literally never hear each other. However, back when I was renting, I lived in places in the same city where the sound isolation was so poor that you could tell if the toilet paper the neighbors were using was soft or scratchy.

    My wife and I both work remotely most of the time. She's on a call upstairs right now. I don't hear her.

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  • [–] 5 points 7 months ago (1 child)

    They are built so cheaply now, you and your neighbors hear too much of each other's lives. Gone are the old insulated plaster and lathe walls; Now it is all chalk filled paper board (drywall). Even the floors are a thin layer of plywood nailed over the joists with a thin pad and carpet laying over it.

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  • [–] 2 points 7 months ago

    Yeah, the sleep deprivation I experienced last time we lived in an apartment makes me loathe to ever consider it an option again. Now I live near an elementary school, and have kids screaming all day at PE. I don't mind it a bit! People are fine, but when you can hear your neighbor coughing at 3am and it wakes you every night it drives you nuts.

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  • [–] 2 points 7 months ago* (1 child)

    Here they just loosened restrictions, so wood framed buildings can be built to six stories …. Now you’ll be able to hear all 500 of your neighbors stomping around, but at least it will be cheaper to build, right?

    Note: a lot of the initial resistance was fire safety in large buildings. Sure enough the first six story wood framed apartment block in my town burned to the ground. I know that’s just one example and I don’t know enough to have an opinion on that, but makes you think

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  • [–] 2 points 7 months ago*

    Yeah I'm originally from New York where everything is cement and steel by code but now I live in Portland where tall timber buildings are the norm and it definitely does give me pause in regard to fire safety. I guess a caveat is that the structural timber in those new buildings is a dense composite that is supposed to burn less intensely or resist fire altogether but yeah we'll see...

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