Housing is at the root of many of the rich world’s problems (2020)
There are many issues around housing, some derive from capitalism, like building apartments because doing so milk more money from a handkerchief on land, but some simply due to different evolution speed from human needs vs buildings lifecycle.<p>I see at least two kind of schools on housing, one who talk about cheapness, typically from USA, Japan and few others. Another who talk about forever and ever duration, typically from south EU. Both have reasons and both to the extreme prove to be a disaster:<p>- in the JP&#x2F;USA model a simple strong wind or a flood (from EU perspective) suffice to demolish houses, making big damages etc<p>- in the southern EU model houses are VERY old, they do not respond then to current needs and evolve them being not design to do so is a nightmare<p>Some countries choose the &quot;division&quot; model, like almost in the entire north-America with their residential-only suburbs, some mix at unbearable high density. Both models prove to be disastrous: the suburb model impose too much travel and being tied to some &quot;district&quot; nearby became a graveyard when the district change; too dense southern EU and Asian cities suffer the opposite issue: little travel is needed but things are so concentrated that there is no room to evolve.<p>Old Romans have a proverb: in medio stat virtus, &quot;in the mean live the virtue&quot;, and I think that&#x27;s well valid for housing... Too much dense =&gt; fail. Too little dense? Fail as well. Too diversified =&gt; fails, too much scaling issues. Too subdivided? =&gt; fails can&#x27;t survive for long. Unfortunately evolving from a model to another, no matter if the change is good or bad, take MUCH, MUCH, MUCH time. Around homes we need infrastructures, like roads, aqueducts,  power lines, TLCs, ... building a single home might be quick and easy BUT change the infra around normally is not. We still do not have the &#x27;30s dream of flying homes or semi-autonomous starships that can be moved easily everywhere... So far we do not even have flying cars (while they might be there technically)...<p>That&#x27;s not much tied to richness: poorest countries have their housing issues as well, just in different terms. It&#x27;s tied to the lack of Star Trek alike replicators and tech. Something that&#x27;s not on the horizon nor for the rich  nor for the poor. Is something we can and should tend to, but knowing it&#x27;s far away.