Living in an Asian country, it’s very common to see condominiums, apartments and the like not only in cities but in smaller towns as well in an effort to save land and cut costs. Which is why it’s sort of enviable for me to see lots and lots of multi story bungalows in pictures of American suburbs. So I’m curious, are they just unpopular or am I just ignorant about risks of building them such as natural disasters?
EDIT: In addition, would you protest the construction of one in your neighborhood? (Assuming of course it follows all the building regulations and was permitted by all relevant authorities)
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I think about BASE jumping off of them, that’s about it
I want my own yard. They are fine, but I wouldn’t want one. We tend to like having land
Most American towns are sprawling and as such, high rises are unnecessary. We don’t mind them where they make sense. I live in NYC and they’re obviously everywhere. We live on the 19th floor. On the other side of this, I grew up on a farm with a lot of space in a single story home. Doesn’t really make any difference to me.
I see an awful lot of them on r/urbanhell
I lived in one for several years. They’re not really convenient for daily life. I had a dog that I would take out frequently, and I had to wait a the elevator, then walk him to the right place and hope he didn’t go before.
You always have noise coming from all sides. Above, below, the sides.
And the condo associations… horrible. That many people in one building is a governance nightmare.
Smaller and fewer is better.
Well, the US has a ton of land, like an overwhelming abundance of land. So building out isn’t an issue, and building out is cheaper than up, in most cases.
Americans also like space. Having a backyard is fairly sought after. I love our backyard, play catch with the kids, let the dogs run around. Hell, we put a pool in two years back. I don’t think the high rise owners would be thrilled about someone putting a private pool in their apartment. It just give you more freedom to do what you want with your living space.
I mean, you’ve seen the evidence.
We have all types of housing available. People that want to live in high-rises can live in them, they just have to go to a city where many other people also want to live in high rises.
Generally they dislike but I’m a few areas. I live in an area that naturally would have many mid-rises and high rises but for the busy bodies who like to tell everybody else what they can do with their property
You guys have more because you have so many people living on less land. If you had more land people would spread out more.
We have high rises where the population density warrants it.
We have them in larger cities. IME the people who own these units are pretty wealthy, first and foremost. They may also travel a lot or might just not want to put up with the responsibility of maintaining a house and yard
i live near NYC so you’ll see high-rises there. i don’t love them but i’ve heard that in the future, they’re more environmentally sustsinable.
I live in a house for the sake of my spouse who likes gardening, beekeeping, etc. but I strongly prefer living in a flat. It’s just so much easier and I strongly prefer the walkability and community feel of high-density neighbourhoods. I live a 15 minute bus ride from the middle of Dublin now but the sprawl of single family homes makes me feel like I’m trapped in suburbia again.
Saving land isn’t really a concern for us. It is way easier to buy land in the US than in a lot of other countries. To the point that many people buy empty land to build a house rather than buying existing properties.
The tallest building in my entire state is 12 stories (a dorm at UW) and that is plenty tall enough for me. Not enough people and we got more than plenty of space.
I like having a yard for my grills, my dogs, kids and garden. Plus I love having fires all year. The only way I could live in a high rise was if I was filthy rich and lived in a massive one overlooking Central Park or something. But even then I’d probably spend more time at my Colorado lodge or wherever.
I hate heights
I have a life time of experience in these here suburbs, and so I have seen the results of the “build out, not up” ideology, and it’s slowly made the area less livable over time. Sprawl leading to more sprawl, more traffic congestion, etc. If you asked me this when I first moved to the suburbs I would have been its biggest cheerleader.
I love high rises. And mixed-use zoning. The reason you see a lot of single family homes in suburbia is because of restrictive zoning laws which regulate the types of structures that can be built. I can write ad nauseum about this but that’s why there’s a lot of it here.
The houses themselves are not bad, the neighborhoods are nice. It’s just not a very economically viable way to sustain a community long term. We’re talking about all the amenities that are expected in a city but spread out bigly (municipal water, sewer, etc).
Not for me but I don’t have any issue with them.
I like having a yard and forest on my property.
Trash
I know we get shit for this across the world but I prefer lower density living.
They keep getting created and sold so they must be pretty popular.
I lived in one for 12 years. I like the urban lifestyle, no real desire for maintaining a yard. My old apartment didn’t have a balcony or private outdoor space however.
Now I live in an urban townhouse with a private roof deck but no lawn to worry about.
Outside of a few select cities (NYC being an obvious example), Americans are generally not fans of high rise apartment buildings. They are usually out of scale for most environments and they often have smaller living spaces. Furthermore, high rise construction (and thus rental or purchase) costs are MUCH higher than low-rise (ie four or five story) multi family construction. The costs for building 4 or 5 level “stick over steel” apartment buildings are far, far lower per square foot than high rise. And given their ultimate preference, Americans tend to prefer single family homes (rather than apartments), usually in the suburbs.
Personally I don’t like it. It doesn’t feel like a home to me, more like a hotel. They also block sunlight for people who live next to them.
I want to live in an apartment. Growing up, we’ve always had a house with a big enough yard for kids to play and for our dogs.
Now I have a cat. And I want to try the apartment life. I’ve been saving up to live alone
I’m not really a fan, especially since I live at the beach. It’s nice driving down the road and actually seeing the sky. I believe our local building codes only allows 5-6 stories. Although we have a few that are taller, they are really old.
I visit some family in Alabama along the Gulf, as soon as I cross across the Florida Alabama border I can tell just by the buildings. All along the beach are massive buildings and you can hardly see the sky.
The narrative here isn’t true. The reason why we build out is because of the government backed bank loans post WWII, as well as massive investment in urban freeways which decimated urban neighborhoods in every city across the country. Public transportation was taken over by private companies which they (arguably) decided to rip up rail lines in favor of buses. The rest is history, it’s now illegal to build any type of townhome or apartment in like 80% of US metro areas. It’s ridiculous.
I love them and have dreams of living in one someday.
I live in a 16 story apartment building and I prefer it.
Screw suburban sprawl with car dependent transportation infrastructure.
More density and more viable transportation options plz.