Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: How much living space to you need?

[James Kacki (jimkacki]

Thanks for the perspective Charles.  It was very refreshing.- 
inspiring even!
James

On 20-May-08, at 12:59 AM, balaji [at] ouraynet.com wrote:

> It is certainly true one can get by for less.  I lived in a fishing
> village on the southeastern coast of India for seven years.  The  
> house was
> one room and had about 500 square feet.  That was for six people.  We
> cooked on a buffalo dung fire on the verandah, and the "facility"  
> was the
> nearby sea shore.  Most life was lived in public -- in the alleys  
> between
> the huts, on the road, on the beach.  And that, for an American,  
> took a
> bit of getting used to.  But I miss it, and that's why I go back  
> for a few
> weeks every year or two.  In a few weeks, we (my wife and 3 children)
> leave New Zealand for the Amazon (eastern Ecuador) were we will  
> live in a
> tiny house on the edge of the rainforest, just down the road from the
> erupting volcano, Tungarahua.  Our friends are all hunters and  
> gatherers,
> and small-time horticulturalists.  It's great.
>
> Well, perhaps we're a bit extreme -- we're both anthropologists --  
> but we
> appreciate the pleasures of community:  a lesson we have learned  
> from the
> Indians and Ecuadorians who never gave it up for the suburban  
> alienation
> we take for granted in America.
>
> Charles Nuckolls
> Utah Valley Cohousing
> www.utahvalleycommons.com
>
>
> > At 7:44 AM -0400 5/19/08, Sharon Villines wrote:
> > > In Manhattan, small apartments are also possible because people live
> > > in public more. They tend to meet for dinner instead of entertaining
> > > in because they have no cars and it is a pain to get uptown or
> > > downtown. They meet in between instead. Go out for  the paper and
> > > breakfast in the morning. Hang out in Starbucks with a laptop or a
> > > book. People even meet clients in hotel lobbies -- the ones with the
> > > comfortable furniture and a bar. A fern place.
> >
> > This is true in many cultures (other than the United States). I
> > recall reading a report about how many square feet (on average) a
> > person needs to 'live'. Can't remember exact numbers, but people in
> > the U.S. required more square feet than any other culture. People in
> > Japan do very well in less than 200 square feet because they 'live'
> > outside as you describe above. There is a condo project in Seattle
> > that primarily houses moderate to high-income working class Asians.
> > The condos are less than 200 square feet.
> >
> > I find 460 square feet a bit too tight for myself and my two cats. I
> > don't think I could handle living here very long if my only view was
> > the brick building next door.
> >
> > Cheers!
> > Marganne
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