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

[Marganne (marganne]

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