RE: [GBlist] monster houses (swelling/shrinking)

["Ralph Bicknese" <ralph.bicknese@christnerinc.com>]

Brenda Norman wrote: <I don't think the solution is to 'pare down and pretty
up' our homes, if
quality of life is the issue give me a "200 sqft" urban apartment within
walking distance of the galleries, libraries, theatres and corner stores, I
can do without the second set of china, the summer and winter linens, the
second vehicle (maybe even the first as well).  I'm pretty sure I won't be
on my death bed regretting that I didn't buy that bigger house instead of
spending time with the people I love.>

Agreed, lots of people understand and love the urban experience. Lots of
people do not understand or appreciate it.  The huge trend has been to flee
the big cities and move to suburbia (much of it is yuck). In some places
such as Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, Boston, Denver and others that
trend has reversed and people are moving back. Cool!  Those cities are
awesome.  For truly awesome, try Rome.  Wow!  The Italians do not tear
everything down and start over as we have often done in our cities so called
"urban redevelopment schemes of the 60's, 70's and 80's.  But it will take
many years of sustained effort to realize the virtues of our cities and make
them livable again.  Then we will really have realized a true treasure of
culture and hopefully sustainability.

Cheers,
Ralph Bicknese


-----Original Message-----
From: Brenda Norman [mailto:bnorman@ceiarchitecture.com]
Sent: Friday, January 04, 2002 6:45 PM
To: greenbuilding@crest.org
Subject: [GBlist] monster houses (swelling/shrinking)

"Yes, it is possible and noble (in some ways) to reduce the average size of
our dwellings but most people who live in small dwellings do so because
they have to not because they want to."

People now accept long commutes to work so that they can live in a larger
house, we work longer hours to acquire more things (our "wants" being
dictated by social and commercial forces) that we must then store in our
larger houses out in the suburbs but there's a limit to the number of hours
in a day one can travel and work.  The North American attitude towards
what's an acceptable size of dwelling will change because it will have to,
it won't have anything to do with being noble.
I don't think the solution is to 'pare down and pretty up' our homes, if
quality of life is the issue give me a "200 sqft" urban apartment within
walking distance of the galleries, libraries, theatres and corner stores, I
can do without the second set of china, the summer and winter linens, the
second vehicle (maybe even the first as well).  I'm pretty sure I won't be
on my death bed regretting that I didn't buy that bigger house instead of
spending time with the people I love.


______________________________________________________________________
This greenbuilding dialogue is sponsored by REPP/CREST, creator of
Solstice http://www.crest.org, and BuildingGreen, Inc., publisher of
Environmental Building News and GreenSpec http://www.BuildingGreen.com
______________________________________________________________________


______________________________________________________________________
This greenbuilding dialogue is sponsored by REPP/CREST, creator of
Solstice http://www.crest.org, and BuildingGreen, Inc., publisher of
Environmental Building News and GreenSpec http://www.BuildingGreen.com
______________________________________________________________________