As energy becomes expensive and major cities increase their status as economic drivers, families who live in them will inhabit smaller spaces than many do today. Some are already there, and from their lifestyles we can glimpse into the future.
Melanie, her husband and two children live in their 950 square foot condominium in Vancouver’s Yaletown district, adjacent to downtown. She also runs a pre-and-post-natal fitness (Fit4Two) business from home (although she gives classes and does personal training at local rec centres or outside). Here are some perspectives on the future, based on their experiences.
Idea #1 – Families of the future valuing time more than space
One main reason Melanie’s family lives in the urban core is to avoid commuting. If they lived in a suburb, her husband — who works long hours in the film industry — would rarely see the kids between commuting and the job’s hours. Melanie’s business requires she be near many pending and new moms, and being in Yaletown puts thousands of potential clients within an easy distance to make with a stroller.
Saving time and valuing time as much or more than money or space is becoming a new feature of 21st century life for many young adults. Although commuting between distant suburban locations and urban cores where the jobs are packed will in the future continue to be possible using various transit and shared options that will emerge, many families will reject this option preferring to focus on the housing option that allows for more quality time together.
Idea #2 – Two bedroom apartments or condos can accommodate a family of four (although some modifications would help)
In the future, although some families will manage to afford single family homes in close proximity to jobs and other needed amenities, more will live in duplexes, triplexes, townhomes and apartment buildings in the bigger, more dynamic cities.
Many families of three of four will live in 2 bedroom condos — so what will that be like? and what lessons could the architects and developers of future buildings need?
For Melanie’s family, the bedrooms are just that — places to sleep and store your clothes. They selected their unit in part because the suite maximized space in a well-layed out kitchen-dining-living area. With Ikea organizing technology in place, the living space offers room for children’s toys; entertaining space for having a few friends over and a vertically-organized home office that partially folds away when not in use.
What isn’t working quite so well for them is the small size of the second bedroom, which must accommodate two children in separate beds. Bunk beds are not appropriate for children under age 10. So Melanie is looking into “trundle beds” where one bed pulls out from under the other and tucks away during the day. A better designed unit for the future family home might offer a second bedroom big enough to accommodate two twin beds. Maybe furniture makers can get creative as well — how about twin murphy beds?
Idea # 3 – Families will use creative strategies to avoid over-accumulation of stuff that won’t fit.
Melanie’s general rule: When something new comes home, something else has to go. This applies to clothes, toys, sports equipment, etc. Melanie thinks this rule helps kids appreciate what they have and learn that they can’t have everything they want — there are trade offs in life (if you want this, then you won’t be able to have that). Birthdays and Christmas are focused around receiving one big gift, and one set of (out-of-town) grandparents contributes to a plane ticket fund instead of giving gifts, allowing the whole family to visit at least once per year.
In the future, with fewer families having a basement, garage or spare room into which to dump excess stuff, websites like craigslist and eBay could be even busier as families seek to unload one set of belongings and find others.
#3B – the experience economy rises out of condos
As the children get older, Melanie hopes to shift from giving the kids toys to giving them experiences.
Indeed, many individuals and families are already trying to consume in the experience economy rather than the non-durable goods one, regardless of whether they have kids or live in a condo. They spend their money on experiences (whether a trip to the spa, having nails done, a fancy dinner, enjoying a $5 latte with a friend, etc.) rather than on lavish belongings if they have to choose.
Families in condos might become a dominant consumer of “experience” rather than what can be purchased at Toys ‘r Us. (And there might be some great business opportunities in catering to these future families). I know, or have known, many families who use strategies like this — many young children can understand the choice between receiving lots of toys or getting to go to Hawaii or Disneyland for Christmas.
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Do you live in a condo? what insight does this give you into future North American families?
What about participating in the experience economy over the non-durable goods one?
Thanks Melanie, for sharing.
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I chose to live downtown years ago, with an eye to raising my family here. Our condo lifestyle means my husband leaves for work at 7:55, sometimes comes home for lunch or to do preschool drop off, and is back again by 5:15. On the weekend, we can combine a bike ride, park visit and shopping trip…and still be home for lunch, without ever using the car. With the money we save on commuting, we can afford all sorts of experiences.
We’re at that point, though, where we’re wrestling with staying here or moving just over the bridge, still within an urban area, but in a house. It means 45 minutes less family togetherness each day, but way more space and a yard…and a long-term mortgage and a tenant. Our cash flow would be roughly the same in the short-term. I’ve never felt so unsettled about a decision.
Insightful article – good movement from individual to general case. I’m left wondering, however, why Yaletown would be a particularly good location for a film industry worker. Relatively new to Vancouver, I’m a bit puzzled by the geography of the film industry (big studios by Boundary/Grandview, others in North Van?). Could you shed some light on where film workers are generally commuting to and where different types of workspaces are clustered (eg, studios, effects, other bits of work)?
Thanks!
-Des
Hi Des — Hopefully a film-industry worker can jump in here, but I think the reason for Yaletown here is that it is a good compromise between the locations of various studios — and offers lots of family-friendly amenities including the ocean at your doorstep. A lot of film workers live in the Commercial Drive area too.
Andrea — good luck with your decision. We do that (have a house with rental suites, quite close to downtown / Yaletown) — feel free to e-mail me privately if you want to discuss our choice in more detail.
Insightful article.
I have been steadily downsizing my life over the last 10 years from a 1900 sq ft home in Modesto (pop 200,000), California to a 1,000 sq foot rental townhome in Petaluma (pop 56,000), California. I chose Petaluma for its family-friendliness, many bike and walking trails. Very green and sustainable oriented living Although it is hardly big city, shops and other things are nearby.
My “commute” in Modesto was barely 15 minutes each way each day. There have been times in Petaluma when I have driven 1-2 hours to contract work. Over the last year I have chosen telecommuting and nearer work.
I have utilized similar choices to the family in the article re use of space and decluttering. Also learning how to container garden on the patio and enjoy the shared park spaces in my complex.
This kind of higher density living makes sense in small cities as well as big urban areas.
Pierrette,
Good point — more compact living is appropriate for smaller communities — in fact, it could be what allows many places to retain their smaller-town features like park space and less congestion.
I have to ask, as someone who would love to live in a much more walkable area, but as a father of 3 kids (aged 3, 4, 5), how do the kids go outside? My son on a daily basis is outside roller blading, biking, playing street hockey, soccer… you name it. If he’s not outside for at least 2-3 hours per day (not including school), bed time is a hassle.
How often can your kids go outside when you live in a condo? How active can they be?
Please keep in mind, my wife is a stay at home mom who is able to take the kids out for that length of time. But, a lot of that time he spends puttering around in the back yard.
Thanks,
Tom
My family lives in a similar condominium in Rome, Italy. Here are some other ideas:
1 – in our building, bigger families reorganized their apartments, in order to have bigger children rooms and a smaller living room.
2 – rooms were flexible: people used their rooms just to sleep, and most of the daily activities were done in the living room or in the kitchen
3 – all apartments shared a common park, with all necessary sport facilities. The park was the common playground of all children living in the building, and became an open air living room for everybody living in our condo.
TomB – we live in a Coal Harbour condo of 950 square feet with our two young children. They are more active than any suburban children I know. They walk everywhere with us – to shops, restaurants, banks, the doctor, etc. As for more traditional activities, they ride their bikes safely on the Seawall and in Stanley Park, run to our local playgrounds, take soccer balls to the park and walk to one of the local water parks or the many beaches nearby.
Our building has a secure, outdoor grassy area where tenants have barbecues and socialise and the kids are free to play and run and make noise without worrying about traffic, dog mess etc. Many other buildings in this area have similar outdoor spaces.
My daughter attends preschool in a nearby suburb where the children all have back yards and quiet streets, yet they are all driven to and from school, driven to sporting activities and driven to friends’ homes – all only a few blocks away. A private back yard might be nice, but we do have a very good lifestyle and I’d be hesitant to change it right now. (Also – I don’t have to mow the lawn!)
And my kids play with Melanie’s and NLM’s, so we do roughly the same thing.
We live in an 800 sq.ft. condo in the Fairview area with our two young children. I would agree with many of the posts above (about convenience of being close to work, most things being walkable, etc). As much as I value these things, I often wish I had a backyard. This way I wouldn’t have to lug everyone over to park on a daily basis, which is exhausting after a long day at work! If more condos/townhouses incorporated common green spaces that would work for us.
Thanks all for your answers. It’s great to see so many places that incorporate the outdoor grassy area. Frankly, I am amazed. Where I live, in the four most recent developments (~2000 units), there is VERY little parkland. Maybe enough for a few trees and a picnic bench, certainly not enough for active young kids. There is zero space for tweens and teens to play any sport reasonably.
Are their good areas nearby for street hockey, biking, and other on road activities? How comfortable would you be letting your 5-6 year old play outside while you are inside?
Thanks again for your answers.
Great discussion!
Tom – Where do you live? If it’s not in Vancouver, google image “David Lam Park” and you’ll see a great place for tweens — or kids of all ages
Tom, English Bay has space set aside *just* for outdoor hockey. Second Beach has a dedicated space for learning to ride a bike. But, elsewhere around downtown, the seawall is a huge space for biking, roller blading, etc. And there are tons of parks. My kids play hockey in the courtyard in our building. There are huge outdoor spaces all around. When it rains, we go to the community centre, where they have a gym full of ride-on cars, trikes, climbing apparatus, mats, balls, etc.
If suburbia was different — more walkable spaces, shared spaces, amazing parks — I’d consider it. But, honestly, the “suburbia” I’m considering now is still a completely urban area. It’s just not the downtown core — it’s a 10 or 15 minute bus ride! But I bet people who live in Burnaby or even South Vancouver would call it downtown.
Sorry about the delay in replying. I live in Orleans which is east Ottawa. My area is about to get a whole lot more urban but it’ll still be very car focused. I am working with my CA to make it more walkable but it’s not easy. You should have heard at the community meeting the discussion of lower income housing… While I wasn’t shocked, I was shocked. Perhaps disappointed is a better word. Nonetheless, I’ll keep working on it.
Thanks Wendy for the blog. It’s always an interesting read.
Thanks for the useful info. It’s so interesting
I find it fascinating that condo living is now often associated with family life in the way the suburbs were once family living. I have noticed that many new condos now include specifically “family friendly” amenities where once they seemed to cater mostly to young professionals.
This trend of moving into smaller condo units will only grow as the population ages. People are looking for more convenience that will allow for more time to do other things.
Very informative keep it up this good work