Current land pressures in the world cities of the global North are encouraging a move towards denser urban living and the development of smaller homes than has been the case for many decades. While this appears environmentally beneficial when compared with the alternative of suburban sprawl, it comes at a cost: the number of extremely small homes appears to be increasing particularly rapidly, with less communal and public space available to those living in compact homes which offer little room for socialising, storing possessions or working from home. Drawing specifically on the experience of England and Wales, with a focus on the overheated property market in London, this commentary sets out an international agenda for the study of small homes, noting the growing evidence of the negative impact of dense urban living on mental and physical health, home-working and familial and intimate relations, as well as its failure to solve the crisis of affordability. The article suggests that rather than being a reasoned response to the housing and environmental crises, the phenomenon of ‘shrinking homes’ indicates the growing role of finance in the development of cities, suggestive of the way that developers are extracting maximum value from restricted urban sites in an era of planning deregulation. In conclusion, the commentary argues that urban scholarship needs to compile more evidence of space inequality in cities, pushing for policies designed to enforce minimal space standards while reducing the ability of the wealthy to construct very large homes.

中文翻译：

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小就是美？理解“缩小”的房屋


当前北方世界城市面临的土地压力正在鼓励人们向更加密集的城市生活和开发小型住宅，这与几十年来的情况相比。虽然与郊区蔓延的替代方案相比，这似乎对环境有利，但它是有代价的：极小住宅的数量似乎增长特别迅速，居住在空间狭小的紧凑住宅中的人可用的公共和公共空间更少用于社交、存放物品或在家工作。这篇评论特别借鉴了英格兰和威尔士的经验，重点关注伦敦过热的房地产市场，提出了小型住宅研究的国际议程，并指出越来越多的证据表明密集的城市生活对精神和心理产生负面影响。身体健康、在家工作、家庭和亲密关系，以及未能解决负担能力危机。文章认为，“住房缩小”现象并不是对住房和环境危机的合理反应，而是表明金融在城市发展中的作用日益增强，表明开发商从受限制的城市用地中获取最大价值的方式在规划放松管制的时代。总之，评论认为，城市学术需要收集更多关于城市空间不平等的证据，推动旨在执行最低空间标准的政策，同时降低富人建造超大住宅的能力。