Discussion Panel on Single Family Homes and Urbanism

[Qubert]

Of course single family housing can be urban. Look at how urban townhouse developments are in places like London and NY. SF has tons of it and it's not suburban by any stretch of the imagination. LA is pretty darn urban too.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by Qubert

Of course single family housing can be urban. Look at how urban townhouse developments are in places like London and NY. SF has tons of it and it's not suburban by any stretch of the imagination. LA is pretty darn urban too.

NYC doesn't have many single family units in its more urban neighborhoods. You need to go to the city limits to find neighborhoods dominated by single family units.

[Qubert]

Originally Posted by Crawford

NYC doesn't have many single family units in its more urban neighborhoods. You need to go to the city limits to find neighborhoods dominated by single family units.

I consider any dwelling where one does not live on top of another and there is no common area to be a single-family dwelling. A townhouse just happens to share walls, that's all.

But if we are going to stick with stand alone structures, then the point still stands. SF and LA have pretty tights densities using stand alone homes as does Chicago. I'd also argue some sections of Dallas and Houston are pretty respectable in this regard as well.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by Qubert

I consider any dwelling where one does not live on top of another and there is no common area to be a single-family dwelling. A townhouse just happens to share walls, that's all.

And, again, using those standards (the same as those used by the Census) there aren't many single family homes in NYC.

I think maybe you believe that the typical Brooklyn-style brownstones are single family? They're overwhelmingly multifamily homes. The vast majority are 2-4 family units, and they were usually built this way.

[fflint]

Originally Posted by Qubert

But if we are going to stick with stand alone structures, then the point still stands. SF and LA have pretty tights densities using stand alone homes as does Chicago. I'd also argue some sections of Dallas and Houston are pretty respectable in this regard as well.

Only 18.5% of homes in San Francisco are stand-alone structures, according to the Census Bureau, and many of them are separated from other structures by only one or two inches.

[RST500]

Originally Posted by Qubert

Of course single family housing can be urban. Look at how urban townhouse developments are in places like London and NY. SF has tons of it and it's not suburban by any stretch of the imagination. LA is pretty darn urban too.

The interviewe mentioned that Brownstone started off as single family homes in New York and Boston. They were latter subdivided into multi-unit complexes. Today to buy a single brownstone in New York would probably cost up to $10 Million. Maybe it's different in midwestern cities. SF has it's row houses which are also multi-million dollar dwellings.

http://www.starktruthradio.com/?p=1720