Apartment Towers Are Good, Actually

Are high-rise towers bad? In this video we look at the livability of tall buildings from the perspective of people who actually prefer medium-density, ground-oriented housing styles like Montreal's multiplexes.

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[OhTheUrbanity]

For more on high-rises and density, check out:

[HarryLovesRuth]

This is what I love about this channel. Y'all consistently acknowledge that different people have different needs and priorities that will necessitate a variety of options. Far to many people want to redesign the urban landscape to match the ideal in their heads and then complain when other people want something different.

[Jay-nkdm]

This just brings us back to the original point: Stop illegalizing a certain type of housing. each type has benefits, and if people didnt like them, they wouldnt be used!

[simonboulanger]

Another point about the elevator: When you have a young child, carrying the stroller up the stairs is very annoying. I wish there were more 3-4 rooms condos with elevators available. Not every family wants to live in a detached home in the suburbs and drive a car.

[Erintii]

I lived in a tower building in Toronto. The overall experience was positive, I didn't have views but grocery store, hairdresser and basic amenities at my doorstep. A friend of mine lives in low-rise, 3 storey building in midtown and she is also positive. For me it doesn't matter if this is tower or not as long as space is walkable and I remain car-independent.

[exploshaun]

As someone who lived in a tall building since childhood, I don't understand why people don't like tall buildings.

[Sam-ipco]

I don't consider myself an Urbanist, and this is my favorite urban planning channel. Videos are always realistic and down to earth. The same can't be said about most people on this side of youtube.

This is how you reach people who don't already agree with you, and change minds! Great job.

[jlpack]

I live on a low floor in a high rise building with all the advantages stated in this video including a view because I look at a neighborhood park. I often use the stairs instead of the elevators. You pretty much nailed why I live where I live.

[carfreeneoliberalgeorgisty]

They're not to everyone's taste but I actually really like highrise towers whether they're used as office/commercial space, residential space, or a mix of the 2. I would happily live in a high-rise city like Hong Kong or NYC if I could because I really like the feeling of being in a skyscraper canyon like Toronto's financial district.

[FGHG]

6:58 "We wish people were better at separating their housing *preferences* from their housing *policy."*
This. Holy crap THANK YOU. Take notes everybody.

I am so sick and tired of the word "preference" being thrown around left and right when deciding housing and zoning laws, and especially the many analysis and commentary videos on housing crisis related videos and articles, especially on official news sites like CNBC.

The amount of times that so-called experts and professionals, and even economists use any variation of the word 'preference' when for example, why only single family homes were sold in a given market, they say stuff like, "Oh, that's just people's preference!" or "Oh the reason why sprawling car dependent suburbs are the dominant forms of urban development is because, oh that's just what people 'prefer'."

No. Just NO, the hell it isn't. The reason why only those things are sold is because those are the only things ALLOWED to be sold. They NEVER talk about how strict zoning laws prohibit the sale of literally anything else! Man this word can grind my gears sometimes haha.

[williamchamberlain]

Depends who designs it, with which parameters, and how it's constructed and with which standards. Lived in a couple, and the one converted from an office building was great because the elevators always worked, and the floors and walls were good and thick due to higher load standards.

[waisinglee]

As an older person and someone who is familiar with geriatric issues, I would look for a condo building that can be tall or not but without a pool. Most importantly it has to have a bank of elevators. I want a library, a hospital, two supermarkets or more, etc. close by.

I know people who live in the suburbs or countryside but as one ages those locations are just not feasible. I knew someone who got angry when I asked what happens if you were shoveling your driveway in the wintertime, have a heart attack and the ambulance was an hour away? And, what will you do when the gov't takes away your driver's license?

[Preygrantess]

You two are the least snobby urbanists, thanks for the amazing content!

[danielotoole]

I'm suprised to see no mention of energy saving. It cheaper to cool/heat an apartment than a detached single family home. Addtionally if someone lives in a transit oriented building then it's unlikely they'll have a car with emissions.

[Stefi]

I always appreciate the balanced and fair arguments you two bring to your videos. It's quite refreshing

[Alltoc]

Building more housing is the only way to make housing more affordable. More people need to realize this. If there is demand for high buildings then let them be build and if you don't want to live in one you don't have to. There are loads of people who would love to live in one.

[jfungsf]

Great video! You folks continue to knock it out of the park when it comes to talking about why high rise housing is desirable. For me it's definitely my *MOST preferred* type of housing for the reasons you mention in addition to NOT having to maintain the entire building yourself. Your videos talking about high-rise super tall housing speaks to my preferences & strikes a chord that often gets left out of urbanist circles.

[roberthoople]

I've never thought apartments were bad, just that most of them waste their roof space and tend to be kind of ugly and hostile the way many of them are currently developed and concentrated in downtowns.

I genuinely wish people would stop fighting against tall buildings, for all the reasons you've presented, and instead use that energy to fight developers for more attractive buildings with greener roofs, in more neighborhoods and that create more street level public space with their podiums.

[indignation]

7:02 "I wish people were better at separating their housing preferences with housing policy. You don't want to want to live in a tall building yourself to believe that others should have the option."

I wish that this applied to EVERYTHING, separating preferences with policy and allowing others to do things that you personally don't want.

[VillainousHanacha]

I am personally of mixed feelings when it comes to high rises. I like the fact that high rises always have elevators (for moving large things) and always have doormen (so you don't have to wait around for packages or get things delivered to your job). I also think that low rise density makes a more aesthetically pleasing streetscape (particularly when paired with grand street trees).

However I would also say that high rise towers (and their brother from another mother, 5 over 1's) are entirely nessesary in North America right now, regardless of my romantic sentiments.

Because there is so little construction being done, there is so much pent up demand for housing that it is driving prices through the roof. To give a local example, here in South Brooklyn old interwar and just postwar housing easily goes for a million, and 2 bedroom rentals go for $1800 to $2000 regularly. This in a part of the city where unless you are going to certain parts of Manhattan, a bus to a train is usually a requirement, above ground powerlines are common (in a very flat part of Brooklyn that is close to the water) and the neighborhoods while not terrible, are definitely shabby and a bit run down (the only exception being to this being Bay Ridge, which as a result is even more expensive).

We are so far behind in providing even market rate housing stock (forget about affordable or public housing) that these ultra dense developments are the shock therapy we need. Do I think we need to build more public housing? Sure. Do I think the out lying parts of metro areas need to pull their weight a bit more when it comes to providing housing (looking at you southern NY and Long Island)? Of course. That being said, we also just need to build more housing in general and we are very far behind. We need many more units of housing so that it can begin the long process of trickling down to the poorer parts of society. As it has been said on Stong Towns, today's affordable housing is yesterday's luxury housing.

I remember reading a comment somewhere that in order to fix our housing crisis, San Francisco needs to look like NYC and NYC needs to look like Singapore. While I think that comment is a little reductive, the core message that we need to be more accepting of density (including high rise density) is entirely valid. Romantic attachments drive too much housing policy, and we need to be far more practical than we are. For the superstar cities ( Toronto, Vancouver, NYC, SF, etc) high rises and 5 over 1's are a very practical solution to a pressing problem.