General Urban Kitchener Updates and Rumours

[danbrotherston]

The balconies might be similar to garages, in that people think they will value them but in reality they end up using them for something else.

How many garages are full of stuff, with the car parked out on the driveway? Turns out, what many people actually want once they’re in a house is more storage space, not an enclosed place to park their vehicle.

Of course, this isn’t an argument for not building garages. Really it’s an argument for people to be more thoughtful about their needs and for them to purchase accordingly.

I was thinking swimming pools/saunas/hot tubs, all things that people aspire to more than actually use, but garages too.

Mostly my garage is a good place to store bicycles.

I actually disagree with the premise and a few points, but first, this digression.

Garages here are pretty uncommon, but where they do exist, they rarely hold cars. I've seen one or two with a classic car, but given the lack of snow, there's even less motivation to store cars in garages here. There are however, plenty of bikes in garages. But most homes do not have a garage, most homes have a shed, even smaller row homes like ours include a shed (complete with electricity an locks) as part of original construction. And I think this reflects well the uses that are here.

For balconies, I don't know why people think they aren't used. Failing to see people on their balcony doesn't mean they aren't used. For some people they are a place to dry laundry, for others they are a place to step out and have a smoke, for others they'll be a place to step out and drink a coffee for ten minutes.

None of these things mean you're likely to see someone obviously using their balcony. Yes, most people do not host big parties and have extensive outdoor furniture, because most people do want to do those things have a house with a back yard.

But there's another aspect...most balconies are on large apartment buildings facing a noisy road. There is a huge gap in equality between the quiet outdoor spaces that single family homeowners get vs. the noisy polluted stroads that apartment dwellers get to "enjoy". And it gets even worse with towers where some people may not enjoy the extreme heights and winds that would apply on a 40th story balcony.

I can tell you that here (a place that holds the same people as Canada) balconies almost always have some seating and appear to be used occasionally at least. Many Dutch apartments from the 60s even have two balconies, a larger one off the living room (larger as in, could fit four seats), and a smaller one off the Kitchen.