06-19-2023, 08:02 PM
(06-19-2023, 06:21 PM)ac3r Wrote: The balcony is really the LARPing suburbanite who wants to be a city dweller's version of a green front and back yard or a garage: most likely entirely unnecessary, underutilized and a total waste of money, a reduction in available housing units, has negative environmental impacts and so on. That's why I hate the argument that "well you can sneak out for a smoke...you could drink your coffee out there". That is ignorant and misses the more important points of maximizing our land use in the most ideal way we can for those who choose to live in the city.
Your last sentence here is such an absurdest micro-optimization which completely misses the macro issues. Bike-shedding at its finest.
I already have little respect for the modern architect and developer, for their detachment from the reality of the average person and what they want, and your attitude here is sort of proving my view. I don't think I have ever, a single time, been to a house or apartment with a garage, balcony, or back yard that wasn't actively used and valued. In fact, I have none of those and it's a major pain point in my living arrangement. Front yards I would almost completely agree on (though I don't think they are intrinsically without value).
Sure, remove legal requirements that are forcing yards and balconies to be made, and let market forces decide what gets built. But don't be so ready to enforce the opposite, or presume on behalf of people that you think you know better than themselves what they actually want.