Smaller spaces
Does it make an impact if I live in an appartment or a single-family-house?
In Europe, there is a balanced distribution between people living in houses and those living in apartments. More specifically, around 53.3% of EU citizens live in houses, which are most often in areas around cities, while 46.1% live in apartments, which are more common in urban centers.
Are smaller spaces overall better?
It is generally accepted that living in smaller spaces can make a positive contribution to tackling environmental problems. Smaller apartments usually require fewer building materials to construct while at the same time requiring less energy for cooling and heating, thus reducing the carbon footprint. For example, it has been estimated that each square meter of space saved can prevent the emission of around half a ton of CO2 over the life cycle of a building, equivalent to the environmental cost of a one-way flight from London to Singapore per passenger.
And shared living?
Co-housing, or shared living, has been seen in recent years as an affordable, sustainable, and environmentally friendly housing option. It allows groups of people or even individuals to share common spaces while maintaining private bedrooms. This has the effect of not only reducing living costs but also creating a sense of communal living and promoting shared responsibilities and social interactions, which is particularly attractive in high-demand urban areas. Co-housing can include renovated single-family houses, dormitory-type accommodations, and even intentional communities or co-ops.
In general, the trend in Europe is for living options to maximize the use of space while minimizing environmental impact and promoting communal living to strengthen social bonds.
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