Why Does Spain Have the World's Highest Concentration of Elevators?
1–10 of 55 posts
Re: Why Does Spain Have the World's Highest Concentration of Elevators?
#2I find it fascinating that despite not having the house+back yard that many Americans strive for, the Spanish are happier with their housing situations than we are.
As a recently minted homeowner myself, I must say I can see the attraction of apartment living more than I could before. This house is a lot nicer and bigger than our apartment was, but damned if I'm not having to replace the sewer line, the patio, and various other things, despite having had inspections beforehand. The less you own, the less there is to go wrong.
Re: Why Does Spain Have the World's Highest Concentration of Elevators?
#3I find it fascinating that despite not having the house+back yard that many Americans strive for, the Spanish are happier with their housing situations than we are. As a recently minted homeowner myself, I must say I can see the attraction of apartment living more than I could before. This house is a lot nicer and bigger than our apartment was, but damned if I'm not having to replace the sewer line, the patio, and va…
Happier? Don't get it wrong, people here can't afford other thing. Those who live in "house+back yard" style houses bought it decades ago or inherited from their parents.
Re: Why Does Spain Have the World's Highest Concentration of Elevators?
#4I find it fascinating that despite not having the house+back yard that many Americans strive for, the Spanish are happier with their housing situations than we are. As a recently minted homeowner myself, I must say I can see the attraction of apartment living more than I could before. This house is a lot nicer and bigger than our apartment was, but damned if I'm not having to replace the sewer line, the patio, and va…
Because they are a really social society, the Spanish think of their neighbors as an asset not a liability and they also highly value being within walking distance to social meeting places like bars and restaurants (which encourages higher density housing).
Then there is the cultural aspect of being owners not renters as the article goes into in detail.
Re: Why Does Spain Have the World's Highest Concentration of Elevators?
#5I find it fascinating that despite not having the house+back yard that many Americans strive for, the Spanish are happier with their housing situations than we are. As a recently minted homeowner myself, I must say I can see the attraction of apartment living more than I could before. This house is a lot nicer and bigger than our apartment was, but damned if I'm not having to replace the sewer line, the patio, and va…
Because they are a really social society, the Spanish think of their neighbors as an asset not a liability and they also highly value being within walking distance to social meeting places like bars and restaurants (which encourages higher density housing). Then there is the cultural aspect of being owners not renters as the article goes into in detail.
I think this is a chicken+egg kind of issue. Denser cities in general happen to have highly valued social meeting places.
Re: Why Does Spain Have the World's Highest Concentration of Elevators?
#6The magazine says this is because so many Spaniards live in lots of apartment buildings. But their graph shows that Spain has 19.8 elevators per 1000 people, while Hong Kong (!!) has only 10. Wait, what?
This smells like someone is forgetting a variable. In this case, it's probably the density of elevators per occupant. I'm guessing that Spain has lots buildings just barely too tall to be walk-ups. That's a much less snazzy subheadline.
For those unfamiliar, here's a beautiful shot of Hong Kong. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fd/HK_Kowloo...
Re: Why Does Spain Have the World's Highest Concentration of Elevators?
#7"Homeownership Rates in Select European Countries" -- That graph left out some of the countries mentioned in previous graphs that actually have higher home ownership rates :)
Re: Why Does Spain Have the World's Highest Concentration of Elevators?
#8I find it fascinating that despite not having the house+back yard that many Americans strive for, the Spanish are happier with their housing situations than we are. As a recently minted homeowner myself, I must say I can see the attraction of apartment living more than I could before. This house is a lot nicer and bigger than our apartment was, but damned if I'm not having to replace the sewer line, the patio, and va…
Because they are a really social society, the Spanish think of their neighbors as an asset not a liability and they also highly value being within walking distance to social meeting places like bars and restaurants (which encourages higher density housing). Then there is the cultural aspect of being owners not renters as the article goes into in detail.
I'm a Spaniard and I can't agree more!! Yes, we love to be near bars, restaurants, terraces, small-medium supermarkets you can buy fresh food daily, use public transportation instead of depending on the car, have nearby parks to play sports, good public schools... Also usually our family and friends live nearby. That's very important for us. Also, many people used to choose their apartment in a walking distance from their job (traditionally there is few movement of workers, people usually stay many years on the same company).
It's way different than USA (except NY or SF maybe). Not better nor worse, just different :)
Re: Why Does Spain Have the World's Highest Concentration of Elevators?
#9The magazine says this is because so many Spaniards live in lots of apartment buildings. But their graph shows that Spain has 19.8 elevators per 1000 people, while Hong Kong (!!) has only 10. Wait, what? This smells like someone is forgetting a variable. In this case, it's probably the density of elevators per occupant. I'm guessing that Spain has lots buildings just barely too tall to be walk-ups. That's a much less…
Yup, this is exactly correct. The buildings here in Valencia are 6-10 floors on average.
Re: Why Does Spain Have the World's Highest Concentration of Elevators?
#10Surprising the early populist housing policies of rivht-wing dictator Franco were so similar to those of today's left-wing San Francisco government: rent control, eviction restriction, etc. And the results were pretty much the same: housing shortages, differed maintanence, etc. I guess they both overestimate their ability to improve the situation. I wonder if SF will eventually learn and change it's ways like Spain. The recent fairly reasonable AirBnB regulation gives me some hope while the completely insane proposed 24% transfer tax (Prop G) make me think it is hopeless.