Why Does Spain Have the World's Highest Concentration of Elevators? • Hacker News Board

Re: Why Does Spain Have the World's Highest Concentration of Elevators?

#51

Post by FranOntanaya » Tue, Oct 14, 2014, 9:18 AM UTC

SeanLuke wrote: post #6

The 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…

Spaniard here. 4 to 10 story buildings are the overwhelming majority here, in some areas it's also a matter of not altering the traditional cityscape (I think it's legislated in some municipalities, but can't give you references).

They were also easier and faster to complete by not exactly stellar construction companies, so they could be dumped into the market (and during Franco's rule, basically as high as you could go with their defective concrete), and I think a lot of my country fellows associate them with the summer town architecture and higher quality of life, while taller apartment buildings were left for lame sunday tourist Benidorm holidays.

There's really really very few people accustomed to living in tall buildings. Taller buildings were built during the construction boom, but a lot of them are vacant.

Re: Why Does Spain Have the World's Highest Concentration of Elevators?

#52

Post by FranOntanaya » Tue, Oct 14, 2014, 9:34 AM UTC

outside1234 wrote: post #4

jamesaguilar wrote: post #2

I 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.

Walking distance -- huge asset, even if a lot of spaniards still try to take their air conditioned car (it can get hot out there.)

Neighbors as an asset... not so much. Some neighbors are nice, some are noisy, don't pay the communal expenses, quarrel a lot or fry sardines under your laundry lines. But crime is not a big issue, so in general you don't have to be afraid of your neighbors.

Re: Why Does Spain Have the World's Highest Concentration of Elevators?

#53

Post by deodorel » Tue, Oct 14, 2014, 2:21 PM UTC

nbevans wrote: post #36

Cheeky answer would be: Because they've got the UK and Germany paying for them, just like the rest of their public infrastructure.

I would rather say that most euro countries are being ripped of by Germany, in multiple ways like the beggar thy neighbor of internal devaluation, rigid finacial policy when it suits them, way too higher trade imbalances with the other euro area countries, etc ... but is way cooler to say that "they are paying", because they are germans, right ...

Re: Why Does Spain Have the World's Highest Concentration of Elevators?

#54

Post by spikels » Wed, Oct 15, 2014, 6:26 AM UTC

jedberg wrote: post #40

candeira wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The solution would be to count meters of elevator per person.

That's still not good enough because a tiny one person elevator shouldn't count the same as a massive 30 person elevator.

Hilarious! I have had similar discussions - just about different data source.

Re: Why Does Spain Have the World's Highest Concentration of Elevators?

#55

Post by Dewie » Wed, Oct 15, 2014, 7:29 AM UTC

jamesaguilar wrote: post #38

Dewie wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I 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. Why would American standards matter to how satisfied Spaniards are? This sentence in isolation seems weird. Is there a wider context?

I'm puzzled at why it seems strange to you. I find the differences between cultures interesting, and I am led to believe this is a fairly common fascination.

> I find it fascinating that despite not having the house+back yard that many Americans strive for,

Frames it as if the Spanish have failed (therefore also actively tried) to achieve this American ideal.

Overall, despite not having what some other culture have ... they are still happier, doesn't come off as curiosity about other cultures. It comes off as a surprise that other cultures are happier supposedly despite having tried to emulate that other culture, which is seemingly the gold standard.

It's a very subjective interpretation anyway, and you'll just say that it's a false impression.