This is particularly pertinent where the size and layout of homes are concerned. According to researchers at University College London, the average size of housing in England is small when compared to the rest of Europe. Only 30% of the dwellings created through the trend for office-to-home conversions meet the suggested national space standards for new homes.
In Japan – a nation known for tightly-packed micro living – rental company Kasoku is offering furnished apartments as ‘temporary shelters’ to help people find space and relief from their family, housemates or partner for around £31.95 ($40, €36.60) a day.
We need to start rethinking our domestic dwellings as more than just homes. With remote working and higher hygiene standards already becoming the new normal, the design and layout of our properties need to follow suit and adapt to 24/7 occupation.
In this feature, we future gaze towards life in 2030 and speculate what this could look like. After all, this won’t be the last global crisis we need shelter inside from. ‘Recurring epidemics are, like climate change, essentially manmade disasters, born of poor health and sanitary standards, the abuse of natural systems, and the growing interconnectivity of a globalised world,’ Nouriel Roubini, professor of economics at New York University’s Stern School of Business, writes in The Guardian. ‘Pandemics and the many morbid symptoms of climate change will become more frequent, severe, and costly in the years ahead.’
