I was pleasantly surprised by the tour we received of the museum. I thought the exhibit would be a storyline of history, but I’m really glad that I got to learn about the housing situations around the city. I also thought that our tour guide was great. Especially when we were looking at the miniature replicas of various buildings, she did much more than just spit out facts she’d memorized about each one. It was rather engaging and made me more curious about architecture and urban planning. It definitely made me think of my own home and imagine all the possible layouts that could be implemented in the space. It had never crossed my mind that you could design your home an infinite number of ways to make the most of it.

I’d already known that the greatest portion of the city’s population consists of people living alone, and the statistic offered by the museum’s collected data is 33%. As much as this reflects the nature of New York City, where people come by themselves from all around the world to chase their dreams, I think it might be a waste of space. The 400 square feet that are mandated by housing regulations can easily hold more than one person, but it appears that many of them contain only one occupant. As the city’s population continues to grow, more housing must be created. Perhaps regulations will soon have to be amended in order to accommodate this inevitable change; units may have to be smaller or more than three unrelated people may have to be allowed to live together.

Along with an increase in the number of residents comes the issue of parking. We discussed briefly that it’s not that important because many people who live in the city don’t own cars, but I feel that the matter requires some more attention. My family owns more than one car, and parking is an absolute nightmare. It might not be that serious now, but who’s to say that city dwellers may not one day choose driving over public transportation? What will we do then? We can’t just build more and more housing without even considering parking options. At the very least, each housing complex should have some sort of parking garage (underground or elsewhere) for its tenants. There isn’t much that can be done about parking in commercial areas, but this must be addressed in residential places.

The new micro-unit that is to be tested is, in my opinion, a fantastic idea. As I said before, a single person does not need 400 square feet to live comfortably. The model apartment was amazing to see. Every method of adding storage or making things compact was so clever and creative. It was fascinating to see what people come up with and how much more efficiently we could all be using our space. Nonetheless, I don’t think I could live in one of those apartments. It looks really cool that everything can be tucked away somewhere, but in all honesty I’d probably be too lazy to put my table and bed away every time I finish using them. The price might also be an issue as well. The cost of living continues to rise in New York City, and I don’t foresee any cuts on the price due to the smaller space. As modern and chic as the micro-units are, I would feel like I’m not getting my money’s worth.

Something that piqued my interest, despite the fact that I’ve seen it with my own eyes, is the difference between housing across the boroughs. For example, everything in Manhattan is so cramped, yet there are spacious lots all over Queens. I’d like to learn why this is so. When was it decided that these certain types of living arrangements would be built in their respective boroughs? I understand that there are probably socioeconomic factors that play into this difference, but that wouldn’t be the case if it weren’t set up that way. That’s also a lot of space that could be used much more efficiently. I don’t exactly know whether or not we need it at this moment, but I can almost guarantee that we’ll eventually need it sometime in the future.