"I guess moving is a lot easier - just find a rack in another location."
I disagree. Why would I want to keep my pod, crane it down, put it on a truck and ship it to a new rack? Presumably I'd need to box up all my things that would get shaken around and broken in transit. It'd be easier to just put all those boxes in a truck and then unpack them in my new apartment.
The construction cost isn't the factor driving up rents, it's the market, location and the zoning.
They're very pretty little units, but I'm not sure they do much to solve the underlying affordability problem.
They're no more space-efficient than any other tiny apartment. The only practical way of fitting more square footage of housing onto the same sized building plot is to go higher, but zoning/planning laws are a massive impediment to high-rise construction.
I'm also deeply uncomfortable with the promotion of "micro living" as something chic. I don't like the idea of legitimising inadequate housing. Tiny houses are barely tolerable for young single people and utterly miserable for families.
With a handful of exceptions (Hong Kong, Macao etc) urban areas have no shortage of places to put good-sized homes; What they lack is the political will to allow sufficient construction. Housing is increasingly seen as an investment vehicle rather than a basic human need.
I disagree. Why would I want to keep my pod, crane it down, put it on a truck and ship it to a new rack? Presumably I'd need to box up all my things that would get shaken around and broken in transit. It'd be easier to just put all those boxes in a truck and then unpack them in my new apartment.
The construction cost isn't the factor driving up rents, it's the market, location and the zoning.
They're very pretty little units, but I'm not sure they do much to solve the underlying affordability problem.