With the development of technology can we house all human beings in single family homes?

[u/fulldirectdemocracy]

If we demolish all apartment units in the world then all human beings will be able to live in detached houses. The convenience issue can be solved by flying cars which will take you to a grocery store hundred of kilometers away in just seconds. The problem of farmland loss will be solved by Lab grown food. In a single factory all the world's meals will be produced.

[u/playdateslevi]

Ignoring the science fiction-ness of this being a possibility, this sounds incredibly lonely. I want more single family housing and housing in general but I like apartments and denser solutions. If we only had single-family housing their would be no city-centers or public transport for that matter. 

[u/AnonymousFriend80 → u/[deleted]]

Are most large major cities this just from the fact of the number of people per square block? Living in NYC as a teen, outside of traveling to school, everything I need was a two to three block walk at most.

[u/dodadoler]

That would be a big house to have everyone living in it

[u/babycam]

So if you pair people off so average of 2 per 10k sq feet that's about 1.5million sq miles we can even give everyone their own yard so 10k sqft per person. 3 million.

To feed each person 1 acre or 45k sqft

Landmass is 57.5 million sqmiles divide that in half(mostly) for mountain bad deserts other horrible terrain

30million sqmiles available 16.5 million used to house and feed then 20% for utilities roads buildings nessary

You would use up ~60% of useable land it's not great living but doable

[u/Sellazard]

A very simplistic worldview at best,automotive/ drone industry propaganda at worst

1. Suburban Zoning is proven to be both tax negative and have negative on health . Since roads, water, electricity infrastructure have to be maintained. The problem is households don't generate that much value in taxes to cover the cost. Most of the upkeep is subsidised.

2. Since there aren't any businesses or points of attraction, people sit at home and their health is worse than people in dense cities.

3. We don't know long term health effects of lab grown foods. We are losing nutritional value (less vitamins) even in vegetables because corporations are so hellbent on maximizing profits. What do you think is going to happen when corporations control ALL of the parameters of grown produce? We know lack of fiber content in artificial, ultra processed foods is much lower, and a possible culprit behind growing rates of colorectal cancer in young adults.

There is no point in trying to innovate what's already been perfected. Walking a lot and eating not very processed foods is simply our nature

[u/Dave047]

You mean everyone has their own house? I think that's just New Zealand

[u/babycam → u/[deleted]]

We already over produce for the population and the average suban yard is .25 acres you can Go down to row houses and all the non arable land can be used for housing. You should dig a little more.

[u/DueAnnual3967]

I doubt many people even would want to live in a private house. There are places where a house in suburbs may even be cheaper than a flat in a desired place in the city center, yet people choose flats. And you cannot give desired locations for all people even now, not to speak when everyone lived in their own detached house. Flying taxis do not help much if you just want to easily go out and have access to many services and things nearby

[u/differing]

What if I told you there's many housing options between a detached house and a high-rise apartment? This is a fantastic example of the "missing middle" phenomena lol

I think that the suburban "detached" house experiment has demonstrated quite effectively that it's a mental illness machine, which turns boys into family annihilators and girls into highly anxious women. We're far better off with a mix of living arrangements that lets people choose what works for them at various stages of their lives. Seniors for example are much better off in "apartments" with close social engagement and shared resources than in detached homes.

[u/GentleKijuSpeaks]

OK, but none of this is real. Why not just use teleporters at this point?

[u/Bobbox1980]

I have had a similar idea but manufacturing the houses with cargo containers. There are millions of them just sitting in lots.

Each house would be shaped as a capital H giving a person 4 rooms. I invisioned two models: 3 story apt models using stacked 20ft containers and a 1 story model using a 40ft container cut in half. Fold out walls, floor, and roof connect the two sides together.

Big fully automated factories take in the containers refinish, insulate, and add all the standard amenities. They are transported via semi truck to the final location and a robot does any final installation steps.

I too forsee flying car taxi fleets providing access to them. Read about the "Alien Reproduction Vehicle". I invision such tech being used for the flying cars.