How Hidden Density Can Help Solve the Housing Crisis

[@PresCities]

The first 1,000 people to use this link will get a 1 month free trial of Skillshare: skl.sh/pres01221

[@avgeek707]

Look at you, all grown up... getting youtube sponsorships... 😭

[@shlubbers1778]

@@avgeek707 I know right? I had no words hearing pres announce his sponsorship

[@PresCities]

@@avgeek707 and one for a platform I actually like and use, at that!

[@peskypigeonx]

I wasn’t expecting this change from cities skylines builder to talker about urbanism but I’m not complaining at all

[@programmer1840]

Isn't that what every KZbinr is doing these days, suddenly transitioning to being an expert in a field they have no experience in, watched by other people who have no experience of it.

[@idromano]

@@programmer1840 lol you're right

[@jackh3242]

Being a combination of both is great

[@programmer1840]

@@jackh3242 But, can you be sure they actually know what they're talking about, in terms of urban planning.

[@vojtechsvaricek1863]

@@programmer1840 Isn´t he an urban planner?

[@rstarks1125]

Way to go Pres. A break down of these concepts to people who don't understand it is extremely vital. A lot of people don't understand how what we've built in the past isn't beneficial for our futures.

[@newb431]

Your future

[@tgutz7019]

As an aspiring urban planner and public servant, I’m so happy you’re doing this. I absolutely love this style of video and can’t wait to see what else you do. Perfect mix of using a video game to bring to light real world but often overlooked issues. Bravo 👍

[@safe-keeper1042]

This makes me want a Pres & Not Just Bikes collab even more. Like, you play Cities Skylines while chatting with Jason Slaughter.

[@foodforthegods]

I've always loved when you get political and philosophical in your videos. The 'unfinished highway' Cabrillo episode is a recent favorite of mine - just extremely interesting and informative. It's what makes your videos a "sit up and listen" experience as opposed to "sit back and relax" like most other Cities channels (not a put-down of the latter; both are valid).

[@wafflesheep2087]

Much of the residential buildings near my university are 2-4 family homes, perfect for the students who dont need a whole building to themselves

[@ai97Nord]

One way to solve Homeless Problem 👍

[@adammurphy6845]

Welcome back Pres, awesome video and topic

[@ryanbrown5395]

I am absolutely LOVING this approach towards education on topics of urban planning. I’m a senior in high school and have been playing this game on console (regrettably). For five years. It inspired me to go to college for urban planning. And channels like yours keep me eternally interested in the topic. Thanks Pres!

[@PDZspotting]

loved this video. good job

[@aedynhollow3055]

Glad to have you back. This is the type of video I've always wanted to see you do more of, so keep up the good work! Currently, the city I live in is undergoing a boom in adding missing middle housing, and it really does add so much to areas that were previously boring or dead

[@GaseousStranger]

This is a great new direction to go with the channel. Great way to use Cities Skylines within it's limitations to bring light to important topics. These small-scale showcases are awesome!

[@unfvzedmak]

My cities already adding in middle housing and I love the progress ❤️❤️

[@blueythebudgie7987]

loving this style of videos

[@lukaslyngas1805]

Good to have you back

[@ShimaRin1222]

You somehow included a photo of my friend’s old apartment in this video, such a coincidence!

[@Diana-le7oh]

Amazing, love that you used your CS build to explain a very real world issue.

[@starkofasshai]

I realy, really loved this video. The only thing I missed is the racial aspect, many times phrases like "ruining the character of the neighbourhood" mean that poor people and, especially, people of colour would move into that particular neighborhood, and housing prices are maintained artificially high as a class symbol. It's great to see you back, and hope to see more content from you soon

[@DutchieBuilds]

This was very interesting. Thank you!

[@safe-keeper1042]

I definitely hear you on people getting defensive. Propose as much as a new bike lane and everyone acts as if you're trying to ban cars.

[@henrycordero8265]

Great video dude!!!!

[@oldstone7592]

What a great video. Thanks Pres!

[@cbq_fanatic1]

Great video, loving the new style

[@zacherybishop7710]

This is incredible please more like this

[@noahryan1000]

Great video, Pres! Love the use of Cities: Skylines as a medium to talk about important real-world issues. I can tell you're very passionate about this, which is awesome!

[@lucashadley8781]

The was an amazing video. Keep up the work! glad you were able to make a video!

[@Dirty.H]

Great use of Cities Skylines, there really is hope for the future of cities with the likes of yourself! You're going places bro

[@Icedcoffeeinsummer]

Thank you for the education and I love how you connect the game to the real world!

[@shlubbers1778]

Now that sponsor transition is next level

[@HienLe-xo2uj]

Hello Pres. First of all, amazing video! it was very thoughtful and informative. and yes, you're right. America is currently missing this type of housing. For sure! The middle housing provides the neighborhood many benefits since it is pedestrian-friendly. I know this for sure because I was growing up in a neighborhood like that. Unfortunately, it's not in America. It's sad that we're missing that here. Hopefully it will be solved at some times in the future. Nice city build there too! Like your building style and Two Dollar Twenty. A lot in similarity! All are very realistic and thoughtful! Hope to see your build in Cities Skyline 2 one day!

[@tgutz7019]

Pres is back baby!!

[@nellyproductions4250]

This is great. What a great video to wake up to

[@RextheRebel]

Im going to show this to anyone who asks what a more "dense" neighborhood would look like.

[@ButzPunk]

I'd love to see more videos from you like this, exploring urban planning! It's an interesting topic that you're clearly passionate about, which is always a winning combo in my book

[@unblockssliders]

Nice job! And beautiful city.

[@LeveyHere]

Ayy, Pres is back

[@hunterhurley5245]

Love this. More please.

[@BrotherSkodidi]

These are a beautiful insight. I happen to live in an area that has quite a variety of densities, and it was planned to be that way. It's SO much more walkable than other places I've lived for all the reasons you've stated. It'd be fun to see you and City Planner Plays do a collab and talk planning strategies, old and new.

[@nathanfolkes8119]

What a brilliant educational video. Such a shock In all the right ways when I looked at the channel that uploaded and realized it was pres! Completely out of left field!!! Keep it up!!! 👍🏽

[@brandonpkatz]

I’m all for this new style of video. Cities Skylines is a “geographic” information system that can help people think about the places they live and what solutions to problems could look like.

[@AlexCab_49]

I live in a courtyard/dingbat apartment here in LA and have lived in one since I was a kid and I really like it

[@Aries-ne9uq]

this video is awesome

[@GuardedSoul]

I enjoyed the video. You make great points. As I want to be all for this idea. You didn't address the people side of it. Please, if I am wrong in anyway. I'd like to know. But from what I do know and understand. People is a key aspect of this. There's a whole subject of how less personal and more disconnected people become with more population density. But I'm more focusing on how people treat one another. Not everyone is the same. People have different ideas on personal space, respect for others and care for those they effect. So if you give into more crowded housing with out addressing the people aspect. The mental health of the general population will decrease. Then there's greed. This will not effect land/housing/rental pricing in a positive way with out the right law control. Prices will only go up as there's more demand. Eventually making it harder and harder for people to afford residential living. Spaces will decrease while prices go up. Forcing you to go further and further away from the city. Making it harder to obtain or even afford to have a job.

[@davidsdesign543]

What a pleasant surprise! Stellar work as always Note: I wonder what entities would continue to benefit from maintaining this status quo, and who lobbied to make these zoning types illegal in the first place...

[@pawsgerby]

it was the American military and the automative industry post WW2

[@Grahtles]

What a great video! Love the explanation of this because it is so true. I'm from Long Island and everything is zoned single family. That fact of the matter here is there is large enough properties and houses to make them as two families and you wouldn't even know from the outside but they are considered illegal. They should really fix this because with the prices of houses so high it would definitely help a large amount of people.

[@7th_CAV_Trooper]

We have all of these here in Tampa except the cottage court thing. Still not a walkable city.

[@starcluster2593]

i love that you use cities skylines for this

[@kevinmertel6108]

I'm not some crazy end-stage capitalism guy, but you have to follow the money. Developers don't want to build affordable housing. The want to build whatever makes them the most profit.

[@PresCities]

That's why we need to 1) have some level of affordability requirements (inclusionary zoning) on new projects above a certain size and 2) legalize building smaller units than single-family homes (like in missing middle housing)

[@pawsgerby]

awesome work highlighting middle density and how it can better build communities! while i agree with the tangible benefits, it doesn't help us solve the housing crisis. a lot of these concepts rely on universal income standards and/or robust affordable housing infrastructure in order to actually function--especially here in the bay where some 35,000 people are houseless.

[@lucaslacayo7807]

When do you think you will post a cabrillo episode again?

[@rstarks1125]

This is a Cabrillo video ❤️

[@lucaslacayo7807]

@@rstarks1125 well I mean an episode where his builds and expands cabrillo.

[@unfvzedmak]

I think he chose Seattle as an example in purpose 😳😳😳

[@tateorrtot]

Question, is the main reason that this housing type is illegal is due to the fear of it lowering land value of nearby homes? If there's a housing crisis and you own a single-family home that goes for 500,000, adding more dense housing and solving the crisis would start to chip away at the monopoly/oligopoly and now that home might go for 250,000. Bit scummy and self centered to do this, but again curious if this is the main pushback for missing middle.

[@Linky]

The grand return!

[@filmcrew3531]

Unfortunately, it is the cost of getting housing that forces me to stay renting and the gap ever widens. I throw my money at some elses's mortage but I will never be able to afford a home. (Vancouver)

[@Sugar3Glider]

Convert the parking lors into 3rd spaces

[@raymondh5456]

Return to traditional and end the suburban experiment. 😌

[@nihalkprakash8070]

This is nice

[@Feadds]

Cities Skylines looks SOOOO GOOD .

[@Hubbubb22-citiesskylines]

Love your passion, and the info. I still find myself wondering how we break down the socioeconomic barriers that exist. Otherwise, as we expand middle density, we'll simply inaugurate a new phase of gentrification.

[@PresCities]

It seems like upzoning on massive scales might not increase property values substantially, whereas upzoning in individual locations/districts definitely does increase property values and spur gentrification. Nonetheless, upzoning is only one tool of many and can't be used alone. See this new research: www.lewis.ucla.edu/research/building-up-the-zoning-buffer-using-broad-upzones-to-increase-housing-capacity-without-increasing-land-values/

[@Hubbubb22-citiesskylines]

@@PresCities Hmm... Phillips' argument is rational. I wonder if more thought needs to go into accepting that some windfalls for developers and owners with respect to value capture might be necessary to spur building activity. If developers and land owners don't discern some incentive they will sit tight. Some Denver zip codes to the east of the old airport are excellent examples. While the neighborhood now known as Central Park redeveloped (and gentrified), homes in those other neighborhoods east of the old airport have stood there for decades. Owners simply converted to low-income rentership. The alternative offered here makes some sense, but in economic terms, when you flood the market with supply, and the equilibrium price drops too dramatically, suppliers simply shutter and move to another market. Also, this was a purely economic discussion. At 55, I still wonder about the likelihood of our society to overcome de facto segregation along race and class lines. 🤔🤔🤔 Let's also not miss the point, though. Really enjoyed the video. I hope you continue this creative model.

[@PresCities]

@@Hubbubb22-citiesskylines All great points. This is all a massive wicked problem and there is no one solution, and different solutions work under different economic paradigms.

[@Hubbubb22-citiesskylines]

@@PresCities not totally random, but I just thought of this with reference to the topic… ironic that so many people extol the virtues of the so-called “realistic populations” because they don’t like that low density homes in CS allow multiple families… although I see the complaint about the floor space to resident ratio in high density buildings.

[@GamingBren]

Can you do more of the let’s play and build an airport from the new DLC? This is interesting though.

[@jns987]

Pres, first off I want to say, great that you posted a video again. I really like your stuff. Second I wanted to ask you, do you know the channel Not Just Bikes (kzbin.info)? It's from a guy from Canada, who lived in the US and now lives in The Netherlands, he makes videos about the benefits of walkability of cities, about the American suburns and how it's kind of a Ponzi scheme and so on. Really interesting stuff and it was the first thing I thought of in the first 1:30 minutes of your video!

[@azaryndegolier]

I was waiting so long

[@VENNDEUX]

This video reminds me of something from Johnny Harris, really interesting!

[@tactaillike]

damn, wish I watched this way earlier. pretty timely too; HB 1782 promises to give some well-needed attention to Washington's missing middle problem and allow stuff like duplexes and triplexes on a lot of traditionally single-family lots. that zoning map of Seattle always confounds me, just a little. hopefully the bill passes and maybe we'll see some real change lol

[@standavies627]

nice

[@newpractice]

Legalize it

[@AgeCobra]

Cars are not responsible for the climate and ever think of getting rid of transit .

[@piaprods]

Hey press I glad your making videos again but I have some concerns I have about your mod workshop I don't know if you can add more mods because some mods are out of date and not there. I had to fix it myself. Also I have some concerns about your new videos on how you're gonna keep city skylines in the making and still give people new ideas about how to make more realistic, and nice cities rather than just political and environment topics. I understand that you're trying to make your Channel different But there are still people out there that are trying to make realistic cities rather than learn about political and environmental topics and etc. I still like your videos but can you still please try to make videos about game that can help rather than just talk about all the Political problems in you're videos. To be honest your the only channel that brings realistic and reality in the game with much fps friendly detail. To come to conclusion I want to learn as much things about city planning and political city planning, as much as I want to learn about city skylines. Can you update the mod collection if possible?

[@PresCities]

I'll update the mod collection soon, and I plan on hopefully livestreaming in Cabrillo soon to satisfy those who want to see ingame builds (and I want to anyway)

[@jlotto203]

I fw it

[@AlexanderGBlack]

With missing middle housing, how do we ensure that individuals are still able to build wealth? I think a large concern going from single family housing to missing middle is that many more residents will become renters, which can be bad for a neighborhood (because renters aren’t invested in the neighborhood) and bad for the country’s populace as a whole (because individuals will not have an asset - their home - that they are invested in). This problem may serve to make the rich richer and the poor poorer. How can we solve this in missing middle housing?

[@PlusLabsChannel]

I think part of the issue is this idea that a house/home is an investment; this is certainly what is wrong with housing markets in the contemporary era, where they have been entirely financialised such that their capital value outweigh their use value. The issue here is the more fundamental issue about the meaning of housing - in western societies houses currently all about maximising a financial value, rather than their normative use value: as a home, not an investment.

[@MateodeJovel]

Its important to remember that many of the options (e.g. duplexes townhomes, & live-work units) can be built either as owned properties or rentals. Many renters would prefer to own if given the opportunity and more housing stock helps housing markets from overheating. Secondly, many neighborhoods with rentals are still able to form strong associations with the neighborhood when given the opportunity. The attitude of the housing as an investment is very strong here in North America, but it is not the only option (e.g. renting a live work unit for a buisness)

[@PlusLabsChannel]

Also, I agree with Mateode, your base assumption that these homes can’t be worth a lot is wrong. Not that I think it solves the problem at all - my point is the system that values homes in terms of capital is wrong (what one would call exchange value) - but if you look anywhere these smaller houses can be worth millions (eg in London, town houses in the centre/north west go for like 5+ million). Just like how apartments in the new super skinny skyscrapers in New York can be worth way more than any single family house!

[@ehmrcooper]

I’m just dancing because you’re back.

[@lawrencegcolemaniii7474]

Thought there was going to be some type of building in this…nice video, it’s just I’ve already heard of missing middle housing and solutions presented by other channels and articles. I’m a little disappointed.

[@PlusLabsChannel]

I agree with a lot of what you say, but it definitely doesn’t help solve a housing crisis (or at least not in and of itself). This would require the housing crisis to be a supply-side problem, which is the typical neoliberal explanation for housing crises. While supply obviously plays a role, we should not depoliticise housing crises. All in all, great video though!

[@Nathanwilliam209]

OMG FINALLYYY

[@vladimirgunnar7015]

Your back again

[@rtp13]

Wow he uploaded a video!

[@joenuts7027]

wth did this dude come from

[@jaredleemease]

I grew up in suburbia my entire childhood. It was about an hour to walk (20 minute bike ride) one way to the store to get treats and a soda as a kid. We didn’t think anything was inconvenient. I have lived in high density housing most of my adult life because I am unable to afford single family housing. If I could, I would choose to live in a single family home over high density for sure. I’m tired of hearing my neighbors kid screaming and banging through the walls and my current apartment now was build less than a year ago. We also have an aging population that will pass away in the next decades and a growing population that is not reproducing as often or as much as their parents. I believe that there is not as much of a housing crisis as there is a wage crisis with incomes that do not support the current cost of living. Personal cars are already moving to electrification. As for public transportation, it is not fun to be on a bus or a train when that citizen gets on who hasn’t taken a bath in what feels like weeks or months and the entire ride smells like a sewer and a garbage dump. Humanity first and foremost needs to address income inequality and homelessness on a national federal level. Building standards must be heavily regulated to improve sound dampening and carbon neutrality in multi family structures for high density dwellings and then public transportation would be more a more attractive alternative in my opinion, otherwise it just feels like being a second class citizen. Work is becoming increasingly automated and that trend is growing exponentially. It is time to start rethinking how to reorganize society in ways to benefit everyone equally or humanity’s current situation will only exacerbate.

[@berkaytugrel]

In Istanbul, everywhere is apartments.

[@eazygator]

Is there actually a housing crisis? No one ever cites evidence to support this underlying issue. Affordability is an issue but missing middle housing only has a marginal affect on pricing. Unleashing unrestrained middle middle zoning drives UP land prices making single family and multi family homes/lots even more expensive so it actually reduces affordability. So what problem is this solving?

[@GringoLocoo_]

no more cities skylines?

[@kaylem2814]

Girl.... I’m so confused what happened to the old pres... not that I’m mad or anything I already watch @notjustbikes but like what happened tot the city skylines content

[@PresCities]

See the post I linked in the description

[@parker6227]

Bro this sucks where's building cabrillo

[@newb431]

A better option?… less people. There is plenty of data on how livability can decrease with increase density. Not to mention the street parking issues and clutter in general. Leave my suburbs alone

[@IronKnight2402]

Ok suburbanite

[@ColtsMan2005]

Why would I want to live In a pod with 4 other families?

[@natedogyoung]

There is a good reason why people deuced out of cities the moment the car was invented. They were crowded, and neighbors sucked. Mind you that people left for the suburbs in a time when cities actually had a LOT of consensus on behaviors such as when to make noise and when not to. Cities in the mid Twentieth Century were quite livable and abided by a lot of strict social norms. Now, however, Americans have spent several generations in suburbs and have no consensus with one another on what is normal behavior. We are inconsiderate, vulgar, and crude. Think about it: in suburbs today people wash and dry their clothes all times of the night, hoard perishables, have several barking dogs, stomp around in their shoes, and run a TV in every room. This is all fine because our homes are far from each other. There is ZERO chance that we will ever go back to the shared walls of "missing middle housing". ZERO chance. If we got rid of single-family homes, we would shoot each other more than we already do. This is what city planning "experts" don't understand.

[@jeremycarroll3927]

I think Covid unfortunately shattered your entire theory. It’s gonna take a while to get back to high density city living as the ideal

[@ColtsMan2005]

No it wont

[@yarlodek5842]

I unsubscribed from this channel a while ago because the content started getting too much of a political slant that felt out of place. I come back and this is what I see. God, what happened, man?