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The thing that really jumps at me is: don't get injured, disabled or just old. If you're going to have problems with ladders you're going to have problems living like this.

On the other hand, some things that take a lot of space are easier to replace these days. Books? I have a lot but I'm not buying a lot of physical books these days. Video collections? How many DVDs have you bought in the past year? TVs are thin, headphones are common, no need for that big multimedia cabinet that used to hold a TV, stereo and media storage.

This is also going to tend to push some people towards "third spaces" for socializing with friends. There's a very active Starbucks near me that's open until midnight, always packed, and which in addition to a bunch of tables full of laptops has several divided off areas with armchairs that regularly have small groups chatting.

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Things don't take up much space in themselves, activities do. What you lose when living smaller aren't the things themselves, but a kitchen were it is easy to cook healthy food, a kitchen table to discuss politics at or a workbench were you can leave your tools out. There isn't really much of a replacement for those spaces. While I do think some American concepts are outdated the idea of having capabilities in things like a larger home and a car wasn't unfounded. One of the best ways to not be part of something is simply to miss it. Having a lower standard of living is one easy way to do that. It tends to be hard to explain way things happen, but fairly easy to explain why they don't. People not having the time or space for them tends to be a common one. (Of course it is still always hard for people to accept). The 'next big thing' is unlikely to be created at starbucks. They will be created at kitchen tables and in garages and bedrooms like they always have been. Because that is where you don't have to ask anyone for permission.

> Because that is where you don't have to ask anyone for permission

Some cities have hscker or maker spaces, but the result is similar (at least what I've seen) : you can't leave you stuff out (it'll get stolen), make too much noise etc. Nothing like a garage where no one will get on you for cutting bricks with a chainsaw.

More simply we miss paying some bills by living in a small apartment where there's not room enough for a desk to out to do that so they end up on the kitchen table covered with kids' spaghetti etc

There is of course also the opposite problem of having a lot of space but ending up in essentially a house size cubicle without connection to other people.

But it seems like the larger problem today is that it is hard for people to wrap their heads around that when something becomes available, or even common, whatever enables or let's you explore it becomes more important.

It used to be that to be a musician you had to end up in a studio or a stage (or at least in lessons or rehearsals). People would fly across the world for auditions and recordings. Today everyone can have their studio or even stage at home. But that makes your home so much more important. If you don't have the space, the time, if it is too costly, not connected to a community or unstable then it is a lot harder to become a musician.

And that isn't just true for something like being a musician but everyday things like cooking, reading or exercise were we now have more possibilities than ever. Virtual cycling is for example a thing now.

Some cities have hscker or maker spaces,

Within reason, check out what your local library may have. It's not going to be a workshop, but some of the same kind of things have been showing up at local libraries as they shift to meet changing usage patterns.

Coffee shops being third spaces more than half a thousand years old, starting from coffee shops alongside the Bosphorus in Istanbul in 1400s, before it jumps to Italy via the merchants of Genoa and Venice.

Coffee shop + armchairs you mention is also a time-honoured tradition: the TV show ‘Friends’ is effectively just a camera pinned to that armchair. It’s probably the most famous TV series in the whole western world. People don’t change all that much!

> The thing that really jumps at me is: don't get injured, disabled or just old. If you're going to have problems with ladders

People with desk jobs often forget this, but that's true of a lot of work, too. If I couldn't climb a ladder, I couldn't do my job. Now, I probably won't be doing this when I'm 80, but I don't want to live every day of my life as if I'm the weakest I'll ever be. Desk jobs and comfy ramblers will still be around when I'm old (or disabled) and can't climb any more.

> This is also going to tend to push some people towards "third spaces" for socializing with friends. There's a very active Starbucks near me

I love "third places" in principle, but I find it funny how many people spend all day sipping coffee in front of a computer ... and then to socialize with friends at night, they go to a place where they pay to sit at a computer sipping coffee. I guess if that's what you love doing, go for it. As Ken Robinson said, "They look upon their body as a form of transport for their heads."

> I don't want to live every day of my life as if I'm the weakest I'll ever be

But even if you're completely healthy and in great shape, you can have an accident or illness that makes you temporarily unable to climb a ladder. If you broke your leg one day, or came down with a nasty flu or stomach virus, would you want to be living in a place where you needed to climb a ladder to travel between your bed and your bathroom? Nobody is healthy 100% of the time.

> Books? I have a lot but I'm not buying a lot of physical books these days. Video collections? How many DVDs have you bought in the past year?

This is observation is unfortunately woefully irrelevant to Tokyo. CDs, DVDs and Blu-Ray are still very much alive and kicking in Japan. Tower Records never closed shop, and Tsutaya (the local equivalent of blockbuster) has stores everywhere. I don't have statistics, but physical books (especially Manga) also seem more popular.

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