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Comment by mrkstu | Hacker News Reader

What’s the difference between a house on a ‘wooded’ lot and a cabin in a forest? Seems an artificial distinction.

It is mainly artificial. A bit like the zoning codes in the US I think.

There is property where you can build a proper house and live there (requirement is, that there is infrastructure, like water and electricity). Then there are gardens, where maybe a small cabin is allowed (but you may not officially live there). And then there is everything else, where you normally cannot build anything.

I don't think there are any wooded lots in Germany, at least not in the way you're thinking. If your lot is at least a quarter acre big and some 30 feet wide, it counts as a forest.

So you can’t build a house on a lot that’s over a quarter of an acre?

Not if it has trees on it (I mean not just a couple, the way forests usually look).

A quarter of an acre of trees is a "forest"? Whoa. As someone who grew up amidst a thousand miles of trees, I shall be laughing for a week to myself over such an idea.

Of course, your typical forest is bigger than that even in Germany. This is the minimum size a piece of land with trees on it has to have to be considered a forest by law.

Moreover because most of Germany’s “forests” are man-made… are they not mostly “wooded lots”? The distinction maybe arises from green space preservation policies?

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