We tend to laugh at small apartments. In fact, there is nothing terrible in the fact that you can buy a studio of 15 or 20 square meters. You can be indignant as much as you want, but 20 meters is the size of a regular hotel room.
From a market perspective, an apartment can be any size. There are people who just need a place to sleep and leave their stuff. They don't invite guests, they don't cook, they don't store potatoes and winter tires, so why would they need a three-room apartment with a balcony?
Let's move into a 15 square meter studio and see if we can survive there.
Are you used to an apartment having a hallway, kitchen, room, bathroom, and balcony? No, in such studios there will be one large… hallway, a small bathroom, and, if you're lucky, a very small balcony.
One of the owners of such an apartment is Kirill, he bought it back in January 2010, but is now thinking about selling it. For his first home, he explains, this option is ideal, but over time he wants something more spacious.
“Before that, I lived with my parents, sharing a room with my sister. It's a two-room apartment, my mother is in one room, my sister and I are in the other. I was so happy for several years! I'm still happy, but we still need to expand.”
Kyryl recalls that his family helped him buy the studio. Back then, he didn't need a mortgage — his grandmother gave him part of the money, and he borrowed the rest from friends. Then he paid off the debt and did the renovations at the same time.
The apartment has a microwave, a small stove, cabinets, a sink, and a bed. The bathroom has a shower, toilet, and hangers.
Another owner of a small home is Lyudmila. She is a little over 80 years old.
“I don't throw parties here. My daughter will come and see how I'm doing. But everything is great! I've put everything I need in there, and that's it. My sofa is a double bed, it folds out. My daughter sometimes even spends the night there. She really likes it, and so do I,” explains Lyudmila. “I have a refrigerator, a two-burner stove, a dining table, a wardrobe, a cupboard for dishes, and a filing cabinet. In the hallway, I have a bedside table and a sofa so I can get dressed comfortably. That's all! That's enough for me.”
Lyudmila says that there are at least a dozen such apartments in the entrance. Below her, a young family is finishing renovations – a mother, father and a small child. Pensioners and students live upstairs. Lyudmila has managed to make friends with many of them – they walk together near the entrance in good weather, discussing the news.
I'll repeat once again that from the market's point of view, an apartment can be any size. But it's important to understand how many such studios are built in one building, what kind of building it is.
It is important that people of different levels of wealth, age and social status live in the area. Why do we all love city centers? Because they were formed over centuries and during this time everything has mixed up in the center of any city. The city center has many services for every taste. There are good expensive restaurants and cheap eateries, there are luxury hotels and hostels. In the city center we can get a variety of services within walking distance.
This is rare in the suburbs. When dozens of anthills suddenly appear on the site of former fields, the residents here will be about the same. Usually these are those who have just moved to the city, who have little money.
That is why it is important that within the same district there are different types of housing. It can be studios for students and mansions for the rich. Then the district will develop stably.
If you make a whole house with small studios, it will quickly turn into a dormitory. A small apartment is, rather, the first housing, which people will quickly change anyway, others will come to take their place. Constant migration will not allow for the formation of connections. People will perceive such housing as temporary, they will not treat the area as their native place, which must be protected and developed. In addition, a large number of small apartments implies increased density. It will no longer be possible to provide everyone with parking spaces, but even with the most necessary: kindergartens and hospitals.
A 15 square meter studio is fine. I would have happily rented one myself when I was 18 so I could move out of my parents' house sooner.
