The rise of apartment living inner city
Launch library · evergreen read
Where a freestanding house with a yard was once the default aspiration, a growing share of inner city residents now live in apartments, drawn by proximity to work and transport rather than any particular love of shared walls and smaller floor plans. Developers have responded accordingly, reshaping entire blocks around a market increasingly comfortable trading space for location.
This shift has changed the texture of certain streets considerably, taller buildings replacing older houses one block at a time, bringing more residents into a smaller footprint and putting new pressure on parking, footpaths and the local sense of scale. Older residents sometimes struggle to recognise a once familiar skyline, surprised by just how quickly a street can change.
Longtime residents sometimes mourn the change, while newer arrivals tend to see it as a reasonable trade off for living close to everything a city has to offer. Either way, the skyline of once modest suburbs keeps climbing steadily higher. Either way, the shift shows little sign of reversing, with new towers continuing to rise across formerly low set suburbs.