There appears to be a new, mostly rental, lifestyle trend towards community living with shared amenities. Group entertaining spaces, gyms, dog washing stations, barbecues, lavish pools etc. Is this going to replace the old American dream of single-family home ownership and what’s driving this trend?
I suspect a number of factors may be driving this trend (if trend, it is).
Firstly, high rents in cities, and the fact that many people can no longer afford the sort of apartment or flat that would have with their reach a few decades ago, - and , likewise, they cannot afford to buy - as, while the cost of living has increased in some ways, wages static or have risen a lot less, and employment a lot less secure and stable.
Secondly, because of the expense of space, smaller flats or apartments have been increasingly designed, flats and apartments that may not have space for all of the amenities that one may have traditionally expected to have when renting an apartment of one's own.
Taken together, these factors may lead to sharing some amenities.
Thirdly, the nature and structure of what are considered families has changed; not only has the nature of the economy changed, but the nature of women's lives have also changed, as they have more education, autonomy and economic independence, giving them choices in life - including deciding whether to have children and, if so, how many, choices which barely existed half a century ago.
Thus, there are far more single (or widowed, or divorced) people living on their own these days; the older style house were designed for the family units of the mid twentieth century. Thus, housing increasingly reflects the needs of single (or widowed, or divorced) people.
Fourthly, where families exist, they are far smaller; few people have more than one or two children.
