MicroLife’s Micro Insights

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Devin Vermeulen Devin Vermeulen

Escaping McMansion Hell.

The average cost of a new home in the state of Georgia in 2016 was $155,000.   In 2023, that has grown to a hefty $315,000.  Normal inflation aside, that massive increase in price over time is driven largely by 2 factors- housing scarcity- the fact that population growth continually exceeds new housing stock, making homes more valuable because of high demand/low stock- and because the SIZE of the average home has grown to 2500 sqft in the same time period.  

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Will Johnston Will Johnston

cove.tool Study

We asked cove.tool to educate us on why better density helps reduce carbon footprints and to conduct an energy modeling study comparing two home sizes in different weather regions across the United States. To thoroughly analyze these homes, cove.tool examined their performance across eight different climate regions in the United States, assessing the carbon emissions during the construction process as well as the energy output for utilities and electricity.

So, what did they conclude?

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Sara Beresford Sara Beresford

Flag Lots: A Modest Step Towards Increased Urban Density

Many planners and leaders are coming to understand that minimum lot sizes and street frontage requirements (among other things) have led to urban development patterns that reduce infill development, exacerbate housing supply (and pricing) problems, increase car dependency, and reduce the ability to add housing in the places that already have the infrastructure to support additional density. Maybe these nice, wide lots in urban areas are part of the problem after all.

And that brings me to flag lots.

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Devin Vermeulen Devin Vermeulen

Small Space Utilization

When we break free of the “more space = better” mentality and embrace ideas about minimal living and efficient space utilization, the idea of living in a smaller footprint becomes a lot less scary as a concept. It’s one of the conceptual drivers we embrace in our design philosophy at MicroLife that helps us build small without making spaces that feel small.

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Devin Vermeulen Devin Vermeulen

Eff Cars. Power to the People.

At the MicroLife Institute, one of the main drivers to our mission and dedication to Missing Middle Housing is rooted in reestablishing a sense of belonging and community that seems to have gotten further and further lost as we’ve stopped designing cities and neighborhoods for humans and instead design them for cars.

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Erica Copenhaver Erica Copenhaver

Pocket Neighborhoods and Missing Middle Housing

The Metro-Atlanta region is in the midst of a housing shortage. Our region’s housing costs have outpaced local incomes. Our neighbors say their communities are full, and for many, homeownership remains impossibly out of reach. We also live in the fourth fastest-growing metro region in the nation. Right now, experts predict nearly 2 million more people will move to Atlanta in the next five to ten years. Where will they go?

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Luke McEachern Luke McEachern

My Tiny House Experience

Hi, my name is Luke McEachern. I chose to study architecture because I believe housing should be accessible to everyone.

Two years ago, my business partner and I began to design a tiny home in hopes of learning not only the building process but also what makes home ownership seem like a far-fetched dream for many.

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Will Johnston Will Johnston

Building Connection through Housing

Do me a favor and if you were born before 1980, read this article. However you define Gen Xers and Baby Boomers, we are two generations that are living alone and not been giving enough options for housing. I am in the age bracket they are writing about, and I do live alone, and I do think about who’s gonna take care of me when I retire and do need to remind myself to be social.

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Erica Copenhaver Erica Copenhaver

How Walkable Neighborhoods are Good for our Hearts

We may already know from personal experience that walkability is great for our mental and emotional wellbeing (check out our insight on creating walkable city blocks). Of course, walkable communities can benefit our bodies as well.

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Erica Copenhaver Erica Copenhaver

Being Intentional About Housing

In the race to build more housing to address our national housing crisis, many community members are wary of developers simply erecting high rise apartment towers on every block. When it comes down to it, we need more housing–as much of it as we can get. So while we shouldn’t necessarily fear high rises, we should ensure that they are at least doing their job of creating additional housing units. Increasingly though, this is not the case.

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