A Paradise of Small Houses

Starred review from January 22, 2024
Podemski, an urban planner for the city of Los Angeles, debuts with an expansive history of North American housing design. Drawing on examples from nine cities—Boston, Chicago, Houston, L.A., New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, Portland, Ore., and Vancouver—he outlines how and why certain types of buildings were used for housing in each place, noting both design advantages and drawbacks. For example, the small size of Philadelphia’s row houses “force people out of their homes and into the public realm” and led to a vibrant street culture. Meanwhile, New Orleans’s susceptibility to flooding and disease resulted in houses “marked by openness to the outdoors” and designed to emphasize airflow, which was increased by elevating them one story into the air. Though he notes the benefits of attractive newer designs, such as Vancouver’s point towers, which are surrounded by shorter buildings to preserve air and light, Podemski decries the myopic planning choices of Vancouver and other cities, arguing that by “still banning smaller, more affordable housing options,” they continue to exacerbate the affordability crisis. His intelligent analysis and deep research lend strength to his conclusion that what is required to solve the housing crisis is not just more large-scale urban developments but the deregulation of what was once common—small-scale urban home-building by local businesses and families drawing on regional design traditions. It’s a must-read for housing advocates. (Mar.)This review has been edited for clarity.

February 15, 2024
In this walk through the historical neighborhoods of Philadelphia, New York City, New Orleans, Chicago, Portland, Boston, Los Angeles, Vancouver, and Houston, urban planner Podemski explores the architectural styles specific to each city and the tensions arising from the mix of competing forces common to them all, among them the need for livable and affordable high-density housing, biases against minority and working-class populations, accommodations necessitated by a predominantly car culture, and a hardened tradition of single-family houses set on 5,000-square-foot lots. Whether it's New York's "tenements" (a loaded term!), New Orleans' shotgun houses, Chicago's simple-frame workers' cottages, Boston's triple-decker apartment buildings, or Vancouver's point towers (""the cult of the view""), Podemski details the buildings' historical importance to their respective cities while demonstrating how their features can be applied to a nation facing not so much a homelessness problem as a severe housing shortage problem. Rather than running within the text, illustrations are collected in a middle section.

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December 15, 2023
A history of the "common everyday houses" that have served large numbers of working- and middle-class households in the U.S. Podemski--author, illustrator, and transportation planner for Los Angeles--dreams of affordable housing that's light-filled and spacious, connects people to their neighbors, fits seamlessly into mixed-use and walkable neighborhoods, and has "the potential to change and adapt." He seeks "a diversity of housing at a range of scales that reflect the unique circumstances of individual neighborhoods." Chronicling his travels in a host of American cities and Vancouver, British Columbia, he focuses on specific housing types in each, including shotgun houses in New Orleans, bungalows in Portland, Oregon, and multifamily triple-deckers in Boston. The L.A. dingbat, built in the 1950s and 1960s, is two floors of wood-framed, stucco-clad apartments hovering over parking spaces, while the Philadelphia row house, constructed when the city industrialized, is a narrow, brick-clad, three-story home meant for the working class. With the exception of Houston, whose anemic land-use controls have given rise to wide, two-story town houses sitting above a two-car garage and crowding their lots, the author praises his examples for serving the needs of owners and renters and encouraging neighborliness. Podemski also offers a brief history of each city's spatial development and considers the precursors and successors to each housing type. Despite his implicit interest in what can be mass produced, he includes two bespoke examples: Tiny Tower (three levels on a 12-by-20-foot footprint) in Philadelphia and 3106 St. Thomas Street (10.5 by 45 feet, metal clad, one story) in New Orleans. Podemski makes two important points: First, the vibrancy of a neighborhood depends on its type of housing; second, housing affordability is dependent on lot size and housing type. His argument is convincing. A thoughtful history of affordable housing that establishes the basis for reasoned discussion and well-informed policy.

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