Did you know that we have a problem with too many shipping containers? These days, the United States doesn’t export much, but it imports a lot, and it’s not economical to send the containers back empty, so the shipping containers just keep stacking up. One source said there are 700,000 abandoned containers in U.S. ports. That number has undoubtedly gone up. More and more people are looking at the things as housing components. (Teresa)
I’ve got a student studying the problem of urban homelessness using Philly, Baltimore, and New Orleans as case studies. And because of the way that the housing market is structured there really isn’t a market for inexpensive housing. But the solutions found here are worth seriously considering. Stackable and arrangeable like legos, the only limits here are those imposed by our own imaginations. Lord knows that places like Detroit have the space.
Is the problem really solveable by cheaper housing materials? I’ll admit I’m not up on urban housing problems (having never lived in a city bigger than 200,000 people), but it sure looks like the problems aren’t mainly that nobody can figure out how to put up cheap, sound structures.
From the Archives: Solving the Housing Crisis by Thinking in the Box http://t.co/HtOJg21O
@LesterSpence These shipping containers for homeless look pretty good & no smaller than a Manhattan studio. http://t.co/BQD9XHR6