MinnPost does a very interesting piece based on a discussion with Bill Morrish, author of “Growing Urban Habitats, Seeking a New Housing Development Model,” who was in town recently for a meeting of housing advocates oragnized by the Family Housing Fund, among others. Morrish’s suggestion for inexpensivean environmentally sustainable housing for urban environments? Trailer parks. Not the type you might already be familiar with, though, his model is the Sunrise Trailer Court in Charlottesville, Va, which Habitat for Humanity retrofit to be environmentally friendly housing for low-income families. Are trailer parks the model for the future?
Trailer Parks: Cities of the Future?
Feb 12 2009 — 9:35am
12 Reader Comments
10:21 am
Seems like it, given the current economic quicksand.
But I wonder: how do these “new-model trailer homes” hold up in tornadoes?
10:46 am
I wonder how many cats & dolls can we pack into these Trailers of the Future.
10:48 am
If the Trailers of the Future do not come with a free Flying Car, I do not want!
10:55 am
Also, how well can they be insulated and kept efficient in the harsh winters of Minnesota?
11:08 am
That is less of an issue than you might think, craig. Prefab or manufactured homes can be made remarkably well-insulated and energy efficient.
I dare say that any environmentally friendly project worth its all natural, organic, solar-dried sea salt would consider energy effciency.
11:19 am
I believe trailer parks are the housing solution of the future. Although, rather than being placed side-by-side, the units will be stacked on top of each other. Possibly end-to-end. We’ll see how it goes.
11:35 am
Hah, miller, when I was in college, there was a trailer stack complex in Mankato not far from campus.
11:42 am
they have a community green space,m why not a community basement…
11:58 am
@miller: Sort of like Montreal’s Habitat (which opened ca. 1967)?
12:10 pm
Damn. It’s already been done. Although, it doesn’t look that energy efficient.
12:18 pm
Um, wow.
12:33 pm
My inclination would say that the “energy efficient” of today will be inadequate in the future. Thus, while autonomous may be nice, there are more efficiencies in scale. Thus, my guess that the house of the future would be a high-rise condo.
Solar and/or wind on the roof. Transmitted down, so little power is lost in the transfer. Having 20 houses above yours is better insulation than anything. It also uses less land. There are other environmental benefits too.
You don’t get a yard, but there could be shared green space, etc. This trailer idea is a non-starter. Unless they come with flying cars that is.