Why is America obsessed with huge homes?

2019-09-17T16:00:00-04:00

It's no secret that America has an unhealthy obsession with size, whether it be food portions or cars, and houses are no different.

The long-running trend runs deeper than the McMansion typology many Americans are familiar, according to Professor Sonia A. Hirt. In a recent study, Hirt uncovered data regarding average housing sizes that helps breakdown American homes and its obsession with size. A professor of landscape architecture and planning at the University of Georgia, Hirt explains America's "average" housing size isn't merely tied to the larger than average lot size prevalent in the United States.

In her research, Hirt gathered data from other countries like Australia, Demark, Canada, and New Zealand to compare with home sizes in America. She shares with Joe Pinsker of The Atlantic, "Even in the absence of a uniform, universal system of measurement, America is in the top tier, globally, when it comes to the size of its citizens' living spaces. The country attained this statu...

China used more cement in 3 years than the U.S. did in the entire 20th century

2015-03-26T13:45:00-04:00

All of America’s cement consumption during the [20th] century adds up to around 4.4 gigatons (1 gigaton is roughly 1 billion metric tons). In comparison, China used around 6.4 gigatons of cement in the three years of 2011, 2012 and 2013 [...] The country is urbanizing at a historic rate, much faster than the U.S. did in the 20th Century. More than 20 million Chinese relocate to cities each year, which is more people than live in downtown New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago combined.

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Why is America obsessed with huge homes?

China used more cement in 3 years than the U.S. did in the entire 20th century