IN-PERSON: Livable Cities – New York

Abstract

The housing shortage and affordability crisis have long been a problem for poor or working-class communities, and much has been written about the inflation and commodification of housing as a way of disenfranchising such populations in urban contexts. College students as a renting populace have not often been specifically considered in the context of housing insecurity and affordability. In cities and even in smaller college towns, the need for students to be in proximity to campuses and basic amenities can easily be exploited, and inflated rental prices have often driven students into cramped, expensive accommodations. At the University of California Santa Barbara, a proposed project known as Munger Hall seeks to remedy the city of Santa Barbara’s significant housing shortage by providing accommodation for over 4500 students. However, the proposal is unprecedented in its interpretation of code at its large scale – 94% of the bedrooms in the residence hall will not have windows, and the 1.7 million square foot building will not have any interior courtyards or outdoor spaces below the rooftop level. In this essay, I will be examining tenement laws from the 19th and 20th centuries and their subsequent impacts on design. In considering the evolution of housing in urban spaces during the early 1900’s due to changes in building codes, I will showcase how the Munger Dorm proposal demonstrates an emphasis on density in housing that has led to an abandonment of the designed intent of building codes from eras past, forgoing comfort for concentration and profit.