Every time I see stories like this, or even when I watch House Hunters International, it makes me realize how big houses in America are. Though this is the on the extreme side of small living, it makes me grateful for what little I do have.

Seeing these makes me really appreciate my house. There are times when I feel like it is too small.. Then I remember that there are people living in much much much smaller spaces.

This must only work if the residents spend almost all of their awake time outside.

Sorry...just looking at these photos gives me claustrophobia.

There's small, and then there's too small. This isn't an apartment; it's a prison cell. In fact, I believe most prisoners get more than 40 square feet.

This must make New Yorkers feel so much better about their spots. It's neat that they've been able to do it, but I wonder if it's because they absolutely have to. If it's a young person living life on the fly, it's cool, cozy, and inspiring.

However, and I don't know the people in the photo so I don't want to assume, for some reason that one with the kid made me a little sad.

I think this article also needs to provide some context. Apartment Therapy is generally about people showing off their spaces. These photos were taken by an advocacy organization aiming to spotlight the living conditions of over 100,000 Hong Kong labourers, to try to call attention to a crisis situation. You're not meant to admire these spaces.

i'm gonna go ahead and say it: i think it's inhumane to force people to live in such conditions. social housing is (or should be) a human right. yes, we should all be grateful for what we have and all our space, but how about being enraged at what others don't have, at what they're denied?

Yes, there is definitely a thing as "too much house" and apparently there is also "not enough house." I feel such sadness for these people, especially the children who need space and fresh air to create and grow in. No one should have to live like this. I would prefer a hut with a dirt floor! These pictures confirm it is possible to adapt to any situation...but I doubt they truly want to be there.

I think these are terribly sad and very, very wrong :(

segacs was on the right track- these are not homes they are prison cells. Worse than prison cells. This is very sad.

totally inappropriate post

Why inappropriate? It's enlightening. Better to know what's going on in the world than not know.

They may as well camp in a storage shed.

Inspired by? Really? This is highlighting a serious housing problem, not providing design inspiration. I agree with segacs, more context should be presented here.

I agree with jeb1111.
This simply isn't the venue for a post like this. And it is only made worse by the patronizing aspirational angle. Living spaces like these are atrocious. Period. That should be the only takeaway from this.

Three people sharing a tiny living space should not be inspiration for figuring out how to fit a sofa in a studio apartment.

I don't think this is inappapropriate at all. From the post:

"as a means of drawing attention to the housing crisis in the Hong Kong"

There is a crisis. It appears to be terrible.

"inspired the ingenuity with which city dwellers such as these tackle small space living on a daily basis"

I didn't take the author's intent to be patronizing in any sense. These people have an extremely rough situation, as highlighted in many replies above. I didn't take it to mean design inspirition. Rather, inspirational in what people endure to survive. It kind of puts into perspective how much many of us take for granted.

I second 00tester and the rest...These images should inspire positive change in their basic human rights.

That's awful. I feel panicked just looking at these photos. That's hard for one person much less more than one or a family. I agree American homes are way too big. Our family of four is happy in 1200 sf and we could do smaller if we had too but THIS, no.

What's next, photos of shanty towns, townships and cow patty huts?

The horror

Inappropriate why? Because we don't want to look at how other people have no choice but to live? Me, I'd rather know. It makes me appreciate what I have, and it makes me more determined to give of my time and resources to be of service.

Looking at pillows and paint colors lacks substance sometimes.

OK, a few of you need to lighten up a bit. I saw these and I caught what the author was trying to convey here, that this is a situation that is atrocious and that these photos were done by an organization highlighting the problem in Hong Kong.

My big issue was how much stuff was crammed into such a small space, that made me a bit claustrophobic, This was especially true of the photo of the two kids on the bunk and stuff piled up over their heads on the shelves next to them.

That said, I don't find these inappropriate for this site as after all, this site IS about apartment living, ie SMALL spaces.

However, I would agree that this is a bit TOO small. 150-300SqFt is about as small as it should get for no more than 2 people to live in, IMO.

There's some conversation going on here. And some, well, not all that productive.

Yes, AT is an online venue for viewing interior design, however, I think it could be a great vehicle for bringing awareness to situations like this across the globe if used carefully and correctly.

This is a delicate subject and I think more emphasis (i.e. research?) should have been placed on the organization attached to the problem and a call to action instead of a frivolous comparison to other cities and communities.

With a better directed post I would hope to see less comments like "oh so sad :(" and a broader conversation instead. Maybe this isn't the right place, but I think it has potential.

Edit: There's some good conversation going on here. Hit the submit button too soon.

We all should appreciate the space we have! These pics make me feel terrible!

kudos for sharing this and may we see more like it. i see this as ingenuity in a time/place of crisis. i agree that the housing crisis is horrible and this is a great way to open the eyes of a demographic that may/not pay attention to what is going on around the world in regard to housing. compared to south american shanty towns, this highlights only marginally more square footage, but at least running water and light. I think juxtaposed against the more typical AT article it further highlights we regulars are among the incredibly fortunate of the world.

You're inspired by their ingenuity? They aren't hipsters who choose to live in 40 sf to make a statement about values and commercialism. They aren't showing their spaces as a way to show that you too can get by in 40 sf if you just have some tricks up your sleeve. I just got back from 2 years in mainland China, which really is a whole different story, but with similar underpinnings. The housing situation really is terrible as is the pay, health care and a host of other human rights issues. AT, please provide better context to articles like this.

I cannot even fathom what the air quality is like, if it even exists, in these beyond fit for human living spaces. $1,300 a square foot?!?! Why does it seem like the shanty towns featured in "City of God" is getting played out in way more places than just Rio without a peep?? It is appalling and I feel for these families.

I don’t understand the angry comments on this post; are you bothered more with the situation, the fact that the OP is inspired by these people, or the photographs themselves?

Nobody is saying that the situation is good, in fact it seems universally agreed that it is terrible anybody is forced to live like this. The intent of the organization taking these photos is to make us aware that people are being forced into this situation.

As to the OP being inspired by how people have adapted, why should that bother anybody? Perhaps they did not say it outright, but I’m rather certain they were not inspired to go out and do the same thing. People are inspired everyday by simple human nature; quite frankly, our ability to adapt and survive most any situation is inspiring. When somebody reminds you of the Good Samaritan do you immediately tell them that racism is wrong and they should be ashamed to tell the story?

If they choose to live in the crowded city . . . not for me. I'd have to find a different job, telecommute or find a way to live cheaper so I could live in the countryside. Forty square feet would be impossible for me and I subscribe to the 100 Thing Challenge. I've long been intrigued by the growing "small home" trend but there is a limit. This "city apartment" must use a communal bathroom and that alone would gross me out!

And yet, they're NOT homeless. Place your 'horror' towards that genre. Of course, this looks terrible to every poster; don't think anyone said "hmph, MY place is smaller". They have a roof and walls from the outside elements, a TV is on; first one, people are having tea or other. Plus, all that 'stuff' is THEIR stuff. Extreme, yes, but there's a lot more dailly 'horrific, depressing, 'not right' stuff going on in the world than this.

Agree! I'm from HK, Luckily not growing in such extremely small space. But I do know someone living there, The context is : failure of housing policy of HK government. People who is now living there used to live in a rather proper (although small) apartment with same rent, and they're kicked out after a 2 yr rental contract and won't be able to afford that anymore ... We have public housing for people who cannot afford an apartment in property market, however it's been shortage for years and government has less intention to solve the problem, i wouldn't say they stand by the real estate developers (Li Ka Sing), but they just tend not to break the monopoly ... long story ....

Things getting even worse these days people even moved into the industrial building (definitely not the big lofts-style like SOHO or DUMBO in NYC!!! -- as costly as luxurious apt in terms of $ per square feet, of course small space, too !)

So, not inspiring, okay ?

Ahhhhh ... I was here seeking for inspiration for "small space" solution for my sister's new really small apartment, what am I doing here? haha

It's awful that anyone has to live this congested and especially at ridiculous rates of rent. (Rent control is the FIRST thing somebody there should address.) Beats a cardboard box under an overpass, but not by all that much...

I think anything shelter-related is appropriate in this blog. The thing that might make the post better is a link to how we could help -- petitions, donations, whatever. (If such exists for those of us not from the area.) People who want to ignore the realities of the world should just pass posts not precisely what they are looking for. (Including those about houses rather than studio apartments. Because of course you could NEVER learn anything about color or decor or effective use of space from a place bigger than yours...)

But I will add, I wonder how great some of OUR places would look photographed from above?! (Lots of clutter can lurk on tops of things that might look ok from the floor!)

Seems like the bone of contention in the comments is over the word "inspired." Some of us read it to be "Inspired by how humans can figure out a way to make the best of anything," and some others read it as a comment on storage ideas. Pretty sure the first interpretation is what the author was getting at.

I find it inspiring how people can live in a situation like that and not give up, just sitting on the ground covered in piles of stuff and wailing. I'm not sure I could cope. I hope I would be able to. Good for them, for clearly spending time to figure out how they can use best the hand they were dealt. Yes, they deserve better, but they are making the absolute best of what they've got, and that should inspire anyone who's reading this and feeling despondent not to give up. (And maybe to adjust their priorities.)

And maybe people meant "inspiring" as in "inspired to help." There's not really any chance for us to help these folks in Hong Kong but there are definitely local people who could use it. Call your local homeless shelter or battered women's shelter and see what you can do.

I would have preferred to send this privately to Bethany, but that doesn't seem to be an option anymore on the Contact Us page or by clicking her name at the bottom of the post so here it is in the public comments section.
I think the problem here is tone. This article sounds flippant and sentimentalist about seriously bad living situations. Here are the problems I was able to see in the photos:
-unsafe/exposed electrical wiring -overloaded wall outlets and powerstrips -damaged walls -possible mold (one photo only) -windows containing bars or too small for escape in the event of a fire blocking the single exit/door -a level of clutter imposed by the limited storage that leads to improper storage (i.e. large and possibly heavy items being stored on shelves above peoples' heads) and could attract pests -low hanging exposed bulbs -no access to ventilation in some homes (one picture shows a home with no window or wall/floor vent in sight) -no access to fresh water in the home -no access to bathrooms in the home.

Much, if not most, of the housing problem in Hong Kong is due to past and continuing bad governance. These people aren't just a small subset of the population living with the natural consequences of their own bad choices (though I don't think even that should make them deserving of such poor living conditions), they often have no other choice than to live in this way. And there are a great many people who live like this. These people are not even on the bottom rung of the ladder as far as HK housing goes. More people live in even worse "homes". So while Bethany does state the context of the photos and her negative opinion of the situation, she ends with a "Yet still" and an upnote. This gives the impression of waving aside the ugly reality because what she'd rather focus on is the inspiring ingenuity, i.e. something nice and reassuring. Add in the facts that the post is being written about people in another country with a different ethnicity than the writer and this begins to resemble the "noble savage" and sentimentalist condescension of the past century which is now, rightly, considered to be wrong. On AT the writers often address their feelings and sources of inspiration, and mostly means "wish I could have/do that" rather than "inspired to help". There is a call to action being made - it's in the linked article, but unfortunately not here in the AT post. People thinking the final sentence lacks something it needs are going with the general flow of AT's output. That's not on them, that's on AT. If a more complex reaction to the photos was to be communicated, then it could have been with a longer post or better wording. This is why short posts usually should ignore complex issues, it is very difficult to communicate your view adequately in a handful of sentences. If you want to call attention to or discuss a complex issue, then be willing to give it the time and word count it deserves.

Finally, I do not believe that Bethany Seawright is a callous or condescending person. I do not believe that she purposefully "others" the subjects of these photos. I do not believe that she meant to convey the tone I perceive in the post. *All* the writers on AT seem to be seeking an enlightened and compassionate worldview. I've no doubt that Bethany does too. Any criticisms I have are restricted solely to the construction of this post and should not be attributed to the writer's character or person in any way.

Thank you @denisegk for your lengthy, considerate and well thought out comment.

You are correct, I did not intend to sound condescending or callous in any way. If my tone is to blame, then I apologize to those that were offended. It was never my intention to offend. These housing conditions are appalling, for all of the reasons that you’ve listed and more. As for the “inspired by the ingenuity” statement, what I meant was that I am inspired these residents’ ability to do the best they can with what they have under these severe conditions. They have found ways to adapt their (on average) 4’x10’ spaces as needed to house their families. In many cases, that’s by building up. Should they have to do this? No. Is it safe? No. Is it healthy? No. But these residents, these problem-solvers, have done what they've needed to do. And I find that kind of ingenuity inspiring.

Another issue seems to be this - this post links directly to another post. And whenever we share information in this manner, we try not to simply repeat the information in the outside post, but to send the reader to that post for more information on the subject. To that end, I wanted to provide enough context so that readers would understand what they were seeing, but not so much as to rob the original post of its value. Perhaps I could have framed the post a little differently, but I did not intend for my post to be the final word on the subject. I wanted to draw attention to a different aspect of small space living and to provide a conduit for those that desired more information.

Incredible!

You are very welcome. And thank you for wading into the comments to tell us your side. I would have been very nervous in your shoes.