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The Houses that Can't be Built in America - The Missing Middle

Not Just Bikes · 2.9M views · 2021-03-08 · 8:10

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Overview

Not Just Bikes explains missing middle housing, such as duplexes, townhouses and small apartment buildings. The video argues that zoning in the US and Canada has made these options almost illegal.

On Hacker News

Recommended as the standard short overview of missing middle housing and its link to zoning reform.

Recommended by 4 HN people across 4 months · HN mentions 2021–2023

Topics

Transit, cities & urban planningSocial issues & culture
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zoningmissing middleurban planningdensitynot just bikes

What people said

benrbray · 2021-07 · Strong recommendation

The Not Just Bikes [1,2,3] YouTube channel also has an excellent series of videos based on work from Strong Towns. I link to these videos whenever a friend asks why I chose to leave the United States. :) [1] [LINK] [2] [LINK] [3] [VIDEO]

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quadrangle · 2021-12 · Recommendation

Seems to me you need to watch the NotJustBikes overview of the Missing Middle problem [VIDEO] Super dense cities are efficient in some ways, but they have tons of other problems and they externalize tons of costs. What we're missing in the U.S. is human-scale density, especially in the form of cohousing arrangements. Tall high-rises are not actually efficient. You know how much energy it takes to have elevators going up and down 40 floors along with all the other stuff? Land is not the single factor to calculate when we want efficiency.

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meerab · 2021-11 · Recommendation

This unfortunately true in California. NIMBY moment is strong. Another perspective.. [VIDEO] (Love this channel!)

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Sources

Video by Not Just Bikes, played through YouTube.

Data and selection notes

HN summaries and labels may contain AI errors. HN dates refer to discussions, not video publication.

HN Library: HackerTube export (2026-10-31) and open-index/hacker-news. Upstream summaries and classifications may contain AI errors.

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