Residential sustainability

Yuichiro Noguchi
Aug 26
5 min read

The current annual number of newly built detached houses is about 1 million. According to the "International Comparison of Existing Housing Distribution Shares" compiled by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, the proportion of second-hand housing distribution in the entire housing market is 77.6% in the United States and 88.8% in the United Kingdom, while only 13 in Japan It's only .5%.

Many of those who are considering their own homes visit housing companies and apartment developers, so it may be natural that new construction will be the focus on you.

Not long ago, a family with an American husband asked me to renovate a second-hand house. However, the house was already full of termites, and the president of the construction company suggested that it would be better to rebuild it, but the husband said, "I don't mind that, so I want you to renovate it."

We Japanese generally think that "it's better to throw away old or broken things and make new ones", but for Westerners, the idea is that "if it's old, there's no problem if you can use it" or "if it's broken, you can repair it and use it" It's more normal. If it comes to differences in culture and values, that's it, but if you think that something new is always good, you may be left behind without noticing the changes of the times before you know it.

The reason why we began to see words such as sustainability and SDGs in various situations is due to the fact that the previous scrap & build-type society has begun to show a dead end and various problems have surfaced.

In the documentary film "THE TRUE COST" produced in 2015, Safia Minnie, the representative of the fair trade brand "People Tree", fashion designer Stella McCartney, outdoor Based on various perspectives, including celebrities such as Rick Ridgeway, the vice president of the brand "Patagonia" and mountaineer, workers, economists, environmental activists, and organic cotton farmers who work in the harsh environment of developing countries, "consumerism It highlights the "darkness" of the fashion industry consisting of ".

While clothes are overflowing in developed countries and companies make profits, they question the absurdity that the situation of workers in developing countries does not improve at all, and profit-supremacy companies such as advertisements that excessively inciting consumers' material desires and fashion brands that sell cheap products We are raising questions about the current economy that created.

These things are not limited to the fashion industry, and it is no exaggeration to say that the same thing is happening in various industries in Japan.

As a result of our easy demand for low-priced things, we are creating a vicious circle of seeking cheaper things due to the hollowing out of our own industries and irregular employment, and low wages and job instability.

There are also various problems with housing. It is no longer a booming economy like before, and there is no compensation for continuing to be employed as a full-time employee until retirement after graduation, and even getting the title of full-time employee is in danger in the first place. In the midst of the increasing changes in society, is it really the right answer to get your dream home with a lifetime mortgage in your 30s and 40s?

Even at the construction site, various problems such as harsh working conditions, low wages, unfair business relations, collusion and bribery, and sloppy construction have been repeatedly taken up in the past, but the actual situation has hardly improved. Housing is not a consumable. Unlike other things, the one that can't be replaced is my home. You can only buy tens of millions of yen once in your life.

The resources used to build a house are considerable, and the number of people involved in it is also reasonable. Since we put so much money, resources, and manpower into making it, we should make something that can be lived in for a long time at a reasonable price, and it is important for the house made in that way to live from parents to children with love. Because it is such a house, I think it is not a comfortable house with a trendy design and the latest equipment, but something of universal value that is close to people's lives.

A customer's house I visited before was a model house from a housing manufacturer that I bought more than 10 years ago. It was a house full of solar power generation, underfloor heating, and various latest equipment, but most of the electrical equipment was already broken and not working. Even so, the residents continue to live there for decades.

Fashion is born from breaking previous values, and it survives by denying itself again. And it's just one way to sell things. The trend has no choice but to continue scrap & build. Trendy designs and equipment created to sell things will continue to be born in the future. Popular functions and equipment lose their value with the times, but the universal value of buildings does not change.

A borrowed view that feels the season from a large window, when you open the window, a pleasant breeze passes through, the sunlight shines brightly during the day, and you can enjoy the night view and lights at night. Living a life that feels symbiosis with nature even at home is the universal value that people feel, and such trivial things enrich their casual daily lives.

If you can get such a wonderful house, you will want to cherish this house and leave it to your children and grandchildren, rather than wanting to replace it because it is old or living in the latest and comfortable house. In addition, children and grandchildren who grew up in such a house will also continue to live in the inherited house with love and cherish. And it should not be difficult to imagine how much it means to people and society.

Most of the things that are really good are simple designs that come from universal functions. However, such things are not easily born or can continue to be made. There is considerable hardship and passion behind the birth of such a thing. That is why universal design and value continue to be loved by many people across the ages.

The culture of jumping on easy imitations just because they are cheap, or throwing them away and replacing them if they are broken leads to the loss of high-quality manufacturing from the world. People who only see sustainability and SDGs superficially, or companies that only use them for advertising to sell, may lose sight of the meaning of sustainability, which should be the opposite of trends.

We should not once again think about what to cherish and let go of what among the limited options, and make a choice to aim for a sustainable society and culture while sharing the limited resources of the earth with all living things and nature. Uka.