Economic difficulties have taken their toll on society, affecting world markets and the lives of individual citizens. Secure employment and steady incomes are becoming less common, which makes it highly difficult for first-time buyers to purchase homes in the world’s highly populated urban centres. In addition, an affordability gap has emerged, where the rate of increase of housing prices has surpassed the rate of rise in household incomes.

Whereas in the past buyers sought large homes, which often overstretched their financial limits, following the 2008 global real estate meltdown, a different mindset has begun to dominate. A growing number of would-be homeowners can no longer accumulate the financial means necessary to buy a home and, as a consequence, the demand for less expensive, smaller and more energyefficient homes is rising.

Demographic transformations and the rise of non-traditional households are also likely to increase the market share of small housing units. The need to consider new design concepts, and production methods that address these fundamental changes is evident. Adaptable and expandable designs, prefabricated and narrow units are some of the concepts that will be explored in this section.