Wohnen ist politisch. Van Bo Le-Mentzel, Architekt

Satisfaction is the natural enemy of the real estate industry. Those who are happy with what they have and don't constantly strive for the next, larger square footage upgrade are causing the growth model of capitalism to collapse. For Van Bo Le-Mentzel, "Small is beautiful" is therefore far more than an ecological slogan—it's a highly political manifesto for the human and decentralized. Van Bo radically breaks with the average German dream of the static single-family home. He replaces it with the concept of "who-and-when living." The rigid 150-square-meter house so often becomes a "ghost house," where elderly people are stuck on the ground floor, lonely and physically overwhelmed, while the upper floors remain deserted. This "lock-in" effect is the result of an architecture that doesn't allow for change. The solution lies in flexibility and sharing. Van Bo proposes "joker rooms" with separate entrances that can be partitioned off as a granny flat, a care room, or an Airbnb, depending on the stage of life. But his vision goes further: What if we used parking spaces not for cars, but for tiny houses? An unconditional right to two square meters of sleeping space for every person could ease the pressure on the housing market. When private retreats shrink, space is created for greater community. True freedom lies not in the size of a villa, but in the ability to always orient your window to the south. Smallness is not a deficiency, but the recipe for a more just world. Guest: Van Bo Le-Mentzel, architect and founder of the Tiny Foundation   / van-bo-le-mentzel-33bb53304   https://tinyfoundation.mystrikingly.com Create your podcast today! #madeonzencastr Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast... Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1BTNv9f... Linkedin:   / carls-zukunft-gmbh   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carls.zukun... Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/michacarl.bs...