The Missing Middle
99% Invisible18 Touko 2022

The Missing Middle

Downtown Toronto has a dense core of tall, glassy buildings along the waterfront of Lake Ontario. Outside of that, lots short single family homes sprawl out in every direction. Residents looking for something in between an expensive house and a condo in a tall, generic tower struggle to find places to live. There just aren’t a lot of these mid-sized rental buildings in the city.

And it's not just Toronto -- a similar architectural void can be found in many other North American cities, like Los Angeles, Seattle, Boston and Vancouver. And this is a big concern for urban planners -- so big, there's a term for it. The "missing middle." That moniker can be confusing, because it's not directly about middle class housing -- rather, it's about a specific range of building sizes and typologies, including: duplexes, triplexes, courtyard buildings, multi-story apartment complexes, the list goes on. Buildings like these have an outsized effect on cities, and cities without enough of these kinds of buildings often suffer from their absence.

The Missing Middle

Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of 99% Invisible ad-free and a whole week early.

Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus.


Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Jaksot(786)

Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle

Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle

On January 3, 1979, two officers from the Los Angeles Police Department went to the home of Eulia May Love, a 39-year-old African-American mother. The police were there because of a dispute over an un...

18 Tammi 201719min

Mini-Stories: Volume 2

Mini-Stories: Volume 2

Part 2 where host Roman Mars talks to the 99pi producers about their favorite “Mini-Stories.” These are little anecdotes or seeds of a story about design and architecture that can’t quite stretch into...

10 Tammi 201729min

Mini-Stories: Volume 1

Mini-Stories: Volume 1

Host Roman Mars talks to the 99pi producers about their favorite “Mini-Stories.” These are little anecdotes or seeds of a story about design and architecture that can’t quite stretch into a full episo...

20 Joulu 201627min

Plat of Zion

Plat of Zion

The urban grid of Salt Lake City, Utah is designed to tell you exactly where you are in relation to Temple Square, one of the holiest sites for Mormons. Addresses can read like sets of coordinates. “3...

14 Joulu 201617min

Guano Island

Guano Island

In 2014, President Obama expanded the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, making it the largest marine preserve in the world at the time. The expansion closed 490,000 square miles of larg...

6 Joulu 201618min

NBC Chimes

NBC Chimes

The NBC chimes may be the most famous sound in broadcasting. Originating in the 1920s, the three key sequential notes are familiar to generations of radio listeners and television watchers. Many compa...

29 Marras 201613min

Dollar Store Town

Dollar Store Town

Dollar stores are not just a U.S. phenomenon. They can be found in Australia and the United Kingdom, the Middle East and Mexico. And a lot of the stuff—the generic cheap stuff for sale in these stores...

23 Marras 201615min

Reverb

Reverb

Through a combination of passive and active acoustics, architects and acousticians can control the sounds of spaces to fit any kind of need. With sound-proofing and selective-amplification, we can add...

16 Marras 201618min

Suosittua kategoriassa Liike-elämä ja talous

sijotuskasti
mimmit-sijoittaa
rss-rahapodi
psykopodiaa-podcast
hyva-paha-johtaminen
ostan-asuntoja-podcast
rss-rahamania
rss-sami-miettinen-neuvottelija
rss-lahtijat
rss-rentotapaus
kultaiset-hoitajat
rss-startup-ministerio
rss-seuraava-potilas
herrasmieshakkerit
rss-strategian-seurassa
asuntoasiaa-paivakirjat
rss-h-asselmoilanen
rss-tyoelamasta-podcast
rss-vaikuttavan-opettajan-vierella
rss-set-for-life-sijoita-ja-vaurastu