I think they're interesting as an examination of what sort of perceived needs and the lifestyles we lead and how to arrange things in the most efficient manner possible. And that this has real value when we're trying to identify ways to reduce the environmental footprints that we leave behind us. But the only real justification I can think to accept a life like that would be if the micro-apartment is mobile and enables a nomadic sort of life. Taken to the extreme where everybody has one of these micro-apartments (maybe some mobile and others not) I think society would be unrecognizable compared to what I see today.

And how much stuff can you put into one of those larger apartments? There is far more to the idea of living in a teeny tiny apartment than just not having a lot of space. The lifestyle also comes with owning far less material junk which you may not really care all that much about if you stopped to consider it.

I guess it depends. For a lot of people, having more room and having more stuff is decisive. Only if you really can't afford otherwise, you will settle with less.

After all, what do you work for? If you want to do with 1/3 of the stuff, you can as well tell your employer to only pay you 1/3 the wage. Do you?

You work to provide for yourself. My collection of camera gear will clearly show that I don't completely embrace the whole "Minimalist lifestyle" thing, but I do cherry pick some parts. I buy fewer things but of higher quality than what many settle for now. I'll take stuff made from solid wood or at least decent plywood that will last awhile over particle board junk that will break in a few months or years.

I have a few friends who really embrace the lifestyle, and they spend their money on events, not things. They travel a lot, or they work less, and they're on the road to retire far sooner than most people would be because they've simplified their financial needs.

It can barely hold one person. In a city of these kinds of apartments where do families live?

China has the solution - unfortunately

Many apartments in Hong Kong rent single rooms

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But wait - if you are are too poor to afford these one room apartments, Hong Kong has a solution for that as well.

These are called "Cage Apartments" - roughly 50,000 - 85,000 people live in an apartment that is no larger than a bed.

I think the trend is more interesting than the spaces, for me at least. Admittedly, I marvel at the innovation that goes into making some of the spaces livable, and as a cottage or part-time dwelling, I'd actually love something like a 'tiny-house', but something more in the 200 square foot ballpark.

That said, If you happen to enjoy living a very urban lifestyle where you go to work, spend most of your free time socializing away from home, and do little or no cooking, I can see the appeal of having a smaller, more-affordable space in the thick of where you spend all your time (and likely meaning you don't need to own a car either).

Like (I guess) most Westerners (and especially Americans) I'm used to fairly spacious accommodations, and my stuff has of course grown to fill that space. I really couldn't go into a smaller space as-is. On the other hand, I think if I were able to (afford to) keep only the very important things I have, and otherwise start with a clean slate, I could make a significantly smaller space work with the right floorplan and furnishings and such -- maybe 500-600 feet for my wife and I to have a dedicated bedroom, small but comfortable bathroom, a reasonable kitchen, living-room, and even another combined office/guest bedroom.

Living in a bigger place doesn't necessarily mean consuming more.and collecting crap. My girlfriend and me have creative work/hobbies, and often we require space. Usually we cook (which is much cheaper than buying ready-made food), which requires a bit of kitchen space. And we are a bit lazy, so maybe we could manage to live in a smaller place, but we don't want to spend our life with micro managing a flat all the time. Maybe I'm wrong, but this micro managed flat lifestyle implies micro managed life for me too. And I hate to manage stuff all the time.

The size also depends on other factors like is there a laundry-room in the house/nearby with sufficient area for drying and no one stealing your stuff, or do you have to dry the clothes in your home? It is the latter for us (unfortunately it loundry rooms/houses are very rare in Hungary), and we can't afford what many people do (especially in college): to take the laundry to our parents place.

I don't know if it's considered big or small, but we are renting a 43 m^2 flat. We aren't outgoing persons. Yup, we lived in a 6 m^2 room too plus tiny kitchen+bathroom shared with another person. It's was kinda fun in the first year of relationship to live in a room that was 80% occupied by a bed. But we rarely left the bed those time anyways...

You work to provide for yourself

Only if you're single and without kids.

Once you have kids focus switches from providing for yourself to providing for your offspring.

Once you have kids you realise they don't just need space to sleep and eat, they need space to play. They also need space to stash all those mountains of toys that build up every Christmas and birthday...

China has the solution - unfortunately

Seeing this makes me quite sad :( China is one of the largest countries in the world, geographically, and they all want to cram into the cities, leading to this...

Sure, that's where the work is. That's the only excuse there is really.

Having spent near 20 years in a "micro-apartment" (aka a prison cell) I can tell you that I have an absolute appreciation and preference for residing in larger spaced environments. That said, living in one of those micro-apartments really does require that you are fairly disciplined with regard to keeping the place cleaned as well tidy or you quickly become buried in your own filth.

Well.. This is my home :)

living in one of those micro-apartments really does require that you are fairly disciplined with regard to keeping the place cleaned as well tidy or you quickly become buried in your own filth

I'll bet it didn't take much time to clean though, given there's not much area to clean :-)

I think the idea might be good for people who honestly don't spend enough time at home to justify shelling out hundreds to just have sleep in a place, but I really think this is just a ploy for building owners to increase profits further. The only way you could possibly increase your bottom line more is if you leased this same apartment to 2 people, one person working days and one working nights.