At a time of multiple crises, from healthcare to the cost of living, more and more people are facing a hard choice: to live and work in a tiny space, or else be forced out of the city.  This is not a problem unique to Londoners; it’s been a well-documented issue for some time for those living in major cities around the world, from Hong Kong, to Tokyo to Paris.

So, with micro-apartments becoming an escalating trend and need, what can we learn from other cities where small is the norm?  Are developers exploiting an out-of-control market? Is tiny living threatening the physical and mental health of both young and old, and many ages in between?

Participants in this panel discussion – all of them contributors to the Small Spaces exhibition curated by Clare Farrow Studio – were: Phil Hubbard, British geographer and Professor of Urban Studies at King’s College London; Anna Parker, architect and founder of Intervention Architecture in Birmingham; Kristoffer Roxbergh of White Arkitekter in Stockholm; and Jean-Christophe Petillault, founder of JCPCDR Architecture, Paris, and Scenographer for the exhibition. Moderating the debate was London-based journalist and editor-at-large for Dezeen, Amy Frearson, co-author of the 2021 RIBA publication All Together Now: The co-living and co-working revolution.