A dormitory. Miniature from a manuscript in French of the “Decameron” by Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375), Italian writer, illuminated by the Master of Mansel. 1450 . Arsenal Library, Paris, France (Photo by Leemage/Corbis via Getty Images)

The Hot New Millennial Housing Trend

Evolution continues. Plus ca change…

People are looking for alternatives in living arrangements. The nuclear family and singles living alone isn’t going to go away soon, but the times they are a changing. This seems like a pretty fundamental change as people explore their options and find alternatives to the same-same of tradition. We are not moving back to the past, but moving forward into the future.

But that means the great mashup continues – taking from the past and mixing it with the present to make the future. These things have always been happening, but so slowly that they were hard to notice. we’re now seeing things changing in a few years.

And things change in a number of ways, along two axes. Things change slowly and quickly. And they can move between those paths very quickly. The typical famous artist can attest to those two paths. People think they are an overnight sensation, but it was the slow build that led to the sudden breakthrough.

The other axis of change is cycles and trends. Some things oscillate back and forth – in the sixties and seventies women’s skirt lengths did that to cite a somewhat trivial example. For men, mustaches come in and out of style. But other things change and keep changing to produce a trend. For instance I don’t see traditional marriage as coming back anytime soon, as the dominant family lifestyle that it was in the 1950’s. Its complicated and getting more so. Same sex marriage, extended families, singles and other choices are being embraced by more and more people. Traditional marriage is not going away and is a great choice for many people. It’s all about choice and evolution as we act individually to make the lives that suit us best.