Comments by "alex smith" (@alexsmith-ob3lu) on "Can Infill Development Save Cities?" video.

It’s not about re-living the 1950s of suburban sprawl. I deal with many contractors and developers on a regular basis; the common answer for a lack of infill projects and higher density buildings is due to technical labor shortages in HVAC controls. In other words, America produces 5 lawyers for every 1 engineer. For a low density home, you can easily hire a small scale HVAC technician for the job, but when it comes to larger facilities; you need a team of BAS technicians, Design Engineers, Controls Electricians, and highly specialized chiller/boiler mechanics in order to make the condo or apartment liveable and energy efficient. Right now, we have more than just a housing crisis.
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Too much zoning codes, over reliance on lawyers to interpret zoning codes and an overall “engineering” labor shortage. Skilled trades shortage aside, for medium/high density buildings; you’re going to need a lot of HVAC engineers and BAS specialists to make higher density work. And right now, every American city cannot find enough of these professionals.
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@eugenetswong Most cities in North America have poor public transit because of too many transit codes that need to first be interpreted by a team of lawyers before the engineers/technicians can even start to do any design work. It is also common for small shop and medium sized contractors to decline many jobs because getting the city permits for new home construction or a home renovation is time consuming and very expensive. If they cannot reach a profit margin of 15%, they won't take on the work because of too much risk associated with regulations and the courts.
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@eugenetswong My company has done commercial renovation work in Toronto, Canada for high rise buildings. Every skyscraper renovation site (that I've been to) is a mess, because of god-awful labor shortages. Deadlines are constantly getting pushed further and further back because instead of a team of engineers working on HVAC-BAS design, it's one engineer doing all the calculations by himself. Same with BAS technicians! You need a team of 15 BAS technicians for a 70 story skyscraper renovation, and not one tech running up and down the building doing everything by himself! And that goes on constantly on a daily basis!
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Great content in this video. I support the proposals you make. However, these projects are slow to start and often get grinder down in maintenance/design issues because of the lack of HVAC control specialists. Skilled trade shortage aside, every American city is lacking design engineers that are so badly needed to implement HVAC controls.
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@lolnyanterts Residential homes like mansions, town home, duplex, row house etc. only require a furnace and an basic AC unit. Most residential homes are "cookie cutter", so a lot of people don't see the significance of HVAC. For commercial, institutional, and high rise condos (not rental apartments); property owners will always go with "HVAC Controls" (Building Automation Systems) with HVAC sub-categories including DDC (Direct Digital Controls) and old Pneumatic HVAC Systems. You won't find any residential furnaces or AC units in these larger properties because of the need for cost savings and the need for energy efficiency. That is why in larger buildings, you have centralized Air Handling Units in Mechanical Rooms instead of a furnace connected to one thermostat. Misconceptions of HVAC: https://www.automatedbuildings.com/news/feb20/articles/basisolutions/200123030808basisolutions.html
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@lolnyanterts On a final note, no property owner cares about maintenance these days, so they'll run their commercial HVAC equipment into the ground after a few years. Property Owners also believe that throwing money into green roofs, PV cells, grey water toilets etc. is wonderful, but when it comes to hiring technical people for maintenance work; they suddenly got no money. So, all those "green" things become worthless at the end of the day.
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user-yl7mr3ck5l What do you mean by bodied? I was just talking truth of the matter. I already know of the channel "Not Just Bikes" and several other channels that hate on Dubai.
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@ScooterinAB At the local level you will see many people convert a single family home into a triplex without notifying city planners or the city itself for a permit. That is how desperate the situation can be or just that nobody cares about enforcing old laws that no longer applies. A good example are recent court battles between Houston residents and the City Council of Houston over "deed restrictions" that nobody cares about.
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@andrewdobson2535 Desperate people do desperate things. Nobody is convincing council members of zoning reforms except Strong Towns. Many home owners have already converted single family unit homes into rental triplex properties without city approval.
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@unconventionalideas5683 Yeah, I know that. Apartments use Building Automation Systems (BAS) to control, adjust and monitor the HVAC. You've got radiators, electric furnaces, actuators, union valves, air handlers, thermometers etc. etc. The experienced professionals for HVAC controls is continuously decreasing even though everyone wants to live in high rise condos and go to high density shopping malls.
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