Why do many people believe that a single-family home promises a better life? They leave the cities and move to the outskirts, where a bleak settlement sprawl spreads across the landscape. The houses for small families, as we know them today, will no longer be economically or ecologically feasible in the future. But what should our homes look like in the future? What do they reveal about our lives? Could we imagine them entirely differently? This book, witty, provocative, and thoroughly researched, demonstrates that building in Germany needs to be rethought. It also shows how people in other parts of Europe, Japan, and America are already living—beyond suburban monotony and apartment blocks.