From the article:

>Apartments in New York City ordinarily can be no smaller than 400 square feet, but the city waived those restrictions for this development.

>Small apartments are not new to New York. Thousands of apartments that predate the city’s 1987 zoning restrictions would be considered micro units by today’s standards.

So they basically are just moderately sized studio apartments, and the only notable bit is that they're the first new construction moderately sized studio apartments in nearly thirty years.

that isnt true - i currently live in a 220 sqr foot apt in the lower east side

You live in an illegal unit.

What isn't true?

It does seem quite sizable to me, too.

Student apartments in Munich's student housing[1] are 14-16 m^2, each with it's own kitchenette and bathroom. They were built in the 1960s and 70s. Those units are by far the most popular way to live for students there mostly because of the common areas, the student community, the wide range of sports and outdoor facilities and the access to public transportation.

[1] http://www.studentenwerk-muenchen.de/en/accommodation/munich...

But that includes a communal area, which is a really important difference.

I had a small student room in a new building in London, but it felt cramped. I spent very little time in it as a result, preferring instead the communal kitchen or common room.

It's a pretty standard studio size as far as I know... I live on roughly 40m with my gf. Having 25m to myself would be perfectly fine. My brother lived on 16 as a student, although the kitchen was shared in the hall, otherwise it was his own unit. Anything above 20 would be fine, 25 nice and anything above great, for a single person studio. And this starts at 24 up to 33, with a nice modern fit and space-saving furnishing, too.

Guess they really liked the whole 'micro this micro that' branding, it's sort of a theme in housing right now and generates more buzz than 'new Manhattan studio's for sale'. I mean really, there's no way in hell we'd have a HN article on a new bunch of studio's in Manhattan if it didn't carry the word micro apartment with the theme 'new regulations were needed for micro blabla'.

I mean I appreciate the discourse, don't get me wrong, in various cities the regulations stipulate minimum building standards that don't fit today's world anymore. Yes it sucks to raise a family on a small footprint, particular in a world where books, a TV, music player etc take more space than a laptop, phone and tablet. But using the word 'micro' is a bit silly.

It would suck for a family, but it would be perfect for a single person (or a couple who doesn't spend too much time at home)

That's pretty small. According to the article, it's around half the size of the average studio in Manhattan. Mind you, my experience with smaller hotel rooms is that you can do a lot to optimize for a small footprint that makes the experience better than just using the same furniture and layout in a smaller space. But this is still fairly tight quarters.

I found several websites stating that the median size of a studio in Manhattan is 550 sq ft. None of them however mentioned a source for this figure.