Why Spain Has So Many Elevators
Spain has emerged as the world leader in elevator quantity, and many are wondering why that is.
Spain has emerged as the world leader in elevator quantity per capita, and many people are wondering why that is.
The European nation has nearly 20 per every thousand residents.
For comparison, Hong Kong has 10, the US gets by on just under 3, and Brazilians somehow carry on with the day to day even though they only have 1 and a half.
The simple explanation is that most Spaniards live in apartment buildings.
Why they do is a bit more complicated.
It’s said to have started with Francisco Franco.
Early in his tenure there were a great number of people leaving their rural homes and moving into the cities.
Both the Spanish Civil War and World War II contributed greatly to a lack of housing in the cities. Interested in gaining the people’s support, Franco established laws that favored tenants, but to the point where landlords were often put in no-profit situations.
Maintenance fell to the wayside, new buildings stopped appearing, and both housing quality and availability suffered.
To turn the situation around, landlords were offered incentives to just sell the apartments to the residents outright, which they did.
That combined with a few other government plans turned Spain into a land of condo and apartment owners rather than renters, all predominantly clustered around city centers, a leftover from the country’s agricultural preservation policy’s.
The style of living became the norm, the construction of large complexes boomed, and before long elevators were everywhere.
Spain has emerged as the world leader in elevator quantity per capita, and many people are wondering why that is.
The European nation has nearly 20 per every thousand residents.
For comparison, Hong Kong has 10, the US gets by on just under 3, and Brazilians somehow carry on with the day to day even though they only have 1 and a half.
The simple explanation is that most Spaniards live in apartment buildings.
Why they do is a bit more complicated.
It’s said to have started with Francisco Franco.
Early in his tenure there were a great number of people leaving their rural homes and moving into the cities.
Both the Spanish Civil War and World War II contributed greatly to a lack of housing in the cities. Interested in gaining the people’s support, Franco established laws that favored tenants, but to the point where landlords were often put in no-profit situations.
Maintenance fell to the wayside, new buildings stopped appearing, and both housing quality and availability suffered.
To turn the situation around, landlords were offered incentives to just sell the apartments to the residents outright, which they did.
That combined with a few other government plans turned Spain into a land of condo and apartment owners rather than renters, all predominantly clustered around city centers, a leftover from the country’s agricultural preservation policy’s.
The style of living became the norm, the construction of large complexes boomed, and before long elevators were everywhere.
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