Why Nobody Uses Their Terrace ?

Published on September 15, 2025

In my 45m² apartment that I've occupied for more than six years, I have a 6m² terrace perfectly oriented. Every visitor invariably asks me if I often enjoy it, as it seems ideally situated. The answer is no — I never go there.

This personal observation reveals a broader urban phenomenon that most of us accept without questioning. Walking through the streets of my city, then during a trip to Chicago in May, the same observation emerges: balconies and terraces are systematically empty. Not just unoccupied at a given moment, but manifestly abandoned, transformed at best into outdoor storage rooms.

You see buildings with balconies and no one is ever on it.

Or if they do use it it's only rare occasions

The purpose of balconies for most people is that you could go on it if you want. Even though you never do. It's an option that makes you feel good. Like owning a swimming…

— LindyMan (@PaulSkallas) June 28, 2023

This reality raises a fundamental economic question: why do millions of square meters of expensive residential space remain unused in metropolises where housing is becoming scarce?

The Anatomy of Uselessness

Balconies and porches which are less than 5-7 feet deep are hardly ever used. Sure, some people will put furniture on there but they never spend time on their balcony

Look around at big condo buildings, balconies are almost always empty, even on weekends pic.twitter.com/DvD3rbxhOw

— LindyMan (@PaulSkallas) February 22, 2025

Contrary to the simplistic explanation that only balconies less than 5 to 7 feet deep remain unused, empirical observation demonstrates that size is not the determining factor. Spacious terraces remain as empty as their cramped counterparts. The true causes are rooted in deeper considerations about the nature of residential intimacy and the practical constraints of urban life.

The Invisible Cost of Exposure

The economist understands that every choice involves trade-offs. Using your terrace means giving up the domestic intimacy for which you pay precisely. When I settle on my terrace, I become visible from the entire street — my meals, my phone conversations, my moments of relaxation are exposed to the eyes of passersby and neighbors.

This exposure transforms private space into an involuntary public theater. We pay to be "at home," not to reproduce the experience of a public bench or café terrace. Domestic intimacy has real economic value that terrace use destroys.

The proximity of balconies aggravates this phenomenon. When good weather arrives and everyone goes out simultaneously — our work schedules creating predictable synchronization — adjacent terraces become forced conversation spaces with neighbors. This constrained socialization represents an opportunity cost: it prevents the relaxed use of space for which we pay rent.

The Economic Equation of Maintenance

In six years, my terrace has considerably deteriorated. A pressure wash is needed, but cost-benefit analysis reveals the absurdity of this expense: buying expensive equipment to maintain 6m² of unused space, without having the necessary storage space.

This constraint illustrates a fundamental difference between suburban housing and urban apartments. The owner of a house with a garage can rationally invest in maintenance equipment they'll use for the driveway, terrace, and various surfaces. The urban apartment doesn't allow this economy of scale, making outdoor space maintenance economically irrational.

The predictable result: uniformly dirty balconies in all buildings, confirming through observation what economic analysis suggested.

The Impossibility of Optimization

No terrace escapes climatic and seasonal constraints: too sunny in summer to settle there comfortably, too shaded in spring to enjoy it, too windy certain days, invaded by mosquitoes from the first beautiful evenings. This succession of nuisances according to seasons and hours makes any regular and predictable use impossible. The rare moments when conditions would be ideal rarely coincide with our availability.

The Systemic Waste of Urban Planning

The analysis reveals a major dysfunction in urban resource allocation. In my 45m² one-bedroom apartment, the truly modular space after deducting bedroom, bathroom, toilet, and kitchen is limited. The obligation to create an office for remote work further reduces the living room layout possibilities.

If these 6m² of terrace were integrated into the interior space, they would increase the modular area by about one-third. This increase would allow complete reconfiguration: large table for entertaining, real living room with television, functional separation of spaces.

For a couple, this transformation would be decisive. A 45m² one-bedroom forces two people to permanently share the same restricted space. It's not about "only" 6m² more: these square meters represent a third more space in the truly modular area, transforming an apartment barely livable for two into comfortable housing. This critical increase would create enough space for each person to have distinct zones, eliminating inevitable frictions of cohabitation in cramped space and making the apartment truly habitable for a couple.

The Rational Alternative

Sliding glass doors would create a modular sunroom space — closed in winter, open in good weather — combining the advantages of interior space and outdoor access without the drawbacks of traditional terraces.

The Macroeconomic Impact of Waste

The sum of millions of unused terraces in French metropolises represents massive waste of residential space. In a context of housing crisis, maintaining this architectural model equals large-scale value destruction.

For the same footprint, transforming terraces into habitable spaces would increase housing capacity without additional construction. A one-bedroom with integrated terrace can comfortably house a couple where the current model really only suits a single person.

This optimization would double residential capacity without additional soil artificialization — a considerable efficiency gain in saturated metropolises.

Conclusion

Economic analysis of urban terraces reveals a systemic failure of resource allocation. Predictable constraints — lack of intimacy, maintenance costs, climatic inadequacy — make these spaces structurally unusable, transforming expensive square meters into outdoor storage rooms.

The persistence of this architectural model illustrates how design choices, once institutionalized, perpetuate major inefficiencies despite evidence of their dysfunction.

Rethinking residential architecture by abandoning the terrace dogma in favor of modular interior spaces would constitute a simple but revolutionary reform of French urban planning — one of those obvious solutions nobody applies, precisely because they are obvious.