The apartments in a new Manhattan building boast little balconies, tall ceilings, dishwashers and storage space. All in 360 square feet or less.

这是一栋位于曼哈顿的新建公寓楼，号称阳台小巧、垂直空间大，洗碗机、储藏室一应俱全。不过其中面积最大的公寓也只有360平方英尺（约合33平方米）。

It's micro-living in the nation's biggest city, and New Yorkers could be seeing more of it. Planning officials are proposing to end a limit on how small apartments can be, opening the door for more "micro-apartments" that advocates see as affordable² adaptations to a growing population of single people.

纽约这座全美最大的城市已悄然掀起“微居”风，并有愈演愈烈的趋势。市政官员打算为小户型“开绿灯”，鼓励开发商兴建“微型公寓”，为越来越多的单身人士提供社会活动家所谓的平价住房。

At Carmel Place, the Manhattan building that marks the city's first experiment in decades with building super-small dwellings³, the pitch is that little can be just enough.

地处曼哈顿的卡梅尔公寓算是纽约近几十年来的首座“超小型住宅”，打的就是“麻雀虽小、五脏俱全”的招牌。

"An efficiently⁴ designed micro-unit," says developer Tobias Oriwol, "is just a nice apartment."

开发商托拜厄斯·奥里沃称：“只要室内设计充分利用空间，住客一样会感到舒适温馨。”

Due to open early next year, Carmel Place features 55 apartments ranging from 265 to 360 square feet. By comparison, a typical one-car garage can be about 200 square feet.

卡梅尔公寓将于明年开始招租，共55间公寓，面积在265至360平方英尺之间（约合24至33平方米）。试想，一个普通的车库就可达200平方英尺（约合19平方米）。

As an experimental project, Carmel Place got city land and a waiver from New York's 400-square-foot minimum on new apartments, set in 1987. A proposed elimination⁵ of that minimum would allow smaller studios in buildings with a mix of apartment sizes, but entire micro-unit buildings would continue to need waivers.

纽约市在1987年就明文规定：“新建公寓的面积不得小于400平方英尺（约合37平方米）”，而作为一个试运营项目，卡梅尔公寓不仅得到了政府的“破例”，还获批了城市用地。已有人提议全面放开户型面积限制，这样房产商在开发正常面积的公寓楼时便可纳入小型单间，不过兴建超小户型住宅楼仍需政府特批。

"For us, it was really important to demonstrate how small space could be an enhancement to quality of life," said Christopher Bledsoe of Stage 3 Properties, which designed the interiors and amenities⁶ at Carmel Place.

负责卡梅尔公寓室内设计与设施维护的是三阶物业公司，其主管克里斯托弗·布莱索表示：“我们工作的重心，就是在有限的空间内，提升住户的生活品质。”

Forty percent of the units have rents set by affordable-housing programs topping out at around $1,500 a month, but market-rate ones rent for $2,650 to $3,150, roughly on par¹ with many studios in the nearby Murray Hill neighborhood. About 20 people have applied⁷ and hundreds requested information for eight market-rate units so far, while over 60,000 have entered a lottery⁸ for the affordable ones.

卡梅尔公寓中有四成公寓为平价房，月租不超过1500美元（约合9728人民币），余下的则以市场价出租，月租在2650美元（约合17186人民币）至3150美元（约合20428人民币）之间，与周边默里山街区（译者注：曼哈顿高档小区）的单身公寓租金不相上下。截至目前，其中的8套市价单间，已收到了数百人的询价，20人已递交申请。而加入平价单间摇号申请的则有6万多人。

Mayor Bill de Blasio's housing plan says Carmel Place and other projects show "developers can build compact units that are livable, safe, healthy" options for small households.

纽约市长比尔·白思豪在住房规划中称，从卡梅尔公寓等住宅项目可以看出，开发商能为小型家庭“提供舒适、安全、宜居的紧凑型住房”。