I came across this tweet by Sean Galbraith last night. You will probably need to click through to see the full extent of the photos. It is a series of images showing two back-to-back houses. The lands touch one another. But if you were to drive from one house to the other, it would take you about 18 minutes because of the area's road network. Approximately 7.1 miles.

This, of course, is far from urban. It would take over two hours to walk this same distance (assuming an average walking speed of 1 mile every 18 minutes). If you're an urbanist, this is surely galling to you. But I think it's also important to remember that this is, at least partially, a result of a consumer preference for dead end streets that limit through traffic.

Here are the results of a Global Consumer Survey that was conducted in Canada this year (2019) and that asked respondents whether or not they own a smart home device. That is, a device that can be controlled via a smartphone / internet connection.

Even with all of the concerns around privacy, virtual assistants (such as Amazon Alexa and Google Home) appear to be the most popular device with Canadians. Next are connected speakers and smart thermostats.

The vast majority of respondents (68%) stated that they don't own any smart home device. However, if you look at the trend lines for Canadian household penetration in the "smart home market," this is naturally changing:

Curiously, there appears to be a household penetration rate spread between Canada and the US, with the US exhibiting meaningfully higher numbers. Here is the US chart:

Based on these charts, the lowest penetration rate appears to be for "energy management" devices, which would include anything that helps households reduce energy consumption. The rates are the lowest in the case of both Canada and the US.

This is a bit unfortunate given that energy management is an important one. But it's also one that isn't best addressed with only a few smart devices. It should involve a more holistic approach to the way in which we design and build homes.

All charts and data taken from Statista.