As populations grow and cities become more crowded, architects are getting seriously creative when it comes to housing. We take a look at some of the world's smallest homes, cleverly crammed into the most dense urban environments. From stackable pods in Hong Kong to a super-narrow home built into a crevice in Warsaw, these compact dwellings push tiny living to the limit.

The capital of Taiwan, Taipei is home to over 2.6 million people – 9,918 residents per square kilometre. It's no surprise then that there's a severe shortage of affordable housing in the city. However, local architecture firm A Little Design could have come up with a nifty solution to help city dwellers get a foot on the property ladder. 

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Located inside a former piano studio, this attractive home covers an area of just 189 square feet. With a ceiling height of 11 foot, every inch of space has been utilised, with plenty of space-saving furnishings and clandestine storage units. The home's cosy living room doubles as a dining space, while a practical kitchen has been designed in the narrow entrance way.

The bathroom is perhaps the flat's smartest feature, with alcove shelving and a sliding mirrored door making the area feel much more spacious. The room also has excellent ventilation and a small window which floods the miniature space with light and air.

Steps lead up to the mezzanine bedroom, complete with a queen-sized bed. Downstairs, the main lounge space also offers a fold-away desk for working and dining, with thin shelves hidden inside the table's framework. The home's architects hope that this clever creation might inspire similar schemes across Taipei.

Known as Keret House, this is the world's narrowest home. Or, at least, that's what its designer Jakub Szczesny claims! Located in the Polish capital of Warsaw, the property is slotted into a tiny crevice between two buildings and measures just four feet at its widest part. Warsaw is home to 1.7 million people and is the eighth most populated capital in the EU, so space here comes at a premium.

Jakub and Israeli writer Etgar Keret designed the home as an art installation that could provide a temporary residence for travelling creatives. The pair wanted to demonstrate how redundant spaces in built-up areas can be utilised in innovative ways. 

The svelte property is raised off the ground with stilts and connected to the street via a rear staircase. The slim-line pad is laid out over two triangular floors, with a work desk and custom-made single bed perched on the top level of the home, which Jakub admits needed to be pushed into place!

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The home is fully functional and offers every essential, including a micro kitchen, bathroom and dining table on the first floor. Entirely unique in its design, Keret House will remain wedged between buildings on Żelazna Street in Warsaw for two years. You can experience the house for yourself on selective open days throughout the year.

The Lebanese capital of Beirut is the country's largest city, with an estimated population of 1.3 million. As with other bustling metropolises, Beirut struggles to offer enough affordable housing for its residents, a problem worsened by the country's long civil war, which saw swathes of buildings and homes destroyed. Luckily, a series of micro flats, designed by Elie Metni, is seeking to offer a solution.

Lying in the city's Achrafieh district, the apartment measures just 161 square feet and is nestled in the roof of an old building. At a time when downsizing is on-trend, Elie wanted to create a space that was both practical and beautiful. The decor is kept neutral, while the floor is coated in white resin to reflect the light from the home's large windows.

The project’s client wanted the space to be fluid and able to host up to five people, so Elie integrated plenty of bespoke space-saving ideas, including an extendable kitchen table that frees up floor space. Storage units have been fitted into almost every void, including gaps in the bed frame!

The bedside table can also be used as a desk, while the sofa doubles as a guest bed or it can be separated out into a foot stool and a coffee table. The compact, tiled bathroom is separated by a frosted glass door, allowing natural light to enter without compromising on privacy. The studio also comes with an outdoor roof terrace, offering views across the skyline of Beirut.

As stylish as it is compact, this ultra-modern studio lies in São Paulo, Brazil, one the world's most populous cities. Home to over 12 million residents, the metropolis suffers from an extreme housing shortage. Along with other local architects, Casa 100 is helping to tackle the problem by creating innovative, space-saving tiny dwellings.

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This micro residence, known as Apartamento Compacto, is a truly innovative architectural marvel. The home comprises one small space stretching over 258 square feet. It was inspired by hotel rooms, using smart storage ideas and a versatile broken-plan layout to get the most out of the tight area.

By placing the kitchen and wardrobe side by side in an alcove, space was freed up for a double bed, a desk and a seating area. The main living space can be sectioned off using a sliding mesh screen, while floor-to-ceiling doors link the interior with a small outdoor terrace, inviting plenty of natural light inside.

An industrial-inspired decor scheme makes the tight space feel chic and stylish. White-washed walls sit alongside exposed concrete, while graphic artwork and houseplants provide splashes of colour. The bathroom is cleverly housed in a concrete shell, enclosed by translucent glass that allows the light in but keeps prying eyes out.

There's nowhere quite like New York. The bustling city is home to over eight million people, yet there's a severe lack of homes, with rent consistently on the rise and new construction continuing to decline. Residents need to get clever with the limited space that's available – and that's exactly what Jourdan Lawlor and Tobin Ludwig did, by transforming their 242-square-foot apartment.

Known as The Wee Cottage, the pad is located in one of New York's most populated areas, the West Village, where over 30,000 people reside. The single-room studio has been described as a Swiss Army Knife, with numerous sections opening and closing as required. The main living space, for example, is both a lounge, a dining area and a bedroom, with tables and chairs sliding out from a built-in cupboard when needed.

The couch sits on a Murphy bed frame which can easily be levered down, folding neatly away against the wall when not in use. Every void is utilised, including the fireplace, while space-saving furniture means every area of the home has multiple functions. 

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The compact kitchen is no exception, with a sink cover maximising counter space and pots and pans hanging from the walls. Our favourite feature is the small island which can be folded up and rolled into the closet to free up room when needed. Cool and ultra-livable, this micro studio is a lesson in stylish tiny living.

With an estimated population of nearly nine million, London is one of the least affordable places to live in the world. Because of this, architecture practice Ab Rogers Design decided to create a micro flat that could offer low-cost accommodation in the city. While it may be snug, this bright space was cleverly planned to incorporate every essential.

The contemporary apartment covers just 204 square feet and is extremely practical thanks to its compartmentalised design. Made up of a living room, bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and dining space, the apartment has everything a young couple need for day-to-day life.

Every part of the flat is multi-functional, with bespoke built-in storage concealed throughout. Even the steps that lead up to the small mezzanine bedroom double up as drawers, while pull-out cupboards house additional shelving units and clothing rails. 10-foot-high ceilings give the flat a surprisingly airy feel, while a large window draws plenty of natural light indoors.

A clever reimagining of traditional housing, the architects hope that this design could provide an affordable option for first-time buyers in the UK. One thing's for sure, this colourful multi-level home is incredibly hard working! 

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Another city that's short on space is the Russian capital, Moscow, which is home to 12.19 million people. In recent years, tiny apartments with snug floorplans have cropped up in an attempt to counter the housing shortfall. Architect Alireza Nemati of Studio Bazi designed this chic studio for himself and his wife.

Built in a similar way to flat-pack furniture, the studio has plenty of fold-away furnishings that free up the limited 376-square-foot interior. Alireza's main mission was to design a comfortable, airy home with plenty of storage and natural light. One of the best space-saving additions is the bedroom, which lies on a raised wooden block with built-in cupboards fitted underneath.

A curtain can be used to separate the sleeping nook from the kitchen and living room, while another divider can be drawn across the seperate dressing space for complete privacy. There's also plenty of movable furniture, including the sofa, plus extendable fixtures such as the dining table which take up minimal space.

The self-designed apartment also offers a micro kitchen and bathroom, which take up as little room as possible without compromising on the essentials. The storage units in both areas utilize redundant wall space high up, while a modern streamlined finish makes each room feel larger.

Argentina's buzzing capital Buenos Aires is the country's largest and most populous province, housing around three million people. Sky-rocketing rent prices are pushing locals out of the city, with many seeking smaller homes further out of the centre. With new housing solutions needed, this clever apartment designed by IR Arquitectura slots into the disused corner of a 1950s building.

Christened El Camarin, the apartment lies in the Chacarita neighbourhood of the city and fits into a triangular space of just 193 square feet. With an unusual angular layout, the corner studio is packed with storage from floor to ceiling. In fact, the living room's main shelving unit also acts as a divider, separating the bedroom from the lounge area.

The architects created a protruding mesh balcony too, which adds 75 square feet to the home and floods the interior with sunlight. In the micro kitchen, a storage unit folds out into a dining table, while a hidden fridge and washing machine can be found inside the cupboards. Behind this space lies a compact bathroom.

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The raised bedroom area is cosy and private, with open walls that allow in plenty of sunlight. Decorated in a neutral minimalist palette, a small seating area lies below the bed, with extended shelving comprising a make-shift desk. As clever as it is stylish, triangular corner flats like this could well enable locals to buy property within the city.

This next micro home is without doubt the most groundbreaking. Made from a concrete water pipe, the OPod Tube House was designed to tackle the housing crisis in Hong Kong. With over seven million residents, the city was ranked the least affordable housing market in the world in 2017. As the population surges, so too does the price of property, with even the smallest of apartments commanding staggering price tags.

Designed by James Law Cybertecture, tube homes could offer a low-cost housing option. Each pod will have an interior living area of 100 square feet. Made from concrete, a cheap and readily available material, these pods will be highly affordable to construct, as well as very durable. Since they can be created in a factory, the tubes will also be extremely quick to assemble. 

Each micro apartment will be designed to meet the needs of two occupants and will offer a living room, cooking area and bathroom. The main living space transforms into a bedroom at night thanks to a retractable sofa bed. The homes will also be highly modern, equipped with the latest smart technologies, including a door entry system controlled by smart phone.

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A glazed front door will allow plenty of natural light to enter the homes, while the interior will offer a screened bathroom compartment for private bathing. Though the OPod is still a work in progress, James Law envisages the homes slotting into gaps between the city's numerous high-rise buildings, or utilizing small, previously uninhabited patches of land.

As one of the largest cities in the world, Tokyo is home to around 37 million people so property is in high demand. To tackle its housing shortage, the city has been building roughly 110,000 new homes a year since 2003, but with limited space come plenty of innovative designs. Constructed by local firm Takeshi Hosaka, this is just one of Japan's amazing minimalist dwellings.

Known as Love2House, the compact pad was built on a plot measuring just 317 square feet in the over-crowded district of Bunkyo. Covering a single storey, the house sits on a tiny plot between two traditional Japanese dwellings, making the most of otherwise redundant land. The design was inspired by ancient Roman villas, which offered separate spaces for work, bathing and leisure.

Takeshi, the designer and homeowner, created spaces that best suited his lifestyle, breaking the interior up into seven sections, with defined zones for dining, cooking and sleeping. The compact home is made bright and airy thanks to large sliding glass doors, which connect the interior with a minimalist garden.

Sandwiched between two buildings, the home could easily have been dark and dingy, but Takeshi came up with a solution to draw in sunlight throughout the year. He decided on two curved roofs which open like skylights, allowing light to spill inside. The high vaulted ceilings also stop the interior from feeling claustrophobic, while the bare concrete walls and sleek lines add a cool industrial-inspired edge.

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