Populations across the world have been increasing and governments have been turning to unique ideas for housing. Artificial islands have been built off the coast of Dubai, there are plans for a community of 3D-printed homes in The Netherlands, and officials in Hong Kong have moved some public services into caves to make more space for housing.

Question: Are there more creative options to make space for housing in San Diego that are not being explored?

Phil Blair, Manpower

YES: What we need is an open mind to lots of options, and a lot less NIMBY (Not in My Backyard). I understand there is even a new organization called YIMBY (Yes in My Backyard). We need to remember that two-thirds of the growth in population here in San Diego is from our own children and grandchildren. If we want them to be able to live in San Diego we need to increase density along transportation corridors, free up city, county and school sites that are underused or vacant, allow more granny flats, and every other creative idea we can come up with. We have a very good start with the chances made at the sports arena site. It can be done.

Kelly Cunningham, San Diego Institute for Economic Research

NO: There are not easily accessible or low-cost alternatives to San Diego’s constrained and expensive housing needs. Military and government land require difficult to obtain reconsignment beyond local control. The only solutions for the limited supply of available land are to build higher density housing along mass transportation corridors and increase access to distant areas in the east, north and south. This requires expensive infrastructure investment to expand transportation capacities and general acceptance disrupting existing neighborhoods.

David Ely, San Diego State University

YES: With shopping preferences shifting from physical stores to online retailers, there may be opportunities in the future to convert portions of existing shopping centers, and their parking lots, into space for additional housing. Housing would be an excellent use of space no longer needed for retail stores. But, streamlining the approval process to reduce the costs of new construction would have the greatest impact on expanding the supply of housing in San Diego.

Gina Champion-Cain, American National Investments

NO: Creativity is not needed. What's missing is political will to build housing stock. To argue otherwise is disingenuous. Our $2 billion dollar trolley expansion to UTC is a prime example. Every residential project proposed for the Morena corridor has faced fierce opposition and been regulated to unit count reduction. If we can't pass project density in urban infill locations adjacent to mass transit then any discussion of "creative housing" options is folly.

Alan Gin, University of San Diego

YES: The traditional approach to housing has been the detached single-family home or multi-unit attached housing, such as apartments, condominiums and townhouses. There are typical sizes and methods of construction involved. Given the shortage of housing in the region and in coastal California in general, alternatives should be explored. This includes the use of manufactured homes that could be built cheaply offsite and moved to plots. Also, no frills “tiny” homes could be used as well to serve as starter homes.

James Hamilton, UC San Diego

Not participating this week.

Gary London, London Moeder Advisors

YES: Here is my candidate starting wish list: 1) Drop zoning restrictions along El Cajon Boulevard and University Avenue, which would remove obstacles to build more housing, higher and denser, by right, along these wide traffic corridors. If it works, spread it to other parts of the city. 2) Redefine single-family housing without site size, set back or site coverage requirements, which would enable smaller homes (Row and townhomes) in dense configurations. 3) Reevaluate on restrictions to preserve old homes, most of which are not historically significant. Most can be replaced with denser configurations. 4) Eliminate height restrictions, especially away from the coast. I have more.

Norm Miller, University of San Diego

YES: We can make home sharing and sub-leasing easier; we can lease excess land or un-used buildings owned by the state, county, schools and city especially around train, trolley and bus transit nodes. We can increase the density permitted near trolley and train stops, and allow and increase live-aboard floating housing in the bays and harbor like they have in Portland and Vancouver, and that is all I can fit into 75 or less words.

Jamie Moraga, IntelliSolutions

YES: There are likely some out-of-the box ideas that our city could explore from cities across the country and around the world. However, we have several good options like high density developments and transition-oriented developments; But there’s an uphill battle by NIMBYs (Not in My Backyard) residents. Additionally, the city could defer development fees; streamline regulations; support California Environmental Quality Act reform; reduce parking and commercial space requirements; and obtain inventory of underutilized land for affordable housing. We would need the political will to make that happen.

Austin Neudecker, Rev

YES: Of course! A few innovative ideas: Building atop parking structures, converting industrial (the train yards, warehouse spaces near Barrio Logan could become waterfront/adjacent lots) and government land (especially Department of Defense spaces, similar to the redevelopment of Liberty Station), creating floating homes in the marinas/harbor (e.g. Amsterdam), lifting/redeveloping misused historical designations, replacing alternating streets with buildings (leaving only pedestrian alleys between dense buildings), etc. Check out the ongoing experiments in cities like Toronto.

Bob Rauch, R.A. Rauch & Associates

YES: Most housing needs are on the affordable housing side. Some solutions include inclusionary zoning, removing parking minimums, changing building codes to make it easier to rehab older buildings and new funding models. But my suggestion is to take all the hotels that are currently supporting prostitution, human trafficking and drug sales and close them down and provide incentives to convert them to affordable housing units.

Lynn Reaser, Point Loma Nazarene University

YES: While blasting caverns into hills as Hong Kong is doing is unlikely to be a solution for San Diego, other innovative options should be explored. New designs are enabling increased density to be much more appealing than before. At a time when fewer people are demanding a car for transportation, parking requirements should be eased to enable more housing. The biggest challenge for housing is not land but regulation and public resistance to more housing.

John Sarkisian, Motion Ventures

YES: The San Diego community should be considering many creative ways to increase housing density along transit routes and in specific urban areas. General plans and zoning should modify parking requirements, allow residential building in areas currently zoned for retail, office and even manufacturing. We should be examining how people will work, live, play and travel in the future and make changes to how residential living structures should look and function as well as where they can be built.

Chris Van Gorder, Scripps Health

Not participating this week

Have an idea for an EconoMeter question? Email me at phillip.molnar@sduniontribune.com.

Follow me on Twitter: @PhillipMolnar