The Case of the Detested Density
[Sherlock is pacing frantically in 221B Baker Street, surrounded by maps pinned to the wall, red string connecting various points, and newspaper clippings about housing developments. John Watson sits in his chair, typing on his laptop.]
WATSON: (looking up from his laptop) So, this American client of yours—
SHERLOCK: (cutting him off) Not a client, Watson. A puzzle. (gestures dramatically at the wall) Why do Americans have such a visceral aversion to multifamily housing? Why do they act as though apartment buildings are monstrosities to be feared and loathed? It's not rational.
WATSON: Maybe they just like having gardens?
SHERLOCK: (scoffs) Oh, please. If it were that simple, I wouldn't have spent three days on this. No, there's something deeper. (he spins around, fingers to his temples) Think, Watson! What shapes cultural psychology on a mass scale?
WATSON: (sighs) I don't know. History?
SHERLOCK: (points at Watson excitedly) Yes! History! (he rushes to the wall, tearing down several papers) But not the history they teach in schools. The history they'd rather forget.
[Sherlock's mind palace activates. We see rapid-fire images of maps with red zones marked on them, suburban developments being built, and white families moving into identical houses as if in a choreographed dance.]
SHERLOCK: (speaking rapidly) Mid-20th century America. Government agencies create maps – literal maps, Watson – marking neighborhoods with significant Black populations as "high risk." They called it redlining. Poetic, isn't it? Drawing actual red lines around communities and declaring them unworthy of financial investment.
WATSON: That's horrible.
SHERLOCK: (still in deduction mode) These redlined areas were typically dense, urban, often with multifamily housing. Meanwhile, white families fled to newly constructed suburbs filled with – what? (snaps fingers at Watson)
WATSON: (realizing) Single-family homes.
SHERLOCK: (pointing emphatically) Single-family homes! (he moves to a map of a suburban development) Look at this. Curved streets, cul-de-sacs, detached houses with manicured lawns. Architecture as segregation, Watson. Brilliant in its insidiousness.
[More mind palace imagery: Public housing projects being built and then deteriorating, newspaper headlines about crime in urban areas, advertisements showing happy white families in suburban homes.]
SHERLOCK: (pacing again) Then there's public housing – built predominantly in urban areas, chronically underfunded, occupied mostly by low-income Black and minority families. They become associated with poverty and crime. Not because of the residents, but because of systematic neglect. (he stops suddenly) And so the American psyche forms an association: multifamily housing equals disorder, crime, "otherness." (makes air quotes)
WATSON: (processing) So you're saying Americans don't like apartment buildings because of... racism?
SHERLOCK: (exasperated) Oversimplification, Watson, but essentially correct. (he pulls up images on his phone, showing them to Watson) Look at American media. How are apartments portrayed? Cramped, noisy, unsafe. How are suburban homes shown? (switches images) Idyllic, peaceful, successful. These aren't accidental associations; they're psychological conditioning reinforced over generations.
[Sherlock's phone pings with a text alert. Close-up on screen: "Zoning meeting canceled due to neighborhood protest. – M"]
SHERLOCK: (triumphant) And it continues today! NIMBYism, they call it. "Not In My Back Yard." Resistance to multifamily developments under the guise of "preserving neighborhood character" or "concerns about property values." (he mimics quotation marks with his fingers) The language has evolved, but the underlying psychology remains.
WATSON: (skeptical) But surely not everyone who prefers houses is racist?
SHERLOCK: (calmer now) No, of course not. That's what makes it so fascinating, Watson. The bias has transcended its origins. It's embedded in cultural values now – individualism, privacy, the misguided equation of property ownership with moral worth. (he sits down, steepling his fingers under his chin) Most Americans who oppose multifamily housing today have no idea they're perpetuating patterns established during segregation. That's how deeply ingrained these associations have become.
WATSON: (considering) So what's the solution then?
SHERLOCK: (jumps up again) The solution is awareness! (he grabs his coat) If Americans understood the historical roots of their housing preferences, they might begin to question them. Zoning laws that favor single-family homes aren't neutral or natural – they're designed systems with specific historical objectives.
WATSON: (closing his laptop) Where are we going?
SHERLOCK: (dramatically) To the American Embassy! I've solved their housing crisis, Watson! (pauses at the door) Well, diagnosed it, at least. The treatment will take longer. Generations, probably.
Watson: (following, muttering) Fantastic. I'm sure the American government will be thrilled to hear about how racist their suburbs are.
SHERLOCK: (smiling slightly) Oh, they already know, Watson. They just don't want anyone else to realize it. (he flings open the door) The game is on! And it's been on since the Federal Housing Administration was established in 1934!
[They exit. The camera pans to show a final image on Sherlock's wall: a modern zoning map of an American suburb, which looks strikingly similar to the historical redlining maps from the 1930s.]