Small Houses, Big Community: Tiny Housers’ Desire for More Cohesive and Collaborative Communities

Chelsey Willoughby,Severin Mangold,Toralf Zschau

doi:10.3390/socsci9020016

Chelsey Willoughby, Severin Mangold + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci9020016

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Abstract

Past research on the tiny house movement has primarily focused on understanding the individual motivations behind adopting the tiny house lifestyle. While some studies have suggested that tiny housers do entertain an interest in community, no systematic research exists that examines the actual complexities of this phenomenon. To make first inroads into this body of literature, twenty-four community-oriented tiny housers were interviewed about their ideal community. Interview questions ranged from definitions of community to specific ideas of the nature of community characteristics. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and then coded in NVivo 12.0. Four main themes and eleven subthemes emerged from the qualitative content analysis. Select themes were then subjected to a subsequent quantification analysis in order to refine and deepen the theoretical understanding. The findings of this exploratory study suggest that a majority of tiny housers desire to be part of more cohesive and collaborative communities. While stressing the importance of community, tiny housers also expressed concerns over privacy. To explain the findings, the paper offers a set of arguments situated in the broader socio-cultural texture of our time.

Highlights

Over the past two decades, the contemporary Tiny House1 (TH) movement has gained traction around the world and is increasingly seen as a transnational phenomenon (BBCNews 2019; Browne 2019; McNamee 2019)
NVivo is an advanced qualitative analysis software developed by QSRinternational, its offices are headquartered in. In talking about their desired communities, participants touched on a range of topics including thoughts on what community means to them, reasons for wanting to live in community, as well as financial aspects of community life
When tiny housers talk about community characteristics, they either discuss desired social aspects of community or spatial/infrastructural characteristics

Summary

Introduction

Over the past two decades, the contemporary Tiny House (TH) movement has gained traction around the world and is increasingly seen as a transnational phenomenon (BBCNews 2019; Browne 2019; McNamee 2019). In the early 2000s, many of these ideas crossed the Atlantic to Europe (e.g., Germany, Sweden, and the Netherlands), where individuals interested in sustainable living began to rediscover the benefits of small spaces and micro-living (Schneider 2017). It was not until the 2007–2008 housing. The literature increasingly distinguishes between tiny houses and other forms of small living arrangements (e.g., micro apartments, micro units).

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