Can the tiny house fetish evolve to address real sustainability and affordable housing challenges? Ben Brown says yes.
"I’ve never been much of a fan of the Tiny House movement, which seemed to me to be a solution in search of a problem. Squeezing marginally comfortable living space into something you can haul around with a truck didn’t seem to be much of a design challenge. After all, there’s a whole industry that’s been addressing that demand for generations. You know, RVs."
Brown goes on to discuss his three months living in what many might call a Tiny House. He had no problem functioning happily in its 350-square-feet because "the house was a legal structure on a fixed foundation in a mixed-use, infill neighborhood in easy reach of everything I needed." It's about the neighborhood structure.
Now there are a number of different organizations and ideologies having the same conversation, calling it all different things: weeHouse, pocket neighborhoods, and cottage courts. Brown suggests we broaden the discussion so these parallel paths can converge to a set of best practices.
FULL STORY: Thinking a Little Bigger About the Tiny House Thing
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Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority (NJTPA)
Economic & Planning Systems, Inc.
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research