Environments by Design

Abstract

Like many other cities around the globe, the German city of Dortmund is currently planning a tiny-house settlement with different forms of tiny living. The model project will consist of individually owned tiny houses as well as a modular multi-party small housing project with communally shared indoor and outdoor spaces. It is not only an experiment in tiny living, but also a model project in collective planning and building. From a cultural studies perspective, this paper analyzes the narratives surrounding the proposed tiny-house community and its so-called “triple bottom line” of sustainability, an accounting framework that measures the impact of a building in social, environmental, and economic terms. How can this tiny-house settlement contribute to urban sustainability? Sufficiency strategies also play an important role in the planning process as well as in the establishment of a sharing economy. The tiny village’s sharing economy will be supported by a community app.

This paper examines one tiny-house community as an example of the ecological narration and imagination underlying planning and building whilst also acknowledging the challenges and criticism faced by tiny-house settlements such as urban sprawl or the proliferation of the single-family home. The talk addresses multiple questions; for instance “through which narratives and practical measures is the model project in Dortmund scripted by engineers, urban planners, and interested parties?” “Who profits from this building solution?” “Is there a class and race bias inherent in the tiny house movement as proposed by sociologist Tracey Harris?” And finally, the talk addresses if and in how far tiny living can be a means to tackle the housing affordability crisis and help toward building a greener city and more collective approaches to living and building.