Small housing

Small housing includes overlapping types/terms such as microunit, microapartment, tiny house (or tiny home), Accessory dwellings.  

"Small" is a relative, shifting, and complex concept, for various reasons: 

1. there are different ways to measure dwelling space - for example counting fully private and enclosed space, private but open, accessible shared space, and/or usable public space in vicinity. Also, it could be measured in total unit interior floor area, area per occupant, volume, or rooms.
   Government regulations such as adopted Building code typically address unit total, interior, private floor area, usually without reference to shared or public space or open/outdoor space. 
    
2. dwelling space may be considered and regulated per unit, or per person. If it is per unit, and number of occupants in that unit is not considered or regulated, then the average space per person may vary widely by number, and also by the pattern by which which residents co-inhabit the space. (e.g. is it a couple sharing a bedroom, children, adults who are often away or there at non-conflicting times). ]
    
3. Typical and acceptable dwelling space, and expectations of private space, vary widely historically and globally. Generally, average dwelling spaces in the United States are at the highest end of historical and global norms, and have also increased dramatically in the last 50 years, due to both large increase in size of units built and decrease in average size of household. 
    

 

 

 

 

 

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References

• Durning, Alan (Sightline Institute, Seattle). keynote speech at Build Small Live Large 2015 conference in Portland: https://youtu.be/8ZNRW2CTp8c (Duning's speech is from 9:50 to 39:10 in that video).
   
• Fowler, Faith. Tiny Homes in a Big City. Cass Community Service, 2017.
  http://ccpublishinghouse.tictail.com/product/tiny-homes-in-a-big-city.
   
• Heben, Andrew. Tent City Urbanism. The Village Collaborative (2014).
   
• Kahn, Lloyd, and Bob Easton, Shelter. Shelter Publications (1973).
   
• Kohr, Leopold. "Afterword" (1978) to The Breakdown of Nations (1957, 1978). 
   
• Lasky, Julie. "The Surprising Origins of the Tiny House Phenomenon: Why ancient hermits are the key to understanding our tiny home obsession." July 13, 2016. https://www.curbed.com/2016/7/13/12162832/tiny-house-history-hermits. 
   
• Lidz, Jane. Rolling Homes. 1979. 
   
• Schumacher, E. F.. Small Is Beautiful, 1973. 
   
• Susanka, Sarah, and Kira Obolensky. The Not So Big House: A Blueprint for the Way We Really Live. Taunton (1998). 
   
• Walker, Lester. Tiny Tiny Houses: or How to Get Away From It All. Overlook Press,1987.
   
•  ____. A Little House of My Own: 47 Grand Designs for 47 Tiny Houses. 2000.  [essentially an expanded and larger-format version of Tiny Tiny Houses, and my  favorite Tiny House book. -ed]. 
   
• Wilkinson, Alec. "Let's Get Small: The rise of the tiny-house movement." The New Yorker, July 25, 2011.