ABSTRACT
The tiny house movement is a relatively recent trend towards building ‘tiny’ houses, mostly under the 400 square feet (37square meters). Tiny dwellings are, of course the norm in many parts of the world, but the tiny houses that are now so ubiquitous on social media and the like, that originated in the USA in the late 1990s. Building tiny houses, mostly on wheels, originated largely in response to housing affordability issues, the desire to live more sustainably and as a counter to the McMansions of the time. Similarly, tiny houses are increasingly popular in Australia, although it is very much a niche market, due to multiple planning, legal, and normative barriers. Nonetheless, tiny houses potentially could address some complex and difficult issues in the urban environment, such as housing affordability, environmental sustainability, sustainable densification, ageing populations and decreasing household sizes. Tiny houses can also provide valuable infill to suburbs in areas where it is undesirable to have high density development. Tiny houses can be significantly more economically and environmentally sustainable than standard housing, particularly as they are often off-grid, and use sustainably sourced or recycled materials in their construction. Their small size also means that they use far less energy and water in their day to day operations than larger houses. Whereas tiny houses are at the extreme end of the housing spectrum and not suited to all households, they can provide options for singles, couples, or even the homeless. One of the biggest benefits of tiny houses is that they can act as a catalyst for a paradigm shift in housing, from the huge McMansions, to smaller and more sustainable dwellings.
