Editorial

Tiny houses are becoming increasingly popular, albeit mostly on social media and television. They have been mooted as a potential solution to a number of pressing urban issues, predominantly to ease housing affordability pressure, and as an environmentally sustainable urban densification option. Until recently however, there has been little academic research on the movement and subsequently they have not been seen as a viable housing alternative by government or planners. When tiny houses originated in the United States (US) in the late 1990s, and around a decade later in Australia, the tiny house movement was small and localised. However it has becoming mainstream, with increasing numbers of bespoke tiny house builders, a few local governments permitting them within their jurisdictions and a steady push for them to become a viable housing choice, particularly in urban areas subject to housing affordability pressures. But how realistic is the potential for tiny houses to address housing affordability problems in Australia? Certainly, there is strong demand for affordable housing and for alternative housing forms. Increasingly, research has shown that tiny houses appeal to a wide demographic, particularly single-person and couple households. The purpose of this Special Issue is to highlight the growing research into the tiny house movement, and the growing interest by planners and local government. It has a range of articles by academics, practising planners in the private and government sectors. Academic articles include ‘Tiny houses and planning regulation for housing alternatives: the context of regional Victoria’ (Butt and Stephenson) where the authors highlight that tiny houses can have significant frictions with regulatory systems that are orientated towards traditional orthodox housing models. The paper explores how Victorian planning law deals with non-conforming housing models. From a more theoretical perspective, ‘Bumps along the Road of the Tiny House Movement: Practitioner Notes with Critical Reflections’ (Alexander et al.) combines academic research with practical insights and learnings from tiny house builders in Victoria. The article highlights how Australian housing and urban policies, particularly those aimed at increasing residential density, can have multiple challenges, especially regarding social equity. From a Queensland perspective, the paper ‘Planning for tiny houses’ (Shearer et al.) explores the development of the Tiny House Planning Resource, using a South East Queensland case study to highlight how tiny houses can be incorporated within current planning schemes, to address issues such as urban infill and allow greater choice in housing supply and diversity. The paper, ‘Resistance is Fertile (Weetman) explores from a theoretical perspective, how the tiny house movement is a direct response to the housing affordability crisis in Australia, and how tiny houses are informal architecture, falling in a grey area in planning, building and housing codes. In ‘Tiny House – when size matters’ (Wotton et al.) the authors discuss how large houses are unsustainable, and that tiny houses use less materials and energy, and produce less waste. However, for tiny houses to become more normalised (as in many other parts of the world), it is important to move beyond mere floor area, to include the functional and amenity needs of the occupants. Also related to size, the paper ‘Micro-living: why occupants choose to live in very small dwellings?’ (Clinton) explores the experience of micro apartment dwellers in Sydney, showing that occupants often make trade-offs for this type of living, and that these dwellings are not necessarily more affordable than larger apartments. In the paper, ‘Innovative approaches to building housing system resilience’, Kraatz highlights how current pressure in the housing system is impacting lower socio-economic residents, with long waiting lists for social housing and a lack of affordable rental housing. She argues that tiny houses, elder co-housing, inclusionary zoning can help build future system resilience, but pose challenges, especially for current planning systems. Using a theoretical lens, the paper ‘Portrayals of the tiny house in electronic media: challenging or reproducing the Australian dream home (Penfold et al.) show how media representations of tiny houses challenge the ‘Australian dream’ of a detached house with a backyard, by showing how this dwelling type is seen as more sustainable and a way to live debt free. Contrastingly however, the media portrayal of tiny houses is often around luxury and consumption, albeit consumption of experiences rather than things. The Special Issue is privileged to feature a range of practitioner papers; including ‘Australian local government association–perspective on tiny houses’ (deChastel), where the author shows how the Australian Local Government Association believes that tiny houses can help provide affordable housing to meet the diverse and changing needs of the community, but can have both opportunities and challenges forCouncil planning.