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A comment I left for a young lady in the Tiny House People group asking for help on a paper... In eight (double spaced?) pages you'll barely be able to touch the top ice cube on the tip of the iceberg on the evolution/revolution of the unfolding tiny house movement/culture.
Everything everyone else has said obviously, and what comes to mind for me are the shared values based on the disenchantment and disenfranchisement of both people and social constructs/systems brought about by mass suburbanization, globalization, gentrification, materialism/ization, over-population, economic inequality, more-is-not-enough-ism, affluenza and the generally vacuous/meaningless/superficial American life/lifestyle/culture.
We are all looking for not just minimalist, low impact, low carbon footprint, economies of scale/frugal lifestyles, but a more meaningful, intentional way of life on this planet and in this country. One not bounded by nor constrained by nor inhibited by being trapped by the cheap-oil-dependent "American Dream" - the 3/2/2 with a white picket fence and a 30 year conventional mortgage and everything that goes along with it - materially, functionally, and dysfunctionally. One with more creativity, more vision, more creation, more art/music/dance/storytelling, more neighborly cooperation, more being nice, more functional relationships and growth, more love. Less TV. Less BS.
As far as how the tiny house movement relates to "construction culture -
basically — how construction impacts folks with the same values", that seems to be a somewhat nebulous/abstract concept. Obviously, in this brief exchange, we're not able to better/completely understand the premise/thesis of your paper - and perhaps it's still evolving. I'm guessing your professor gave you something fairly specific as a guideline.
I built very big, very expensive houses in Aspen, Colorado for a number of years before the downturn. Basically nothing under $5,000,000, and nothing under 5,000 sqft. My clients, all no doubt 1%'ers or 5 or 10%'ers, all probably share the same values, generally. Money, and lots of it, being No. 1 most likely. I'm sure some were Left and some were Right. I'm sure some were Christians, I know of a few who were Muslim, with some Atheists thrown in. All would have had some appreciation for art - investing large sums of money to hang large art on their large walls. All would have had an appreciation for nature and the outdoors - being in the mountains of Colorado surrounded by National Forest and Wilderness areas. But I wonder how many, if even one, ever gave any consideration to the environmental impacts their mega-big mega-energy hog gargantuan-carbon-footprint houses were going to have on the planet? Sure, a few did solar thermal heating of their hot tubs, a few did solar panels, more paid a premium for "green" electricity (solar or wind) purchased from Holy Cross Energy. But that's about the extent of it. Oh, and the Town of Snowmass Village limiting house size to 5,000sf. Still way too big, especially since these are second or third or fourth or fifth or sixth houses.
I'm not sure where I thought I was going with that, if only to shine some light on the other end of the spectrum from Tiny. How did "construction" impact them? Collectively, as a group, with "shared values"? Construction culture? Honestly, and I'm not intending to sound mean, because I'm very intrigued by your premise/paper - but I don't really know how to define that nor venture a guess on how they - my clients and the architects and designers and all of the tradesmen and craftsmen and suppliers and truck drivers and on and on were impacted by those projects.
Even down to the hillbilly in Arkansas who sold mossy stones off of his land to be applied as stone veneer on a monumental/monolithic $50,000 fireplace. And his wife. And his kids. For money to eat and have heat in the winter. What about all the folks in China and Vietnam and Pakistan and India and other countries? The ones manufacturing and crafting and quarrying and sawing so many of the materials and products that go into all of our houses here in the U.S.? It's a huge part of the world economy and millions upon millions of people are dependent on it for their very existence. There's your construction culture impacting people with shared values. Just dial it back to Tiny now.
Anyway, I hope my ramblings might have helped you in some way. Maybe a concept/premise/conclusion or two might gel and be useful for your paper.
I'll post some links in reply to my comment...a few other things that have bubbled up in my primordial soup. Best of luck to you! Maybe come back and share your paper with us?
Sent from my iPad
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