Tiny Homes in the American City

This article explores the idea of tiny homes in urban settings, and questions the ways in which tiny homes are both a subversive gesture that challenges existing paradigms around urban development, the home, and the family, as well as a projection of the American Dream in the urban arena. We also consider the opportunity that tiny homes present in helping to address certain challenges faced by cities, but also argue that addressing some of these challenges will require local governments to be inclusive of populations that have previously been marginalized for their attempts to live in settings that do not fit neatly into the social and physical fabric of the city. Because several local governments have begun to consider tiny homes as a potential solution to several pressing urban issues -- including affordability and homelessness -- we also explore how the history of government interventions in housing and the home have shaped urban and suburban communities in the past. We end by arguing that the current movement and recent explorations of local government show creativity but that local governments must take proactive steps to fold tiny homes into the everyday fabric of the city