The topic of this thesis is explore how tiny houses are being used and how might they be applied to homelessness in the future. The thesis also discusses the influences of past architectural thoughts and ideals that lead to the creation of the modern day tiny house on wheels. The thesis addresses questions such as: Who lives in tiny houses and for what reasons? How are different tiny houses designed? I found that tiny houses are helping to eliminate the negative connotation of living in a small house. I also discovered that the two main demographics of people living in tiny houses are those who are downsizing and those who were previously homeless. Each group has various motivations for moving into a tiny house. It is clear that the tiny houses will likely become more popular for both groups in the future but it is unclear of how long individuals will stay in their tiny homes. My hope is that the homes are passed down and reused by both groups.

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The study research how product design can influence and promote a transition to small sustainable homes through research and methods using Design for behaviour change. The study is based on previous research made on The Tiny House Movement (that started in the USA in the late 1990s) and examines the Swedish market for Tiny Houses through interviews with stakeholders in Sweden. The study is also based on theory from the areas of Sustainable development and Design for sustainable development. Through interviews, a target group of children was selected, and a list of requirements was written based on the theory and material collected from the interviews as well as from a supplementary investigation. The Design with intent method was used as a source of inspiration for the development of concepts, where two concepts were selected for further development and then analysed with the Harris profile method to find which concept best met the list of requirements. The final concept: a product intended to influence and promote children’s transitioning into small sustainable homes by allowing them to build different types of Tiny Houses on a small scale with drawings as guidance. The product, Tiny Tiny Houses, is intended to be used in the company of parents as an aid to teach learnings about alternative housing but is just as good for children to use on their own, with siblings, or in the company of other children. The product is similar to a backpack where the front is folded down to build Tiny Houses on a small scale with the help of building pieces similar to puzzle pieces that are pressed together. The product is easy to take out into nature to promote outdoor play. Nature is an important part of the concept as the child’s imagination together with nature will decorate the inside of the small houses.

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The diploma thesis deals with possible layout plan of a camper van and considers different possibilities of its utilization and tries to find the best possible ways of comfortable living on roads. The goal of the thesis is to show meaningful ways of connecting the sanitary, living and sleeping zone to achieve ideal balance among those. When living in the cramped space of the camper van, the goal is to provide ergonomic environment without any obstacles caused by poor design of the interior. The thesis shows the layout plan that would comply with comfort both on short trips and also on longer tours. Important thing is to deal with the design of windows to utilize the possibilies of using the natural daylight as a source of lighting. Larger windows would also contribute to a better connection with van’s surroundings. The outcome of the thesis is visualisation of 3D model, architectural study showing possible layouts, physical model and additional visualisations.

This thesis is an exploration of how small independent residential units added one at a time can offer old buildings and the cities they are in the opportunity to gradually grow and change – in a way that isn’t presented by the typical double-loaded corridor build-out. The first component of this exploration is a modular unit that can be brought into existing buildings and assembled in a flexible layout. This House acts as a ‘Core’ that provides basic shelter, warmth, and a place to sleep and prepare food; the density of this unit allows the surrounding square footage to be used for other activities: kids playing, welding a project, or setting up easels for painting. The second part of this exploration is a pattern-based approach to the interaction of these units within the building: given certain rules that govern arrangement what are some possible spatial outcomes?

BACKGROUND: People experiencing homelessness (PEH) commonly experience “tri-morbidity,” whereby the effects of physical illness, mental illness, and substance use disorder combine to produce complex healthcare needs. Tiny home villages, or communities comprised of dwellings that are 400-square feet or smaller, have emerged in the U.S. as one option to bridge the gap between living on the street and temporary or permanent shelter. However, whether these communities have been successful in connecting PEH to health services has not been well explored. House of Hope Community Development Corporation sought recommendations for health care services organization and delivery at ECHO Village, a temporary tiny home village in Rhode Island, to meet the health care needs of its clients. AIMS: (1) To characterize barriers and opportunities to engage PEH in care from the perspective of health care providers using the CDC’s 6 Guiding Principles to a Trauma Informed Approach; (2) to assess the health care priorities and barriers and facilitators to care from the perspective of PEH using the Behavioral Model for Vulnerable Populations, and (3) to inform recommendations for health services delivery for ECHO Village and for similar homelessness service settings more broadly. METHODS: Literature was reviewed on evidence-based practices for providing health care to PEH, tiny home villages for PEH, and emergency, temporary housing. A matrix was developed to collect and organize descriptive data to select a comparison tiny home village. In Aim 1, 18 in-depth interviews were conducted with health care providers and other key informants in Rhode Island and at Avivo Village, a tiny home village for PEH in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to characterize barriers and opportunities to engage PEH in health care. In Aim 2, 10 in-depth interviews with Avivo Village residents were conducted to identify health care priorities, barriers, and facilitators to care. The 6 Guiding Principles to a Trauma-Informed Approach and the Behavioral Model were used to create initial coding frameworks for provider and resident interviews, respectively. Through an iterative process, codes were refined to aggregate data into patterns of meaning, emerging themes were revealed, and similarities and differences were identified through consensus coding for interpretation purposes. The Behavioral Model was used to assess the role of predisposing, enabling, and needs factors in health services utilization through a structured survey of 93 adults aged ≥18 experiencing homelessness in Rhode Island. Associations between subsistence difficulty and five health utilization outcomes using bivariate tests of survey data were evaluated. Binomial logistic regressions were run to explore the effects of predictor variables on these outcomes. RESULTS: Thematic analysis revealed that the tiny home village setting could facilitate the care of PEH by (1) overcoming many of the common barriers to receiving care for people who had been excluded from traditional shelters and other critical services, (2) affording a sense of safety and security for PEH, and (3) allowing PEH time and space to gain stability to focus on self-identified goals at their own pace. The importance of patient empowerment, peer support, mixed communities in which people in various stages of recovery live together, and non-judgmental providers also emerged as facilitators of care. Quantitative results showed that subsistence difficulty predicted going without needed care for the past 12 months at p <.05. Adjustment for potential confounders did not change our inferences. CONCLUSION: Several promising practices exist for health service organization and delivery in the tiny home village setting that can be replicated, scaled, and sustained regardless of model or service mix. Given the significant barriers to accessing healthcare faced by PEH, the tiny home village setting can serve as an effective engagement point for PEH, particularly for those averse to traditional shelters or care settings. / 2024-07-05T00:00:00Z

With our country's unsustainable building practices in the residential sector, there is a need to explore new types of housing to mitigate the negative environmental impacts of current building customs. Recently, there has been a surge of interest in tiny homes characterized as livable dwelling units typically under 400 square feet. However, there is a gap in scholarly knowledge that formally examines how the environmental impact and behaviors of tiny home occupants change after downsizing from a larger home. The purpose of this study was to provide measurable evidence to explore the relationship between downsizing to a tiny home and the corresponding environmental impact. This study, which employed an exploratory sequential mixed design approach, was conducted to measure the ecological footprints of tiny home downsizers. Eighty individuals who have lived in their tiny homes for at least a year volunteered to take an online survey used to calculate their ecological footprints in prior larger homes and current tiny homes. Following the survey, nine interviews were conducted to create an inventory of noteworthy behaviors in each participant's lifestyles that potentially influence ecological footprint changes. Data collected from the survey and interviews were analyzed separately and then comparatively to explore relationships between tiny home living and environmental impacts. This study found that among 80 tiny home downsizers located across the United States, the average ecological footprint was 3.9 global hectares (gha). This footprint was substantially less than the average previous ecological footprint of 7.0 gha and the national average of 8.4 gha. All five footprint components were positively influenced, showing that downsizing can influence many parts of one's lifestyle. Over 100 behaviors were identified that could contribute to ecological footprint changes. The overall insights derived from this study indicate that positive environmental impact behaviors outweigh negative ones by approximately six to one when downsizing to a tiny home. In addition, 100% of participants demonstrated an overall positive ecological footprint. The findings and conclusions of this study provide important insights for the sustainable housing industry that can inform policy and practice, with implications for future research in the sustainable residential field. / Doctor of Philosophy / With our country’s unsustainable building practices in the residential sector, there is a need to explore new types of housing to mitigate the negative environmental impacts of current building customs. Recently, there has been a surge of interest in tiny homes characterized as livable dwelling units typically under 400 square feet. However, there is a gap in knowledge to understand how the environmental impact and behaviors of tiny home occupants change after downsizing from a larger home. The purpose of this study was to see whether there is a relationship between downsizing to a tiny home and a changing environmental impact. This study measured the ecological footprints of tiny home downsizers. Eighty individuals who have lived in their tiny homes for at least a year volunteered to take an online survey used to calculate their ecological footprints in prior larger homes and current tiny homes. Following the survey, nine interviews were conducted to identify noteworthy behaviors in each participant’s lifestyles that potentially influence ecological footprint changes. Findings were analyzed and compared to explore relationships between tiny home living and environmental impacts. This study found that among 80 tiny home downsizers located across the United States, the average ecological footprint was 3.9 global hectares (gha). This footprint was substantially less than the average previous ecological footprint of 7.0 gha and the national average of 8.4 gha. All five footprint components were positively influenced, showing that downsizing can influence many parts of one’s lifestyle. Over 100 behaviors were identified that could contribute to ecological footprint changes. This study indicates that positive environmental impact behaviors outweigh negative ones by approximately six to one when downsizing to a tiny home. In addition, 100% of participants demonstrated an overall positive ecological footprint. The findings and conclusions of this study provide important insights for the sustainable housing industry that can inform policy and practice, with implications for future research in the sustainable residential field.

This research examines the design of tiny homes and the importance they play in the lives of those that would usually have not been able to afford a house. The research will also focus on designing a tiny home with the use of design software to fully understand the extent of the characteristics of a tiny home. The design of these small dwellings, usually about 400-500 square feet, allows for a minimalist lifestyle that can be very low cost. The same materials that are used in traditional constructed homes are used for tiny homes because it makes them more durable and more valuable. Therefore, engineers and architects take great strides to think of clever designs for these small spaces to include everyday necessities while providing pleasing aesthetics. The popularity of tiny homes is rising, but they are still illegal in many parts of the country because they do not meet standard building codes. If further research is provided about the wonderful designs that these homes can provide, and the ways in which they give individuals a desired lifestyle, regardless of income, it could be possible that the flourishing tiny house movement could eventually lead to the legalization and legitimization of tiny homes nationwide.

Cyber-physical systems (CPSs) are used in several industries, such as healthcare, automotive, manufacturing, and more. The fact that CPSs often contain components integrated via communication networks means that malicious actors can exploit vulnerabilities in these components through cyber attacks. CRYSTAL Framework has been shown in previous research to be able to detect cyber attacks on CPSs. However, this has only been proven in simulation. Our research builds upon these previous research as we aim to prove that CRYSTAL Framework is a viable method for monitoring real systems to detect abnormal behaviours.  The Tiny Twin is an abstract behavioral model that defines normal running behaviour of a system, which can then be used by to compare the current state of a monitored system to detect possible attacks and abnormal behaviours. We built a monitor that integrates such a Tiny Twin, working by passively listening on input and output of components in a monitored system. We designed and implemented two different scenarios, a security alarm system and a temperature control system (TCS), to test the CRYSTAL Framework. In testing both implemented scenarios our monitor successfully detected all but one attacks during runtime by comparing the system's current state with the expected state as defined in the Tiny Twin.