Micro Living: A Sustainable Way of Living?

A trend that started in the USA and is booming since then: the tiny living and tiny house movements. “Reduction” is the core idea of “tiny living” — and this does not only apply to finances.

Born Out of Necessity

Already in the 1920s, when the Midwest of the USA was experiencing devastating years of drought, many farmers and ranchers had to leave their land without funds. With the fear on their necks and the will to survive, the idea came up to offer affordable mini houses. Mainly mobile trailers, converted trucks, and discarded caravans became new homes.

The financial and housing crisis of 2008, which once again catapulted many people towards poverty, brought the subject back.

“Better than being homeless”

But by no means does it have such a negative connotation as years ago. Currently, we are more likely to encounter tiny living in the context of alternative lifestyles, rent madness in metropolises, smart-living actors, life-work balance, nature lovers, and trend seekers.

The roots of the tiny or small house movement in Europe are attributed to the English architect Sarah Susanka, who first addressed the new tiny houses in her book “The Not So Big House — A Blueprint For the Way We Really Live” back in 1998.

Living in small to tiny spaces is not only something for eco-freaks, green environmental activists, people in need, camping fans, nomads, or…