Is small living going to be the new normal? - 2016/2019

Of the two billion households in the world, 15% live alone. In Western countries this percentage is 40% higher due to the double ageing of the population (people are getting older and there are more elderly people coming), the increased prosperity and the need for privacy. In many Dutch municipalities, almost half of the people already live alone. New towns like Almere are still wrongly associated with family life. There, too, there is now more than a third of the population living alone. In 2015, the Almere municipality took the initiative for the BouwEXPO Tiny Housing with detached, stackable and switchable houses.

For the BouwEXPO was the following competition winners were selected as developers: Ana Rocha, Daan Bakker, studio RTM, Faction Factory, Kodasema, Faro Architects, Leo Harders, House of Architects, Mustafa Anbar, De Meeuw and Han Slawik.

Their houses are an inspiration for small living elsewhere. A growing group of elderly people want a smaller house. They have seen their parent(s) muddling on in houses that are too big and want to be ahead of that moment. For millennials, the smaller house offers an affordable alternative. For the tiny house movement idealists, it offers the opportunity to live together and sustainably.