This master thesis offers a study of why some
people choose to live in a tiny house and go
against the current Danish housing trend where
people prefer living in large and expensive houses. The study is based on 8 qualitative interviews
with Danish tiny house dwellers and we uncover
which values and ideas of a good housing life
that the participants associate with living in a tiny
house. The thesis has a phenomenologicalhermeneutic perspective and an exploratory approach to the field of study and draws on theories
by Pierre Bourdieu, Mary Douglas, Thorkild Ærø,
Hans Kristensen and Hans Skifter Andersen.
We conclude that the participants predominantly
understand their housing choices as a counterculture to the values and housing ideals of the
consumer culture. They value minimalism, environmentalism, economic freedom and owning
their own houses. Tiny housing can also be understood as connected to a certain lifestyle where
the participants mainly are linked to the individualistic lifestyle and housing preference that value
freedom and autonomy highly. At the same time,
we understand the participants' housing preferences and way of doing housing through general
housing choices and patterns in Denmark. What
sets the participants apart are especially their
preferences for a flexible house and lifestyle. The
participants understand their tiny house as having a temporal dimension, where a tiny house
accommodates their current needs and easily
and with little economic resources can be moved,
rebuilt or moved out of. We conclude that the participants want to live in a house that accommodates a flexible lifestyle and not necessarily in a
tiny house. We raise the question whether the
wish for flexibility only is connected to tiny house
dwellers or is a general housing requirement and
reaction to modern western society.