A study to characteristics in and around dwellings, that create the right conditions for people to adopt a sustainable lifestyle

Abstract

Homes for sustainable living

‘’The good intentions and creativity of citizens and their willingness to make a difference is one of the most underutilized resources we have today’’, says Global Ecovillage Network Europe (GEN). Bottom- up initiatives like ecovillages and the recently emerged Dutch ‘Tiny House Movement’ are sustainable projects organized and shaped by people who adopted a sustainable lifestyle and with that contribute to the reduction of climate change. It appears that similar people, who are also willing to reduce their carbon footprint, can’t find a suitable living environment in the current housing stock that fully meet their needs. While, in a world where nowadays climate change is a big problem, we should encourage this group of people to get most out of their willingness by giving them the right circumstances in the built environment. As architects, we can learn from the way residents of tiny houses and ecovillages organize and shape their environment, and use this knowledge in the design of future dwellings. By visiting and interviewing the residents of tiny houses, and by visiting and talking to the initiators of ecovillages, aspects that are being integrated in tiny-houses and eco-villages that support a sustainable lifestyle are found. Mainly, sustainable methods for energy- and water consumption, food consumption, the way they deal with transportation and product consumption are discovered.