Dates: 8-9 May 2025
Venue: Research Centre Conference Suite, 9th Floor, Fawcett House, LSE.
This two-day conference was organised and sponsored by the LSE Phelan US Centre, and convened by Assistant Professsor Jessie Speer (LSE Department of Geography and Environment) and Associate Professor David Madden (LSE Department of Sociology).
Recently in the United States there has been a growing trend for housing models that shrink private living space, including tiny housing, co-living, and micro-flats. This trend has been the subject of intense debate across academic, journalistic and policy circles. But the minimalisation of domestic life is not new. Mobile homes and single-room occupancy hotels have been a prominent feature of US housing for many years. The rise of small living arrangements only accelerated in the wake of the 2008 global financial crash and the growing disconnect between house prices and earnings.
While much of the academic literature on micro homes examines the US context, the rise of small living spaces outside the United States has followed distinct trajectories.
This workshop brought scholars of US tiny housing together with researchers looking at housing and homelessness in Hong Kong, Europe, India and Canada. This conference also featured the production of a collective artistic output that can be used in other discussions and as a teaching tool.
Conference Zine
As part of the conference, participants were invited to use visual materials from their own research to co-create a zine to be shared with research interlocutors, students, and colleagues.
How zines can share knowledge about shrinking domesticity - Phelan US Centre USAPP blog
In June 2025, the conference co-convenors, Jessie Speer and David Madden wrote for the Phelan US Centre's blog, USAPP on the conference and constructing a zine with conference participants on radical housing futures and alternatives that emerged from their collective reflection.
Header Image: Photo by Angela Bartosh on Unsplash