stack

Tag: stack

CategoriesLifestyle,  Tiny Homes

The Goldilocks Zone for Tiny House Communities

by Big Calm

You’ve perhaps heard of Dunbar’s Number: 150. Put forward by anthropologist Robin Dunbar, humans can only maintain stable social relationships with around 150 people; a cognitive limit based on the size of the neocortex.

While 150 is the most famous figure suggested by Dunbar, there were others. Best viewed as nested concentric circles of 5 (family / inner circle), 15 (good friends), 50 (friends), 150 (meaningful contacts), 500 (acquaintances) and 1500 (people you can recognize).

Just like Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs provides helpful inspiration for The Stack, our framework for considering one’s home, habitat, community, gifts, and network as a whole system, and Ross Chapin‘s notion of physically clustering groups of neighbouring houses around a common open area to create Pocket Neighborhoods that accentuate both personal space and shared stewardship, Dunbar’s Numbers identify some important thresholds to keep in mind when designing the scale of a cohousing community. Or at least it has for us.

Our goal has always been to have a “human-scale” community, which in terms of headcount means somewhere between 15 and 50 people – ideally a couple dozen good friends. Not too small as to miss out on many of the social and practical benefits of community but not too large as to become impersonal and bureaucratic, replicating formally governed municipalities. To us, a couple dozen multigenerational and disparately skilled people seems just right.

We believe there’s a Goldilocks Zone for tiny house communities and it manifests itself in a variety of ways. For example:

  • A lone house in someone’s driveway is too lonely and one placed in a packed subdivision is too crowded, but a pocket neighbourhood in between is just right.
  • A backyard lot may be too muddy and a campground lot may be too concrete, but a permeable pad may be just right.
  • A group of renters may be too transient and a group of vacationers may be too temporary, but a co-owned community may have a level of investment and commitment that’s just right.
  • A Facebook posting may be too cheap or informal and an MLS listing may be too pricey and complex, but a cohousing opportunity may be just right.
  • A tiny house can be too small and an acreage/farm can be too big, but together with edge space they find balance that is just right.

This Goldilocks Zone isn’t obvious until it is, and it points to an underserved middle in the housing market. One-off lots don’t usually consider community and developer-led real estate projects often prioritize density over everything else. But there’s a human-scale space in-between.

At Big Calm, not only are we aiming for a reasonable and sustainable size, we’re finding ways to economize country living by pooling resources for community projects, sharing tools and common spaces, harnessing neighbourhood scale geothermal energy, and gaining bulk discounts on materials for things like decking, skirting, and backup power. It’s just right.

CategoriesDevelopment,  Lifestyle,  Tiny Homes

The Stack: Looking at Tiny Home Communities as Whole Systems

by Big Calm

In computing, a tech stack is a collection of independent components that work together to support the execution of software. For example, to develop a web application, the architect defines the stack as the target operating system, web server, database, programming language, and so on. 

In permaculture, the practice of stacking functions ensures that every element in a system has more than one function. By combining the multiple functions of various elements in the system, we are able to increase yields and increase the system’s stability, which thereby increases its resilience as a whole.

Psychologist Abraham Maslow identified another type of stack in 1943 when he published “A Theory of Human Motivation” in which he explored how human beings grow and develop according to a hierarchy of needs.

This particular stack provides an especially useful framework for the future of Big Calm and other tiny home/homestead communities. If what we’re building is an intentional community, let it be one that is intent on serving multiple functions, rather than simply being a place to park your tiny home. Let it achieve all five of these levels to meet all of our psychological and social needs, such that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

So let’s look at this opportunity as a system.

The core for everything is the house itself. Having a roof over one’s head satisfies our most essential physiological need. 

There is a surge of innovative, factory-built, modular, and efficient structures approaching the market – from cubes and containers to A-frames and domes; all shapes and sizes. These options need to be treated as a distinct housing class that is in many ways superior to traditional stick buildings and wasteful bespoke construction. This next generation of housing is designed to be “plug-and-play” – as exemplified by tiny houses on wheels.

Next is the physical edge (another important permaculture concept). All of those prefabricated houses need to be placed somewhere and plugged into hookups. Most of them would benefit by being surrounded by complementary attachments, like decks, storage, and even micro-grid energy systems. 

This edge space provides safety and security for one’s house, and offers a much-needed interface with nature, which is especially important for smaller dwellings.

Then, of course, there is the community aspect. Whether it’s suburbs, cohousing, co-ops, or ecovillages, a good home is surrounded by good neighbours – somewhere between Dunbar’s Numbers of 15 and 50, a natural scale of sociability among humans. Even better if they’re positioned in a “pocket neighborhood” configuration that, as Ross Chapin observed, balances community members’ privacy and proximity.

Not only does community provide a valuable sense of belonging, in rural areas especially, it’s a way to pool resources – like harvested food and energy – that build resilience.

Building resilience also builds esteem, which can fulfil us both practically and spiritually. This may be the most overlooked layer of the stack and is largely missing from modern, sterile real estate developments. In a world where remote work is now possible and work-life balance is sought after, the ability to cultivate and share skills, and to do so both hyper-locally in-person and bio-regionally online, creates a powerful micro-economy and valuable income.

Many people have side-hustles that they’re passionate about and would like to nurture. Natalie Brake at Tiny Home Listings Canada calls this vocational edge space “happy money” and it’s ideally close to home, not separated by a dismal commute to a separate work life.

Lastly, and most aspirationally, is the network state. Described as a reverse diaspora, or Society-as-a-Service, and even as the sequel to the nation state, this is where digital technologies like blockchain open new possibilities for membership, governance, and currency. Not yet, but it’s coming. For now, its essence is that of knowledge exchange – especially bioregionally – between champions of the resilient and regenerative villages movement.

So this is the stack! The main point here is that all of its layers need to be present and aligned to get optimal results. 

In this stack, one’s home isn’t simply a house. It is also an interface with nature, a community of neighbours, a micro-economy of skills, and a passport to a regenerative movement. 

That’s the opportunity we envision at Big Calm; to knit together each of these exciting parts into an undeniable whole.