{"id":11509,"date":"2018-05-19T20:24:26","date_gmt":"2018-05-20T01:24:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/?p=11509"},"modified":"2018-05-23T10:02:29","modified_gmt":"2018-05-23T15:02:29","slug":"book-review-going-tiny-failure-opportunity-in-the-future-of-affordable-housing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/?p=11509","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: Going Tiny: Failure + Opportunity in the Future of Affordable Housing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Going-Tiny-Failure-Opportunity-Affordable\/dp\/1980602697\/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1527087690&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=going+tiny&amp;dpID=41kdVXaLykL&amp;preST=_SY344_BO1,204,203,200_QL70_&amp;dpSrc=srch\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-11520\" src=\"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/covermockup2-194x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"194\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/covermockup2-194x300.jpg 194w, https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/covermockup2.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 194px) 100vw, 194px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<div>I\u2019m excited to see what God has in store for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.davisrichardson.com\">Davis Richardson<\/a>. \u00a0He is an up and coming architect that seeks to revolutionize the housing market into something more sustainable\u2026from both an environmental and affordability perspective. \u00a0Davis is asking all the right questions. \u00a0I had the privilege of watching Davis grow up at North Cobb Christian School. \u00a0In fact, he was the Principal\u2019s Award recipient from the Class of 2011. \u00a0If he really hits the big time, I\u2019ll feel somewhat like I called it! \u00a0Seriously though\u2026this is a young man with a heart to do things that really matter. \u00a0He played baseball at the College of Charleston for a year and then transferred to Harding University for the remainder of his college and baseball career. \u00a0He is now a student in the School of Architecture at the University of Texas. \u00a0When it was time to move out to UT, Davis decided that he would just build himself a tiny house to combat the ridiculous costs of housing in Austin. \u00a0Our family had the privilege of touring his tiny house (<i>Kinetohaus<\/i>) before he hit the road to Austin.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Davis has had a lot of opportunities to speak and write in addition to his work at UTSOA. \u00a0 \u00a0Just a few months ago, he released his first book <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Going-Tiny-Failure-Opportunity-Affordable-ebook\/dp\/B07BKPQ6W3\/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1526779131&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=davis+richardson&amp;dpID=41KccT4JvKL&amp;preST=_SY445_QL70_&amp;dpSrc=srch\"><i>Going Tiny: Failure + Opportunity in the Future of Affordable Housing<\/i><\/a>. \u00a0I really enjoyed reading his thoughts and highlighted a few things while reading. \u00a0I\u2019ve posted those notes below. \u00a0I\u2019m so proud of Davis! \u00a0Can\u2019t wait to see what\u2019s next for this young man!<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>We value flexibility over stability; millennials are much more likely to be politically progressive, caring about environmentalism and sustainability. Part of the millennial ethic is a care for the world and those disadvantaged within. p. 12<\/li>\n<li>\n<ul>\n<li>Kent, David. \u201cMillennials and Gen Xers Increasingly Identify as Liberal Democrats; More Boomers, Silents Identify as Conservative Republicans.\u201d\u00a0Pew Research Center, 20 Mar. 2017, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/fact-tank\/2017\/03\/20\/a-wider-partisan-and-ideological-gap-between-younger-older-generations\/ft_17-03-16_generations_ideology_detailed\/\">www.pewresearch.org\/fact-tank\/2017\/03\/20\/a-wider-partisan-and-ideological-gap-between-younger-older-generations\/ft_17-03-16_generations_ideology_detailed\/<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<div>This book will explore how tiny houses fall short in their ability to be a lasting solution to the current and coming housing crises in cities but seeks to extract the successes and lessons they\u2019ve brought to the table in order to find the best way forward in affordable, sustainable, architecturally-significant housing. p. 13<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div>As with anything, we must focus on the process and not the product if we want to move forward and continue to improve (a read I highly recommend, although hardly related to tiny houses: Mindset by Carol Dweck). We should learn lessons from tiny houses \u2013 what works, and what doesn\u2019t, and move forward better equipped to solve the problems this world throws our way. p. 60<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<div>I think it\u2019s safe to say we\u2019re either tired or skeptical of the rat race. Most people would admit there are many things more important in life than money and wealth. Family, community, people are of infinitely more worth than the dollar bills in my bank account. p. 69<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<div>We have an opportunity for economy, and not just an economy of money. By taking advantage of the opportunity to build smaller, simpler, and slower, we can create financial freedom for people, for families, for communities. We have the opportunity to create an economy of community in these spaces. p. 69<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<div>Less is, in fact, more. We can flip the script on the more is more world in which we live. p. 72<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<div>Urban planners will tell you that although increasing accessibility to affordable housing is a complex issue with many considerations to make reality, there is a simplified formula: smaller units plus increased density. p. 105<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<div>When we look specifically into the future of affordable housing and the directions our cities are headed, a couple of trends become clear: we don\u2019t have enough affordable housing, and we have plenty of parking. p. 114<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<div>It\u2019s both possible to see imminent failure and opportunity out of the very movement that\u2019s failing. In fact, we learn far more from our shortcomings and grow from failure, not success. Success fools us into thinking we have it all figured out, when most of the time, we\u2019ve just found something that\u2019ll suffice for a little while. p. 129<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div>Today it\u2019s affordable housing. Tomorrow it\u2019ll be climate change and resilient design. After that? Who knows? Going to Mars? Virtual spaces replacing physical ones? I have no idea.\u00a0\u00a0 But what I do know is that if I approach these unknowns as design problems \u2013 if I see them as opportunities for improvement, not just problems \u2013 I have the framework to make something even better. Something more equitable, sustainable, beautiful.\u00a0\u00a0 So here\u2019s to the death of tiny houses and any other shallow trend that only scratches the surface of making a better world. Here\u2019s to a new life of fully-formed ideas that provide us with more options. Here\u2019s to a movement where everyone \u2013 regardless of race, creed, income, or orientation \u2013 is afforded a place of fullness and delight. p. 130<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I\u2019m excited to see what God has in store for Davis Richardson. \u00a0He is an up and coming architect that seeks to revolutionize the housing market into something more sustainable\u2026from both an environmental and affordability perspective. \u00a0Davis is asking all the right questions. \u00a0I had the privilege of watching Davis grow up at North Cobb [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,35,25,23,28,17,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-review","category-creative","category-education","category-generosity","category-integrity","category-leadership","category-travel"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11509"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11509\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}