Tiny houses tend to inspire a very particular kind of fervour. It’s in their storybook neatness, their diminutive dimensions and the suggestion that – if they come with wheels – you can literally up sticks on a whim and park wherever you’d like. As sociologist Alice Elizabeth Wilson puts it, the tiny house sits at the intersection of social aspiration, financial pragmatism and counter-cultural free thinking.
The recent example of a 28-year-old London artist called Harrison Marshall who, as of March 2023, now lives in a skip, ticks all these boxes. It also shows up the limitations inherent to tiny homes being proferred as some kind of solution to the housing crisis. Without running water and only a portaloo as necessary, Marshall’s is urban living of the rudest kind. And yet, it cost the man £4,000, and a not-insignificant amount of social clout, to set up. As
tiny as tiny homes might be, they are run through with the same medley of privilege and precarity that makes house-hunting an ever-fraughter business.
Further afield, in botanical news, an entomologist enjoins us to show dandelions the same amount of love our beleaguered bees do. And a political scientist unpicks the benefits that climate protestors recently found in eschewing disruptive action for something altogether calmer and more cathartic.
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Dale Berning Sawa
Commissioning Editor, Cities + Society
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Ronny Rose / Alamy
Alice Elizabeth Wilson, University of York
The tiny house movement embodies a complex mixture of counter-cultural ideals, financial pragmatism and socio-economic privilege.
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Elvira Tursynbayeva/Shutterstock
Philip Donkersley, Lancaster University
Before you reach for the weed killer, spare a thought for struggling pollinators.
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Robert Evans/Alamy Stock Photo
Marc Hudson, University of Sussex
The group has eschewed disruptive protest in the pursuit of ‘building relationships’.
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Politics + Society
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Jonathan Este, The Conversation
A selection of the best of our coverage of the conflict from the past fortnight.
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Christopher Morris, University of Portsmouth
Ukraine badly needs a major military success to boost the confidence of its western allies and ensure a continuing flow of military equipment.
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Kristian Gustafson, Brunel University London; Dan Lomas, Brunel University London; Neveen S Abdalla, Brunel University London; Steven Wagner, Brunel University London
The role of the Wagner Group in the Sudan crisis is not yet clear, but its mercenaries are reported to be involved in a number of African countries.
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Kanstantsin Dzehtsiarou, University of Liverpool
The European court has ruled that interim measures are legally binding under international law.
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Dina Fainberg, City, University of London
Is it security issues or fear of massive anti-war protests that has prompted the Kremlin to cancel many of the traditional May 9 celebrations this year?
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Arts + Culture
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Benedict Burbridge, University of Sussex
From the shock tactics of 90s artists starved of public funding to a pivot towards an art based in community and activism today.
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Business + Economy
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Sally King, King's College London
Sex-based policies can lead to backlash and further discrimination in the workplace.
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Renaud Foucart, Lancaster University
Transparency and accountability must be a priority to prevent discrimination.
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Health
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Stephen Hughes, Anglia Ruskin University
Three things a doctor learned about ChatGPT when testing it on its ability to diagnose disease.
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Science + Technology
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Thuy-vy Nguyen, Durham University
Solitude is chosen, not thrust upon you.
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Thusha Rajendran, Heriot-Watt University
Robots and AI could transform our lives, so we must decide how we want to use them.
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Podcasts
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Daniel Merino, The Conversation; Mend Mariwany
Older imported cars pose risks to motorists and spew pollution. Some countries, including Ghana, are taking steps to limit the harms of this piece of the vehicle life cycle.
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